DACs And Network Music Streamers: Here’s The Truth

I think there is much more to be gained from having a separate DAC to keep the digital components away from the analog amplifier circuits than from eliminating the loss from the 12 inches if RCA cable, particularly if what you are worried about is the cables not being 'high end'" enough.

Excellent advice this has been my hobby for over 40 years - the best advice is to get your speakers and amplification done first. My current power amp is a Krell KSA-50S (circa 1990) no reason a good amp can't last more than 33 years!

Thank you for the video. After decades in this hobby the only thing I would not recommend is going the integrated route with the amplifier. Unless you are willing to invest well above $1k for an amp, you are getting a built in mediocre DAC. I've heard it in system after system and it's really easy to hear. And then, there's no upgrade path.

Thank you for this video. I rely on my PC and enjoy the many facets it offers but also have some dacs and some streamers. I look forward to more from you.

Integrated is fine if you want cheaper but not necessarily will give you better DAC sound quality performance by eliminating cables. Just buy some decent XLR cables and be done with it. The SQ will improve with separates by keeping the amp separate from the sensitive digital components will help more than avoiding cables.

I use a laptop dedicated for streaming only connected to a $100 SMSL dac into an amplifier. The sound is wonderful to my ears.

Nice advice sometimes we need to be reminded of the basics

I was just considering buying a streamer, and yes, you're right, just connecting my macbook air to my Cambridge dac into my Cambridge amp will expand the possibilities without expending more money unnecessarily. Thanks for the recommendation.

Part of what you're describing is not at all limited to DACs and streamers re: pricing. I've been a high end dealer for almost 30 years. Doubling amplifier power will increase your output by 3db. So.. 20-40 3db, 200-400 3db, et., etc. I think the same kind of thing often applies to increasing your budget. So, $2k to 4k to 8k will often given you the same kind of level of improvement at each step.

I just bought a Bille Heaven 11 amp with an integrated DAC. Before that amp I was using a Chinese tube amp (Yaqin MC-100C) with a SMSL DO200 DAC. The integrated Billie amp with a lower rated DAC chip does actually sound much better than my previous combination - while using the same Bluesound Node streamer. I totally agree with your thesis!

I agree with you about computer (laptop) based streaming. I use a windows laptop (used exclusively for music) running Audirvana into a high quality dac via usb and a Jitterbug. I have compared the sound with that from a mid £500 streamer only device into the same dac and, though the difference is small, the laptop is the better choice. I hear lots of comments about computers being 'noisy' but I don't think it is difficult to overcome that. Further, I have not heard an explanation of how that noise manifests itself. In other words if there is noise what will I be hearing? For me the background is silent so that is not the problem. I have almost been talked into adding a DDC but I really am not sure that it would make much difference - other than being able to use I2S input on the DAC. Audirvana is continually being upgraded which happens seamlessly so I will never get left behind. The computing power of a laptop is much greater than most streamers with more RAM as well.

I have given this so much thought. In a market that must recreate itself every few years. Dacs and streamers are easy pickings to create revenue. Perhaps compared to the smart phone market. It’s upgrade time. No longer supported. This kind of thing in the industry we call HiFi. The pie chart of HiFi has been carved up in many different ways over the last 40 years. The Equalizer jumps to the forefront from back on the day. Other words come to mind. Dolby! Then came the CD player. Well, what can you do with that. You can create amplifiers with different buttons to push to give very different presentations. Hall, studio, room, jass, basement, church, Hard rock, compression, forest…. It went on and on. Now we talk of Dacs and Streamers to deliver information from many sources. The information of a track being delivered in an ever evolving better way. The best things to have come down to a few fundamental choices. Obviously speakers. Low or high sensitivity transducers. Based on that choice you pair an amp. You buy 98 db speakers? You think tube amp. You buy 86db 6.5” drivers? You buy a class amp more suitable to drive it. These are essentials. Streamers and Dacs are the hornets nest that has been created for you to spend money on. Again… back to basics here. Volume, balance, tone controls, treble, bass. Active speaker manufacturers have come up with Master tunings in the software they offer in the powered speakers they offer. Master tunings so we can choose between the same functions we had in the past. But now it’s proprietary. Just jump on our site and download a master tuning to input into your system. It’s just newer jargon. Active room correction, near field, rolled off highs, late night listening. It’s the same thing done over again to entice the new user. It’s a strange industry.

I spent a year of my life on my stereo (14k :-/) and dacs dramatically change my system but it’s the system at large that reveals the qualities of the dac not the other way around.

My YAMAHA Aventage AVR have built in dac and headphone output... HOW it compare with this stuff ?? I think that many people need to know... sure it surely better with separate components but how far is the sound with a good AVR....??

My Denon X6500h streaming services built in. I believe it has a built-in DAC. It plays HiRes music files too. Sounds great.

As someone who has reviewed many streamers I'll chime in and say I've always felt they were all more similar than different. Nice video, you seem down to earth and fairly reasonable, a rarity in the hifi crowd :)

If you have a DAC integrated with the amp, you have to change very expensive amp if you upgrade the DAC. I’m wondering about computer myself. One thing that troubles me a bit is that computer optical drives may not have the same speed stability as ones designed for a hifi CD player? Does this actually matter, though? Another point is do you have to buy a special sound card for recording music off the internet?

Great advice and well presented. New subscriber.

Jacques, I 100% agree with you. As you mentioned at the end, when talking about PCs, there are also other very practical solutions. I am a podcaster, and I also record music from time to time, and I digitize my vinyl records and cassettes. Therefore, I use a mixer with a USB interface, and it's a tremendous solution for desktop gear. I am using the mixer (I have several of them in different places, but the principal one is a Yamaha AG06), as a USB DAC (it's 24-bit 192 kHz) with my computer. Logically, I also use it for recording or digitizing analog sources, but I also use it as a preamp. I can connect my phone or a MiniDisc player, or any other analog output source to them. For example, I have a Chromecast Audio connected to one of the inputs, which allows me to stream music even when the computer isn't connected. I am using the monitor output from the mixer to feed an amplifier connected to a 2.1 system. And as a bonus... it's a very good headphone amplifier. In fact, it's so good that I bought a Musical Fidelity MX-HPA headphone amplifier to improve the system. However, I've decided to sell it, along with my Chord Mojo, which has already been sold. The minimal sound advantages are so small that convenience wins here. Additionally, it has both single-ended and balanced inputs and outputs.

I play all my music (flac, DSD, DSF, SACD and UHQR-flac) from my NAS. I use a raspberry pi with hifiberry dac on a vintage NAD amplifier and it sounds good!