Any Audiophile Steamers Out There ?

[bccap]

Yes I'm one of those wing nuts that will spend thousands on speaker cables and interconnects. And this year after quite some time I did a few upgrades. My current system consists of Gershman Avant Garde Speakers, a Bryston B100 with DAC , { the amp is new to me this year but bought used } a { new } Rega Planar 6 with Ania cartridge , a { new } Graham Slee Gold phono stage and Elevator { necessary as the Ania cartridge is low output moving coil } A pair of 8 foot Nordost Red Dawn speaker cables and Nordost Blue Heaven interconnects for all components requiring them .

And the reason for starting this thread . A Bluesound Streamer with Qobuz as a streaming service and a Humminguru Nova ultrasonic record cleaner ..... I would like to get others opinions of streamed music and offer my own. And second make a recommendation on Ultrasonic record cleaners others may find useful .....

So I'll start with my observations of streaming and await others who may have an opinion. My first method was to hook up the Bluesound Node with RCA interconnects . This uses the built in DAC in the Node. I then hooked it up via SPDIF coaxial cable which bypasses the built in DAC and uses the one in my Bryston ..... The Bryston DAC showed it's superiority immediately with more clarity and separation of instruments .....

So I'll start with what I like

An unlimited library of music . Hi Res files that are extremely clean with extended ranges both high and low .

What I don't like .

After downloading several hundred albums to my favorites there is no way to organize them other than by the date they were added . If I add an Art Pepper album on one date and another on another date the order listed will be separated by the albums added in between ..... I have been in contact with Qobuz and they are beta testing a solution which will allow sorting to be alphabetical .... I can solve the problem by using ROON but that adds about $220 Canucklebucks to the annual cost ..... Not out of the question but I'm inclined to let Qobuz beta test and then offer me a solution.

And then there is the listening experience. The clarity and separation of instruments is awesome . But I find myself jumping around and never listening to an album all the way through. After several comparisons using records of high quality recordings { Art Pepper has extremely high quality recordings } I have found that depth of the sound stage just isn't there like it is on a record ..... A dilemma, depth of sound stage versus media quality .... So far I prefer the record experience but not by a whole lot ...... With Classical music I prefer the streamer ......

Would love to hear other music streamer's opinions if there are any out there ? ..... I realize this is a motorcycle site so there may not be other nut bars like me out there but maybe there is ? If so tell me about your experience and which streaming service you use .....

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[bccap]

And here is something I am going to recommend. The Humminguru Nova ultrasonic record cleaner . Had it a few weeks now and am blown away by what it can do ..... Forty year old records that experienced the rum and coke parties of my youth are coming out like the package just arrived from Amazon ...... There are two models . After asking some questions on Humminguru's Facebook user group I opted for the Nova ......

There are two ways of buying one. The first through their website in Hong Kong and the listed price is cheaper. After communicating with the company and they are very good about communications they couldn't answer my questions on possible tariffs or duty . So I spent a little more and bought it on Amazon. Not a whole lot more . Less than $100 Kanucklebucks but fast shipping { 3 days } and a known all in cost . I didn't want an unpleasant surprise from the Fedex man at my door ...... So if you have a lot of old records this thing will bring them alive. It can't do anything about scratches but it cleans extremely well .....

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[Don R]

You are in a totally different league, I listen to a Bose portable speaker and satellite radio by wifi. I did recently buy a Pyle tuner/amp and an audio-technica turntable hooked to my old Yamaha speakers. L0L. We can play our old records again.

 

[salty_monk]

Joe Nardy is a speaker guy.... I have an Integra Receiver running a Velodyne sub along with a set of 5 Boston Acoustics speakers (re-foamed as they are from the 80's...) there is a PC supplying it for streaming (or Airplay/bluetooth) and I have a Pioneer CD hooked up to it as well.
Doesn't sound like I'm in your league either!!

 

[MikeLyon]

Heard a bit on audiophiles on trunk nation, Eddie trunk surrius or XM radio whatever it's called.

