(I am just sharing a smallish observation of mine here and would love all you great guys to share your views with respect to the kind of equipment you own, I don't wish to deny the so called prevalent audiophile facts, but sharing my chawanni, so please don't get offended)
Hi
A few of the usual suspects must have seen me asking and sharing a few audio related queries etc..
I am not an audiophile (don't really believe in term), but I like to listen to music (all kinds really) as long as it sounds good.
I am a budget freak, so I try to do stuff with the lowest possible budget if I can...
After arranging a pretty simple setup of :
Fosi audio BT20A PRO bluetooth CLASS D amplifier with Tpa3255 chip (300wx2) (don't use its bluetooth ever)
sony hifi system speakers (have 4 pairs now)
Google chrimecast audio,
A lg dvd player to play my cds (once s while),
and
A few (300gb till now and bloating) flac files.
Apple music and Spotify (both premium shared subscriptions)
I am listening to all kinds of music..
In last few days I tried to compare streaming of flac files stored on my lg g8x thinq, to chromecast audio and fosi..
I then compared the same song with highest quality streamed via similar setup from apple music ans Spotify.
I found that proper hi resolution flac files sound noticeably better than the other two..(on my simple setup)
The sound is more wide, distinguishly clear, more sweeter and suits my ears more than the subscription streams... The sound experience it seems is more frontal despite being wider (could be the acoustics as they are shitty at my end)
I also noticed (though it's debatable and I am yet to do more comparasions) that Spotify sounds a tad better than Apple... Yes I know apple pushes so called lossless Alac but that's only via wired connections, which I don't use atm..
I have been experimenting with a few if MJ's songs and I was surprised how much I have started to appreciate his compositions after I am able to listen to them in hi resolution, though I have been a fan always... (I have a few of MJ's audio Cds as well but they are buried so deep in storage that I can't even try, {wife would just freak out seeing me rummaging through the stored stuff, she had intentionally buried my stuff at the back, at the bottom }, otherwise I would have loved to do a comparison with cd too but then flac are lossless copies, or that's what is said.)
I also listened to a lot of live Ghulam Ali, Mehdi Hassan, Lakshmi Shankar, Shobha Gurtu, and found that with such renditions there is not much of a difference (obviously) but somehow the cds sounded better.. (again yet to do a detailed demo of these files across all streams, partly coz I don't have audio Cds of the many tracks ans performances)
To me this makes me believe that streaming services, which have over taken whole of audio scenario all over the world are actually pushing us to spend much more in equipments to get better audio that one can actually appreciate if he likes to liztne to music with enough clarity (using a general term coz I Beleive ones who love to listen to music do actually like it to be clear and good enough that's sweet on their auditory apparatus )
Although its kind of selfish to use flac files(for obvious reasons wrt to their soutce) , but they can sound much better with below average or extremely budget quality equipments...
All this again takes me back to the fact that there is nothing out there now for a simple average listener to enjoy their music at the level of their home like we used to till 10, 15vyears back..
One could get a hifi system with all in one capabilities from as low as 8 to 10k onwards.. But now there is nothing, only the bloody party dabbas... Or you have to be so called audiophile with deep pockets and an unending urge to refine your equipment to enjoy good music with good resolution.
After sending personal messages to a few of the good guys over here and at hifivision I am trying to see if I should buy
a wiim pro / pro plus (multi option network, wifi, bluetooth streamer cum dac)
Or
Should rather get the SMSL SU-1 (pure dac with latest arcm chip that's there in wiim pro plus) and couple it with my chromecast audio..
DAC is the first thing that I need to add to my chain to further deepen the experience.. Up until now I have been dependent on the DAC properties of chromecast audio which has served me well.
After that as @Black_Hawk has been suggesting I ll try to look for a speaker pair (nit soon though).. But my intention is to do everything on a budget...
I ll keep you guys posted and would love to hear your opinion
Hi
A few of the usual suspects must have seen me asking and sharing a few audio related queries etc..
I am not an audiophile (don't really believe in term), but I like to listen to music (all kinds really) as long as it sounds good.
I am a budget freak, so I try to do stuff with the lowest possible budget if I can...
After arranging a pretty simple setup of :
Fosi audio BT20A PRO bluetooth CLASS D amplifier with Tpa3255 chip (300wx2) (don't use its bluetooth ever)
sony hifi system speakers (have 4 pairs now)
Google chrimecast audio,
A lg dvd player to play my cds (once s while),
and
A few (300gb till now and bloating) flac files.
Apple music and Spotify (both premium shared subscriptions)
I am listening to all kinds of music..
In last few days I tried to compare streaming of flac files stored on my lg g8x thinq, to chromecast audio and fosi..
I then compared the same song with highest quality streamed via similar setup from apple music ans Spotify.
I found that proper hi resolution flac files sound noticeably better than the other two..(on my simple setup)
The sound is more wide, distinguishly clear, more sweeter and suits my ears more than the subscription streams... The sound experience it seems is more frontal despite being wider (could be the acoustics as they are shitty at my end)
I also noticed (though it's debatable and I am yet to do more comparasions) that Spotify sounds a tad better than Apple... Yes I know apple pushes so called lossless Alac but that's only via wired connections, which I don't use atm..
I have been experimenting with a few if MJ's songs and I was surprised how much I have started to appreciate his compositions after I am able to listen to them in hi resolution, though I have been a fan always... (I have a few of MJ's audio Cds as well but they are buried so deep in storage that I can't even try, {wife would just freak out seeing me rummaging through the stored stuff, she had intentionally buried my stuff at the back, at the bottom }, otherwise I would have loved to do a comparison with cd too but then flac are lossless copies, or that's what is said.)
I also listened to a lot of live Ghulam Ali, Mehdi Hassan, Lakshmi Shankar, Shobha Gurtu, and found that with such renditions there is not much of a difference (obviously) but somehow the cds sounded better.. (again yet to do a detailed demo of these files across all streams, partly coz I don't have audio Cds of the many tracks ans performances)
To me this makes me believe that streaming services, which have over taken whole of audio scenario all over the world are actually pushing us to spend much more in equipments to get better audio that one can actually appreciate if he likes to liztne to music with enough clarity (using a general term coz I Beleive ones who love to listen to music do actually like it to be clear and good enough that's sweet on their auditory apparatus )
Although its kind of selfish to use flac files(for obvious reasons wrt to their soutce) , but they can sound much better with below average or extremely budget quality equipments...
All this again takes me back to the fact that there is nothing out there now for a simple average listener to enjoy their music at the level of their home like we used to till 10, 15vyears back..
One could get a hifi system with all in one capabilities from as low as 8 to 10k onwards.. But now there is nothing, only the bloody party dabbas... Or you have to be so called audiophile with deep pockets and an unending urge to refine your equipment to enjoy good music with good resolution.
After sending personal messages to a few of the good guys over here and at hifivision I am trying to see if I should buy
a wiim pro / pro plus (multi option network, wifi, bluetooth streamer cum dac)
Or
Should rather get the SMSL SU-1 (pure dac with latest arcm chip that's there in wiim pro plus) and couple it with my chromecast audio..
DAC is the first thing that I need to add to my chain to further deepen the experience.. Up until now I have been dependent on the DAC properties of chromecast audio which has served me well.
After that as @Black_Hawk has been suggesting I ll try to look for a speaker pair (nit soon though).. But my intention is to do everything on a budget...
I ll keep you guys posted and would love to hear your opinion
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