I've never used a USB stick I have about 3.5TB in a Synology NAS streaming through an Auralic Aries Mini. The NAS with two 4TB drives cost me $557 the Mini lightly used $449 had both for 5+ years now they work great and super reliable.
Is a USB stick directly into ones streamer (renderer) better than streaming from a PC/NAS?
I have a cambridge Audio 851N which has a couple of USB slots, one of which is occupied by a small 32Gb USB 'stick' with some of my music on it.
I see a LOT, a huge amount of discussions going on re streamers/computers/NAS etc etc, and some spend thousands on these items. A LOT of money can be spent with expensive LPS and specially built computers, some also costing thousands, but WHY? Why, when one can dispense with the PC/NAS, rip off switches and their cables etc etc altogether and listen directly from a USB stick attached to a streamer, so no PC etc is required at all (for music playback).
Am I missing something here? Surely a USB memory stick (drive, whatever) costs almost nothing, as is connected directly to my streamer. I've no need to stream from my (expensive) PC or my NAS, with all the pitfalls that that entails. All I need to be powered up is the 851N and my power amp connected to my Maggie 1.7i's - bliss.
I don't use Tidal/Spotify or any of the other expensive sources, nor have any need for the rediculously over priced (IMO, I've not tried it) programs like Roon, as the USB stick does it all.
I've compared direct streaming from the USB stick with NAS and PC listening, both using 'good' cables and power supplies, and the direct USB input beats them both.
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Either hard drive storage system provides the same audio performance in my BRYSTON digital player and BRYSTON DAC system … a USB stick or NAS makes no difference . I use the USB stick 90% of the time because it’s faster The DAC that is paired up to the digital player / streamer is the “silver bullet” step- up to improving your digital music appreciation…. (And of course with a high-end cable linking the player to DAC in a 2 box system) …. It’s not the digital file storage medium. my stablemate BRYSTON DAC with a CARDAS CLEAR cable bested my prior ARCAM DAC and ATLAS cable. Ditto for no difference in USB vs NAS storage reproduction using the USB input on my other high-end DAC in my REGA ISIS VALVE cdp/DAC with a CARDAS CLEAR cables loom array. FWIW …. |
@erik_squires - I'm not looking to 'invest' in anything. I'm simply putting the question out there, as there seems very little discussions going on around my question. @fuzztone - I'm not frugal, quite the reverse, but I'm also not dumb. I don't see the need to spend, possibly, thousands, to get no, or very liitle SQ improvement. I'm willing to try anything out. I'm open to all possibilities - although expensive fuses in your mains pre/power amp input is where I draw the line! In a speaker, yes, maybe, as they're in the direct line of music. People get drawn in by 'good' dealers selling Foo. 'Good' meaning good at their job, the job of SELLING stuff. @tomic601 - Where would I use the Jitter Bug in my scenario? The Jitter Bug that's been reviewed many times, and most conclusions are - the only thing a Jitter Bug does is relieve you of $60/£50! @jond - So you spent c$1k. My NAS (920+) + 3x6Tb drives came to about the same, but my 32Gb stick was £12. A slight difference. And music from the stick sounds better. I've seen people who've spent c$10k on a streaming setup. Maybe they couldn't directly stream into their renderer from a USB drive/stick; maybe they haven't even tried it. Scared to no doubt after that expense. c$10k v $10. One would imagine/think/BELIEVE that the $10k setup would be much better. If so, by how much, if at all (that's not a question btw)? @akg_ca Thank you, and everyone here, for the useful input. Although you say the USB is equally good as your NAS. There's so so much written about LOTS of noise produced by a NAS/Switch/PC/Cableing, and how much one needs to spend to alleviate it, which is what prompted my original question. A USB stick obviates the need for any of that, IF your renderer has a USB input. |
@daveteauk Yes you are correct the only way to get a better sound would be if your streamer had a SSD internal hard drive. A USB is essentially a SSD. I recently bought a Sandisk 2TB portable SSD which is like a giant USB. Thing with USB is you can play it in the car too : ) |
When I look at the value of my time then streaming services and Roon are pretty easy to justify. I think many of us have more money than time these days unless you're retired. Then there is the whole aspect of the user interface. I can't remember the last time I used something like a memory stick for music storage definitely more than a decade ago. The phone provides the music for the car with more than adequate quality. I think if I took a poll I would find that more people who use turntables more and have two amplification are the ones complaining about noise then those with all solid state and primarily digital. It's a guess but I have a feeling it's going to be somewhat accurate. What does that tell me? I think most people can figure that one out. You can transfer noise over USB but that can be solved for somewhere between 20 and $100. Noise over ethernet is a really big stretch at best. And who is to say that there's not something screwed up in the DAC powering the USB stick doesn't cause more noise? |
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