Sounds like audiophiles are a rare if not dying art hobby breed ?

some people calling in had big money in their equipment.

it was said most people today are satisfied listening to music on their phones

I still like the old tube driven console stereo thing I bought at a garage sale 20 years ago, am/fm ,turntable.

Weighs a ton, the sound quality isn't that great but I kind of like the warmth smooth sound.

like the old tube set.

 

[bccap]

I had hoped to get some streaming organization advice . But it appears there aren't many streamers on GSR. Yesterday while choosing a record I realized they weren't in any particular order either . And at least choosing a selection on Qobuz could be done from the comfort of my couch with my tablet.... Haven't made a decision yet but I am leaning toward " Roon " which would solve the organization problem and offer a lot more { albeit for a couple of hundred Canuklebucks a year } .......

 

[Cipher]

I just play my flac files through my uppity paradigm sum thin sumthins.
Denon Amp sumthin
my hearing is bad but a quality source through decent speakers is miles away from under sampled over compressed crap.
I find audio especially bad on streamed movies...
vlc as a tablet interface to my media pc

but you're looking into a hyper version of spotify?

 

[bccap]

I just play my flac files through my uppity paradigm sum thin sumthins.
Denon Amp sumthin
my hearing is bad but a quality source through decent speakers is miles away from under sampled over compressed crap.
I find audio especially bad on streamed movies...
vlc as a tablet interface to my media pc

but you're looking into a hyper version of spotify?

There are three main streaming companies . Tidal, Spotify, and Qobuz .... All are roughly the same price for the service . Qobuz is $10.83 per month in Canucklebucks ...... I went with Qobuz because they will sell you an album. But once I was up and running I realized I had no need to buy an album because I had access to everything through streaming ..... Like you I also have a library of Flac recordings converted to Apple Lossless because Itunes doesn't use Flac. The only complaint I have is no ability to organize the albums I have marked as my favorites other than the date they were downloaded ...... What I want is a section with rock, a section with jazz, a section with Classical, etc. with the albums organized alphabetically in each category .....

The Roon system above will do that and more . As well as add my Itunes library to my tablet which I can't do without Roon . Currently I change the output on the amp to my computer and operate Itunes from there ...... And use Qobuz from my tablet ......However the cost of Roon is around $230 Canucklebucks a year...... Or a one time payment for lifetime usage of $1100 ....... I'm still humming and hawing about whether to get it

 

[Cipher]

There are three main streaming companies . Tidal, Spotify, and Qobuz .... All are roughly the same price for the service . Qobuz is $10.83 per month in Canucklebucks ...... I went with Qobuz because they will sell you an album. But once I was up and running I realized I had no need to buy an album because I had access to everything through streaming ..... Like you I also have a library of Flac recordings converted to Apple Lossless because Itunes doesn't use Flac. The only complaint I have is no ability to organize the albums I have marked as my favorites other than the date they were downloaded ...... What I want is a section with rock, a section with jazz, a section with Classical, etc. with the albums organized alphabetically in each category .....

The Roon system above will do that and more . As well as add my Itunes library to my tablet which I can't do without Roon . Currently I change the output on the amp to my computer and operate Itunes from there ...... And use Qobuz from my tablet ......However the cost of Roon is around $230 Canucklebucks a year...... Or a one time payment for lifetime usage of $1100 ....... I'm still humming and hawing about whether to get it

https://help.qobuz.com/en/articles/10155-how-can-i-sort-my-favourites

 

[bccap]

https://help.qobuz.com/en/articles/10155-how-can-i-sort-my-favourites

Yeah ..... You can do it with Qobuz but not Qobuz on Bluos ..... The streamer is a Bluesound player . To operate it you download the Bluos app to your tablet. Bluos then signs you into Qobuz but you are using the Bluos app to run things. I've got Qobuz on my computer and it will allow me to file alphabetically but Bluos on the tablet will not.

Qobuz has an excellent interactive club where I posed the question to solve the problem. They told me they have an app in beta testing that will allow Qobuz to do the sorting using Bluos .... One of my options is to just wait til the testing is over and they make it available. I did try to get in on the beta testing but was not successful .... The other option of course is to use Roon which works well with Bluos and Qobuz ....

