Laptop streaming vs dedicated streamer?

He actually didn’t. But I think the measurements from other third party sources confirm that.
Most DACs now are made very well and use asynchronous USB.
You have to have a pretty sh#tty DAC nowadays to not remove all that.

the RME DAc does it. My Marantz does as well which is a bit old

 

Yep! They are rolling it out for their main products...iOS.. and everything is taking a backseat to that for now. I expect that they will be rolling out updates along the way. I don't think their web player has been updated (correct me if I am wrong), so I would hope that would happen next. It would solve the issue on multiple platforms while they roll out the other updates.

As you mentioned AppleTV for Atmos and lossless and Music app on newer Macs for everything, but not automatic bit rate switching.

 

Here this guy talked about digital signal coming from PC to DAC gets cleaned up. Stereophile Class A+ DAC too and very well received everywhere. Very tempting.

 

Was using windows laptop with CEC CD5 dac with USB connection with Supra cable, however recently brought streamer Audiolab 6000n Play with same CEC CD5 DAC , the internal DAC in audiolab is not up the level .
Audiolab is better in terms convenience and sound quality and they price similar to mid range Laptops.

 

The same guy also did a review and explainer of different DDC (digital to digital converters) and how they can clean up the signal and why that may matter. PCs can create electrical and digital noise that can get into the audio gear if you connect them to the audio gear with a cable. GoldenSound mentions that his gaming PC will create noise in his audio gear if the GPU is running. And he's got DACs that have good galvanic isolation. There are also cases where different USB ports on a PC or laptop will sound different. PCs and laptops can be inconsistent and unpredictable performers as a digital audio source.

An advantage for a good streamer is that it is already properly optimized. The USB ports are designed to have proper clean power and proper isolation. The other digital outputs are similarly optimized. You know the streamer is right. With a PC or laptop you have to measure and find out which USB port sounds best and then keep the PC or laptop properly optimized and hope that a driver update or other update doesn't mess things up.

Here's the video explainer on DDCs:

 

Besides that, instead of running a cable from your laptop, you have a dedicated streaming device. You connect it to your system as just an other source and that's it.

 

I have a dedicated laptop for audio that sits on the top shelf of the audio rack. It acts like a dedicated source component.

The laptop setup works. But I'm also looking to try to get better quality digital source to my DACs. I'm going to try a Raspberry Pi with audiophile add-on boards for digital output and see how that works. It may work better. Or may not. I may find it convenient to do it that way. Or may not. But I need to try it to find out.

The Raspberry Pi option would separate functionality. The laptop would likely stay on the audio rack to run JRiver or other audio software. But would no longer be directly connected to the DACs. JRiver on the laptop already allows me to control music playback using an Android phone or tablet. A Raspberry Pi would also allow playback control using a phone or tablet. That usage style wouldn't change much.

I have heard very slight improvements in some setups when using a streamer device or DDC device instead of connecting directly to a USB port on a laptop. I wonder if I'll hear a difference using a Raspberry Pi solution compared to connecting directly to the laptop?

 

Couldn't really say. Never streamed from a laptop. I did try several methods to cast YouTube videos and audio. None that I was pleased with. The audio worked OK. Back in the beginning, when I started setting up my systems, one of the first things I did was to buy a refurbished Peachtree Nova Integrated. This gave me a system DAC from the start in 2011. Just plugged a USB cable into the Nova, which has both pure analog and different digital inputs.

Around that time, I bought a dedicated Sony streaming box on closeout for $49. Once the Chromecast device came out, the casting of YouTube videos from the 7" tablet was the final solution. I use an Oppo for CD's and video media. For CD's, I run them digitally into the Nova's ESS Saber DAC, as I do all digital sources. The DVD's and Blu-ray disks go directly into the HT processor via HDMI. The Chromecast unit goes directly into the processor.

The thing about most laptops is that they are not optimized for audio. They are inherently noisy. Perhaps a DIY dedicated processor would serve you better in this regard?

 

I have been steaming with a spare laptop. Since I have no rack space for the laptop, I have to move it around my listening area, and it is a pain with the long USB cable to the DAC. Also, my laptop, a Razer Blade 13, turns on its fans at the worst possible moments. It will be so much more convenient to control the DAC with an iPad rather than a laptop. Unfortunately, my OPPO Sonic DAC, only has native support for Spotify Connect, so I need the laptop to stream Qobuz by USB. I am hoping Spotify HiFi will work with the Spotify Connect on my Sonica DAC so I can ditch the laptop and Qobuz.

