The Dark Side; Digital audio equipment recommendations and setup.

My budget can be stretched, and I do like the $500-$600 range as well. It’s just that I mostly listen to vinyl and have a good DAC in my CD player so I’m not sure I should be investing a lot. If there was a killer DAC that had Bluetooth 5+, a reference DAC chip for HiRes, and a display or means to show the currently playing rate, I’d be open to it.
 
MacDonals said:
My budget can be stretched, and I do like the $500-$600 range as well. It’s just that I mostly listen to vinyl and have a good DAC in my CD player so I’m not sure I should be investing a lot. If there was a killer DAC that had Bluetooth 5+, a reference DAC chip for HiRes, and a display or means to show the currently playing rate, I’d be open to it.
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I have three DACs from 2 years to 20 years old and from $100 to $2500. I can’t genuinely hear a difference between them when they are level matched. That also goes for the DAC in my newish Onyko CD player, too.

I doubt you’ll be disappointed in that Topping DAC. Just don’t be surprised if they discontinue that model in a year and replace it with another. Topping is continually changing their lineup but that in no way impugns the performance of their previous models.

We actually hear a whole lot less of the differences between DACs than we think we do.
 
Angsty said:
I have three DACs from 2 years to 20 years old and from $100 to $2500. I can’t genuinely hear a difference between them when they are level matched. That also goes for the DAC in my newish Onyko CD player, too.

I doubt you’ll be disappointed in that Topping DAC. Just don’t be surprised if they discontinue that model in a year and replace it with another. Topping is continually changing their lineup but that in no way impugns the performance of their previous models.

We actually hear a whole lot less of the differences between DACs than we think we do.
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This is the tea I was looking for. I am essentially looking to do the following:
  • Enable bluetooth for my system. Preferrably, up-to-date 5.0/5.1
  • Bypass my Yamaha Amp's DAC for Hi Res Audio. It's not horrible, but it doesn't shine
  • Invest a commensurate amount to what I want to accomplish. $200 seems a nice fit.
 
i have the WEIRDEST glitch happening with Qobuz on my laptop. If I'm listening to music via the app on my laptop and command tab to another app, sometimes the speed on the music doubles and everything starts sounding like the chipmunks. Can't figure out any reason why it's happening, or how to fix it. If I restart the app, it usually goes back to regular speed. Anybody else ever experience this?? I usually listen on Roon but when I'm not at home, I try to use the Qobuz app.

edit: it seems to specifically happen when I switch from Qobuz to Adobe Premiere. So weird.
 
MikeH said:
i have the WEIRDEST glitch happening with Qobuz on my laptop. If I'm listening to music via the app on my laptop and command tab to another app, sometimes the speed on the music doubles and everything starts sounding like the chipmunks. Can't figure out any reason why it's happening, or how to fix it. If I restart the app, it usually goes back to regular speed. Anybody else ever experience this?? I usually listen on Roon but when I'm not at home, I try to use the Qobuz app.

edit: it seems to specifically happen when I switch from Qobuz to Adobe Premiere. So weird.
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If I had to guess I would say that Adobe is using some sort of hardware (cpu/gpu) acceleration or memory optimization to make their shitty bloatware work at a reasonable pace, and it's affecting qobuz because they're pulling from the same resource (cpu/ram pool, whatever).

No idea how to fix it, but I agree with Joe that listening to jazz on an unexpected Alvin and the chipmunks 78rpm setting is hilarious

someone else had this problem a few years back
 
yukbon said:
If I had to guess I would say that Adobe is using some sort of hardware (cpu/gpu) acceleration or memory optimization to make their shitty bloatware work at a reasonable pace, and it's affecting qobuz because they're pulling from the same resource (cpu/ram pool, whatever).

No idea how to fix it, but I agree with Joe that listening to jazz on an unexpected Alvin and the chipmunks 78rpm setting is hilarious
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yea--I have the RAM cranked on my Adobe software so that's likely the case. but just a really bizarre thing to happen.

was listening to Sault and it happened to speed up right when there was a transition in the song and for a second couldn't tell if it was sped up or that was the song 😂 It really was like hitting the speed button on a turntable while a record was playing
 
MikeH said:
yea--I have the RAM cranked on my Adobe software so that's likely the case. but just a really bizarre thing to happen.

was listening to Sault and it happened to speed up right when there was a transition in the song and for a second couldn't tell if it was sped up or that was the song 😂 It really was like hitting the speed button on a turntable while a record was playing
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yukbon said:
techcrunch.com

Spotify will reportedly launch hi-fi audio through a costlier premium subscription | TechCrunch

Spotify will finally launch its hi-fi tier through a new premium plan later this year, which might cost more than the current premium plan.
techcrunch.com techcrunch.com
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On the one hand most streamers probably don’t care about hi-res/lossless streams. On the other hand, it took Spotify long enough to finally launch this after announcing it. I want to say they originally announced in at the end of 2021
 
Ghost said:
As someone who pays for both Tidal HI-FI and Spotify premium, I'm curious to see if I'll leave Tidal eventually now
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the issue for me is that i've spent so much time curating my libraries in Apple and Qobuz that I don't see myself leaving either anytime soon.
 
Does Roon stream or do you need another service to stream? Like I don't actually know what Roon is. I thought it was music management, I can do that lots of different ways, what makes Roon worth an upper entry level piece of kit's price tag?
 
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