Hey Mikey. Love what you’re trying to do with enlightening the herd man, please give those of us who love our music in all formats a break. I’ve got digital with Tidal and CDs. I use title to find music not easily available on the shelf or shipping. When I read my magazines, particularly absolute sound I can immediately look up, recommended artist and recordings at the back of the magazines. When I am in a record store and I see something that looks interesting I can turn on my title and listen to a few tracks right then in there. Incredible. I love it. I have a good rig and I digital sounds great, but I also have a great vinyl rig, with good investment table and stylus/carts. Everything sounds good no matter what I’m playing. Just depends upon how I want to play on that day or evening. Sometimes I want to make myself a fine Turkish tea and spin some vinyl, other times I want to pick up my phone dial up a song on my streamer or an album that I just am curious about and I’ve never heard and just let it flow out like magic. We’re living a good times for music listening. Everything‘s available. Integrate, don’t segregate. Just my two cents Mikey. Love ya.

Loads of great info that I had to learn about over the years myself. Here you wrap it all up in a 30 minute video. Generous of you to share, Mikey.

@OCDHIFiGuy

5 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it!

Mikey, Viewers will come. You have our loyalty with the Tribe. This information is crazy good. Thank You. After hearing this session. I am glad you plan on offering a streamer that will be totally functional I am already in line. Until then Sean

Love the regular posting!! Cranking! Thank you Mikey!!

@OCDHIFiGuy

5 ай бұрын

You bet!

Having used Tidal for the past 8 months, it has exposed me music that I had no idea even existed and that otherwise would have gone unheard. For example, Tidal prepares a recommended list of tracks each day. When I listen to one I like, I can see that Tidal can show similar or related tracks/albums from the same or other artists, which leads down a path of almost infinite music variety and exploration. Ironically, streaming has also led to a lot of live touring, because that is the only way to make big money anymore, unlike the old days when big-name musicians could just record a top-selling album in a studio.

Not a horder, never had a decent music library. Streaming is the bomb 💣

@OCDHIFiGuy

5 ай бұрын

I agree

That was SUPERB! Thank you very much!

@OCDHIFiGuy

5 ай бұрын

Glad you liked it!

Thanks for doing these videos

You make me laugh the pony looks like a gray squirrel. I particularly liked this one. OK I'm one of those old boomers with physical media. I will probably be going down the streamer route to open up the music choices. I will be adding a mesh router on a second story audio room to be able to connect an ethernet cable to the router into the streamer and USB to the DAC in my Esoteric K-03xd player. So more info on these topics would be great as it gets more complex when you start adding linear power supplies and network switches. Looking forward to any streamers you may come up with.

@OCDHIFiGuy

5 ай бұрын

Sounds like you've got a good grasp of it already !! 😉 stay tuned !

I think we also need to support artists by buying their albums (Downloads or hard copies), they hardly make money with streaming... Just my two cents...

Mikey , thank you for the sharing..I'm not super knowledgeable in the computer world nor am I super knowledgeable in the DAC world but l certainly was keeping pace with you.. Again, good sharing.. Thanks..

Exploring new music laterally, going way deep, was the game changer that streaming provided for me…that’s the goal of the hobby for me, what it’s all about. Bettering the audio components just enhances the music listening hobby. Also, with Roon software, the “Roon Radio” algorithms do a good job of turning me on to new artists and titles I like.

Wow Mikey, I thought you were wearing one of those British Judges hair hats. Just kidding, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours and thanks for your insigh into this hobby. BTW woke up to 29 degrees here in Columbus GA.😂

@OCDHIFiGuy

5 ай бұрын

Happy holidays! That's too cold !!

I have been down the line with streamers and I failed. I sold or traded the few I tried. After getting them working😤 they didn’t sound as good as my CD transport on same DAC. That was my last draw, toooo frustrating.Out the door it goes. I am buying a used MPD 3 Playback and that will accommodate a streamer better I hope. Look forward to your streamer you put together next year. Thanks Mickey

@OCDHIFiGuy

5 ай бұрын

I don't even know what MPD3 is. I would not buy anything before merlot.

@user-ot8hb6ch7v

5 ай бұрын

@@OCDHIFiGuy MPD3 is a DAC Mike, before the Merlot and same DAC as in Playbacks 3 CD player. But Thanks Anyway.

Qobuz, Mikey. Great vid, btw.

@OCDHIFiGuy

5 ай бұрын

Hey, thanks!

“Music is a story that reflects what people are going through in the world” OCD Mikey

@OCDHIFiGuy

5 ай бұрын

Thanks man !

@Audiofreak71

5 ай бұрын

@@OCDHIFiGuy Yessir 👍🏽

I watch and subscribe to your channel for the fidelity and music discussions. Not so much equipment, if of interest, your discussion of the technology impact on music listening. Thank you for sharing your experience and commentary.

@OCDHIFiGuy

5 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching !

