Thanks for letting me know about hqplayer. I'll look into it when I get my new Meitner MA3i. I am listening to the MA3 and it sounds very good. Very analogue like. But it does not have the crispness of analogue and I'm hoping the upgrade will. Its analogue sound is called "soft," which to my ears means that the tones (notes) are not plagued with the old digital glare, but there is not enough "space" between sounds for the air of analogue. Also, the bass is wooly. It is often quite close to my analogue rig. The upgrade is supposed to fix the "softness," and I'm hoping that gives it the crispness of analogue. Of course, I'm at a loss for exact words to describe what I'm talking about. It is difficult to express things that come through our senses in words.
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?
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Not in a band, maybe you’re referencing someone else. As a child, I took parental imposed piano lessons “reluctantly” as I’d rather be kid playing. I’m lining up guitar, ukulele, and further piano lessons when the dust settles from moving, retirement of my spouse, and the independence of my adult triplets - college graduated but now goofed around for a year - got to give them the daddy kick in the pants. I do consider myself an expert with the Kazoo 😉 |
Sorry for mixing you up with someone else. Kazoo is a great instrument. I'm not sure they use them in bands as much as they used to. I can hear a kazoo in my head, but can't remember which band used them a lot. Maybe the Loving Spoonful? Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks. The Jim Kwesken Jug Band with the lovely Maria Muldair? I age myself. |
@kennyc a very familiar situation. My son’s been struggling for a year to find a job after he graduated in 2025. Job market sucks. He finally started last week. Hang in there something will pop up. @audio-b-dog I was listening to a few albums yesterday on qobuz streaming with roon and the sound quality was mushy and rolled off. Switched to jplay - fixed. Had to reboot my roon core. It was so good after the april release with roon and now two updates later and the roon core is struggling again. Album artwork slow to display, search is just painfully slow. Good thing I kept jplay! |
I dumped Jplay, but I have a feeling they'd welcome me and my money back. What are the advantages of Jplay over Qobuz connect? Of course, that depends on which one recognizes the Meitner. If I hadn't invested in the MA3i, the MA3 is damned good. I'm playing James Taylor's "Gorilla," and it sounds great. I'll see later on today, or at least when I've broken in the MA3i. |
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