High Quality Signal Sources

[blockrocker]

Great input from everyone, thank you. I agree that driving down the road, I almost certainly won't hear much difference. However, I do listen in the driveway and like to give demo's when possible. Not to mention, I'm not a fan of the bluetooth reliability from my Kenwood. So if I can at least improve my usability that way, its a good step forward for me.

I have just ordered a Topping D10 to try out in the car. It was a good deal and I figured if I don't like the new configuration, it would be a great unit for my laptop or computer room. I'm excited for the new toy.

[dumdum]

I can hear more detail when driving around at 30-40mph with the topping vs my alpine, cymbals sound like cymbals with the topping and my iPhone, through the alpine they kind of sound 2 dimensional with very little decay after the initial strike makes itself heard if that makes sense, I think it’s more down to how bad the alpine sounds when you have a decent reference

[ckirocz28]

I can hear more detail when driving around at 30-40mph with the topping vs my alpine, cymbals sound like cymbals with the topping and my iPhone, through the alpine they kind of sound 2 dimensional with very little decay after the initial strike makes itself heard if that makes sense, I think it’s more down to how bad the alpine sounds when you have a decent reference

Yeah, it's definitely about the quality of everything in the signal path plus the number of DA/AD conversions, but mostly about quality of components.

[nadams5755]

I would think that using Spotify as a source would be the main sound-quality limiter

spotify gets different masters from labels, optimized for their streaming platform. even the non-free tier sounds bad in my experience.

all the streaming platforms do this, spotify seems the most impacted by this (except pandora but they're not so on-demand like the others)

[nadams5755]

also, when you've got your interior apart to pull a toslink/optical cable, might as well pull a coax/spdif cable.

[blockrocker]

Yeah I've been on the fence about switching to Tidal over Spotify. I believe Tidal would sound discernibly better, but I'm not sure about the $25/month tag. Don't get me wrong, I do see the irony of dropping thousands of bucks into a stereo, only to cheap out on the music source. But until I get this truck paid off, the Spotify will probably have to stay, or I have to get rid of my Rogers SportsNet online package. Lol, tough decisions.

[nadams5755]

most of my content comes from apple music or CDs i've ripped to FLAC/ALAC streamed from plex. i've bought a few albums from hdtracks.

most of my CDs come from used shops.

[jtrosky]

Yeah I've been on the fence about switching to Tidal over Spotify. I believe Tidal would sound discernibly better, but I'm not sure about the $25/month tag. Don't get me wrong, I do see the irony of dropping thousands of bucks into a stereo, only to cheap out on the music source. But until I get this truck paid off, the Spotify will probably have to stay, or I have to get rid of my Rogers SportsNet online package. Lol, tough decisions.

If you happen to be an Amazon Prime member, check out their streaming service - it sounds noticably better than Spotify, in my experience.

[blockrocker]

That's a good tip jtrosky, I'll take a look.

[Serieus]

https://offer.tidal.com/campaigns/5d...618e001786271c

not sure if this is valid in canada, but tidal has a promo going on - $5 for 5 months of service, any tier. i switched from spotify in december w/ this, if nothing else it'll save you some money over the next 5 months (even if you switch back after)