What audio system do you have, or plan on getting?

[Daverz]

What Daverz said is what I think, but note that you won't get amazon music with it. I'm sure there is a way, but I don't know it.

You could use the ShairTunes2 plugin to stream from a device that can use Airtunes.   You have to keep the Amazon app running on your device to keep the music playing, which I don't find practical, so I don't use Amazon Music.  I suggest Qobuz, Tidal or Spotify instead.

An alternative is to get a DAC like the Topping DX3Pro ($220) that supports bluetooth so you can stream Amazon Music from your phone/tablet.  You still need to keep the streaming app running in the background, so it will be constantly sucking battery power on the mobile device.

[Daverz]

That's interesting. I've heard that said for Bluetooth but never for WiFi.

I have three systems, two connected to a media server with Ethernet and one wirelessly with WiFi. I may play around some time and see if I can hear any differences.

Yeah, Wi-Fi is not a problem unless your Wi-Fi is extremely marginal.  Even very hi-res audio (e.g. 24/192, DSD, etc) is not difficult for a decent Wi-Fi connection.

[Ratliff]

That's interesting. I've heard that said for Bluetooth but never for WiFi.

There are different flavors of bluetooth audio but as far as I know all use some sort of lossy compression. A WiFi connection will not introduce any compression loss, but I suppose if it is flakey it could fail to keep up with the data requirements and drop out. Audio data rates are very low compared with typical internet transfer speeds, so I think this is unlikely to happen.

[SurprisedByBeauty]

There are different flavors of bluetooth audio but as far as I know all use some sort of lossy compression. A WiFi connection will not introduce any compression loss, but I suppose if it is flakey it could fail to keep up with the data requirements and drop out. Audio data rates are very low compared with typical internet transfer speeds, so I think this is unlikely to happen.

My experience with WiFi/streaming has been: When it's crunch-time and too many things stress the system, music-reproduction is the first to suffer and you get ugly stutters and artifacts. I've never found it "just working, always". And every time I think, if that was coming from my regular system, I'd find it unacceptable.

[Mandryka]

My experience with WiFi/streaming has been: When it's crunch-time and too many things stress the system, music-reproduction is the first to suffer and you get ugly stutters and artifacts. I've never found it "just working, always". And every time I think, if that was coming from my regular system, I'd find it unacceptable.

Yes, that's why two of my systems are wired using powerline ethernet. The third is close enough to the wifi router to work smoothly.

[Daverz]

Yes, that's why two of my systems are wired using powerline ethernet. The third is close enough to the wifi router to work smoothly.

Another option is to use your existing coax cable wiring.  You need a "MoCa" adapter at the router and each access point.

https://www.actiontec.com/wifihelp/wifibooster/how-does-moca-work/

[Ratliff]

In reality, I don't trust any of that stuff. I have a computer (a Mac) with files on a USB hard disc, and I stream (XLD) to a Musical Fidelity gadget that connects to the computer by USB and generates a Toslink (optical) signal for my DAC/CD player. I don't like the idea that a computer (which can be electrically very noisy) is connected to my analog audio electronics. Plus, my CD player/DAC is pretty brain damaged when it comes to computer interfaces and I seem to hear clicks and dropouts when I try to stream directly to it by USB. When I want to listen using a different computer, I don't do any fancy network disc stuff, I just have another USB hard disc with the same files connected to the other computer. Its a bit of a nuisance keeping all of the hard discs up to date, but that adds redundancy. In all I have four copies on different USB hard discs.

[Daverz]

In reality, I don't trust any of that stuff. I have a computer (a Mac) with files on a USB hard disc, and I stream (XLD) to a Musical Fidelity gadget that connects to the computer by USB and generates a Toslink (optical) signal for my DAC/CD player. I don't like the idea that a computer (which can be electrically very noisy) is connected to my analog audio electronics. Plus, my CD player/DAC is pretty brain damaged when it comes to computer interfaces and I seem to hear clicks and dropouts when I try to stream directly to it by USB. When I want to listen using a different computer, I don't do any fancy network disc stuff, I just have another USB hard disc with the same files connected to the other computer. Its a bit of a nuisance keeping all of the hard discs up to date, but that adds redundancy. In all I have four copies on different USB hard discs.

