The Dark Side; Digital audio equipment recommendations and setup.

MikeH said:
Either or. Both should be upgrades over MP3 or YouTube streams. There are lots of “FLAC” files floating around the internet that are illegal downloads with FLAC in the titles but are just FLAC conversions of MP3. I’d try something legit from bandcamp or a stream on Qobuz.
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i tried a few songs using test snippets on qobuz, tidal, and through officially downloaded FLAC compared from MP3 320kbps... they all basically sounded the same.... besides tidal being louder on the non CD quality sounds (which actually made the high preset sound a bit better than the lossless preset because you actually hear more at louder levels, i keep my audio fairly low at 20 on my PC so maybe im just hearing too quiet)...
 
duke86fan said:
i tried a few songs using test snippets on qobuz, tidal, and through officially downloaded FLAC compared from MP3 320kbps... they all basically sounded the same.... besides tidal being louder on the non CD quality sounds...
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The trial of Qobuz app will give you the full res files as long as you are connected to WiFi and have the highest settings chosen in the app on either desktop or phone app.
 
MikeH said:
The trial of Qobuz app will give you the full res files as long as you are connected to WiFi and have the highest settings chosen in the app on either desktop or phone app.
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no i honestly cant tell a difference... no crisper bass. no more focused mids, cymbals seem the same.. maybe i just have bad hearing..

A/Bing certain parts didn't feel like any part was stronger.. its all just loudness
 
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duke86fan said:
no i honestly cant tell a difference... no crisper bass. no more focused mids, cymbals seem the same.. maybe i just have bad hearing..

A/Bing certain parts didn't feel like any part was stronger
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Don’t know what to tell ya! Maybe not worth the investment in digital for ya then!
 
MikeH said:
Don’t know what to tell ya! Maybe not worth the investment in digital for ya then!
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its either that or the M50s i own are trash...


i just wanna have a bigger ego and have high quality everything... i just want a prettier master than anything.... basically napoleon syndrome (i want to be better so i blame everything else... my headphones. the bitrate. the everything.. meanwhile all i hear is that bits are bits and they are scientifically perfectly fine.. both work with shannon nyquist, one just removes the stuff you cant really hear)
 
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duke86fan said:
no i honestly cant tell a difference... no crisper bass. no more focused mids, cymbals seem the same.. maybe i just have bad hearing..

A/Bing certain parts didn't feel like any part was stronger.. its all just loudness
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Honestly a lot of people can't hear the difference. it's not really that huge... listen at the margins really. Bass and treble are easiest. For me, I can hear it best in the drums, kick and cymbal. But honestly if you don't hear a difference, don't worry about it. You're not missing like something earth shattering.
 
botherly said:
Honestly a lot of people can't hear the difference. it's not really that huge... listen at the margins really. Bass and treble are easiest. For me, I can hear it best in the drums, kick and cymbal. But honestly if you don't hear a difference, don't worry about it. You're not missing like something earth shattering.
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so then why am i feeling emotionally bleh with music and why do i download the FLACs instead of the MP3s when its more space on my computer (not to mention buying vinyl when it mostly sounds the same as an MP3 and just feels better).. my overthinking brain wonders "what is bottlenecking me from being able to hear things so good everyone loves it, are my headphones trash or are they good, would i benefit from a DAC or am i doing nothing, can i really not hear over 12 khz, are my headphones dying, why am i mentally bored by this stuff.. it cant be because i made stupid challenges of listening to a shit ton of music most i barely wanna listen to"...

i also probably am pissed because i sold what was probably a good quality copy of pet sounds so i could buy an analogue productions pet sounds that probably wont sound any different.
 
duke86fan said:
so then why am i feeling emotionally bleh with music and why do i download the FLACs instead of the MP3s when its more space on my computer (not to mention buying vinyl when it mostly sounds the same as an MP3 and just feels better).. my overthinking brain wonders "what is bottlenecking me from being able to hear things so good everyone loves it, are my headphones trash or are they good, would i benefit from a DAC or am i doing nothing, can i really not hear over 12 khz, are my headphones dying, why am i mentally bored by this stuff.. it cant be because i made stupid challenges of listening to a shit ton of music most i barely wanna listen to"...

i also probably am pissed because i sold what was probably a good quality copy of pet sounds so i could buy an analogue productions pet sounds that probably wont sound any different.
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It sounds like you're beating yourself up a little over audio quality. No wonder you're not enjoying it. I know how you feel, I can get obsessive and wonder if my system is good enough to hear all these amazing magic differences and I've spent tons and tries all different gear and honestly? The truth is, there's one thing that can make a real palpable difference in sound quality: your speakers (or headphones). The differences between pressings and file quality are real and noticeable but at the end of the day, they're slight and on the margins. I'd spend time (money or energy) saving for and researching cans or speakers. And don't beat yourself up if you don't hear it.
 
