Sound Quality of red book CDs vs.streaming

I have been demonstrating the difference in formats at trade shows for years. My equipment has always been resolving enough to easily hear the differences, even USB. I even hear a difference in AIFF and uncompressed FLAC compared to .wav.

If you are using UPnP, then you should try Linn Kinsky and Minimserver with BubbleUPnP as proxy server, if you are not already using these.

Also, here are some killer tweaks to make Ethernet sound stellar:

1) AQVOX switch
2) 0.5m Wireworld Platinum Etherenet cable
3) EMO EN-70e isolator
4) 1.5-2.0m Wireworld Platinum Ethernet cable

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

rvpiano
any new gear headed your way in 2019?  Happy Listening!

jafant,

Thanks for asking.  Aside from the new Arcam streamer which Is a big improvement over Chromecast, I’m getting a new power cable for my DAC and new speaker cables from Morrow.
Interestingly, now that I have been extensively streaming, I have gone back to my original assessment that, on my system,  CDs sound better: more detail and life.

How about you?  Any new stuff?

Whoever said once you start streaming you’ll never go back, was right.
 I hardly play CDs or records anymore, unfortunately.

Even though they sound better!