With the ebbing and flowing of life in all of its its mysterious ways I am now returning to digital systems after a 2-year vinyl fixation.
The re-exposure to LPs has altered my listening habits in some way and I don't seem to anymore want the sonic character that I preferred in pre-Covid times.
Analogue is analogue, can't beat it, can't compete. I had been trying to get my digital rigs to sound like LPs - but with 2 excellent-sounding turntables. what's the point? So, strange idea, why not just accept the DACs and streamers for what they do and get the best out of them?
Discovery 1) the Cambridge Audio DacMagic Plus sounds absolutely great for a 10-year old, pre-DSD unit. Even better with a chunky LPSU powering it. This was always a 'B' choice DAC up to now but I have two of of them in very revealing systems and they are both impressing the hell out of me. This is an 'upsampling' DAC that resamples the incoming data stream to 384KHz. The result is a refined and extremely musical performance.
Discovery 2) Volumio 3. Now this is an operating system of downloadable software that you can install on a range of computers to turn them into high-performance audio streamers, of which I have an arsenal here: Raspberry Pi's, Asus Tinkerboard and a couple of ex-Windows desktop PC's.
Volumio version 3 is a major improvement on the previous edition and I have found that for ultimate SQ what you need to do is adjust the upsampling feature so it sends the digital feed along at the maximum sampling rate that the DAC can accept, usually 24bit/192KHz.
This really sends the audio quality onto a complete new level of dynamics and detail.
Discovery 3) Digital filters. The new Sabaj DAC has 7 levels and the DacMagic Plus only 3. What these do is adjust the waveform preferences for how the analogue audio signals are created from digital information, the effects are subtle but there is a definite influence on the character of the musical reproduction. Adjust these for your own tastes.
Changes, changes. Analogue is analogue and digital is digital, giving me the option to choose which I prefer as the mood takes me.