This is a great video. I subscribed. I've been trying to figure out the answer to the following question via Audiogon forums and internet searches to no avail. Suppose I own a high end streaming DAC like a T + A SD 3100 HV. I purchase digital files from HD tracks or Native DSD and put these on a USB flash drive and plug that into the T + A unit for playback. Is this the optimal method sonically speaking? Again, ignore logistics here and just focus on sound quality. Now, compare using a USB flash drive plugged into the T + A with the following set up: Have a dedicated music server (let's say the 432 Evo Master) with those same digital files stored on its internal SSD. You then connect the 432 Evo Server to the T + A DAC via USB or Ethernet (not sure this matters albeit I believe 432 Evo highly recommends their USB module). Assuming the same digital file of course, will one method sound better than the other and if so why? I would much prefer to just use a flash drive attached to a streaming DAC rather than have a music server connected to a streaming DAC given the extra expense,. However, if the latter set up gives a substantial sonic improvement, I would be curious to explore that (and also know why).

@OCDHIFiGuy

5 ай бұрын

Lol. You sound like a dealer that wants me to teach them how to sell... suffice to say if your DAC is a certain level, flash drive will be as good as anything. It's better than SSD for the simple fact there's no cable. Cables= loss in every situation. Why T+A ???

@elitetrader5468

5 ай бұрын

@@OCDHIFiGuy Just a hypothetical situation Mikey. I've always been intrigued with T + A. While I have yet to audition one of their components, the flexibility of the SD 3100 HV is interesting (I like the idea of not having to be network connected in my audio room and I can control everything from their remote or the unit itself) and it can process DSD 1024 (yes, I know, not a lot available music wise, but Native DSD selling some stuff. I listen to a lot of classical music among other genres). I really appreciated your answer btw. Now I can be sure that the dealer I heard that from is probably just saying that so people will buy another component (an expensive music server) beyond the streaming DAC. That kind of pisses me off. So USB flash drive vs external SSD right next to the DAC with a 0.5 M USB cable, the former wins because no cable? Do people just use external SSD because they have a larger storage capacity as well as being more reliable than a thumb drive?

I like the gray ponytail but I truly understand. I cut my gray tail off 2 years ago. You’ll miss it sometimes but when that happens remember the money and time your saving. You forgot for those of us who don’t want Roon there’s always npnp. Been using it before Roon was a thing. Oh ya love your videos bro. 👍

@OCDHIFiGuy

5 ай бұрын

Thanks Man, Cheers !

Told you I would watch a few of your newer vids. This one was cool, no shilling involved, just a donation, a freebie, and a damn long one at that! Know you're working towards "retirement" Nah, you're not gonna quit. Sorry to hear your dad passed. Hi to Jo!

@OCDHIFiGuy

4 ай бұрын

Thx Tony !

@johnpetrakis379

4 ай бұрын

Thanks to you Mike, not preachy not demeaning just the unvarnished truth. You covered the foundations. I screwed up last year and got a R Pi only to find out no worky w/ROON $$$ tinkle tinkle always learning@@OCDHIFiGuy

If using raspberry or in my case a allo usbridge signature (of your recommendation) they now have a plug in for roon to (on moode audio).. im lucky too have a good friend of mine that knows about PC stuff.

I don’t use physical media. I buy my music digital and stream it. I lived through the CD era, dvd, vhs and don’t want that anymore. I’ve even slacked off of buying Blu-ray movies.

@OCDHIFiGuy

5 ай бұрын

I hear ya...

I gotta say..... I'm still having a hard time listing for sale my ±60 SACD's and DVDAudio's. A lot of high priced disc's in there too. But when I do the math, if I did sell them, I would be well on my way to an upgraded piece of gear....

In 2023/2024, I would not recommend keeping files in WAV. FLAC is lossless with good data compression and has CRC checksum embedded to check for data corruption. Saves storage plus quicker to copy files over for backups. Plus has good ability to handle metadata compared to WAV. Will not sound any different unless you have a really poor streamer with broken FLAC decoder!

I’ve changed my copper coax cable to a pure silver coax for my Xfinity modem. Plus, use a silver power cable to power the modem as well. I was surprised that it affected the signal for my TV as well. I mean, the vision wasn’t sharp upon initial plug-in. Normal burn-in fixed that up. Helped sharpen the video and increased fidelity as well. In electronics, everything counts. I’m sure I can get a hifi sound online including KZread videos.

@tubefreeeasy

5 ай бұрын

I get a boost of audio fidelity when I plug my phone into a power source.

@OCDHIFiGuy

5 ай бұрын

It's weird what works, huh ?

