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Why is a streamer needed in 2022 ?

It's like most things, yes it will work, but don't expect it to be as easy or sound as good as a decent streamer.
Also it depends on your system you have, if its of a certain quality then throwing an expensive streamer at it certainly won't bring the advantages you would get.
It's all about a balanced system really
 
I recently got a Raspberry Pi because I wanted to try Hi-Res streaming via Qobuz, I love it.

Prior to that I was using Spotify from the Optical out on my Sky Q Box, it was very good and I still use it for the odd occasion something isn’t on Qobuz.

Cheers BB
 
Nickdubai said:
I wasn't trying to upset or question your belief/passion , just trying to understand what the vast and huge differences are in the digital chain...If I take my turntable as an example and I tap/rap the support that it is on I can hear it faintly through the speakers which probably means that I am hearing much small vibrations all the time so better isolation might be one solution, what is it in th digital chain equivalent to this that make the difference to replay ...
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OK that makes sense so apologies that my response came across as antagonistic (I know it did!) I'm not an engineer so I'm not qualified to answer, only regurgitate what I've been told, but the anwer seems to be noise, primarily from power supplies but also mechanical vibrartions also impact signal fidelity. Naim for example design all their PCBs to be suspended mechanically to try and counter this. The Lampizator design is built around valve output tubes, which is a different design exectuion to solid state output.

S-Man said:
At what price do these things start to sound fixed? £35K?
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How do you mean 'fixed'?
 
Alex S said:
Aside from convenience, interface and aesthetics but focussing on sonics, there are two schools of thought: 1. If you have a competent DAC there will be no difference and any difference you perceive is down to expectation bias and a blind test would confirm this. 2. A properly engineered streamer will be dedicated solely to the task and thus have better power supplies, RFI isolation, mechanical isolation and so on.

Take your pick and which ever camp you fall into, ignore the other.
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Splendid, except.....
Those of us with a long memory may remember the LMS server tweaks from a chap who went by the name of Soundcheck. he came up with some tweaky settings (turning off processes etc) which he said would make everythign work and sound better, and some people thought they did, but then factions developed between those who thought that the thing to do was to make buffers shorter and those who thought the thing to do was to make them longer and it all collapsed in a flame war. Also some people disagreed over his assessment that lms sounded better on windows than linux. By this time many/ most fo the people who had adopted the initial tweaks came to the conclusion thar maybe they made things worse or the same or whatever.
Ditto the whole argument about streaming flac as flac or decoding it to pcm in the server.

Even among people who think that server software and indeed usb source hardware are going to make a difference there is nothing like a consensus as to what "better" might actually be - 1) super powerful hardware or low powered. 2) dedicated operatign system and if so which one.

According to some strands of belief you simply cannot do better than a raspberry pi running a stripped down dedicated verion of linux compiled specially to do this one thing alone (picoreplayer)... and one might ask how one could improve on an allo usbridge, assumign there was somethgin to improve in the first place.
 
I’ve used the Pi to DAC option from my nas drive, then the SBT to DAC, and just recently got myself the Azure 851n. They were all used with my nas drive, Spotify and Amazon HD music. To my ears the 851n is a massive improvement. I still use my TT and CD,s it’s all down how the mood takes me.

As always it’s down to the source quality, for example I have one particular CD, vinyl and digital album of the same thing and vinyl wins hands down. But that’s not the case with other source material.
 
flatpopely said:
It sounds better.
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Disagree based on experience. Had a Linn Majik/DSM 2 and an Auralic Aries Mini with linear power supply. Compared to my M1 Mac Mini running Audirvāna studio via a Chord DAC the streamers sound flat and less musical by comparison.
 
tenpercenter said:
Disagree based on experience. Had a Linn Majik/DSM 2 and an Auralic Aries Mini with linear power supply. Compared to my M1 Mac Mini running Audirvāna studio via a Chord DAC the streamers sound flat and less musical by comparison.
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That's not exactly comparing streamers is it, got to use the same dac for starters
 
tenpercenter said:
Disagree based on experience. Had a Linn Majik/DSM 2 and an Auralic Aries Mini with linear power supply. Compared to my M1 Mac Mini running Audirvāna studio via a Chord DAC the streamers sound flat and less musical by comparison.
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I agree, those two streamers are pretty poor examples and can well believe you preferred your Mac Mini.
 
