2. digital
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Why does my old CD player sound so much better than my new streamer?

Earlier this year I upgraded my system. Briefly, new Prima Luna Dialogue Premium HP integrated, new Lumin D2 streamer/DAC, kept my Tekton speakers, bought a 10 year old Muse Erato CD player, new Nordost Red Dawn cables all around.  After plenty of break in, the Lumin D2 streaming Tidal, even 24/96, does not sound close to as good as the Muse Erato.  I understand the Muse was about $10k new years ago, I paid $650 for it on Audiogon, is that the difference? It replaced my Naim I had for 20+ years and I bought it on the chance I want to listen to something not on Tidal, but now I'm going to CDs when I want to sit and listen instead of streaming. I considered upgrading to the Lumin T2, but will that be more of the same Lumin sound, which is accurate but thin and a little cold compared to the Muse.  I like the Lumin when just letting Tidal shuffle music as I move around the house, but from the opening note in an A/B test the Muse just sounds so much warmer, live and simply more enjoyable. Any thoughts or suggestions?
fsgattuso

Showing 2 responses by mike_in_nc

mike_in_nc
1,166 posts
 
I owned some Muse gear many years ago. It was superb, even with the stock power cord ;-).

I have not owned a Lumin, but I stream my own library and also Qobuz through an Auralic Aries G1. The sound of my own library streamed is first-rate, at least as good (some friends think better) than a CD through a Simaudio transport. I find the Qobuz sound variable, though I am puzzled why. It sometimes is as good as local files, but last night, I played the same track both from Q and from my own library, and the local source sounded better (more "there").

If you have a local music library, how does that sound, streamed through the Lumin? Unless you can compare that to the CD player, you have too many variables to figure out what’s going on.
mike_in_nc
1,166 posts
 
@fsgattuso : I read your post too quickly & neglected to look up the D2 until now. It is quite possible that a Muse Erato might have a better-sounding DAC than the D2. Kevin Halverson of Muse was some kind of digital genius (may still be, don't know his whereabouts now). His Muse gear of Erato vintage persuaded me to give up my analog front end. Keep yours as long as it runs!

In any case, I agree with another poster that, to do a fair test, you need to rip a few CDs and run them through the Lumin. Some of us find that audio quality from the streaming services can be variable.


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