[musickid]

velvety nature of the Empyrean

velvety is a new adjective used to describe a headphones sound.

 

[jarnopp]

velvety nature of the Empyrean

velvety is a new adjective used to describe a headphones sound.

There are already 415 posts with the word “ velvety” on head-if.

 

[kelly200269]

There are already 415 posts with the word “ velvety” on head-if.

Is that all??

 

[gnomen]

Has anyone tried the Stack Audio Link Music Streamer?

I am looking to add a network bridge/streamer to my setup as a Roon endpoint but struggling to get useful buying information. The Auralic G1 and G2 are well regarded, for example, but cannot tell whether they improve the SQ or mostly add convenience features I may not need. Some reviewers praise streamers for being neutral and transparent, making NO difference to the sound, while others describe SQ improvements. So I am wondering what are people's actual experiences?

The Link looks to be very well designed and manufactured but is not as expensive. Again, it is impossible to tell whether that is because the SQ is compromised in some way or it is simply a well focused product. Any help appreciated!

 

[Whazzzup]

check out antipodes audio

 

[CreditingKarma]

Has anyone tried the Stack Audio Link Music Streamer?

I am looking to add a network bridge/streamer to my setup as a Roon endpoint but struggling to get useful buying information. The Auralic G1 and G2 are well regarded, for example, but cannot tell whether they improve the SQ or mostly add convenience features I may not need. Some reviewers praise streamers for being neutral and transparent, making NO difference to the sound, while others describe SQ improvements. So I am wondering what are people's actual experiences?

The Link looks to be very well designed and manufactured but is not as expensive. Again, it is impossible to tell whether that is because the SQ is compromised in some way or it is simply a well focused product. Any help appreciated!

I have the Auralic Aries G2 and used to have the G1. I can say that I do hear a difference between the two. The imaging is more precise with a deeper and wider sound stage. Also there is a blacker sonic background where music seemingly comes from nowhere.

As I have said previously I find that the G2 and G1 made more improvement in my system than the Mscaler. Whether they are worth it or you will notice a difference is down to many things. The resolution of your transducers is the biggest factor in this. I find streamers to be one of the items that finishes your system much like the mscaler which I will eventually add back to the system at a later time when I have the funds.

I also feel like these differences are much more noticable on a good 2 channel setup as opposed to headphones. Just my two cents but the Auralic are well built units with a good amount of options on them as well.

 

[kelly200269]

Has anyone tried the Stack Audio Link Music Streamer?

I am looking to add a network bridge/streamer to my setup as a Roon endpoint but struggling to get useful buying information. The Auralic G1 and G2 are well regarded, for example, but cannot tell whether they improve the SQ or mostly add convenience features I may not need. Some reviewers praise streamers for being neutral and transparent, making NO difference to the sound, while others describe SQ improvements. So I am wondering what are people's actual experiences?

The Link looks to be very well designed and manufactured but is not as expensive. Again, it is impossible to tell whether that is because the SQ is compromised in some way or it is simply a well focused product. Any help appreciated!

I have used streamers, such as the Lumin A1, with Roon and my Chord DACs in the past. I now use my TT2 exclusively via USB, fed directly from my Roon Nucleus.
And there is NO DIFFERENCE whatsoever IMO between using a Chord DAC via USB, and being fed by a streamer. If I were you, I'd save your money, and spend it on something else.

There is a long thread over at The Roon Community on just this topic:

https://community.roonlabs.com/t/ad...us-is-this-all-i-need-for-a-great-setup/90390

Read and enjoy!

 

[andrewd01]

I have used streamers, such as the Lumin A1, with Roon and my Chord DACs in the past. I now use my TT2 exclusively via USB, fed directly from my Roon Nucleus.
And there is NO DIFFERENCE whatsoever IMO between using a Chord DAC via USB, and being fed by a streamer. If I were you, I'd save your money, and spend it on something else.

There is a long thread over at The Roon Community on just this topic:

https://community.roonlabs.com/t/ad...us-is-this-all-i-need-for-a-great-setup/90390

Read and enjoy!

There is a lot of ambiguous terminology on this subject IMO.
Generally I interpret ‘streamer’ as an ethernet or wifi end point (player) that still requires an additional computer server (or ‘core’ in Roon speak).
However when I researched further I found that some of the ‘streamers’ can also work as a core so are effectively the same product as a Roon nucleus.

When I costed up the different options I found that an innuos Zen is about the same price as a Roon nucleus, when you take into account the fact that the nucleus is sold without disk storage and only comes with a bare bones SMPS. The innuos is a cleaner installation because a high end linear powr supply is built in. The innuos also compares favourably to the cost of a fanless Qnap NAS and is only slightly more than apple computers which are far from optimal for audio. You can of course build something cheaper if you are a computer DIY hobbyist, but that is not something I am interested in.

