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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
larryi
3,982 posts
 
I don't think DAC technology has changed much over the past 10 years, perhaps even longer.  Some of the better DACs being made today use ancient circuits and some very old chips that have been squirreled away because they sound better than modern chips.  After all, the priority with each new generation of DAC chips is NOT sound quality--it is smaller size, lower power consumption, and more tasks handled by the chip--all for the sake of portable devices.

Some of the better, ultra expensive DACs, like those from Audio Note, and the Reference level music servers from NAIM, use chips that are 20 years old or so.
ladylion's avatar
ladylion
11 posts
 
tidal is crap! I get my tunes from you tube for free, same quality as my cds
chirawatm
1 posts
 
I believe most of old CD player and old DAC will have a superior matching sound stage output when playing a cd 14.4K red book format. The design concept is to achieve smooth musical soundstage and reduce hearing of micro details which to reveal errors when playing cd 14.4k format.

A new, modern DAC does not design to get best quality from 14.4k format but a high def, DSD, or other super high quality format which will give much more detail and soundstage providing that you got those high definition sources. Using of this modern high quality DAC to play 14.4k CD format will give you annoying, too much revealing details, which is not a pleasant listening.

I have both old legacy dac and a moderm DSD DAC, both serve its purpose well and it cannot beat each other. 
jafant's avatar
jafant
19,602 posts
 
fsgattuso

There is something to be said about a player retailing for $10K. 
Ayre, Muse or Naim are all excellent within their own design. If you own a sizeable CD collection, this is your best option over a server/streamer option.

Happy Listening!
mr_m
1,900 posts
 
I like the sound of my streamer/DAC combo better than my CD player. My CD player is a Cambridge Audio 851-C. Although I would suspect most here would not regard that player as being really that good.
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