Does anyone have a digital system that is as involving as their analogue front end?


I have a good analogue front end. Not stratuspherically good but good enough for this comparison. VPI Prime Signature 21 turntable, Pass Labs XP-25 pono preamp, Pass Labs XP-30 preamp and Hovland Radia amp. It has a lovely, very involving sound. On the right recording, I just drop everythng and am drawn in to listen.

My streamer, on the other hand, is decent but not spectacular. It is better than my CD player, but it is not jaw-dropping like my analogue front-end. My question is this: does anyone have a high-end, tier-one streamer (dCS Bartok Apex, Lumin X2, or something like them) that can rival a good analogue system?

audio-b-dog

I took a leap of faith and added the Ferrum Wandla GSE DAC/Pre and Hyssop external power supply with my Aurender N200. Digital improved so much from SimAudio NP 390. Sound is great and at times almost at same sound quality level. Analog still better with my VPI 19/4 with upgrade package (SAMA, TNT delrin/steel platter), Fatboy 10 uni-pivot, Palo Santos cart, and Ayre P-5xe phono pre. Powered by McCormack DNA 225 thru Nova V speakers and 2 REL T-9 subs and Transparent Ultra MM2/G5 cables. Happy and satisfied with Ferrum-Aurender combo. Hyssop external power supply does boost the Wandla sound quality. Ferrum continues to upgrade/update firmware that keeps improving sound quality and my digital side.  

Yes, my digital is as "involving" as my analog front - end however, it depends more on the recording quality versus the source.

Also, if you've outlined and admitted your digital is not on par with your analog due to applied funding (or lack thereof), you've answered your own question.

After considerable evaluation coming out of Axpona I just upgraded my streaming to the dCS Rossini Apex along with the Rossini master clock.  Very happy with the result.  I really appreciate the nostalgia associated with analog but there is no way I can justify the level of expenditure required to match the streaming quality.  Would be really cool to look at but with Tidal, Qobuz and ripped FLAC files so convenient, in all reality, I would likely never use it!

@wswright20 

You've kind of hit the upper end of digital for normal folks who won't spend $250,000. Your digital system should sound very good. Until I heard a system at your level I couldn't really comment. But are you comparing a high-end analogue chain to your high-end digital chain? Not that I'll ever buy the dCS Rossini Apex with a Rossini master clock. Pretty much out of my league. But I'd love to hear it if I ever got the chance.

@audphile1 I have tried all the different ways to stream, so many dacs, streamers, streaming apps, roon, what I am doing now with my setup is totally amazing. I wish everyone could come by and listen. What I have now it would be hard to audition, I stumbled on it by accident. After 50 years with systems what I have now beats all them hands down, makes me think back to the 70s when my father inlaw took me to the Phase Linear factory and we picked out a preamp and amp being he knew Mr. Carver, I was into JBL and Klipsch back then which followed me in my tube amp period, that’s how I stumbled on Volti Audio. To make this post not so long, the Meitner MA3i, to the Pass Labs XA-25 amp to the Volti Lucera speakers are superior sounding to anything I have listened to in my lifetime. The Meinter to Qobuz connect is the way to go with my system.