High end CDP to streaming FLAC

[da2222]

Different - both engaging, detailed, transparent, musical - just an uncoloured window to the music.

Thanks, what is your streaming set up?

[WESTLOWER]

Well fwiw relatively recently I had a Sugden Masterclass PDT4 CD player and loved the overall presentation and engaging nature of that top end player. But sold it and now concentrate my efforts on FLAC streaming.

But when I win the lottery I'd love to spend a few ten grand on a top end vinyl rig and vinyl for the sheer pleasure of handling the black circles.

Come to the dark side Edward...

[Yomanze]

It is easily possible for a CD player to outperform a DAC, and vice-versa, but for me there's a certain risk in CD players, and a DAC is more versatile. Most of the budget should go into the DAC, with there being many sub £60 DVD players out there that are excellent transports, and £200 can build a fully featured silent media server. I recommend using a (transformer isolated) USB to SPDIF converter with a dedicated power supply to provide proper galvanic isolation between PC and DAC. Some knowledge of configuration is needed to to ensure that bit perfect files are outputted. Plugging USB from a computer into a DAC is a very troublesome interface to get sounding good, which is why people find inputs often sound different on DACs, despite using the same files.

This way you get to choose the DAC that suits you, but have the digital sources to plug them into. If I had to put a percentage on it, I'd say 90% of the sound is dictated by the DAC, and 10% by the transport / digital front end.

[Sherwood]

Thanks Geoff, but is that in comparison to having used top-end CDPs? That is my quandary..

In truth, I have not used a CDP for a few years now. However, I did a home trial of a few reputed mid range players before making the decision to go fully to streaming. This included one of the mid range Naim cd players (I forget the model number now), and a Cyrus setup (the 8 IIRC). Whilst I concede that these were not top flight units, I dd compare them to more expensive units in store and found the differences minimal.

Geoff

[Edward]

Come to the dark side Edward...

I certainly can guarantee that Adam - just send me tomorrow's lottery numbers now.

[Edward]

Thanks, what is your streaming set up?

Windows 10 machine running Roon Core (+ other stuff e.g. JRiver) > ethernet > Fanless/silent optimised windows 10 machine > usb > DAC > preamp.

But honestly there are many other audio paths just as valid.

On the USB point. When I first started out with DACs the sound quality using USB was atrocious - mainly due to (1) USBs not being asynchronous and (2) many DACs either using the power from the USB or not adequately dealing with it. These days most (all?) well designed DACs are just fine (IMO - as I know this remains a contentious subject).

[Yomanze]

^^ Good post and I agree, except for the ‘most DACs’ part. A select few have a USB front end that can compete with their SPDIF inputs, especially when fed the extremely low jitter signal of current USB to SPDIF converters. I think this is down to design compromises rather than what is possible.

[StanleyB]

On the USB point. When I first started out with DACs the sound quality using USB was atrocious - mainly due to (1) USBs not being asynchronous and (2) many DACs either using the power from the USB or not adequately dealing with it.

The asynchronous USB talk is a false flag. Neither is the optical and coax output asynchronous.
The real problem was with the transfer speed of USB1.1.

[Edward]

The asynchronous USB talk is a false flag. Neither is the optical and coax output asynchronous.
The real problem was with the transfer speed of USB1.1.

Interesting.

To be fair I only came to the party when USB 2.0 was already well in place. For me my first standalone DAC was with USB2.0 (a Musiland if I recall) but was powered by USB power. Once I moved to a DAC that had its own power the difference was night and day. Actually the problem with the Musiland went away if I used a laptop running only with a battery - but of course that is not sustainable.

By the way Stan what tech is used in 'audiophile USB' boards (for example ones made by Paul Pang) that makes them so special? (disclosure here: I have a PP card but not yet got it to work correctly). Or put the question in another way what do you do in your DACs to mitigate any USB issues?

[StanleyB]

I have my own views on many claims made by people marketing their stuff and slapping a huge price mark up on it to match. The use of claims about audiophile etc is more BS.

I myself use a dedicated 5V supply to the USB socket on my DACs with USB in order to get rid of any power supply noise problems from a PC etc. But some people over engineer the whole thing, and then make some dodgy claims. The USB digital signal transfer itself is actually similar to a balanced pair. There is a hot and cold signal line, a ground, and a positive supply line. The latter can be left out if the USB connected device has its own USB power feed. The use of + and - USB signal makes it possible to remove the noise content from the USB signal.