Interesting (not) that the sound subjectively improved as the prices went up, way up.
Reconfirming the known: DAC hierarchy
I have used separate DACs since the late 1980’s. I have had many and understand the hierarchy well. But recently just had a reconfirmation. As always hearing the differences is always more striking than just thinking about them.
About five years ago I was helping introduce a friend to the high end and ultimately build a system. He wanted to start inexpensively so I suggested a Schiit Yggdrasil DAC and since I needed to upgrade my office system I bought a Schiit Gundgnir multibit ($1.3K) for him to check out and he ultimately bought the Yggdrasil (A2) $2.5K. Not long after he bought ARC equipment with a Linn front end with Majik DAC... a very notable upgrade... then a couple years later upgraded the DAC to Exakt... for a surprising improvement... he was shocked. He experienced the multiple surprising improvements Gundgnir --> Yggdrasil--> Majik --> Exakt.
My office system was pleasing until a month ago or so my Gundgnir bit the dust. I asked to borrow his unused Yggdrasil. I was shocked (this is what keeps you in this pursuit for a lifetime) how much better the Yggy sounded... I knew it should and I could describe the difference before putting it in... but when I did I am always surprised at how obvious and substantial it is. My friend was kind enough to sell me the Yggy so I didn’t have to buy a new one.
I had lazily used my M4 Mac Studio as a streaming source when I had gotten rid of the last of my Microsoft / Intel stuff ( big tower for the desktop computing). So since I had to pull out the audio rack I decided to use the Bluesound stream I had gotten for breaking in cables and stuff. Wow, a big improvement... I mean, I knew it was coming... but it's alway surprising when you hear it an it sure was a reconfirmation of how a really low level budget streamer is better than a PC. Which I have proven to my self many times... but that still, when I hear it is just really obvious
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"Umm any high pc will beat the crap out of the most expensive streamer." "a high end pc can mimic any streamer if you know how to write code so any program you can run on a pc. A streamer is just a stripped down pc and over inflated prices." The original question remains, what high end streamers have you directly compared to? Any from say Aurrender? How about Grimm or Lumin or Baetis? Perhaps another brand? If you haven’t then it’s just supposition on your part |
@facten i use a pc and when the audio is mastered right the noise floor is silent on my system that is how I know. |
+1 ….Bigtime what you believe is limited to your system , a fine and important distinction. (1) Toddle down to your local bricks and mortar high-end audio store and personally audition a direct bake-off in a high-end system between a quality build high-end streamer and your PC suggestion , (2) Contemporaneously, ask yourself the question why audio presenters at the major audiofests use high-end streamers in their high-end systems in lieu of your suggested PC’, Here’s an abbreviated summary of what most people experience as the differences that weren’t subtle.
- But the sound isn’t just cleaner -- the musical backdrop seemed quieter, too, as if the noise floor had dropped. This results in some other improvements. One was that you can expect to hear deeper into recordings -- subtle details are easier to discern. In a nutshell, resolution was improved. |
@akg_ca a lot of audio companies are full of scammers and thieves, they will do anything to push sales they even made up words and false measurements that don’t matter. Many places are going out of business if they were honest they would never have an issue. If people use a pc and not a streamer they will lose out on money for they do get kick backs and do not believe any sales person most of them will sell their own mother or whoever they want. |
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