I don't know it you watched that Roon Youtube video but it shows just how much you can do with Roon . And it's a lot ......

 

[Redman]

Following just for the discussion of LP cleaners.

Have 1969 receiver (SX1000-TW, multiple actually), 1978 speakers (Infinity QB), 1979 turntable (Micro Seki MB15)….. so am not up to the technical level described above.

oh, wait, I did download two albums to my phone for playing thru helmet communicator. (If I can remember how to get that going….)

 

[bccap]

https://help.qobuz.com/en/articles/10155-how-can-i-sort-my-favourites

You're on to something there . I did a little research and found I could run an SPDIF optical cable from my computer to an input in my DAC . That bypasses the streamer and goes direct to the amp . So I did it and set up Qobuz to list albums alphabetically by artist . Works well but when I did a comparison test { I have both the streamer with Bluos and the direct line from the computer hooked up and can quickly go back and forth between them } I found the streamer sound quality to be much better especially with the HiRes files .....

Think I might try Roon . They have a three month trial on for $10 U.S. ..... { Once the trial is over they have an automatic renewal for $210 Canucklebucks a year } Not crazy about not being asked if I want to renew but I researched the cancellation process and it isn't too difficult } ......

 

[LAB3]

Allz I know is I miss having my old JVC receiver and Advent towers. Can't listen to that rock and roll stuff through those speakers, gotta be acoustic.

 

[bonanzadave]

I own 3 Yamahas. T80 Tuner,C50 PreAmp,M50 Amp. I push them through very classic JBL L-100 speakers. My TT is another classic, Denon DP62L.

I have nothing to add about streaming. I play Steely Dan, Dire Straits, Rush, Natalie Merchant,,,,,,,,

But I find the conversation interesting !

 

[oldGSfan]

None of these observations and opinions matter, but I'll share anyway. I've had a set of AR98LSi speakers since '84 (re-coned once) and need to do the crossovers to remove a mid-range brightness that always annoyed me a bit, and I'm sure the diodes are leaking. There's a write-up on it that I saved, I gotta do it soon. I mainly listen to a pair of large-ish bookshelf ADS L570s that I inherited from my late brother, and some freebie Sonos speakers in the garage. I use either the Sonos Amp or a Yamaha receiver to drive the ADS speakers these days. The Sonos stuff was free, so why not? I remember thinking the ADS sounded murky, but it was just the absence of the high mid-range brightness, and I have learned to love them.

I went through Carver stuff, B&O, high-quality reel-to-reels, Akai and Teac, big $ cassette players, peripherals such as DBX units, pop and hiss removers, etc. - I never felt that all that stuff mattered as much as a good set of speakers. I grew up in Boston, which was a hotbed of innovation, both in hi-fi design (Kloss etc), plus radio stations that played music worth listening to (WBCN FM, and even WRKO AM was fantastic). I have known people who paid $20K for 500 lb granite turntable bases with a motor. and then $10K more for tone arms and cartridges. Still, to me it's always the speaker. My simple Technics, Dual, AR, etc turntables (and one Beogram) never let me down, except when I turned the AR's up too loud and hummed back through the needle.

I remember going to an audio technology show in Germany and seeing a huge floor-to-ceiling rosewood Infinity reference system with dozens of ribbon tweeters - I think. They were priced around $40K and sounded impressive, but it seemed like a D swinging contest at a certain point, but maybe it's just my envy talking. I read the reviews of the double-blind tests in Audio and Stereophile magazines back in the day, and they always resonated. If you spend more and see the beauty and quality of a high $ system, you think it sounds better. Meanwhile, I have picked up ratty looking stuff for $20 at yard sales that SOUNDS better! My dad had a very early H.H. Scott solid-state receiver, early 60s. It sounded great with its little bookshelf speakers.