 

[Sound Eq]

today I compared empyrean and hifiman he1000se on the below

1- chord hugo tt2
2- meier audio corda soul

i did not like empyrean on both compared to he1000se, I owned empyrean in the past sold it but at that time I had ifi ican pro and hugo2 setup, I thought maybe after getting to totl dac amps such as hugo tt2 and coda soul, things will improve with empyrean, so i asked my friend to bring over the empyrean and it definitely lacks details in mids and highs and it does not even need an experienced audiophile to notice that. we tried a silver cable from neotech, and rotated pads on empyrean. No this headphone simply lacks details in mids and highs, and its sub bass is not that great as well

now on another note the Meirer audio corda soul sounds so dam great, it is a big big battle between it and hugo tt2, what a great dac amp the corda soul is. Although I had the hugo tt2 about a month ago , when I heard the corda soul I could not let it go and bought it on the spot. I adore them both they are simply both amazing but I never thought a company I never heard of can compete head to head to Chord tt2

 

[gnomen]

I find that the G2 and G1 made more improvement in my system than the Mscaler

Thank you to everyone who replied to my question. Also thanks to Kelly for the link to the Roon Community discussion (are you the Mike Kelly who posted in that thread, BTW?)

It seems like all of you have at least a purpose built source (Roon Nucleus, Innuos Zen) or a network bridge / streamer (G2), from which I gather that a good source DOES make a SQ difference for you. I am using USB from an iMac at the moment.

Also, it seems, as always on this forum, that there are different and passionately held views based on individual systems and preferences in music. From what you say it seems improving the source WILL have benefit. The question now is the best route to doing that. I have a nagging suspicion the only way to find out is to audition the strongest candidates in my own set up. That will take me a while to work through.

Any other suggestions or observations gratefully appreciated!

Robert

 

[Thieliste]

I use a NUC with Daphile for streaming Qobuz on my TT2.

 

[rkt31]

No need to use an expensive streamer. Your windows laptop can be a very cheap yet better source than these expensive streamers plus you get the advantage of using a number of bit perfect player using asio or even stream to laptop from android or other sources. The biggest culprit to usb audio is laptop power line which can easily be replaced by a 5v battery using ifi idefender. ( in my case it is ultra cheap 4xAA battery case with NiMH batteries ) after that you only have 10% of work left. Use one or two ifi isilencer in series and this arrangement can beat even the most expensive usb sources.

 

[Whazzzup]

Look I’m not going to negate anyone’s views of servers design for fidelity versus a computer or nuc or whatever excepts that’s not my findings, but what else is new on head fi. However I’m not a tech but antipodes audio using superior equipment , boards, and other things. Square waves etc,... I don’t know and really don’t care. I’m plug n play man on the ambiguous world of non blind testing and came out squarely yup, that 10 g server did the job,,,,, ***. So I’ll leave this quote and link and leave the investigations up to audiophiles. But I suspect that the servers coming up with the it don’t matter hypothesis, haven’t tried a truly advanced architecture server.


“The motherboards are sourced from the world’s best supplier and they cost around 6 times what some of the competitors are using. We tune the motherboards to shift the frequency peaks of the noise generated by each component in order to eliminate noise nodes, so the mainboards start as an off-the-shelf board and then are customized for our use.”

https://www.hifi-advice.com/blog/re...network-player-reviews/antipodes-cx-ex-part1/

 

[delirium]

Has anyone tried the Stack Audio Link Music Streamer?

I am looking to add a network bridge/streamer to my setup as a Roon endpoint but struggling to get useful buying information. The Auralic G1 and G2 are well regarded, for example, but cannot tell whether they improve the SQ or mostly add convenience features I may not need. Some reviewers praise streamers for being neutral and transparent, making NO difference to the sound, while others describe SQ improvements. So I am wondering what are people's actual experiences?

The Link looks to be very well designed and manufactured but is not as expensive. Again, it is impossible to tell whether that is because the SQ is compromised in some way or it is simply a well focused product. Any help appreciated!

check Out aries g2

 

[delirium]

I have used streamers, such as the Lumin A1, with Roon and my Chord DACs in the past. I now use my TT2 exclusively via USB, fed directly from my Roon Nucleus.
And there is NO DIFFERENCE whatsoever IMO between using a Chord DAC via USB, and being fed by a streamer. If I were you, I'd save your money, and spend it on something else.

There is a long thread over at The Roon Community on just this topic:

https://community.roonlabs.com/t/ad...us-is-this-all-i-need-for-a-great-setup/90390

Read and enjoy!

Then you must
check your hearing..?