Vivek Batra
Well-Known Member
Windows Laptop connected to dac.
Luxman
- Thread starter Vivek Batra
- Start date
Thanks for clarifying.
If possible, borrow a good CD Player (Marantz / Arcam/ Teac ) and play your favourite album on a CD in your high end chain.I’m curious to know if you see any SQ improvement over your current source (laptop + DAC ).
Vivek Batra
Well-Known Member
That's not very feasible for me here. Don't know any local guy.
Okay. Don’t take my comments in any bad way - but seeing your high end DAC ampli speaker chain , I feel your setup is weakened by poor transport and media ( laptop / hires tidal ).
You can easily purchase a good preowned CD player for less than 20K which is a fraction of your entire rig cost.CDs are available too for cheap. Please try that if possible.
Vivek Batra
Well-Known Member
Hey, nothing to mind here. Well I am a kind of lazy guy so I wuld prefer streaming convenience over CDs. I have apprehension that laptop might be the weakest link in my setup. But I would go the streamer way rather than CDs. But if I get a loaner player some time I would defitinetly would like to see if there is any difference at all or not.
Gerry_the_Merry
Well-Known Member
Is it a properly treated laptop, optimized for music transport? if so, far from being the weak link in the chain, then it should come close to any CD transport you can get at reasonable prices, especially for playing stored files - but I have no experience regarding streaming from a laptop, though...
Vivek Batra
Well-Known Member
Well I won't say "properly treated". But even running Roon for some time, to my ears there is no difference to me. So I am quite content with what I have right now apart from a little nag of booting the laptop.
rupy
Active Member
A Mac book using Audirvana software and an external DAC.(HD/DSD capable).
rupy
Active Member
Yes,I am settled in Chd,but right now I am in Colombo.Good to see someone from Chandigarh
Gerry_the_Merry
Well-Known Member
You can run any music software, but unless the PC is optimized for music playback, it will hardly begin matching a top end CD Player. But if you were to treat it properly, it should match and perhaps beat a Rs100k transport. By treating, I mean disabling at the root (and this is quite a complex process) all unnecessary processes, removing irrelevant software (for a start, like word, XL etc.) and a bunch of other things. Without these mods, running even the best software will lead to at best a decent performance. But I feel you will finally opt for a dedicated streamer, IMHO.
A dedicated high end streamer would be good alternative but again it would cost above 1L ...
A high end CDP also can cost a bomb from the likes of Esoteric \ Devialet but you can easily get Marantz or Denons within 50-60K new. Yes you do have to invest a bit on CDs but only for the albums you like the most.
Trust me - there’s nothing like playing from physical media - and I don’t want to start another streaming vs CD war here.
A lot of us don’t like to fiddle around with laptops when it comes to music listening.
Either you need to buy a streamer or a good quality DDC.
If buying a streamer I would advise dCS Network Bridge based on your current setup of high quality hardware. You can connect your laptop it or play direct from USB storage.
If buying a streamer I would advise dCS Network Bridge based on your current setup of high quality hardware. You can connect your laptop it or play direct from USB storage.
Gerry_the_Merry
Well-Known Member
I don't think you got my point - which was that if your other components are of good quality, if you want to use a laptop as source, ideally it should be a properly optimized laptop, and if that is too complicated, the best solution is a streamer. Using a laptop without optimization just because it is too fiddly is not an option at all.A lot of us don’t like to fiddle around with laptops when it comes to music listening.
Correct and that is precisely why Vivek’s high-end chain is weak at the transport level compromising the overall sound.
I agree with you. Infact cd vs streaming is a mismatch heavily in favor of cd player.
My setup sound best with cdp connected digitally to the dac followed by cdp with its own dac and then music playing from transport connected to dac with no DDC in between.
Vivek Batra
Well-Known Member
Who wants to send me a CD player for comparision 
Vivek Batra
Well-Known Member
Well when I was looking for a dac, I had thought about buying a CD player with USB input. But knowing myself, I decidecd in favor of a properly implemented dac over using a CDP just for using its dac. I belive a standalone dac would be better than an inbuilt dac.
I got the same advice all over that if I am not going to spin any CDs, it doesn't make any sense to buy a CDP. So I knew from long that streaming will be my main source so here I am evloving it slowly. I would be adding a good network transport and till then laptop is my way to go.
I got the same advice all over that if I am not going to spin any CDs, it doesn't make any sense to buy a CDP. So I knew from long that streaming will be my main source so here I am evloving it slowly. I would be adding a good network transport and till then laptop is my way to go.
Vivek Batra
Well-Known Member
@Vivek : Would you believe that a late eighties Pioneer or Sony made in Japan CDP sounds better than a modern transport with a good DAC (around 1 lakh range ). I don’t even know what DAC is being used inside. But it is definitely not as simple as standalone DAC being always better than inbuilt DAC kind of generalisation.
A lot of thought goes into making a well engineered CD player , whereas in separates there is the tricky question of external connections between a solid transport and DAC , and the multitude of issues in a non-optimised laptop and DAC.
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