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Thread: New to streaming, please help.

  1. #91
    Join Date: May 2016

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    I'm Geoff.

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    Quote Originally Posted by montesquieu View Post
    I used a HifiBerry Digi+ board in mine, output to an Audio Note DAC.

    The Mac into a proper, self-powered USB interface sounded better.

    There are no limitations at all in using a laptop into a streaming device via USB (they run off DC after all) the issue is the quality of the USB interface. (Including the ones in many supposedly 'usb' DACs.)

    Using Audio Out via headphone jack is a different matter of course which is where PC laptops in particular acquired their bad reputation - Macs are better of course as their sound capabilities have always been streets ahead, PCs have generally required additional hardware to match what Macs do OOTB.
    I agree that most PC sound boards are rubbish which is why I have gone for upgraded boards in the past (both internal and external). Apple pcs are better in this respect but (in my experience and opinion) still not good enough.

    I will concede that Mac's are easy to use and that has some appeal to certain users but on sound quality, I think the latest batch of pi boards are far superior. Yes, there are better streamers, but you have to spend an awful lot more for a small improvement.

    Geoff

  2. #92
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mikeandvan View Post
    Thanks very much Edward, I'll let you know how I get on.
    Pleasure. To use an analogy you already have the car to start this journey so you can begin to see the road ahead, there will be plenty of chance to slowly upgrade to a custom built supercar. The mini jack will get you into first gear.

    Ok enough already of silly car analogies.
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  3. #93
    montesquieu Guest

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sherwood View Post

    I will concede that Mac's are easy to use and that has some appeal to certain users but on sound quality, I think the latest batch of pi boards are far superior.

    Geoff
    Far superior? I think that a dubious assertion to make, given that RPi boards are churned out for a few dollars and the add-on boards the same, that an RPi must automatically sound better than a Mac laptop with full spec USB capability and (in my case) £900 worth of master clock + asynchronous USB-SPDIF interface.

  4. #94
    Join Date: May 2016

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    Quote Originally Posted by montesquieu View Post
    Far superior? I think that a dubious assertion to make, given that RPi boards are churned out for a few dollars and the add-on boards the same, that an RPi must automatically sound better than a Mac laptop with full spec USB capability and (in my case) £900 worth of master clock + asynchronous USB-SPDIF interface.
    I can only go by my ears and what sounds best to me. I am currently using the latest Allo spdif board the Digione. Through a Caiman SEG DAC (and an M-DAC) it sounded better to my ears than a (borrowed) Naim DC5 SI. Somehow the Digione just stripped away background noise and "haze" to give a better insight into the recording.

    Geoff

  5. #95
    montesquieu Guest

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sherwood View Post
    I can only go by my ears and what sounds best to me. I am currently using the latest Allo spdif board the Digione. Through a Caiman SEG DAC (and an M-DAC) it sounded better to my ears than a (borrowed) Naim DC5 SI. Somehow the Digione just stripped away background noise and "haze" to give a better insight into the recording.

    Geoff
    And it's far superior to the Mac you heard into a top quality converter?

  6. #96
    Join Date: Sep 2009

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    Quote Originally Posted by montesquieu View Post
    Far superior? I think that a dubious assertion to make, given that RPi boards are churned out for a few dollars and the add-on boards the same, that an RPi must automatically sound better than a Mac laptop with full spec USB capability and (in my case) £900 worth of master clock + asynchronous USB-SPDIF interface.
    As much as apple kit is very nice I don't think price/worth in this case has anything to do with it. Have you tried the RPI solution? I think you may be very surprised. It's an excellent solution.

    The RPI with certain DAC's have a very high end reputation. IQAudio and Allo are just a couple which I have and still use.

    Regardless of the high mass production, the sound I think would easily come up to par with £900 worth of apple kit.

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  7. #97
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    Quote Originally Posted by montesquieu View Post
    And it's far superior to the Mac you heard into a top quality converter?
    The Apple system I heard was in a dealer show system in the USA a while back. It was with a Benchmark DAC though I cannot recall the model. It sounded good but not amazing. Have you heard one of the latest Pi Boards into your DAC?

    Geoff

  8. #98
    montesquieu Guest

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    Quote Originally Posted by The Black Adder View Post
    As much as apple kit is very nice I don't think price/worth in this case has anything to do with it. Have you tried the RPI solution? I think you may be very surprised. It's an excellent solution.

    The RPI with certain DAC's have a very high end reputation. IQAudio and Allo are just a couple which I have and still use.

    Regardless of the high mass production, the sound I think would easily come up to par with £900 worth of apple kit.

    Sent from my 9001X using Tapatalk
    Yes as it says above I got hacked off with the RPi and Digi+ board solution. Too much of a faff (I tried all the main software options), patently not as good as the Mac direct into the upgraded Gustard U12 USB-SPDIF converter I had previously, and well short of what I'm hearing into the Mutec MC3+USB. All this into my Audio Note DAC.

    George has made the claim that the RPi with an Allo board is 'far superior', seemingly under any circumstances, than any sort of Mac setup, based on one dealer dem some years ago into an unspecified midrange DAC, presumably with an internal USB converter. I can't see how that claim is supportable, however much he likes his current setup.

  9. #99
    Join Date: May 2016

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    Quote Originally Posted by montesquieu View Post
    Yes as it says above I got hacked off with the RPi and Digi+ board solution. Too much of a faff (I tried all the main software options), patently not as good as the Mac direct into the upgraded Gustard U12 USB-SPDIF converter I had previously, and well short of what I'm hearing into the Mutec MC3+USB. All this into my Audio Note DAC.

    George has made the claim that the RPi with an Allo board is 'far superior', seemingly under any circumstances, than any sort of Mac setup, based on one dealer dem some years ago into an unspecified midrange DAC, presumably with an internal USB converter. I can't see how that claim is supportable, however much he likes his current setup.
    First, I don't know who George is, and second, I made the point that to "my ears" it was better. A while back was not years ago, it was in November 2016. I have just looked up the Benchmark DAC, and see that it was the DAC3 which had just been released. If that is midrange, than we obviously have different hifi budgets.

    When the dealer substituted a mid-range CDP for the Mac front end, the performance picked up markedly. I also, had a DIGI+ and would not rate it in the same category as the Digione. The latter is far more revealing, which it should be at 4 times the price of the basic DIGI+. Still very cheap though.

    I am not sure why you seem to be getting so irritated that I have a different experience of Mac audio to you.

    Geoff (a.k.a. George)

  10. #100
    montesquieu Guest

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sherwood View Post
    First, I don't know who George is, and second, I made the point that to "my ears" it was better. A while back was not years ago, it was in November 2016. I have just looked up the Benchmark DAC, and see that it was the DAC3 which had just been released. If that is midrange, than we obviously have different hifi budgets.

    When the dealer substituted a mid-range CDP for the Mac front end, the performance picked up markedly. I also, had a DIGI+ and would not rate it in the same category as the Digione. The latter is far more revealing, which it should be at 4 times the price of the basic DIGI+. Still very cheap though.

    I am not sure why you seem to be getting so irritated that I have a different experience of Mac audio to you.

    Geoff (a.k.a. George)
    I'm not one for any kind of absolutes .... specifically to have Mac as an option waved away because you heard one iffy dem pissed me off. To say any RPi is always and everywhere 'far superior' on that basis is just bollocks and if were me I'd have noted that my statement was a bit daft (and unsupportable) and rowed back from it.

    And sorry for the typo.

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