Lossless quality vs. cd quality
ergetz -- Thu, 04/05/2007 - 08:11
Let me turn the focus to assessing well-recorded music converted to lossless and delivered over a wireless server to a high-end audio system vs the cd it was ripped from. Does anyone think we have arrived or are approaching an era of wireless servers connected to high end audio systems which rival or, dare I say, surpass the high-end cd player--in all or most or many or any of the attributes by which we measure high-end cd players? If so, what are the qualifyers? What would need to be in the system that might stand up best to its cd source? Any particular squeeze box, or squeeze box/DAC combination? Wireless vs. cabling? Please feel free to mention set-up requirements, or particular products: Sonos, Slim Device's Transformer or whatever? Background: I was just about to upgrade from my ECM-1UP to a player in the under $10,000 range (perhaps MBL or AMR or Audio Aero or Meridian) when a friend who imports/distributes high-end gear told me to consider the wireless alternative. He is a neighbor of Robert Harley in New Mexico who he says has been over to hear his A/B comparisons. Anecdotally, I am only three months into owning an 80 gig iPod and playing 2700 songs in Apple Lossless along side my ECM 1-UP; and I am favorably impressed. Recently I tried ripping a few cd's into WAV files and felt it may be even better than Apple Lossless. Comments? Suggestions? Randy
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One thing that makes sense to me is that wherever the D/A conversion happens, the quality of the D/A converter will matter in the context of high quality audio. I say this because it is true with red book CD players in primarily analog systems. Assuming the transmission standards do not downconvert audio data along the way (not necessarily a good assumption), the data stream should be preserved in a more fully digital system. And that is not something one can say about analog audio (preamp through cable to amp). Advantageously it would seem, leaving us (only) with questions of timing and D/A conversion.
Again, if the transmission spec preserves the data, there should be no difference between wired and wireless, if I understand your question. But, what is that spec?
As for D/A conversion, as someone has said, there is no particular reason to believe that doing this conversion in the (high level) amplifier stage is the best place. I do think, however, that many lower cost systems will take this approach. That doesn't make them bad (for the money) but this may not be the state of the art approach.
CEO and Editorial Director, Nextscreen LLC
If you can transmit the bits with perfect accuracy to the source, it shouldn't matter if the signal had been sent via wires or wirelessly.
The MSB Technology iLink is a perfect example (my review appears in the next issue of The Absolute Sound). The device is a docking station that receives a wireless signal from your iPod (modified by MSB for this purpose) and outputs an S/PDIF signal to an outboard digital-to-analog converter. In my listening, I heard no difference between the iPod/MSB iLink system and the CD source (played on a high-end transport into the same DAC).
I think we're going to see many more wireless solutions that don't compromise sound quality.
Robert Harley
I own a slim devices squeezbox which is connected to a very expensive Dac (Weiss Medea).
The results from my system are very ,very good but playing the same music via cd using Marantz SA 11 as transport connected to the same Dac produces even superior results.
The difference is small but in the context of high-end quite significant and
unmistaken.
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Marantz SA 11
Weiss Medea
ARC REF 3
NUforce 9.02
Kharma 3.2 FE/Kharma sub