USB noise shouldn't get through to the DAC analog output, unless the DAC is really broken.

 

[Ratliff]

I was willing to try, until the USB input to my CD Player/DAC was flakey (Marantz SA8004).

[DaveF]

There are many ways to do this and many different software approaches...

Yes, I was afraid that was going to be the case.  And thanks, all, first of all, for so many and various replies.  It sounds to me, although I may be wrong, that the "simple" method would be the cheap PC/laptop (which I have), with USB hard drive attached holding all the music files, wired via a DAC to a receiver/amp.

[Ratliff]

Yes, I was afraid that was going to be the case.  And thanks, all, first of all, for so many and various replies.  It sounds to me, although I may be wrong, that the "simple" method would be the cheap PC/laptop (which I have), with USB hard drive attached holding all the music files, wired via a DAC to a receiver/amp.

That would be inexpensive and simple, especially since you already have the PC. When I was using a PC I was used foobar2000. An A/V receiver might be able to accept digital input directly, which means don't need a DAC, just a wire or a gadget that converts USB to Coax or Toslink optical. I seem to recall I had a lenovo laptop which had Toslink available if you attached it to a docking station.

[Ratliff]

Here's a new puzzle. I have a bluray player which has HDMI and digital coax output. I'd like to get a gadget which will take the audio from the digital coax and give me a headphone output. This way I can have the blu ray player on my desk, watch the video on my ordinary computer monitor with HDMI input and listen to the audio on my nice headphones. This is to watch operas I have on bluray. My monitor with HDMI input has a headphone output which would work, which would be fine for a movie, but not for my "audiophile" Opera bluray discs.

There are about a million DAC/Headphone amps with USB input, but I haven't come across many with Coax input. I'm looking for something in the <$100 range. I guess line level output (RCA plugs, etc) would work as well since I have an analog headphone amp I'm not using.

[aligreto]

I just purchased a used (mint condition) pair of these and now I need to listen to all my discs once again (oh crap):

I am coming to this very late but still I offer my congratulations on such a very fine pair of speakers. I am a Sonus Faber owner as well albeit at the other end of the spectrum. I am sure that you have them well run in now and are really enjoying them.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

My vacuum tube (valve) amps. Classical and Jazz music sound luminous and three-dimensional.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

No. 2.

[Mandryka]

Do you think there's a distinctive valve amp sound?

They look like two power amps, is that right or is one a pre?

[71 dB]

Do you think there's a distinctive valve amp sound?

Of course there is. Vacuum tube amps create quite a lot of harmonic non-linear distortion, the frequency responce is flat on a narrower band (bass and treble roll of), and the output impedance is higher causing limited damping factor for the speakers. The result is softer and warmer sound. It's less high fidelity, but easy to like, because all your recordings get the same colourization. Nothing ever sounds harsh or cold. Everything sounds soft and warm.

[aligreto]

Do you think there's a distinctive valve amp sound?

Different valves also have different "voices" which, in itself, is a whole rabbit hole onto itself.

[Irons]

Different valves also have different "voices" which, in itself, is a whole rabbit hole onto itself.

Agreed.

[Mandryka]

Of course there is. Vacuum tube amps create quite a lot of harmonic non-linear distortion, the frequency responce is flat on a narrower band (bass and treble roll of), and the output impedance is higher causing limited damping factor for the speakers. The result is softer and warmer sound. It's less high fidelity, but easy to like, because all your recordings get the same colourization. Nothing ever sounds harsh or cold. Everything sounds soft and warm.

I do not believe that my Radford STA 25 distorts the source "more" than my Krell KSA 50, so I don't believe that there is a distinctive valve sound. The Radford does not sound warm and soft, neither does the Krell.

That being said, many valve amps are indeed warm and soft -- but that's a design choice, not a consequence of the technology. I have a solid state amp, an Audio Innovations Alto (original series) which was designed to be warm and soft in the way of Audio Innovations valve amps  -- as indeed was the Quad 303. I guess the Radford STA series were designed to be more transparent.