botherly said:
It sounds like you're beating yourself up a little over audio quality. No wonder you're not enjoying it. I know how you feel, I can get obsessive and wonder if my system is good enough to hear all these amazing magic differences and I've spent tons and tries all different gear and honestly? The truth is, there's one thing that can make a real palpable difference in sound quality: your speakers (or headphones). The differences between pressings and file quality are real and noticeable but at the end of the day, they're slight and on the margins. I'd spend time (money or energy) saving for and researching cans or speakers. And don't beat yourself up if you don't hear it.
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i probably should just buy new headphones soon... i also just feel like im going super deaf... because even though i only put my music audio at like 20% on a laptop i for some reason cant hear sine waves over 14K (i can hear more than that in square and saw waves though). and wondering if i destroyed these audiotechnicas by laying down on my side and listening to music while the right cup is stuck between my arm and my head
 
duke86fan said:
why am i mentally bored by this stuff.. it cant be because i made stupid challenges of listening to a shit ton of music most i barely wanna listen to"...
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Music should be pleasurable and not feel like a chore. So if it's not fun for you, then maybe take a little breather from it? Just listen to the albums you truly love. Upgrade-itis hits all of us and sometimes makes listening to music not as fun as it should be. Once I realized that I can't possibly keep upgrading every item in the chain, I focused on the stuff like @botherly suggested, saved up enough for a nice turntable and speakers and haven't upgraded much in the past few years outside of getting a cheap-ish digital streamer.

Also, I'd maybe not listen on headphones all the time because I'm sure it can't be great for your ears/hearing. Your ears need a break sometimes.
 
botherly said:
Hey speaking of hi res, where do you guys get legit hires albums? Bandcamp is a good source, but I set up Room and a NAS today so now I need to fill it with a ton of music I'll hardly listen to...
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Bandcamp is my go-to. Any time I see a record for sale and there's an option to buy it on bandcamp, I almost always do because you get the high-res dload and vinyl. Outside of that, I used to be on what.cd before it got taken down so I had a lot of FLACs from there. I also have a Qobuz subscription which is really nice to have with Roon. I also sometimes will pick up CDs if I see any for cheap at flea markets/online and rip them with a portable CD drive.
 
botherly said:
Hey speaking of hi res, where do you guys get legit hires albums? Bandcamp is a good source, but I set up Room and a NAS today so now I need to fill it with a ton of music I'll hardly listen to...
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Bandcamp, sound of vinyl dl codes usually give the option of a WAV files at 16/44 or 24/92. I’ve ripped all my CD collection too. Then streaming through qobuz too. I use Roon so that qobuz and files all appear seemlessly in my library as a whole.
 
MikeH said:
Bandcamp is my go-to. Any time I see a record for sale and there's an option to buy it on bandcamp, I almost always do because you get the high-res dload and vinyl. Outside of that, I used to be on what.cd before it got taken down so I had a lot of FLACs from there. I also have a Qobuz subscription which is really nice to have with Roon. I also sometimes will pick up CDs if I see any for cheap at flea markets/online and rip them with a portable CD drive.
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Man I love Qobuz but I HATE it's app. Roon is changing my life. Gonna set up a Roon NUC next. Can't help myself.
 
botherly said:
Man I love Qobuz but I HATE it's app. Roon is changing my life. Gonna set up a Roon NUC next. Can't help myself.
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Yea--the app isn't great but it fits in SO nicely with Roon. My bday is coming up so I might treat myself to a 1 year of Roon. I was so close to pulling the trigger on the lifetime membership a few months back and when I finally did, they had raised the price by $200.
 
MikeH said:
Is there a benefit to a NUC core over something like the Aries mini streamer? Or it's essentially the same thing/performs the same function?
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Can there Ares Mini be a core? I thought it was only capable of being an endpoint?

Anyway, not connected to the hifi system so it reduced noise. Computers and hard drives are noisy both in terms of sound and electronically so theoretically that can feed back into the system.

I have the NUC running all the time as a core. So my Sonos or hifi or whatever can always access it. It sits in my hallway connected to the router by Ethernet. I then have a box connected to my DAC by USB that is the end point.
 
Joe Mac said:
Can there Ares Mini be a core? I thought it was only capable of being an endpoint?

Anyway, not connected to the hifi system so it reduced noise. Computers and hard drives are noisy both in terms of sound and electronically so theoretically that can feed back into the system.

I have the NUC running all the time as a core. So my Sonos or hifi or whatever can always access it. It sits in my hallway connected to the router by Ethernet. I then have a box connected to my DAC by USB that is the end point.
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Which NUC did you use? i3? How's the performance? And how much energy does it use all the time, did you notice that at all? I have a small collection right now so I'm leaning to i3 but I can be convinced to go big.
 
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