10-Feb-2019, 21:40
I'll agree with douglas' comment but that doesn't explain the difference between AES/EBU and ethernet.
There is two obvious differences in what is going on in the signal path. The first is the difference in power supplies involved and we know different power supplies can introduce different amounts of noise to the signal. Perhaps the transport power supply introduces a different amount of noise to the signal than the power supply for the Nucleus. The second difference is that you're using Roon AIR to stream to the Devialet so you've got a signal being fed to a buffer in the Devialet and the DAC is operating in asynchronous mode while AES/EBU is a real time transfer, the Devialet's DAC is not working in asynchronous mode, and the clock in the transport has an effect on the timing of the signal so jitter rates in the DAC are going to be different. You also mention having OREA Bronze under the transport but not under the Nucleus. That may also influence what you're hearing. I hear a difference in the sound from my server if I sit it on a shelf in my Grand Prix Audio rack compared to when I sit it on something different, and I hear a difference if I put it's outboard power supply on the same shelf in the rack as the server or if I put it on something different. Isolation can make a difference to a server in my experience.
While it's possible to argue that one path should be theoretically superior to the other, the bottom line is that there are differences and where there are differences people can have preferences. Lower THD is theoretically preferable to higher THD for example, but some people prefer the sound of a tubed amp with higher THD to the sound of a solid state amp with lower THD. Things like the spectrum of the THD influence can influence a person's preference as much or more than the amount of the THD.
I can believe that there is a difference in sound between your 2 sources and if there is a difference then it really doesn't matter what the cause of the differences is, each listener will prefer one over the other but not every listener is going to have the same preference. There's a difference between vinyl and digital disc and some people prefer vinyl, some prefer digital. Why shouldn't some people listening to your system and this comparison prefer the disc and others prefer the stream? I think that if you invited a number of different people over you may find some who agree with you and some who disagree.
The only other thing I can suggest is that you may be more familiar with the sound from the transport than the sound from the Nucleus. We often tend to prefer the familiar sound to the unfamiliar sound because until we become as familiar with the new as we were with the old, we tend to notice the things where the new is worse and not notice the things where the new is better plus we focus more on differences than on the overall presentation of the sound. With increased familiarity with the new we can find ourselves preferring the new over the old.
You're hearing a difference so you can expect to have a preference. Preferences aren't right or wrong, they have nothing to do with whether one is theoretically or technically better or worse, they're simply about like and dislike. If you're listening for pleasure, and I'd like to think you are, then like always wins out over dislike regardless of right or wrong, or of theoretically better or worse. As I said, however, familiarity plays a part in our assessments. The more you listen to the transport and the more you don't listen to the stream, the less chance there is that increasing familiarity with the stream will result in a change in your preference and the more you may reinforce your existing preference. There's nothing wrong with that, you don't have to force yourself to listen to the stream instead of the transport in order to find out if your preference will change and the fact is that if you do that you may not find that your preferences will change. It's impossible to predict because preferences are personal and subjective and, as I said, they aren't right or wrong. You can just continue to enjoy disc playback because you're listening for enjoyment.
I can point to things that may account for the difference you hear but I can't explain how those things cause the differences or what makes you prefer one result over the other. You hear a difference and I don't think there's any reason to question that. You have a preference and there's no arguing about preference. We all have our own preferences when we're confronted with differences. Pay my airfare so I can come and visit you, listen to the same comparisons, and I'll tell you which I prefer but that won't make a difference to you. If I were you I'd take the money my air fare would cost and instead of buying me a plane ticket to visit I'd buy more discs to play in your transport.
There is two obvious differences in what is going on in the signal path. The first is the difference in power supplies involved and we know different power supplies can introduce different amounts of noise to the signal. Perhaps the transport power supply introduces a different amount of noise to the signal than the power supply for the Nucleus. The second difference is that you're using Roon AIR to stream to the Devialet so you've got a signal being fed to a buffer in the Devialet and the DAC is operating in asynchronous mode while AES/EBU is a real time transfer, the Devialet's DAC is not working in asynchronous mode, and the clock in the transport has an effect on the timing of the signal so jitter rates in the DAC are going to be different. You also mention having OREA Bronze under the transport but not under the Nucleus. That may also influence what you're hearing. I hear a difference in the sound from my server if I sit it on a shelf in my Grand Prix Audio rack compared to when I sit it on something different, and I hear a difference if I put it's outboard power supply on the same shelf in the rack as the server or if I put it on something different. Isolation can make a difference to a server in my experience.
While it's possible to argue that one path should be theoretically superior to the other, the bottom line is that there are differences and where there are differences people can have preferences. Lower THD is theoretically preferable to higher THD for example, but some people prefer the sound of a tubed amp with higher THD to the sound of a solid state amp with lower THD. Things like the spectrum of the THD influence can influence a person's preference as much or more than the amount of the THD.
I can believe that there is a difference in sound between your 2 sources and if there is a difference then it really doesn't matter what the cause of the differences is, each listener will prefer one over the other but not every listener is going to have the same preference. There's a difference between vinyl and digital disc and some people prefer vinyl, some prefer digital. Why shouldn't some people listening to your system and this comparison prefer the disc and others prefer the stream? I think that if you invited a number of different people over you may find some who agree with you and some who disagree.
The only other thing I can suggest is that you may be more familiar with the sound from the transport than the sound from the Nucleus. We often tend to prefer the familiar sound to the unfamiliar sound because until we become as familiar with the new as we were with the old, we tend to notice the things where the new is worse and not notice the things where the new is better plus we focus more on differences than on the overall presentation of the sound. With increased familiarity with the new we can find ourselves preferring the new over the old.
You're hearing a difference so you can expect to have a preference. Preferences aren't right or wrong, they have nothing to do with whether one is theoretically or technically better or worse, they're simply about like and dislike. If you're listening for pleasure, and I'd like to think you are, then like always wins out over dislike regardless of right or wrong, or of theoretically better or worse. As I said, however, familiarity plays a part in our assessments. The more you listen to the transport and the more you don't listen to the stream, the less chance there is that increasing familiarity with the stream will result in a change in your preference and the more you may reinforce your existing preference. There's nothing wrong with that, you don't have to force yourself to listen to the stream instead of the transport in order to find out if your preference will change and the fact is that if you do that you may not find that your preferences will change. It's impossible to predict because preferences are personal and subjective and, as I said, they aren't right or wrong. You can just continue to enjoy disc playback because you're listening for enjoyment.
I can point to things that may account for the difference you hear but I can't explain how those things cause the differences or what makes you prefer one result over the other. You hear a difference and I don't think there's any reason to question that. You have a preference and there's no arguing about preference. We all have our own preferences when we're confronted with differences. Pay my airfare so I can come and visit you, listen to the same comparisons, and I'll tell you which I prefer but that won't make a difference to you. If I were you I'd take the money my air fare would cost and instead of buying me a plane ticket to visit I'd buy more discs to play in your transport.
Roon Nucleus+, Devilalet Expert 140 Pro CI, Focal Sopra 2, PS Audio P12, Keces P8 LPS, Uptone Audio EtherREGEN with optical fibre link to my router, Shunyata Alpha NR and Sigma NR power cables, Shunyata Sigma ethernet cables, Shunyata Alpha V2 speaker cables, Grand Prix Audio Monaco rack, RealTRAPS acoustic treatment.
Brisbane, Qld, Australia
