Baffled and Frustrated: Streaming/DAC Sound Issues

@brewerslaw

I have experience with Auralic (Aries G1) and Roon

I would check the following -

1. make sure Device Setup in Roon has: Fixed volume; Sample rate that corresponds to your DAC; DSP disabled; Do not enable upsampling; Clock priority default
2. Auralic settings have: upsampling disabled; proper sampling rate set that corresponds to your DAC in the Auralic set up for DAC and streaming services n
3. no speaker placement/room correction in Auralic;
4. make sure your ethernet connection to Auralic is solid. Wifi or wired needs to be solid.

Also worth trying the Auralic’s Lightning DS without Roon.

If you continue to experience issues, swap to a different type of connection between Auralic and DAC. If issues persist your streamer or dac don’t gel or one or both of these components are faulty.

@tony1954 

Well, Tony after this thread has been up 3 days, it would appear no-one else understands these systems either.  Indeed others are saying they have the same kind of issues.

Hence my sage and practical advice.  Clear thinking.  If not from a master digital engineer, of which there seem to be none who can solve this.

@clearthinker 

"it would appear no-one else understands these systems either. "

No one said digital was easy. 

No one said that trying to solve someone's issues from across the country was easy.

What no one said was that because digital isn't super easy and because digital sometimes has problems, I am going to quit and go home.

That's not sage and practical advice, that's living in the past.

@clearthinker

To get an analog FE that equals the performance of this level of digital will probably cost north of $10,000. The price for a good pressing new vinyl is now about $30-$40 per on average. The used ones are an effort to get in mint condition and some cost thousands of dollars depending on album and pressing, Add record cleaning and all other accessories to this and it will add up quicklly.

For a price of 1 good new vinyl record you can have a month of both Qobuz and Tidal with hundreds of thousands of albums at your fingertips.

Please enlighten us how starting with vinyl from scratch is a practical advice?

@audphile1 

I still take the view that the problem is caused by breaking up the analogue signal into billions of tiny fragments that cannot be correctly reassembled.  This is the origin of dither and clock error.  It would seem no-one can solve this - the issue is 40 years old and there is no solution in sight apart from accepting the problem and reducing it by engineering.

As to starting vinyl from scratch, many older audiophiles are disposing of vast numbers of vinyl albums, either on downsizing or when their ability to listen comes to an end, one way or the other.  There is a plentiful supply - that's where I got most of mine from.  Many are near mint because we cannot play all our LPs very often and we look after them when we do.

I have also written that many audiophiles obsess about record-cleaning to an unnecessary extent or even ridiculous extent.