Using a MacBook with Audirvana and Tidal as server...
 

... has brought me a little further into the streaming business. Still not totally convinced this will be an alternative for me though. I do love my music as a physical collection and till now streaming has only been interesting for mobile use and to listen into and find new music - as soon as it`s considered "worthy" I buy it on physical media - when possible on vinyl.

Streaming and "renting" my music from a streaming client is just not what I consider worthy of a hobby "music" that has such a strong center in my life. I have always (partially) defined myself through music and music scenes and found a physical music collection to be a huge part of this (I actually even have my problems accepting someone without a good physical music collection to be a true "fan" or music lover).

But that`s a question of attitude (maybe) and further I do want to dive deeper into streaming as an alternative.

So - whilst making some progress using the MacBook with the Audirvana Software and a Tidal subscription it is still nowhere close to my physical media playback.

I have compared several times and still find Vinyl to be superior (by far) and CD a little more enjoyable.

So the question is - what can be done to better the streaming playback? Use a better transport for streaming? How much benefit will this bring over a MacBook with audirvana?

As a DAC I use my McIntosh C 52 - just so you have a comparison on the other sources - I use a Moon Neo 260D Transport for CD and a full Brinkmann (incl. Arm and Cartridge) Lagrange via Pass XP 15 for Vinyl into the McIntosh C 52 and MC 452... Streaming Tidal via the above is far from reaching that quality in reproduction.

Enjoy the music folks !!!

Great post...you are not alone in these views!

It`s amazing how the Moon Neo 260 CD Transport via McIntosh C52 internal DAC simply outperforms any "budget" solution for streaming (stopped at the Auralic Mini). And that`s not even bringing the playback from my (admittedly far more expensive) analog setup into play.

Brings me to the conclusion that - 4 a decent streaming reproduction - you probably need to put down somewhere between 2-5k for a streaming transport.

So much for the "digital is digital - all sounds the same" front. Budget solutions work to a certain degree - but just don`t get you all the way (at least until someone proves me wrong).

Now - for the above invest I can buy tons of physical media and enjoy music on a completely different level.

So right now I`m still trying to figure out all this fuss about the streaming.

Certainly I can see the advantage for mobile use and for finding new music. But until someone proves me different, I have come to the conclusion, that streaming is for those who either don`t already own a dedicated music collection (thus making the invest for a good streaming transport worth while - as the data available is without a doubt huge) or those who - for one reason or another - don`t want their physical music collection anymore.

Whilst I already own about 90% of the music I wholeheartedly enjoy and will continue to collect physical music, I see no real advantage in investing big amounts into streaming.

I used a MacBook many years ago with numerous software programs, JRiver the last one, and found it to be ok.

Updated to an Auralic Aries and it was night and day.

The difference would have to be: the computer itself not being optimized for music playback, the usb implementation in the MacBook cannot even come close to a streamer box especially made for that purpose.

Also what kind of usb cable are you using and does it compare to the one you are using on your transport? That can make a big difference as well.

Ed

Hi - yes, but I would have thought to solve this by using the dedicated software (even allows access to MQA). Basically a streaming transport can`t do much more than reading/decoding any given digital package via software and pass it on to the DAC... so the software should be one of the main factors.

I have considered the Aries Femto too - but right now I don`t see why I should invest when playing CDs and/or Vinyl is this good... might aswell buy some great albums for the money and simply enjoy physical media with all the benefits of great HAPTIC ;-)

Somewhat true, but then that would also be true for a CD transport only sending a digital package to a DAC as well, yet we also invest in expensive options there as well.

I guess it all depends if we believe the digital stream from either a CD transport or streaming transport can be altered by external factors.

Ed

"Enjoy the music...." is what I keep telling myself rather than dissect the listening experience when I consider the whole streaming thing. IF, Audirvana release a PC based program, which a week ago they said in "a couple weeks", I probably will get that. I don't like JRiver really.
This newfangled :) streaming thing will never compete with my analog rig, but I do want something to help me stream/play my digital files when I am vacuuming the house!

I also have an issue with buying digital media, cuz really what are you buying and does it really exist?? Sitting on my sofa and intently listening to streaming media is not a natural thing.....at least for my ears.

Also true.

I have come to the conclusion that the main decision is not whether you prefer streaming over CD/Vinyl in a technical sense, but rather whether you enjoy collecting physical media or not.

I`m a HAPTIC kind of person - I love a dedicated & physical music collection and I truly enjoy going into record stores and talking to people or going to concerts and buying Vinyl straight from the artist etc... to me streaming only makes sense if you`re not into collecting music.

I believe with a reasonable invest you can make streaming sound really good - but the quality Vinyl and CD brings is not at all inferior (as some have suggested in other threads).

So in the end it probably just comes down to what kind of a person you are.

+2

Some minor recommendations:
1. try Squeezelite/Logitech Media Server instead of Audirvana (huge difference although complicated to install being some kind of an emulation software - having no Logitech hardware) or better still - Daphile (Squeezelite and Daphile are both Linux based).
2. try an UpTone ISORegen with LPS1.2 (huge difference as well)
3. use a reference/hi-end USB cables (as short as possible)
4. SSD instead of HDD
5. try to convert (or decompress) flac into wav.
__________________
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