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What is the weak point in my system?

Help!  My system is 4 years old.  I have a BluesSound Vault 2 streamer (with all of my CD quality music) into a Chord Quetest D/A converter.  My amplifier is a Parasound A21+ driving Vandersteen Treo CTs.  All my cords and cabling cabling are  AudioQuest.  Then there's the preamp.

My Rogue RP-7 had an upper midrange glare so I swapped out the 4 tubes for warmer NOS Mullards.  That solved the problem.

Then I upgraded it to an RP-7 V2.  Even with the Mullards, the midrange glare was back and with a tilted up frequency response thinning it out robbing voices of any chest.  But, it was much more dynamic with greater 3-D imaging and transparency.  

So I bought a used Audio Research LS27 line stage (from 2010).  The midrange glare is gone (except at high volume levels) and the frequency response is much more neutral.  But compared to the RP-7 V2, it's a little foggy without the transparent 3-D or dynamics.

Posters here say there is not much difference in the sound of streamers, so what do you think is happening?

 

allstar
lanx0003
1,998 posts
 

Posters here say there is not much difference in the sound of streamers

Misconception. The source matters the most because of GIGO. You want the purest and cleanest possible signal entering the chain so the rest of the components can preserve its quality.

Streamers reveal differences in sound quality due to variations in (in order of importance) clocking and timing, power supplies and noise control, digital output implementation and isolation, app and software design, and so on. Do not think naively, as some do, that streaming is “just 0s and 1s.” Yes, the data itself is binary, but the timing information that accompanies it matters far more.

The number of streamer trials I’ve gone through is almost on par with DACs. Every streamer sounds different to my ears. I would suggest upgrading your BS vault to like ICON if you want to stick with BS line.

hilde45's avatar
hilde45
6,051 posts
 

I would suggest upgrading your BS vault to like ICON if you want to stick with BS line.

This could be good advice if his room is not the problem.

jl35
4,475 posts
 

The streamer absolutely does matter...

allstar's avatar
allstar OP
3 posts
 

For the first time in nearly 30 years, I have no dedicated room with sound treatments.  The system is in our condo living room with the TV in between the speakers.  So I recognize that as part of the problem.

But if that's the case, why did the midrange even out with the ARC?

 

kofibaffour
718 posts
 

the room/speaker synergy is responsible for many issues compared to everything else in your system apart from the speaker/amp impedance relationship.

So unless you get the RTA in your room sorted, you'd be chasing your tail buying things to fix stuff which may appear fixed only to crop up again cos you did not actually fix the original issue which is likely speaker/room shenanigans

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