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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
audio-b-dog's avatar
audio-b-dog OP
804 posts
 

I'll try switching back, but it didn't work on the other mesh either. As I said, I had the same problem with my Moon 280D after a black out. Moon had to help me get it going again. Thanks. I hate network problems.

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newton_john's avatar
newton_john
558 posts
 

Tonight, it feels as if streaming is totally involving. Two albums by Ashra on Qobuz are sounding fabulous.

Not sure if it’s just a fortunate happenstance or if all the tweaks that I’ve done over the past couple of months have come to fruition. Either way it’s a treat for my ears.

newton_john's avatar
newton_john
558 posts
 

After I posted my previous comments last night, I lay in bed reflecting on the sudden improvement in the sound quality of streaming that I am experiencing.

A bizarre and heretical thought hit me like an express train. Yesterday, thanks to my kind wife, I had replaced the ageing iPad and Kindle Fire that I have been using as a Roon Control Point with a new 13 inch iPad Air with 512GB. Overkill for the job perhaps but likely to be useful for other purposes. This was an instant upgrade from an ergonomic point of view. The screen is bigger, the connection to Core and Linn DSM more stable and the screen refreshes much more quickly. Could the new iPad have also been responsible for the improvement in sound quality?

Google Gemini thinks that may well have been the case. The insecure connections of the old iPad and the Kindle would have been generating extra traffic over the wifi, which may well have been causing noise and thus be perceived as digital glare affecting the sound. Whether this is true or not, I’m going to take the win and enjoy the improved sound quality. 

One thing is clear, my long term dissatisfaction with streaming is over.  

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
7,925 posts
 

@newton_john 

it isn’t the iPad  

Roon deployed a major update at the end of April. 
it addressed several issues with the product, including memory leaks and performance sluggishness. As part of this update, and most likely due to memory leak fix, the sound quality improved tremendously. 
I have been noticing a much more engaging sound after the update. 
I actually had cancelled roon with effective date few weeks ahead. I rescinded the cancellation. It sounds excellent right now. Gone is the rolled off anemic sound. It’s open and engaging now

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