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Anyone else feel like it’s the Wild Wild West?

I’ve been following the streaming threads here for a while now, and I find it both exhilarating and intimidating.  I mean, we all know everything in high-end audio matters to some degree or another, right (Ok, maybe except for the flat earth contingent)?  From what I’m reading and from my own experience the process of optimizing steaming has near unlimited potential, and some even say it rivals or even surpasses vinyl if taken to the max.  Cables, routers, optical, filters, extenders, power supplies, switches, etc., they all seem to make a significant difference despite the naysayers who say bits are just bits.  I’m all in on this steaming renaissance, but most of the jewels of useful info are buried in other posts, so I’d like to have this be a consolidator post of your best streaming experiences and recommendations for others who could benefit greatly from your hard-won victories and maybe save a lot of people the agony you went through to get to streaming nirvana.  So have at it — let’s empower this community in this noble task and help everyone realize the amazing potential of this magic gift to audiophiles.  What say you?

soix
carlsbad's avatar
carlsbad
1,551 posts
 

I decided to just buy streamers and test them.  It was that easy.

roxy54's avatar
roxy54
7,719 posts
 

I decided not to do it at all. It was even easier.

attila7
10 posts
 

Wild west for sure, and so much ambiguity. This is best, no this is better, so confusing. The reality is everything changes constantly. I have streamed for awhile using a roku box and spotify. I have considered upgrading but I would need a dac, a ddc, a streamer, a manager app and god knows what else? Up until now it was always the fewer things between the source and the speaker was best, with streaming it's  the most is best? 

kairosman's avatar
kairosman
259 posts
 

Upgrade advice gleaned from my personal experience in no particular order...

Fiber optic either all the way from the router or as a breaker

LPS when possible 

Ethernet switches with OXCO clock

DDC if front end is under $20K 

Avoid ROON, apps from dCS, Lumin, Aurender, Auralic and Innuos sound better

Good but not crazy expensive cables of higher gauge

Power conditioning usually passive or battery are best but some active can be good and reasonable like Puritan 

Finally I want to share a totally biased opinion of the DAC manufacturer Lampizator, I just bought and installed a Lampizator Baltic 3 in my system and it is the most discernible upgrade to my system ever, particularly with respect to timbre, harmonics and soundstage dimensions. If you are serious about getting your streaming to match or beat pure analog playback, a good tube DAC with tube rectification is in my opinion a must buy alongside the list of things above.

 

 

mike_in_nc
1,124 posts
 

My setup gives excellent sound with the following:

  • Synology NAS for file storage, Qobuz for more
  • Roon running on a Nucleus-like NUC
  • ASUS RT-AX86U router, TP-Link managed switch, wired Ethernet
  • Auralic Aries G1 streamer to a good DAC and system
  • Furman and Torus power conditioners/surge protectors
  • Decent (Billy Bags) stands

What I don’t use are the following:

  • Special power supplies or power cords on any of it
  • Expensive interconnects or digital cables; no optical LAN here
  • Vibration footers, pucks, Ethernet filters, gongs, crystals, DDC, etc.

Maybe those things could make the sound incrementally better. But it’s already so much better than most systems I hear, that I am not motivated. I'd rather listen to music. When I’ve tried tweaky stuff, it’s changed the sound less than moving my chair back or forward 6". So for me, all those tweaks are a nothing-burger.

 

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