[Whazzzup]

I disagree.
In the past I’ve used my HMS/TT2 with a Google CCA via TOSLINK, and it sounded sublime.
I now use it with a Roon Nucleus (a glorified NUC), and it still sounds sublime.
You don’t need an expensive streamer/source to make the TT2 shine.

Well i disagree

 

[CreditingKarma]

Well i disagree

I have to agree with you. I did not believe that a streamer could make a difference. I recently got an Aries G1 and found it made a large difference in sq. I decided to upgrade to the Aries G2 knowing that I would want to later to see what I was missing. The G2 was an even bigger improvement.

I find that the imaging becomes sharper and the noise floor is lower as well. The vocals seem to be more natural and the stage is deeper and wider. This is compared to feeding the TT2 from my macbook pro. I actually find the Aries G2 made a bigger improvement than adding an Mscaler did. The difference is more evident on my speaker setup but is still very noticable on my headphones. I think that any difference other than resolution is easier to hear on a high end speaker system especially sound stage.

If someone doesn't believe there is a difference with streamers they should find one to audition.

 

[betula]

How about the sound quality difference between USB/FLAC versus all these miraculous and mighty expensive streamers?

 

[CreditingKarma]

How about the sound quality difference between USB/FLAC versus all these miraculous and mighty expensive streamers?

I am not sure what you are asking. The streamer still feeds the TT2 via usb and most of the files are flac or alac. The streamer is more of a digital transport.

 

[jarnopp]

I am not sure what you are asking. The streamer still feeds the TT2 via usb and most of the files are flac or alac. The streamer is more of a digital transport.

i would say you would want to compare inputs via optical, with no other inputs connected, to eliminate (as much) noise as possible contributor to the sound differences. I find no reliable differences in bit perfect sources when using optical inputs.

 

[andrewd01]

How about the sound quality difference between USB/FLAC versus all these miraculous and mighty expensive streamers?

Not all audio servers are ‘mighty expensive’. Innuos servers start at a price significantly less than a macbook pro and are a better solution for the job in my opinion.

 

[musickid]

i use a cca powered by an ifi ipower (ultra low noise delivering 5V). Excellent results. We have already been told very clearly that the mscaler diminishes the importance of what is upstream. The cca + ifi i power footprint is obviously so small verging on negligible. Not bad as for £80 i'm getting similar performance to hi end streamers and yes i've heard the innuous top streamer. They both work to eliminate RF. Too many boxes in the chain just reintroduce RF negating the whole point of the exercise to start with.

 

[kelly200269]

How about the sound quality difference between USB/FLAC versus all these miraculous and mighty expensive streamers?

When I ran my TT1, I had two inputs. One was USB from my Roon Nucleus (NUC), and the other was SPDIF from my Lumin A1.
They were totally indistinguishable using the same FLAC files.
Since moving to HMS/TT2, I have sold my Lumin A1.

 

[Whazzzup]

Usb is the favoured connection with my DX.

 

[Triode User]

USB is the only connection available from my Innuos Zenith SE.

 

[andrewd01]

i use a cca powered by an ifi ipower (ultra low noise delivering 5V). Excellent results. We have already been told very clearly that the mscaler diminishes the importance of what is upstream. The cca + ifi i power footprint is obviously so small verging on negligible. Not bad as for £80 i'm getting similar performance to hi end streamers and yes i've heard the innuous top streamer. They both work to eliminate RF. Too many boxes in the chain just reintroduce RF negating the whole point of the exercise to start with.

It’s not really fair to compare the price at £80 because the CCA is not a stand alone solution. You still need to add some sort of NAS or computer as a Roon core.

 

[jarnopp]

USB is the only connection available from my Innuos Zenith SE.

For all the concern with noise, why don’t people make it a point t to use optical in their setup? Are that many using hi res above 192k or does a high-end USB streamer/server sound as good or better?

 

[kelly200269]

For all the concern with noise, why don’t people make it a point t to use optical in their setup? Are that many using hi res above 192k or does a high-end USB streamer/server sound as good or better?

I use USB between my Roon Nucleus and HMS/TT2, and stream up to 24/352.8 and DSD.
‘Noise’ has never, ever, been an issue for me.

 

[Whazzzup]

what noise? i use dsd 128 64 bit floating point upsampling

 

[ray-dude]

For all the concern with noise, why don’t people make it a point t to use optical in their setup? Are that many using hi res above 192k or does a high-end USB streamer/server sound as good or better?

I leaned very heavily into trying to answer this question for myself (what became the Opto DX review linked in my sig below). With Hugo mScaler doing the heavy lifting to upsample, living with 192k and below really wasn't a big deal (although it was annoying to be limited to DSD64...I have a bunch of DSD128 and DSD256 content). Until very recently, my preferred reference setup was a NUC (USB) to Uptone ISO Regen (USB) to Matrix Audio XSPDIF2 to TOSLINK to HMS to OptoDX (optical) to DAVE. No fuss, no muss.

I still recommend the Chromecast Audio as a Roon end point to TOSLINK to anyone who'll listen. Best bang for the buck in audio, with minimal complexity/hassle factor.

Alas, if you want to get more SQ, you have to deal with the complexity/hassle factor.

For me, the Matrix Audio is a very clear step up from the CCA (I attribute this to a better clock, no WiFi, better power and ground management, etc). The ISO Regen to clean up the USB input to the Matrix Audio is also a clear step up (vs no ISO Regen). Powering the ISO Regen with a great power supply (in my case, the Uptone LPS 1.2) also made a big difference. The better power to the ISO Regen also has the side benefit that I could get rid of the power supply to the Matrix Audio, and have the MA powered by clean power from the ISO Regen (over USB).

If you're OK with a modest amount of hassle/complexity, an optical chain with the Matrix Audio is great intermediate stopping point.

However even with this chain (USB regeneration, high quality mains isolated power, two levels of optical isolation, etc), changes in software and configurations running on the NUC are still VERY clearly audible (maddening but true...signal integrity seems to really matter too)

All that being said, USB can (and for me, it now does) exceed what I was able to get from from the optical chain. It has taken a lot more focus on cables and power and all that icky stuff (and regrettably it will drag me kicking and screaming into the world of master clocks at some point), but I'm now back to USB end to end and incrementally tweaking things up again. Alas, things are also creeping back to lots of hassle/complexity.

If you're a Roon user, my advice is to start with the CCA ($30 used), remembering that it sounds like absolute ass if you're not using Roon. If you like what you hear, invest in better power to the CCA. If you like what you hear, track down a used Matrix Audio XSPDIF 2. If you really like what you hear, get a ISO Regen to put in front of it, with a solid power supply (LPS 1.2 is a great choice). Everything after that is 5x more hassle and cost to get the last couple percent of improvement (beware...here Dragons dwell

If you don't hear any differences or you get to the point of diminishing returns, happily stop and enjoy a fine beverage while listening to Anouar Brahem channel the angels on "The Astounding Eyes of Rita". If you do hear differences and want more, there is always more to be found down the rabbit hole.

Net net: noise matters and optical does an amazing job of cleaning it up, but alas, everything else STILL matters, even with optical everywhere...we haven't yet figured out how to build the mythical "moat" that makes everything upstream of it irrelevant, but an optical chain is in the sweet spot of the 80/20 rule.