Sound System at your Desk

2020, the year of Covid-19.

I've spend most of the year at home working on my computer. 

So I decided to upgrade my desktop sound system for improved performance.

I've had a couple pairs of Stax electrostatic Earphones in my collection - SR-X and SR-Lambda. My device chain used to start on my Windows 7 machine over SPIDIF to SoundStream DAC and then through Krell KAV300i amp to Stax SRM-1/MK-2 headphone energizer to my headphones. I would listen to my FLAC and mp3 rips or would stream radio stations that offered it. Ahh, the early days of streaming.

Enter 2021. I've just moved from 2010 Mac Pro to 2018 Mac Mini and decided to use Toslink digital connector that has been built into the audio jack of many Macs. Well, it is not there anymore so that idea was out of the window. Second I wanted to use USB connection but realized that my SoundStream DAC did not have USB inputs. So I did some research on Reddit and Youtube and ended up acquiring Schiit Modi 3+ for a DAC, then plugged it in to STAX SRM-1/MK-2 energizer and then put on my headphones. Audirvana did sound nice but I kept wondering what would a "better" DAC would sound like. 

Down the rabbit hole with GAS (gear acquisition syndrome).

Metrum Amethyst R2R DAC, KOSS ESP/95X headphones, and a revival of another older DAC - MOTU Traveler via USB-C to Firewire converter. Wow. 

My audio never sounded that good over headphones. Yeah, if I had my space I would play my speakers more, but now it is not quite possible.

Then came streaming service comparison.

I already had YouTube Premium and Amazon Music Prime, both lossy streams but they did sound pretty good to me.

I've tested out Deezer HiFi and Qobuz, in CD or High Res tracks of the same songs. Could not hear the difference. 320/256 mp3/OggVorbis? Still could not tell the difference.

The only difference I could tell was the stability of the app and functionality.

I did like the design of Deezer (I hear Spotify is very similar but more social features) so I might give them a try for a year. Qobuz and Amazon Unlimited are already canceled. I did not try Amazon HD as I felt disappointed in "High Res" moniker. Diminishing returns in quality is very evident in my case.

Youtube Music has excellent selection of music but no dedicated app for OSX. Can't have it all I guess.