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Computer Audio..Stream or download?

Fellow Audiophiles,

Until now, i never cared for music streaming or downloads, simply because of compression. I owned fairly large selection of CD's, SACD's, DTS and DVD audio discs. DTS and DVD audio are long gone and SACD's are now pretty much limited to classical titles. I have been watching the digital trend pretty closely..it seems that we have evolved from digital downloads to now streaming. For sake of convenience, i have installed Sonos in couple of rooms. In my HT setup, Sonos just couldn't live up to high standards set by Krell and Raysonic. The streaming from Spotify, Amazon and Rhapsody is just average (flat and dull most times).

I am looking for ideas and feedback based on your experiences with high-res downloads. I am only interested in listening to high-rez / DSD64 or DSD128 files.

Please respond with your recommendations on DSD software and DAC's/Players.

MY Equipments:
Classe SSP-800 / CA-2200 / CA-5200
Krell Cipher
Raysonic CD-128
B&W 803s/804s/HTM2s/SCMS
Audience Au24 SE - IC's, Speaker, Power and Digital Cables
Audience AR6-TSSD/AR2-TSSD
128x128lalitk

Showing 1 response by williewonka

williewonka
3,067 posts
 
Lalitk - I stream and download and have the following setup

iMac,
- using iTunes for library management and playback controls
- using Audirvana for actual digital streaming of digital files
>>> Audirvana will either play DSD files or convert on the fly and since my DAC does not do DSD I simply allow it to convert
- Ethernet cables - not wireless

Remote control of iTunes via a Droid app - Retune
- nice display that replicates iTunes views of tracks - by artist, album etc...

USB into a v-link192 usb-spdif converter

SPDIF into a Schiit Bifrost DAC

Extremely high quality analogue and digital IC's from KLE Innovations

My own DIY power cables - extremely good

Special split USB cable with separate cables for USB power and data joined at the DAC

The quality is outstanding and every bit as good as my analogue rig

Even digital radio stations sound very good

Hope that helps :-)
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