audioengr
Responses from audioengr
| Streaming Quality Test - Lumin U1 vs. PS Audio Direcstream DAC vs Bridge II It turns out that Ethernet as well as USB must be optimized for SQ.For USB, this means:1) Quality USB cable2) the right playback software - I like Amarra memory playback3) an optimum computer - I like Mac Mini4) optimized power supply for the comp... | |
| Toploading CD transports recommendations It is pretty rare to have a drawer fail actually. The main advantage of a top-loader is the jitter reduction because the disk does not vibrate while spinning. A good reclocker will reduce the jitter 100X more though.I would recommend any OPPO fo... | |
| Bypass built-in CD player DAC Both setups probably sound the same because the jitter is so high from the digital output as well as the internal master clock. If you reclock the digital output before going to the DAC, it will probably sound a lot better, but this depends on th... | |
| A DAC that crushes price vs. performance ratio Listen to CharlesDAD and Almarg. They both have the experience.The #1 issue with digital playback is jitter. The #2 issue is digital filtering. When you consider NOS DAC based on these older chips, you are minimizing the digital filtering probl... | |
| CD ripping for the lower end. I would recommend to use XLD on a Mac to rip CD's. Every bit as good as dbpoweramp and it's free. I use both.As for format, I want the very best quality, so I rip to .wav files. If you want all lf the tags, then FLAC is probably best for you. ... | |
| Pieces of music that digital can't get right "Old proverb: A man with two clocks never knows the correct time."It turns out that in order to get all sample-rates, digital requires two different base clock frequencies, so digital uses two clocks.....There are a number of effects that you coul... | |
| add a Schiit EITR? I have customers with DAC's that passed J-test with flying colors and still benefitted from low-jitter sources.The current state of measurements is abysmal IMO. The state-of-the-art in reproduction electronics has left the measurements in the dus... | |
| add a Schiit EITR? Yeah, right. In your dreams. | |
| add a Schiit EITR? What quality digital cable? Is it BNC-BNC with RCA adapters? If not, then it's not "quality", sorry. The only way to get a good termination to a coax is using BNC, not RCA.I make the best $275 coax cable. If you do use a USB converter, this cabl... | |
| Are Audiophiles "Simply Guessing?" Lower the jitter enough and even MP3 at decent resolution is great. I listen to Amazon Prime music at 10Psec jitter a lot using my Off-Ramp 6 USB converter and it sounds fantastic. Locally played .wav files of the same tracks at 24/96 are slight... | |
| Are Audiophiles "Simply Guessing?" The systems used are typically not up to discerning small differences, like that between AIFF and .wav or FLAC and .wav. Give them a good system and make the listeners close their eyes and you would get the result you expect, even with untrained ... | |
| Ethernet over power line adaptor Tried a power-line Ethernet adapter. Sounded only okay and had noises every so often. Not good enough for serious consideration for me. | |
| DAC OR NO DAC??? S/PDIF and USB will crush HDMI. I would spend at least $1K unless you can find something good used. | |
| Does Roon sound better? Different server software sounds different. I can play Linn Kinsky with Minimserver and that sounds different than Linn Kinsky with BubbleUPnP. | |
| Does Roon sound better? @mayoradamwest Try a Raspberry Pi with Digione board. It will play both Roon/Tidal and Linn Kinsky with DLNA. Linn Kinsky is better. You can easily do an A/B. |