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Going from computer audio to dedicated streamer

A few days ago I purchased a Bluesound Node 2. Immediately after hooking it up I noticed a more relaxed less digital sound than I was getting from my Mac mini into my Wyred 4 Sound Dac-2. My hookup for the Mac was via a good usb cable into a Musical Fidelity Vlink192 coax into the Wyred 4 Sound. It is every bit as detailed as streaming Tidal through the Mac but is more "musical" and relaxed. An example would be on high dynamic contrasts the Mac could sound harsh and a little piercing in the highs. This was with every speaker I have owned. Not that it sounded bad overall, actually sounded quite good but I am loving this upgrade so far. No more messing with Amarra or Audirvana for me and dealing with the associated crashes etc.   
I am curious of others experiences good or bad moving away from computer audio to something else.
Also is anyone running an external hard drive with their music collection and running though the Bluesound or similar device and how is that working out?   
mofojo
mofojo OP
517 posts
 
Using the internal DAC of the Bluesound. Very listenable actually. Not as detailed or deep as the DAC-2 but more listenable on less than stellar recordings. MQA tracks sound very good as well. 
sandydennis11's avatar
sandydennis11
51 posts
 
I’m using a iMac with Roon/Tidal to the PSAudio Directstream with the bridge11 and cant imagine it getting better than this. PS Audio is looking into MQA but seriously doubt they will go for it unless MQA lessens their demands.
Then send all through the Parasound JC2 preamp to Parasound JC 1's then my Thiel CS3.7’s with their SS2 sub.. On some extremely brassy music the 3.7’s tend to be a little sharp so I switch to the Kef 207/2’s
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c_s
15 posts
 
I went from Sonos to computer audio to Aries mini - it was immediately apparent that the Aries was more spacious and relaxed, and upgrading its stock power supply to the Aries LPS brought it up yet another significant step.  Currently running to a Gungnir multibit via USB.   
desktopguy
101 posts
 
I got my first V-Link ~10 yrs ago (a 24/96 model). The DAC I had at the time, a Stello unit, ran on USB straight in from Windows XP desktop. As soon as I put the V-Link in the system and ran signal to the Stello via toslink, the sound became slightly less digital.

I upgraded the Stello DAC to the inexpensive but quite good Peachtree Audio DAC iTx. I tried USB straight in vs toslink, then coax from the V-Link, Again, it sounded better. Soon I upgraded to a V-Link 24/192 model + a significantly better coax cable (Oyaide DR-510), and there was a noticeable jump in quality: smoother, more organic, less edgy.

Then I upgraded the DAC to an Audio GD NOS 19 (a non-oversampling R 2R design considered "endgame" by some in the desktop audio/headphone community). That took forever to burn in, but once it did, I again compared USB straight in vs coax from the V-Link. Contest wasn't even close. V-Link + coax wins, as it always does.

And now I'm hearing some of the least "digital" digital of my life. No, it's not analog--rather, it's like some middle ground, digital that sounds unforced, organic, relaxed. I'm very happy with it--so much so that I picked up a new Audio GD DAC-19, the non-NOS version of the same DAC. It's burning in on my other computer, and it already sounds terrific...
axeis1
18 posts
 
Went from W4S modded Sonos to an Auralic player, with Synology Nas, then to a  Aurrender with music files stored locally on the Aurrender. That was by far the best, used both a PS Audio Direct Stream Dac, then switched to Devialet 😀
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