Why did you buy an expensive streamer if you thought that digital is digital? Surely its output would simply be binary? If you believe the streamer makes a difference to sound, then by extension USB cables do as well. What most naysayers fail to acknowledge is that the digital signal is transferred in the electrical domain that is the foundation of what the final analog signal is made from. You got a ddc and changed LSPs here and there because you knew that the purity of the electricity is critical to every component in your hifi chain. By connecting each component with a cable you're basically combining them into a single electrical system. The delivery of the signal through the usb cable puts a constant current from upstream to down, coupling them and affecting the ground within each. This ground is the same reference from which the analog signal is modulated from. Affect that in any way and you change the analog signal output. This is why different electrical characteristics of cables have a different resultant effect. And it's also why some hifi manufacturers put massively regulated supplies with enormous capacitor banks to try and produce as clean a power as possible. Even having separate digital grounds don't fix the problem. Possibly the only way is fiber usb connection, but that also introduces additional electronics to the system which could also have an effect. Nobody is arguing about the integrity of the digital signal - we know it's near 100% perfect transmission. It's the conduit which is the problem. Power is everything. If you change power supplies upstream in a ddc, for example, it will still affect the analog signal in the dac downstream via the cable. It's this specific coupling modulation of a specific cable which gives the tone and character. And this doesn't necessarily mean EMI or RFI or any other noise on the cable either - there can be none and the cable still imparts character as it couples the connected devices because it must do so electrically. This is why power cables also have a massive effect on components although again, there is little scientific understanding why this happens. And that's the problem with hifi - there is so little scientific understanding of why things happen, it's all trial and error until you find something that sounds good to you. There's only limited understanding of human hearing that I'd prefer to trust my own ears and believe cables make a difference rather than believe there's people who are blind and can use their tongues to make echo locating clicking sounds (there are, if you care to look it up). Anyway, it's great to see you tried and have come to your own conclusions. Here's an additional experiment you can also do if you have the equipment: get a pair of digital rca cables and listen to the digital output via your dac. Then switch them out and put them on the analog output of your dac to amp. You might find that it still carries the same sound signature across. This, again, is due to the nature in which the cable's electrical properties couple the attached components.
1. I bought the Eversolo DMP-A6 to use only as a streamer for the Apple Music app to: - play Apple Music hi-res lossless and be wireless (vs wireless Apple Airplay which only plays normal lossless) (I was using Apple Music hi-res lossless via my iPhone which requires a wired connection). - be the streamer instead of my iphone 2. Digital is not Digital, yes you get the correct 0 and 1 but their arrival is off (jitter/timing) and buffers don't solve issues such as music pauses, slow song starts. Reducing jitter makes the sound better. Eversolo has 2 big wifi antennas for better connection stability over my iphone (wifi is better than physical ethernet which brings wire noise) 3. Yes I agree the conduit (cables) can make a diifference if one's gears and ears are good enough. I love my 2 Cardas Parsec RCA cables and 2 iFi Supanova power cable (for Denafrips DAC, and Parasound 2100 preamp) .
I have the similar systems as you (eversolo A6 ME LPS+Denafrips Ares 12-1). I am not satisfied with eversolo USB, somehow noisy. I changed to NEO (created by OYAIDE) that I used before, reduced noise and enhanced vocal. Then, I got Cardas. It makes much difference. Absolutely gorgeous ! Thank you for your good information.
My Denafrips Ares II 12th got another sound quality improvement when I added the Denafrips Iris 12th (via I2S 1.5' HDMI cable to the Ares). Check out my other videos that I found a sound quality improvement: Micca or GearIT speaker cables, Cardas Parsec RCA cable, iFi SilentPower Supanova power cable for my DAC and/or preamp.
Thanks for the review!
Why did you buy an expensive streamer if you thought that digital is digital? Surely its output would simply be binary? If you believe the streamer makes a difference to sound, then by extension USB cables do as well.
What most naysayers fail to acknowledge is that the digital signal is transferred in the electrical domain that is the foundation of what the final analog signal is made from. You got a ddc and changed LSPs here and there because you knew that the purity of the electricity is critical to every component in your hifi chain. By connecting each component with a cable you're basically combining them into a single electrical system. The delivery of the signal through the usb cable puts a constant current from upstream to down, coupling them and affecting the ground within each. This ground is the same reference from which the analog signal is modulated from. Affect that in any way and you change the analog signal output. This is why different electrical characteristics of cables have a different resultant effect. And it's also why some hifi manufacturers put massively regulated supplies with enormous capacitor banks to try and produce as clean a power as possible. Even having separate digital grounds don't fix the problem. Possibly the only way is fiber usb connection, but that also introduces additional electronics to the system which could also have an effect.
Nobody is arguing about the integrity of the digital signal - we know it's near 100% perfect transmission. It's the conduit which is the problem. Power is everything. If you change power supplies upstream in a ddc, for example, it will still affect the analog signal in the dac downstream via the cable. It's this specific coupling modulation of a specific cable which gives the tone and character. And this doesn't necessarily mean EMI or RFI or any other noise on the cable either - there can be none and the cable still imparts character as it couples the connected devices because it must do so electrically.
This is why power cables also have a massive effect on components although again, there is little scientific understanding why this happens. And that's the problem with hifi - there is so little scientific understanding of why things happen, it's all trial and error until you find something that sounds good to you.
There's only limited understanding of human hearing that I'd prefer to trust my own ears and believe cables make a difference rather than believe there's people who are blind and can use their tongues to make echo locating clicking sounds (there are, if you care to look it up).
Anyway, it's great to see you tried and have come to your own conclusions.
Here's an additional experiment you can also do if you have the equipment: get a pair of digital rca cables and listen to the digital output via your dac. Then switch them out and put them on the analog output of your dac to amp. You might find that it still carries the same sound signature across. This, again, is due to the nature in which the cable's electrical properties couple the attached components.
1. I bought the Eversolo DMP-A6 to use only as a streamer for the Apple Music app to:
- play Apple Music hi-res lossless and be wireless (vs wireless Apple Airplay which only plays normal lossless)
(I was using Apple Music hi-res lossless via my iPhone which requires a wired connection).
- be the streamer instead of my iphone
2. Digital is not Digital, yes you get the correct 0 and 1 but their arrival is off (jitter/timing) and buffers don't solve issues such as music pauses, slow song starts. Reducing jitter makes the sound better.
Eversolo has 2 big wifi antennas for better connection stability over my iphone (wifi is better than physical ethernet which brings wire noise)
3. Yes I agree the conduit (cables) can make a diifference if one's gears and ears are good enough. I love my 2 Cardas Parsec RCA cables and 2 iFi Supanova power cable (for Denafrips DAC, and Parasound 2100 preamp) .
I have the similar systems as you (eversolo A6 ME LPS+Denafrips Ares 12-1). I am not satisfied with eversolo USB, somehow noisy. I changed to NEO (created by OYAIDE) that I used before, reduced noise and enhanced vocal. Then, I got Cardas. It makes much difference. Absolutely gorgeous ! Thank you for your good information.
My Denafrips Ares II 12th got another sound quality improvement when I added the Denafrips Iris 12th (via I2S 1.5' HDMI cable to the Ares). Check out my other videos that I found a sound quality improvement: Micca or GearIT speaker cables, Cardas Parsec RCA cable, iFi SilentPower Supanova power cable for my DAC and/or preamp.