internal SSD or external drive for music

[TommyC]

Thank you George for the very helpful insights. It's refreshing to know one can stream music at a very high level without having to use complicated and expensive network equipment

Originally Posted by George Prentice

“Do you use any fancy network switch etc to achieve the same sound quality vs internal storage?”

No. I use a wall wart wifi extender ($59) placed in a nearby outlet to plug in my Ethernet cable. Now to be honest, I do use a EtherRegen box as well… but I just threw it in when purchasing my amp… so I really don’t know exactly how much improvement it provided. It is reviewed as an improvement. But I can’t say. A good quality streamer cashes, and isolates. But even the EtherRegen wax only $640(?)… you could add later.

What is completely life changing is no longer being confined to what you have purchased. It is a completely different paradym… at first for some a bit disconcerting… then completely liberating. When there is no sound quality penalty for streaming the whole world is open… and Qobuz has about 500,000 albums in high resolution formats. I am currently listening to an East African jazz band… they are amazing. No longer confined to yet another copy of Kind of Blue… there is a whole world of audiophile sound quality stuff. There are also high def radio stations all over the world… you may discover you like Madagascar'n Sca jazz… there is probably 15 channels out there (I just made that up)… but the variety and quality is simply astonishing. I went out looking for odd music types and it is unbelievably rich and deep. I only listened to Kind of Blue once in the last couple years and compared between my streamer and vinyl and, well I don’t remember my conclusion…. Which clearly says there was no material difference.

So, the $xxx you spend on streaming becomes a bargain. I assure you my streamers are the best money I spent in my life.

[bart]

Originally Posted by George Prentice

“Do you use any fancy network switch etc to achieve the same sound quality vs internal storage?”

No. I use a wall wart wifi extender ($59) placed in a nearby outlet to plug in my Ethernet cable. Now to be honest, I do use a EtherRegen box as well… but I just threw it in when purchasing my amp… so I really don’t know exactly how much improvement it provided. It is reviewed as an improvement. But I can’t say. A good quality streamer cashes, and isolates. But even the EtherRegen wax only $640(?)… you could add later.

What is completely life changing is no longer being confined to what you have purchased. It is a completely different paradym… at first for some a bit disconcerting… then completely liberating. When there is no sound quality penalty for streaming the whole world is open… and Qobuz has about 500,000 albums in high resolution formats. I am currently listening to an East African jazz band… they are amazing. No longer confined to yet another copy of Kind of Blue… there is a whole world of audiophile sound quality stuff. There are also high def radio stations all over the world… you may discover you like Madagascar'n Sca jazz… there is probably 15 channels out there (I just made that up)… but the variety and quality is simply astonishing. I went out looking for odd music types and it is unbelievably rich and deep. I only listened to Kind of Blue once in the last couple years and compared between my streamer and vinyl and, well I don’t remember my conclusion…. Which clearly says there was no material difference.

So, the $xxx you spend on streaming becomes a bargain. I assure you my streamers are the best money I spent in my life.

Good post!

I'm also a more relaxed music lover now.
When I was still buying boat loads of CDs, I felt obliged to listen at least a couple of times to my 'investment', and sometimes it was a waste of time.
Now we often stop after the first track when we really don't like the music, and go for another album to discover.

I also like African music by the way, and other world music styles.
But I do still play Kind of Blue too.

[r042wal]

I am not an audiophile streamer YET. I subscribe to SiriusXM and this is how I discover new music. Then the quest begins to track down, aquire, digitize then add to my library. Looking at my collection on my NAS, I've done this about 1800 times over the years!

I purchased my first DAC (PS Audio PerfectWave Mk II) and it is being shipped out today. It has a Bridge network card and if I am lucky enough, it will be a Bridge II. This opens up the door for streaming Qobuz.

If I didn't want to select a particular artist and album to stream, can I pick a genre and have Qobuz throw its own selections to my stream? With 500,000 albums available, there is a lot to be discovered.

Thanks