So where I thought I was heading and someone mentioned Lindemann above, was Lindemann Source II direct into active speakers as the Lindemann Source II also has a good phono stage, job done. But then I stumbled across Klipsch speakers so I am now thinking a Audio Research I/50 with digital module and phono module and simply plug my laptop/tablet straight into the DAC and connect my turntable to the phone stage...
 
On Sunday i connected my iPhone to; a £9 Apple Dac , a second hand Linn Knect Room Amp and a pair of Gold Badge Falcon Q7s.

It sounded great and the thought of complete vertical integration of an; Apple DAC, Apple Hardware, Apple software and Apple coded files sitting on Apple servers, when I used Apple Music was intriguing. I also had access to; a server full of files, Qobuz and BBC sounds.

For the main system I use the same phone to run Roon and connect to a £3000 Sugden Integrated Amp, a £800 RME DAC and a £600 Sonore streamer with a relatively enormous power supply.

The Apple kit weighs around 20g and runs on a small Lithium battery

I don't need a streamer of that I can now be sure, pretty sure that I should be living without Roon too. Do I want to? That's something else entirely
 
flutteringwow said:
Your first post however was pure intentional bate
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35 years ago before I’d ever heard anything hifi, I had an argument with a mate at uni who had a Heybrook TT2. I just couldn’t get what he was saying and argued vehemently that nothing that expensive could possibly make lps sound much better than a cheapo Amstrad…….. Look what happened to me :). Honestly, I think this is a good question and so do most contributors apparently, regardless of its intent. Well, we all have to start somewhere I guess.
 
A streamer may add covenience, ease of use, or some features you wouldn't otherwise have.
But yes, the digital out of the devices you mention will also work.
Will a streamer have better sound quality?
Depends on what you are using now, and on the streamer itself. It may or may not.
 
flatpopely said:
I consider the Linn Sekrit a very good streamer. What is it about the Linn DSM you consider pretty poor?
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I find Linn equipment dry, uninvolving and lacking in any kind of emotional connection with the music; it's sterile and for the money there are things that cost half as much but seem to offer twice the engagement. I heard their Klimax DSM recently and thought it dull. It's just my experience of it, I'm not offering anything that should be regarded as definitive or objective.
 
While picore player on a Pi sounds great, particularly with signal going via i2s, there is a problem when running Qobuz that tracks skip. I'm sticking with Qobuz so need another solution. Next up I'll try Roon and see what happens.......I also have an Innuos Zen mini MK3 and while that sounds great too, it doesn't always pick up my playlists.
 
raysablade said:
On Sunday i connected my iPhone to; a £9 Apple Dac , a second hand Linn Knect Room Amp and a pair of Gold Badge Falcon Q7s.

It sounded great and the thought of complete vertical integration of an; Apple DAC, Apple Hardware, Apple software and Apple coded files sitting on Apple servers, when I used Apple Music was intriguing. I also had access to; a server full of files, Qobuz and BBC sounds.

For the main system I use the same phone to run Roon and connect to a £3000 Sugden Integrated Amp, a £800 RME DAC and a £600 Sonore streamer with a relatively enormous power supply.

The Apple kit weighs around 20g and runs on a small Lithium battery

I don't need a streamer of that I can now be sure, pretty sure that I should be living without Roon too. Do I want to? That's something else entirely
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Precisely I was blown away when, for my office, I connected a Rega P1 to powered Klipsch 5s through the built in MM phono stage and my tablet running Qobuzz through the built in USB DAC using a USB C to USB B DAC...
 
T
Nickdubai said:
Precisely I was blown away when, for my office, I connected a Rega P1 to powered Klipsch 5s through the built in MM phono stage and my tablet running Qobuzz through the built in USB DAC using a USB C to USB B DAC...
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That’s what it’s all about. The moment you fall into indecision it all falls apart. Love what you have.
 
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