 

I'm just glad this stuff is easy and simple to set up. Right now I stream with a laptop through a simple little DacMagic 100. I think it sounds good and so far I haven't hurt any equipment or myself.

 

for those considering streamers. i owned a Lumin U1 for 2 years but didnt care for the app and eventually swapped it out for a Roon Nucleus+ and did not notice any significant difference in sound... the U1 is pricey at 6K the Nucleus+ 1/3rd the cost. i think a dedicated streamer is probably superior to a home/laptop pc but also understand that dedicated streamers are still just simple computers.

 

Hmm, I just tried all three USB ports on my laptop, can't tell any difference at all.

 

This old Lenovo here has 3 USB outs, but only 1 has 24/192 capability. Fed by USB into a well jitter buffered DAC like the Exogal Comet - i really do wonder what extra SQ I'm missing at redbook or higher res that these dedicated streamers have to offer? Really, I'd be pleased to lay down some cash for it to be so - but TBH nothing here is convincing me on £ per SQ vs amps, speakers, room acoustics etc bang for buck. However, I'm open to be convinced otherwise

 

Doesn't the usb output depend on the receiving device's DAC specifications?

 

I use Daphile which is free, installed on simple Gigabyte Brix computer. Signal goes do high quality German tube DAC and the result is just great. Windows or OSX are not optimized for music.

 

I reckon so - hence a dedicated streamer or laptop both fed via USB into a good DAC should be very similar in SQ.

 

What I was thinking is each of your usb laptop outputs might be controlled by the DAC it is connected to . So, if you have a DAC which will accept a 24/192 stream, going into sound control panel you could set the the DAC's driver to output up to 24/192 if it was initially set at let's say 14/44.1.

 

The DAC here receives data and tells me what res it is at on its screen - it doesn't tell the laptop to do anything other than its recognition of its own app on the laptop.

 

What bit and bite rate do you have your OPPO's driver set to?

 

Your OPPO DAC's driver likely can be set for the bit and bite rate which will be output from the laptop's usb port. For example, if you have files in your laptop's media player which are 24/192, setting the driver to output 24/192 will get 24/192 to your OPPO. Setting the driver to 16/44.1 will down sample the 24/192 files to 16/44.1 output to the OPPO. In other words, the driver is telling the laptop what bit and bite rate to send to the OPPO.

 

Yes - the laptop is maxed at 24/192 so anything up to that res is sent to the Dac.

 

The DAC controls the data rate for transmission from the USB source. It does not change the sample rate or word-length of the data content but will reject any that it cannot handle.

 

The differences, if there are any, of the sound quality from different USB ports on a particular computer are going to be subtle and require resolving gear and ears to hear. These are digital interfaces all sending bit-perfect data. The differences aren't due to the data being changed. It's due to other things like electrical noise in the signal and jitter and grounding and whatever. It's subtle. Similar to listening for sonic differences between CD transports.

Different USB ports on a computer can be measurably different. Whether those measured differences can be heard can be debated. But there can be measured differences. People publishing measurements of DACs should measure all of the USB ports on the computer they're using to measure DACs. And pick the USB port that measures best to plug the DAC in.

Computers also have internal USB busses. Some have a separate USB bus for each port, some have every port on the same USB bus. Computers will have various internal devices that are also connected to a USB bus. Devices like the keyboard, touchscreen, mouse, wifi, bluetooth, web cam, and other internal devices. For best audio performance it is generally advisable to put the DAC on a USB bus that is different than the bus the internal devices are connected to. Some laptops have all the USB ports on the same bus shared with the internal devices. Some have one of the USB ports on a separate bus. To find out you can use tools like USB Device Tree Viewer and other tools.

The laptop I have in my audio system has all of the USB ports on the same bus. And on the same bus as the internal devices like the touch screen and wifi and bluetooth. It's not an ideal laptop to be using in an audio system. But I'm using it. The less than ideal laptop is one reason I'm looking at trying some of the Raspberry Pi streamers with audiophile add-on boards.

 

Would someone be kind enough to explain why streaming hardware feeding into a DAC is better than a laptop pushing the same files into the DAC? Thank you ahead of time.