Audio Source

[ejspain]

I guess I consider myself somewhat an "audiophile". Recently I loaded all my CDs, SACDs, 1080p & Blu-Ray material onto my Plex Home Media Server. Throughout my home, Plex delivers my music content via FLAC files and movies in 1080P, TrueHD and 4k beautifully. What are most people using as their music/movie source and why? What's all the stink about having a DAC? What are the advantages/disadvantages of using a DAC?

 

[Robert D]

I stream most of my stuff off of my Apple Tv. I do own a fairly large library of blu rays and 4k discs too that I play on my Panasonic 4k player. Streaming is nice because its so easy to do and you dont have to buy the movies, plus the services all have exclusive series that you cant watch anywhere else.

For music, I exclusively stream off of Tidal now. The quality is better than CD on most of the stuff and its just so darn easy to do. I use a Lumin streamer for that.

 

[Leporello]

What's all the stink about having a DAC? What are the advantages/disadvantages of using a DAC?

By that I assume you mean an external DAC. If you're using digital media you always need a DAC of one form or another.

I have an Oppo UDP-205 that I use for playing shiny disks and streaming media from a NAS (turns out it can also stream live TV from my HDHomerun tuner, though it's not optimal for that) and acts as a Roon endpoint. I deem the DAC in the Oppo of sufficient quality to use for all these purposes. My Benchmark DAC1 Pre has been retired to my bedroom system. Decoding of other video media, like streaming boxes such as Apple TV and Kodi is done with an Outlaw Audio 975 a/v processor. The Oppo can also do external DAC service but I have so far not found the need.

I have a large classical CD collection. Metadata for classical from the Internet is a mess, and I get frustrated with all the grooming required when I rip a CD. I doubt they will all get ripped--and the collection is still growing--in my lifetime. I also have a large vinyl collection that I have no intention of digitizing, and gets played on a SOTA Star turntable with a Sumiko Blue Point Special cartridge. I haven't found a music streaming service so far of sufficient interest to justify a monthly fee.

DACs these days come in a variety of combinations. Streamer-DACs are especially common. Some of them make a big point of having a superior headphone output, which is of little interest to me. Some can do direct DSD to analog conversion, which theoretically is of interest to me. But the only native DSD format I regularly listen to so far is SACD disks, which I play directly on the Oppo. The Oppo has issues with playing multi channel DSD via Roon, which Kal Rubinson explains in detail on one of the Roon forums. I think, but don't know yet, that it can handle multi channel DSD files by other means, but I have so far not acquired any.

BTW, I'm not a member of the "analog forever!" camp. I do enjoy playing records, including newly acquired premium pressings. But if I were starting from scratch, I doubt that I would buy a turntable. And what I would do about digital media remains an open, but moot, question.

 

[ejspain]

By that I assume you mean an external DAC. If you're using digital media you always need a DAC of one form or another.

I have an Oppo UDP-205 that I use for playing shiny disks and streaming media from a NAS (turns out it can also stream live TV from my HDHomerun tuner, though it's not optimal for that) and acts as a Roon endpoint. I deem the DAC in the Oppo of sufficient quality to use for all these purposes. My Benchmark DAC1 Pre has been retired to my bedroom system. Decoding of other video media, like streaming boxes such as Apple TV and Kodi is done with an Outlaw Audio 975 a/v processor. The Oppo can also do external DAC service but I have so far not found the need.

I have a large classical CD collection. Metadata for classical from the Internet is a mess, and I get frustrated with all the grooming required when I rip a CD. I doubt they will all get ripped--and the collection is still growing--in my lifetime. I also have a large vinyl collection that I have no intention of digitizing, and gets played on a SOTA Star turntable with a Sumiko Blue Point Special cartridge. I haven't found a music streaming service so far of sufficient interest to justify a monthly fee.

DACs these days come in a variety of combinations. Streamer-DACs are especially common. Some of them make a big point of having a superior headphone output, which is of little interest to me. Some can do direct DSD to analog conversion, which theoretically is of interest to me. But the only native DSD format I regularly listen to so far is SACD disks, which I play directly on the Oppo. The Oppo has issues with playing multi channel DSD via Roon, which Kal Rubinson explains in detail on one of the Roon forums. I think, but don't know yet, that it can handle multi channel DSD files by other means, but I have so far not acquired any.

BTW, I'm not a member of the "analog forever!" camp. I do enjoy playing records, including newly acquired premium pressings. But if I were starting from scratch, I doubt that I would buy a turntable. And what I would do about digital media remains an open, but moot, question.

Great reply. Thanks @Leporello