Systemic Development > Streaming Players
Venturing into DSD
tmazz:
Up until now my adventures in streaming and computer audio have been limited to 192/24 files as that is the upper bandwidth limit of my Bluesound Node. I had made several unsuccessful attempts at trying to play higher resolution files via my laptop but was unsuccessful as getting the laptop and the DAC to sync up.
A couple of weeks ago I decided to just sit down and put in the time required to research the proper drivers and setup and was finally able to play higher res files from the laptop through my Pro-Ject DAC.
I had about half a dozen DSD files and while they were better than other digital files I had of the same material the sound was not as good as I had hope it would be and no where near the SQ of the LP version. But nothing was in any way optimized. The laptop was just using whatever settings it was defaulted to and the USB cable as just some $3 piece of junk that had been packed in with some kind of computer hardware that I had purchased over the years.
So it was a good start and I figured I had nowhere to go but up.
I figured easiest next step would be to try a better USB cable so I call Pete at Triode Wire Labs and ordered one of his Split Power & Data USB Cables.
https://www.triodewirelabs.com/product/split-power-data-usb-cable/
The difference was simply breathtaking. My son sat on the couch just repeating :"Holy crap Dad, ho-lee crap." The SQ was better along basically ever metric we audiophiles just to describe sound. The stage was wider and deeper and the instrument position we more clearly defined. The bass was tighter and faster rise times were faster, giving you cleaner highs and generally more inner detail. The sound began to approach (but did not reach) that of the LP and there is still work to be done tweaking the system.
Of course I was replacing a real junky piece of cable so there was a lot of improvement to be had, but this experiment convinced me of two things. One, there is definitely something to high quality USB cables and investigating them is definitely something worth exploring for anyone seriously into file based audio. And two, with the quality I was able to get out of this quickly thrown together computer system the SQ of the current high res digital formats is such that I think it is something that I will definitely need to explore further in the future.
P.I.:
Sooooo... how much time do you have on that cable? I ask because it will improve quite a bit during the first 20 hours or so and then slowly until 100 or so are on it.
tmazz:
It only has 5 or 6 hours on it so far ... and it still sounds great. I look forward to it fully breaking in. :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:
P.I.:
--- Quote from: tmazz on September 10, 2019, 09:38:49 PM ---It only has 5 or 6 hours on it so far ... and it still sounds great. I look forward to it fully breaking in. :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:
--- End quote ---
Man, are you in for a treat!
Triode Pete:
--- Quote from: tmazz on September 10, 2019, 07:52:30 PM ---Up until now my adventures in streaming and computer audio have been limited to 192/24 files as that is the upper bandwidth limit of my Bluesound Node. I had made several unsuccessful attempts at trying to play higher resolution files via my laptop but was unsuccessful as getting the laptop and the DAC to sync up.
A couple of weeks ago I decided to just sit down and put in the time required to research the proper drivers and setup and was finally able to play higher res files from the laptop through my Pro-Ject DAC.
I had about half a dozen DSD files and while they were better than other digital files I had of the same material the sound was not as good as I had hope it would be and no where near the SQ of the LP version. But nothing was in any way optimized. The laptop was just using whatever settings it was defaulted to and the USB cable as just some $3 piece of junk that had been packed in with some kind of computer hardware that I had purchased over the years.
So it was a good start and I figured I had nowhere to go but up.
I figured easiest next step would be to try a better USB cable so I call Pete at Triode Wire Labs and ordered one of his Split Power & Data USB Cables.
https://www.triodewirelabs.com/product/split-power-data-usb-cable/
The difference was simply breathtaking. My son sat on the couch just repeating :"Holy crap Dad, ho-lee crap." The SQ was better along basically ever metric we audiophiles just to describe sound. The stage was wider and deeper and the instrument position we more clearly defined. The bass was tighter and faster rise times were faster, giving you cleaner highs and generally more inner detail. The sound began to approach (but did not reach) that of the LP and there is still work to be done tweaking the system.
Of course I was replacing a real junky piece of cable so there was a lot of improvement to be had, but this experiment convinced me of two things. One, there is definitely something to high quality USB cables and investigating them is definitely something worth exploring for anyone seriously into file based audio. And two, with the quality I was able to get out of this quickly thrown together computer system the SQ of the current high res digital formats is such that I think it is something that I will definitely need to explore further in the future.
--- End quote ---
Thanks, Tom! Dave & I appreciate your kind accolades!
Cheers,
Pete
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version