Audiophiles hifi appreciation thread old and new

The streamer is 96khz/24 bit. The amp is a Creek A50i and the speakers are Tannoy M1s.

Edit: That Googling leads me into the world of FLAC and higher bit rate options, maybe that’s where I should be looking instead. Still, a good DAC will be useful if I upgrade to a 192khz streaming device.

Good ears? I'm out

Just a thought...do you get interference from airborne RF from your wireless router in the MC cartridge? It's a real pest here that I haven't got round to eliminating yet. It's a pity because since the LP12 rebuild and the servicing of the Naim electronics the sound from the TT is otherwise errr, divine!

The streamer is 96khz/24 bit

that's (theoretically) "high res" audio. I've not looked at chromecast, however it seems unlikely that you are getting this resolution on the majority output.

FLAC is compressed CD quality so 16bit/64khz.

No interferences from router no, nothing that I can hear anyway. Router is actually in the same unit...
I used to have "hum" noises with the original tonearm (TP-25), which was "earthed" to the turntable chassis. The AT cabling (including earth) only goes to the pre amp.
What tonearm are you using?
Can you tell more (sorry if this was in previous pages) about the servicing of your Naim electronics? I wonder how much it would cost to get my Qed amps looked at, I've got a buzzing noise (regardless of audio source or volume)

I'm currently using Spotify which I think casts at 44khz/16 bit. I'm taking a look at Tidal which will stream at 96/24.
Found a thread here which talks about the performance of chromecast with external DAC if anyone's interested. Looks like a goer to me.

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/chromecast-and-external-dac

spotify says:

Music quality details
Check out a side-by-side comparison below.

Free    Premium

Web player AAC 128kbit/s AAC 256kbit/s
Desktop, mobile and tablet
Automatic - Dependent on your network connection
Low* – Equivalent to approximately 24kbit/s

Normal – Equivalent to approximately 96kbit/s

High – Equivalent to approximately 160kbit/s

Automatic - Dependent on your network connection

Low* – Equivalent to approximately 24kbit/s

Normal – Equivalent to approximately 96kbit/s

High – Equivalent to approximately 160kbit/s

Very high (Premium only) - Equivalent to approximately 320kbit/s

Edit - formatting has got lost but essentially, normal spotify is 96kbs which I would suggest is below the level where hardware upgrades are going to help that much.

https://support.spotify.com/us/using_spotify/system_settings/high-quality-streaming/

I have mine turned up to very high as I don't really use it if I'm not on WiFi, but I'm not against using a streaming service with lossless output instead.

I might see if I can take the chrome cast to Richer Sounds and try it with and without the DAC.

I'm on Discogs with a couple of hundred records for sale at the moment. I have a lot more that I'm working on listing. I'd say I'm asking decent prices but then I probably would right?

Let me know what you're interested in because I have a ton of much cheaper dance stuff that's not listed but I want to sell, would be £1-5 per record. I do sell a lot of £10 7" records, they go all over the world so I'm guessing the prices must be acceptable.

Topping d50

I have a Rothwell Simplex MM phono stage to sell, if anyone is after something good for little £££. £125

Bargain! Have no need for an mm preamp, but would snap it up if I did.

It’s really good.

The Naim electronics were overhauled by Darran at http://www.classaaudio.co.uk in Sheffield. He is an official supplier to Naim, but I went direct. I don't know if they do other electronics brands. My LP12 is fitted with the Ekos tonearm.

Tooled up with this lot for my assault on streaming music quality.
Cambridge Audio DACMagic 100
Optical cable to connect Chromecast for when I’m just around the house
USB Audio (printer!) cable for direct connection when I’m working on the kitchen and sitting in the sweetspot
Ifi Silencer USB noise filter
Tidal subscription
Swapped out Mordaunt Short M10s for Monitor Audio Bronze 2.

Sounds great, properly musical now. Can’t seem to get the Chromecast to operate at 96khz but need to play with the settings. Cable connection is unsurprisingly much better. Obvs those little M10s were a weak link before, they don’t sound much better than mini system speakers. The Monitor Audios are temporary while some smaller BR1s are in the post.

3 Attachments

Interesting about connecting the chromecast via optical. I honestly didn't know you could. Have googled a bit and will likely get a cable for this as my amp has a port. Does the external dac make a discernible difference to you?

Yes sure does. Much more detail going on. Your amp’s DAC is likely to be better than that in the Chromecast so it’s only the cost of a Toslink cable to have a try.

Do be careful running an amp inside a cupboard with the door shut. I managed to overheat and consequently destroy a Cambridge Audio Amp that way. I had taken to running it 24/7 though, which is lazy.

Hate to think how much that USB cable cost!

Curious too

Hate to think how much that USB cable cost!

£25. I have one unused if anyone is keen for a bit of magic fairy dust.

I really want to get both of my Arcams repaid. I contacted someone in south london but had no reply.
I know I asked before, but is anyone able to recommend somewhere?

I know a guy in North London who's good - I'm also south but have had no joy finding a decent repair closer to home. Interested to hear if you find someone!

Anyone know the closest alternative to a chromecast audio these days? Looks like the ebay sellers are running out as the prices are all extortionate - don't need anything too fancy, just to save me digging through piles of old cds as most of my stuff is on the computer in one format or another anyway. Old Cambridge A500 amp so it would need to run a phono-3.5mm cable & the network speaker we have in the living room runs via Google home.

Cheers!

AudioCast. Don’t think it has optical out and uses its own app but it integrates with most streaming services.
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F233312749186