I am surprised and disappointed with my new "hi-res" DAC.  When I play "low-res" (320k streamed) music through my brand new TEAC UD-301, it just doesn't sound all that good.  The sound is muffled, held back, and has no liveliness.  Prior to the TEAC I was using a Focusrite Saffire firewire interface and frankly it sounds much better.  So, how could a 10+ year old, $100 interface outperform a brand-new $350 dedicated hi-fidelity DAC?  Or is it just my ears not being used to this..??  

Convert a lossless file to 320 kbps MP3 with dBpoweramp and see if you still hear a difference.
 
(Sometimes, when streaming or downloading music, you may just be listening to an inferior master of the recording.)

music alchemist said:

  Convert a lossless file to 320 kbps MP3 with dBpoweramp and see if you still hear a difference.
 
(Sometimes, when streaming or downloading music, you may just be listening to an inferior master of the recording.)

Click to expand...

It's a little frustrating.  When I listen to downloaded, hi-res music, the sound is spectacular - much better than the Focusrite.  But when streaming 320k, the Focusrite did a better job.  Or, is this DAC simply doing a better job of revealing poor recordings? 

147jk said:

  It's a little frustrating.  When I listen to downloaded, hi-res music, the sound is spectacular - much better than the Focusrite.  But when streaming 320k, the Focusrite did a better job.  Or, is this DAC simply doing a better job of revealing poor recordings? 

Click to expand...

 
This is why I suggested to isolate the variables by starting with a lossless file, then converting it to lossy. When you're comparing a lossless download to a lossy stream, there are too many variables to tell what is going on.