tomcy6, that's the problem -- these days my listening is 90% streaming, for all the obvious reasons. It's just that on CERTAIN material -- acoustic folk rock, chamber ensembles -- the difference between analog and streaming is pretty glaring. (CDs, it happens, fall in between. Albinoni, Mondonville, Dave Carter & their ilk sound convincing enough in that format). Also my current DAC, the Musical Fidelity M6S, a decade old and discontinued, is not a good match for my new Aurender N200 (sounded fine with more primitive streamers).
Distinctly Digital Forever?
Something always made me believe that a decent tube preamp could "mellow" or "naturalize" the sound of digital sources. But this doesn't seem to be so. OTOH, maybe there are DACS out there that not only convert to analog, but actually make digital source components sound like analog sources? So, just to further my understanding: assuming price no object, does there exist any DAC, or DAC/Pre combo, capable of making my streamer (or the best streamer in existence, for that matter) sound indistinguishable from an FM radio signal, given each "playing" the same recording at the same volume with the same EQ?
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“It’s just that on CERTAIN material -- acoustic folk rock, chamber ensembles -- the difference between analog and streaming is pretty glaring. ” Well, this goes back to provenance of files came over to streaming platform. For most part, Streaming via Qobuz is very satisfying but you do come across certain recordings that are not good. This is one of the reason why I still continue to collect recordings sourced from original master tapes and maintain a decent library of rips on my Aurender SSD drive. I don’t squander any opportunities to grab Analog Productions SACD’s and XRCD’s. Yes, the cost is high at $30-$40 but man, these recordings are worth every penny and made me gave up on Vinyl. |
@lalitk Thanks, I have been postponing that approach but now is a good time to start acquiring my absolute favorite recordings from Analog Productions! |
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