How to improve my system

[hesavary]

Hello All,

I am new on this forum, new owner of a D120 and a pair of Fostex GX250.  I have been interested since ever in musique and Hifi, but I never could make the dream come true. I finally made the big step a few weeks ago. I am delighted by the sound of the Devialet with the Fostex speakers. I am using a stock mac mini as main source with Audirvana+, Ripped CD or HD purchased on Qobuz for 30% of my listening time, and Streaming in Qobuz CD quality for the 70% remaining, discovering new musique from various forums, including now the Devialet chat forum.
 
I have a few questions for you…
 
I wanted to try the different connections between the mac and the Devialet. I have hooked the mac with Optical, USB, Ethernet, and I also have wifi available.
 
1 - I didn’t succeed yet to make the Air connection permanent. I have a fairly robust wifi, I am using a Mac capsule which is located very close to the Devialet. Every time I connect to the Air, it works well, no noise, no quirk. However, when I stop the Mac Mini, it is a pain to reconnect to the air. Did I miss something to make the Air the connection by default on the Mac setting?
 
2 – I didn’t succeed to connect the Air Ethernet. I probably missed something in the Devialet configurator. Do I need to set a fix IP address? I have an Ethernet cable connection between the router and the Mac Capsule, then another Ethernet cable between the capsule and the Devialet.
 
3 – Still with the Mac Mini as a source, do you see how to improve the system without spending a fortune making exotic mods on the Mac Mini?
 
I am wondering if changing the source will make a big step forward in term of SQ. I have read a lot of reviews, including on this forum, and I am interested with the Totaldac D1 server. Most of my listening being on Qobuz, I am not fully enthousiastic with the idea of losing the ease of use of Qobuz with the Mac mini and my TV screen as a display. My dealer for the Devialet and the Fostex was using a Marantz NA 11, SQ was very nice but the Marantz iphone/Ipad interface is a no go for me, plus the fact it will not stream Qobuz.
 
4 – For those who have experienced the switch from stock Mac mini to streamers such as the D1 Server, can you please comment the SQ improvement that can be achieved ?
 
5 – I have barely understood that in the case of the D1 server, the Ipad remote app will interface with Qobuz through the D1 Server, but it is the D1 Server that will stream from Qobuz. Did I understand correctly? For those of you using this device and Qobuz, can you please share your experience.
 
Sorry for this long post, and my “non expert” questions. Thanks for your comments.

[Hifi_swlon]

Welcome!

There's definitely things you can do, but having been through the 'make it sound better' loop a few times, I can honestly say unless something specifics bothering you, I'd try not to worry about it too much and just enjoy the music coming from your lovely new purchase.

I can only imagine getting a dedicated streamer like a small NAA will be far more cost effective than trying to mod your mini though. 2016 is looking to be a fantastic year for all things digital streaming, so I think it will pay to wait and watch what happens....

[DelaneyB]

Hi hesavary,
I started just as you did. Mini/Audirvana/optical/D120

I've done quite a bit of playing around over the past year, and ended up switching to a D250 as I got a great deal on it (on this forum) and a Moon Mind180.

My thoughts
1. I didnt find AIR stable over eth or wifi - hence the Moon streamer.
2. You shouldnt need to set a fixed IP on the configurator, just make sure that Eth-AIR is set as the sound output on the mac and the eth input is on on the devialet.
3. You need to set both mac sound and Audirvana options. (USB is most stable)
4. You could keep the Mini and Audirvana for Qobuz (are you using the new A+ iPad remote app?). For stability use USB.
5. You could run the Qobuz app on an iPad and Airplay the output to your airport express and into the D120 via a Toslink. Simple and easy.
6. Better sound (good as AIR) WITH STABILITY is likely to be had from a streamer/renderer (Aurilac/Moon etc - there are many) with the Mac Mini simply running a upnp server such as Twonky
Hope that helps
Regards
Brendan

[Pim]

Hi mate,

Congratulations with your D120 and welcome to the forum. My experience has always been that listening chair, speaker placement and the room make a bigger difference to the sound than the type of streamer, cables and the like will have. I've used Jim Smith's 'Get Better Sound' book for my set up and never looked back. It's the best money you can spend on your system but you need to put the effort in and that can take ages. But when you do, you'll find the reward is great.

Woman has had very positive results with using room treatment well worth reading.
http://devialetchat.com/showthread.php?tid=2087

Good luck and happy listening.

Cheers,

Pim

[hesavary]

Hi All,
Thanks a lot for you interesting answers.

To Hifi_Swlon: Indeed, I will keep watching market evolution, no rush, I will continue to enjoy every minutes with my new system as it is for now, already a big step vs my previous system !

To DelaneyB: Thanks for detailed answer, I didn't know that Audirvana+ has now the interface with Qobuz, I will try this from this evening ;-). I am close to giving up with air, it is too painful to establish the connection, will buy a good USB cable and make it as the prefered connection.

To Pim Van Vliet: Very interesting, I also had the feeling that the accoustic of the room is an important topic. I started reading on this, the more I go, the more I believe there is a lot to do in this field.

Thanks to all of you.

[DelaneyB]

Hi All,
Thanks a lot for you interesting answers.

To Hifi_Swlon: Indeed, I will keep watching market evolution, no rush, I will continue to enjoy every minutes with my new system as it is for now, already a big step vs my previous system !

To DelaneyB: Thanks for detailed answer, I didn't know that Audirvana+ has now the interface with Qobuz, I will try this from this evening ;-). I am close to giving up with air, it is too painful to establish the connection, will buy a good USB cable and make it as the prefered connection.

To Pim Van Vliet: Very interesting, I also had the feeling that the accoustic of the room is an important topic. I started reading on this, the more I go, the more I believe there is a lot to do in this field.

Thanks to all of you.

Quick update on my post - I've been comparing Mac Mini A+ with USB and optical - using a high quality optical cable the sound is great. I havent tried a hiFi quality USB, but I'm sticking with the optical as that's what I have.