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 was not aware kimber made Ethernet cables. 2. As to what app you’re using it’s not the app that makes a sonic difference. But rather what method is used to deliver the stream to your streamer. |
Well I pretty much only stream these days and when I play a record I convert it to digital to add to my digital library. Not detecting anything lost when streamed. So I suppose I can say it’s more involving. Main digital front end is Roon using dedicated ASIO audio on a windows PC to Topping d90 Sabre DAC via async USB 2. |
I had a different experience with jplay than what they say on their info sheet. Jplay showed the progress of each track, which meant it must have been "in touch" with the streamer. Anyway, Jplay isn't working for me now. It won't connect with my Meitner. When I receive the MA3i and burn it in, then I'll start playing around with apps. Again, my bottom line question. (I think A/Bing fine tuning can be deceptive because you're listening so intensely, in a way you don't when you're simply listening to music.) Have your wife or a friend play either Jplay or mcontrol and see if you can hear the difference after leaving the room for 15 minutes. The difference might be so subtle that you'll have no idea. This is the experience I've had with changing speaker wire and interconnects. I can hear the difference when I'm concentrating on nothing else. But in real life, I'd never notice which cables were in my system. |
Thank you for the suggestions. I will try them when I burn in my MA3i. I am, though, a bit leary of returning too many somewhat expensive pieces of audio equipment to Amazon. I was experimenting with Chinese DACs off Amazon, and they dinged me for returning too much. So, I'll have to be circumspect. |
