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Computer Audio..Stream or download?

Fellow Audiophiles,

Until now, i never cared for music streaming or downloads, simply because of compression. I owned fairly large selection of CD's, SACD's, DTS and DVD audio discs. DTS and DVD audio are long gone and SACD's are now pretty much limited to classical titles. I have been watching the digital trend pretty closely..it seems that we have evolved from digital downloads to now streaming. For sake of convenience, i have installed Sonos in couple of rooms. In my HT setup, Sonos just couldn't live up to high standards set by Krell and Raysonic. The streaming from Spotify, Amazon and Rhapsody is just average (flat and dull most times).

I am looking for ideas and feedback based on your experiences with high-res downloads. I am only interested in listening to high-rez / DSD64 or DSD128 files.

Please respond with your recommendations on DSD software and DAC's/Players.

MY Equipments:
Classe SSP-800 / CA-2200 / CA-5200
Krell Cipher
Raysonic CD-128
B&W 803s/804s/HTM2s/SCMS
Audience Au24 SE - IC's, Speaker, Power and Digital Cables
Audience AR6-TSSD/AR2-TSSD
128x128lalitk
lalitk's avatar
lalitk OP
5,052 posts
 
I have signed up with Tidal yesterday. The HIFI service is bit expensive, $16.99/mo. if you sign up for 6 months. Otherwise, you pay $19.99. I did notice bit more transparency and overall robust sound in A/B comparison with Spotify. Overall, I was quite impressed with the Tidal sound. Looks like I am going to stick with Tidal and dump Spotify.

I am sure matters would improve with a quality dac or Sonos Connect mod.

Thank you all for great feedback.
beewax
173 posts
 
I dumped Beat Music to Tidal 6 months ago for $10 more and it worth every penny. Best deal ever.
lalitk's avatar
lalitk OP
5,052 posts
 
Hello,

Are you streaming Tidal wirelessly to your HT? I reckon, connecting my laptop to a DAC via USB cable would be ideal way to get the best sound. What can I say, I have been spoiled by the convenience of controlling my Sonos through iPad

I recall someone once told me that you can control your laptop from IPad..not sure if that's true?
sonicdead
25 posts
 
I recommend (and own) the Ayre QB-9 DSD. Best I have heard except for Wavelength gear for DACs. Only drawback is USB input only. Streaming sound quality is suspect (imo) but have not tried Tidal. Easier to build a digital music library with external hard drivers and running via MAC/PC (using a macbook pro late 2008 model). Switched from ITunes to Decibel as software a while ago, but looking into Audio Nirvana as upgrade in future.
elevick
2,636 posts
 
I stream Tidal wirelessly and wired. It sounds a little bit better with hard wire, either from my pc or phone to DAC with and OTG cable.
One very interesting find was that when I used Tidal on my phone via bluetooth to a chord hugo the sound was simply phenomenal. No need for a wire there. Granted, the bluetooth receiver was the Audioengine with the x technology which is much better than most bluetooth.
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