photonman

Would be so great and Ironic to attach a Raspberry Pi streamer to that monster system you have but seriously, in my experience, the streamer front end does not really make a difference as long as you have a good DAC, amplification and clean power infrastructure (dedicated home runs). I had "audiophile" streamers but due to all the software bugs and glitches from the half-baked software, I got so fed up and could not wait to get back to my Mac. The Macbook provided the most flexibility as far as software packages availabilty, output options (toslink, USB) and rock solid reliable operation. I really do not think I am missing out on any extra SQ with the Macbook digital output. You should try different streamers and see for yourself. Try a cheap RPi, an "audiophile" streamer and a generic laptop based system (Macbook).

I am not sure there will be any difference in regard to audio aspects of the various routers. Their main function is to connect your local network to the public network. As far as reliability, the consumer Netgears are pretty good and the Nighthawk models have plenty of throughput. I like the ones with built in cable modems as to minimize the boxes and wires and psu's collecting dust and dog hair. As part of my audiophile affliction, I do plug it into an Isotek Evo 3 Sirius power strip just because I can.

Check out the Sonos Playbar. Sonos really has the software piece dialed in unlike a lot of the other guys. Bose control software is horrible and the Bose sound is not enough to make up for it. And that seems to be a common problem with the speaker companies trying to get in on the home theatre market. They just do not have the software expertise and that is a major piece of the soundbar home theatre experience. So be careful and pay attention to the software quality. Add a couple of surrounds to the Playbar and you will be pleasantly surprised how good what others refer to as "mid-fi" can sound. Sonos is nicely integrated with every imaginable music streaming service out there.

So true and just this morning my wife and I had a spirited discussion about music volume and then it hit me that my "big" system is wasted in this small space when we only listen at low volumes. Shoehorning this rig is not doing it justice and it is really underutilized. I did a quick A/B test utilizing Spotify connect to switch back and forth with my TV Sonos system (soundbar and surrounds) and I swear as much as I hate to admit it, the Sonos at one tenth the cost sounded better at our usual listening volumes! This article has definitely opened my eyes to rethink my audio strategy and as such I have listed my amp and speakers for sale. I am looking into an active speaker setup. If my low-fi Sonos is any indication of the active speaker world, I think it can work for me. Less wires, built in bi-amping, signal crossovers before amplification; all good things.

Great and interesting perspective. But on the flip side, there are ways to make a "big" system fit in small spaces. I live in an 1100 sf single story home where I have to be very efficient with the space and the floor design wastes nothing. When I redid the kitchen/dining area I made sure to leave a 7' wide area where I could squeeze in my system consisting of tower speakers, Pass Labs amp, dac and Mac source. The room acoustics may not be optimized as I am sure I am breaking many room treatment rules such as marble surfaces being adjacent, tile floors and wood furniture in front. But I would gain nothing by going to a smaller system.

How much memory are you allocating to the preloading of song files in the Audirvana preferences. These days 4 GB of ram is almost unusable (even with Macs). Try lowering that song buffering setting as freezes as you described can be symptomatic of starving the OS of RAM.

Do you have a network router with access control enabled with a setting that blocks all new devices from connecting to your network? A wireless and wired connection from the same device will have different MAC addresses so unless you have already allowed the wired connection, the router will see the wired connection as a new device and block it. Forgetting about doing this on my router has caused many laughable frustrations for myself!

I agree about the Auralic app as that is the one thing that drove me "bac to my Mac". The Altair hardware/concept was great but it is so frustrating when you have no reliable control over the device. Now with the Macbook as my streamer, there is so much flexibility with regards to software (I use Audirvana with their IOS remote app) and this has proven to be the most reliable setup for me with great sound. Not exactly considered a "streamer" but the Macbook provides all of the above along with ultimate flexibility and with a reliable package that will work for many many years.

I second that emotion. I am amused at all the complaints and problems I read about here. I am happily enjoying my Direct Mode Audirvana Tidal experience. Is Audirvana going to support Amazon Hi-Res streaming when it is released later this year

Okay thanks, I checked my settings and I already had upsampling disabled as I read that with Chord DAC's it does not make sense so there I have it. Thank you for the Direct Mode instructions too. Was easy and fast.

If you are not upsampling, does Direct Mode/Integer mode do anything? Sorry but I am clueless with this stuff but just want to make sure my settings are not hurting me. I have SoX selected with Custom set to no upsampling. DIrect Mode is enabled with Integer Mode 1.

Amazon. Cloud pioneer. AWS. Data centers. Bandwidth. Profitable. Hi-res music. What more can we ask for!

Check this out https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/04/25/amazon-rumored-to-launch-high-definition-music-service-by-end-of-2019 This service is aiming to be better-than-CD quality and at a cheaper price then Tidal. I personally think this is a strong bet as Amazon is one of the cloud pioneers with data centers, ample bandwidth AND a profitable business. Their music catalog looks to be pretty complete so I am going to be following this development.

I am a streaming only user and so for me Audirvana always works well as I do not have library or metadata etc challenges. I have used it since version 2.x and my only critique is that the software volume control is so so sensitive. I don't know if it is my particular setup but I have to be very careful with the volume control on both the remote and the mac app. For example my normal listening volume says -40 Db and the slider is barely off the left hand stopping point. If I went to -30 it would be too loud. Can any adjustments in Audrivana help me more easily and safely adjust my volume. I go dac straight to amp with no preamp.

Just got on the beta. I am kind of liking that we only have Sox available as I never understood the difference from Izotope and I love when the decision is made for me. But in all seriousness if it has not been developed since 2011 you have to move on but hey maybe eventually it will come back around just like Vinyl records.