I was told that I'd lose 25% of my hearing in 4 years flying in a combat flight crew if I didn't use protection. I double-wadded foam plugs and turned up my headphones to do my spying. Seems to have worked, I can still hear OK, but my son picks out stuff that I can't, with his young 20 y/o ears.

Oh - I remember a friend in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA (la-dee-da!) invited me over to hear his dad's Klipschorns. I wasn't a fan of the sound, but when he turned it up so loud the popcorn ceiling started snowing, that got my attention (and ruined my ears).

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[bccap]

I agree with the consensus here that speakers are the most important bit of kit . Though the audiophile mantra is source first ..... I bought my Gershman Avant Gardes directly from Ira Gershman when Vancouver was the last stop on the audio show circuit . It is quite common for audio manufacturers to sell their equipment after the last show so they don't have to pack them back to where ever they come from..... Following Ira's advice I paired them with an 8 ft. pair of Nordost Red Dawn speaker cables ...... I love them and would only consider replacing them with Wilson's should the time come .....

But streaming is about the media played. A few years ago when my Sonic Frontiers tube CD player died I went to my local stereo store to replace it. Where I found that the high end in CD players was dead . Even Linn was not making it anymore .... So I educated myself a bit and dragged out a Stax Talent DAC I had in the closet and proceeded to load Itunes into my computer ..... However I quickly discovered that though Itunes supports Lossless files all they sell is MP3's ..... I got around that through Pirate Bay where there is a large audiophile group recording Flac recordings. Flac is easily converted to Lossless with no degradation of quality ..... The sound was pretty good . Close to the level of my Sonic Frontiers .....

Then recently I bought a streamer ..... Well the sound quality is even better and the added benefit of 24/96 HiRes files ...... Not to mention for 14 loonies a month I now have access to virtually every recording ever made ...... Imagine walking into a record store and realizing you have a hundred times their inventory in your tablet on the coffee table .... Doing a search on Miles Davis for example brings up all his recordings. I never counted them but I think there is over a hundred. A similar search on Pink Floyd or Fleetwood Mac brings up massive list of all their albums .....My biggest problem is not jumping around. I want to hear everything at once .....

In the below pics you can see the first page of my album collection after two months of owning a streamer. { around 200 currently } . So you can see why I am searching for a way to organize them ...... I am constantly editing it to keep the quantity manageable ..... I do everything from the comfort of my couch, from music selection to volume control .....

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[LAB3]

I agree with the consensus here that speakers are the most important bit of kit

That's why I ended up with the Advent speakers. Went into the local audio store after getting a nice lump sum payout on a gig job and was ready to plop down some hard cold green on a killer stereo. Had my mind set on a high wattage Pioneer receiver and some low end speakers that could handle the power.

A salesman approached me and we got to talking, he asked what I liked to listen to and at that time it was mostly the Grateful Deads acoustic stuff, New Riders of the Purple Sage, John Prince etc. He explained how staging works and I went out to the car to grab a couple of cassettes to bring in and try.

He set up the system I was looking to purchase and we plugged it in, then he put on a Led Zeppelin tape to hear on that system and cranked up the volume.

Then he set up a system with a similar price point with a basic JVC receiver and a set of Advent Prodigy towers, not audiophile per se but certainly higher quality than what most people where buying. DAMN, he hade sold on the spot and it opened up a new appreciation for music production methods in general, a few hundred bucks well spent (except for replacing cassettes with CD's)

 

[bccap]

To give you guys an idea of the massive amounts of recordings available streaming . Below is a screen shot of a search I did of the Grateful Dead . You can't see where I scroll down further but I stopped counting at 250 recordings .......

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[bccap]

For Fleetwood Mac I did count them all . 129 recordings ......

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[oldGSfan]

To give you guys an idea of the massive amounts of recordings available streaming . Below is a screen shot of a search I did of the Grateful Dead . You can't see where I scroll down further but I stopped counting at 250 recordings .......

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I was stunned at how many recordings the Dead have on this site. Over 17,000! Too bad I got burned out on them for life back in '79 when I lived with a couple of Deadhead ski bums in Mammoth Lakes CA.

https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead