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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
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
fsgattuso
Why does my old CD player sound so much better than my new streamer?

Simple!

I don’t doubt it sounds better when playing cd as that’s pcm and your Muse uses the best converter for that, and it’s R2R Multibit Ladder.

MUSE ERATO 4 x PCM1704 (being the last best ones in chip form)

Your Lumin D2 uses Wolfson Delta Sigma converters, good for doing DSD if you into it, but not as good for doing PCM Redbook or DXD 16/44 or 24/96.


Cheers George



hehaw77
43 posts
 
no... not so... especially with upscaling... eg..  Chord MK2 Blu transport upscaler.........
fsgattuso OP
25 posts
 
Thank you Jackd and Audiotroy!  Switching the transcodimg to DSD absolutely made a difference amd brings the sound so close to what I like from my Muse Erato that its no longer a complaint.  With A/B testing the two now it is difficult to hear a difference.  But when A/B testing the PCM setting with the DSD setting the difference is there. Again, the PCM serting was notba bad sound, I just liked the Muse Erato, and now the DSD setting, much better for my taste. But I saw a few people here comment or suggest adding a power supply from sbooster or another company I can't recall now, thoughts on that? Yes Audiotroy I owe you a beer!
three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments
2,097 posts
 
I suspect it could be a master clock difference between the DAC used for streaming and the CD DAC.
kaufman's avatar
kaufman
39 posts
 
Meridian 508.24 (upgrade) sounds better than my neighbor’s streaming $8000 system—we A-Bed it and now he doesn’t want to talk to me anymore. We were going to compare again and bring some more of my CDPs, but he shut me down after the first comparison sound more natural and lifelike. 
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