I used Tidal and Qobuz for about 6 months. The longer I had it the more I would listen to CDs and Albums. I started using my streamer just for internet radio used as background music. Thats when I canceled my subscriptions. I stream in my Jeep but that only works when I have service. I still have an iPod Classic (MP3 in the Jeep is fine) for those times. I understand streaming but at home its just not for me

@OCDHIFiGuy

5 ай бұрын

Your system is not up to snuff then. If records and CDs sound better ? You pick what you want. C8 and records or Volvo and Playback DAC and you laugh at Vinyl and CD... it's just priorities.

Thank you, Jesus

You have a video on brands that you have dropped. One of the brands was denafrips. I have a denafrips ares ii DAC. I like it a lot and I was considering buying the Pontus II ,but after watching your video, I absolutely will not purchase another DAC or anything else from them. Some things you just have to stand for. ✌🏼

@OCDHIFiGuy

4 ай бұрын

Matter of principle... Try the NewOntech

Pardon my ignorance about streaming, but isn't wi-fi streaming inferior quality compared to playing a CD? And wouldn't streaming over an ethernet cable be preferable to wi-fi streaming over the air? I'm just trying to figure out the sound quality hierarchy (if there is one). Any chance you can clear this up? Thanks. At present, I'm simply running Premium Spotify from my ethernet connected laptop through a DAC into my amp, no air travel, just wired.

@OCDHIFiGuy

5 ай бұрын

Wired is best, yes, and a file played back from a local SSD in a server at the rig is best. CD is not the best, in my experience. Playing from the internet is a close second to a ripped file being played back locally. A laptop feeding your DAC is noisy because the USB is coming off a laptop motherboard. This is a printer interface and was designed for computer peripheral data transfer, not optimized for music playback devices the way a PCI connected Audio card is. Hope this helps.

@geevee1045

5 ай бұрын

Hey, thanks so much Mikey for your input. You've got a great channel here. Loved your LRS+ re-design with subwoofer (a real knockout aesthetic) and tips about replacing its hair width fuse, and magnetic steel jumper with a copper bar. @@OCDHIFiGuy

I'm curious about that streamer you talked about...

i use to collect 60's rock posters. worth a fortune and a great investment.

@OCDHIFiGuy

2 ай бұрын

Warfield

I would not do streaming for audiophile listening. I feel the sound quality is not at par with a comparable cd player. Yes I do stream to discover new music.

The bell won't ding, all I can do is click on it which I already did a long time ago.

My server is at TIDAL. Thank you.

Big Perm! I mean, Big Worm!

if you want to do it RIGHT both ways, analog or digital requires you to learn this stuff. I could have said "I put on a vinyl and thats it, easy..." but in reality there is some stuff to adjust when you put it in operation AND you need time to clean them, get the good onces with some research ... Digital, to me mean CD/SACD/Web-Streaming and NAS access incl concerts on Disk or from the NAS too. Doing this all the right way simply is a bit of work, sorry if people don´t want to learn gettting it done

@OCDHIFiGuy

5 ай бұрын

Words to live by.

I stream from my PC using Tidal, Radio Paradise, and DHR.

I buy Qobuz WAV files, uncompressed and play from my cache/hard drive on my Aurender streamer. Great

@OCDHIFiGuy

5 ай бұрын

Terrific!

😂 this payaso also started his diet early and I feel better. Into my 3rd week off refined sugar. 16 hour fasting, only eat noon to 8pm. Dropping weight. It’s good!! Enjoy your content!

@OCDHIFiGuy

5 ай бұрын

Crazy how much better I feel after dropping sugar, bread and Pasta. I'm even going as far as cutting back on meat and cheese.. the flub just melts.. 4 mile walk every day as well, and Berberine at night.

I Blue-tooth from my phone to may old Marantz. I think it was 35.00 for it off of Amazon. Was well worth it to control the volume from sitting. I have lots of Albums, CD’s, Had tape years ago, gave hundreds of cassettes away. A lot of my albums suffer from qualuid scratches I think 70’s but there was a lot of anyway they were used at parties. Hahahaha 😂😅!

What about how artists hate the steaming services because they get almost no revenue for their works.

@OCDHIFiGuy

5 ай бұрын

Have you seen the cost of concert tickets lately ??

@glenncurry3041

5 ай бұрын

@@OCDHIFiGuy Touring being their income source now. Perhaps why some new artists are releasing vinyl! Went to see Coco Montoya at a small club recently and he had new vinyl from the group he was traveling with. Not back in the day stuff. I don't need no more T shirts!

Buy a $50 bluray player and output it to your killer DAC. Solves the need for ripping CDs you may need to listen to once in ten years if the internet goes down if you also have Qobuz, IMHO.

You forgot to do the Mikey peace sign ✌😜

@OCDHIFiGuy

5 ай бұрын

L. Did I ?

@johnw.graovac8030

5 ай бұрын

Oh yes, you did hard to see because advertising popped up in front of your face. All I could see. Was you hitting your chest to sign off?@@OCDHIFiGuy

the Angelo guy---he is the dude dissing Hans B and John Devore. So I am not keen on him. edit---wait I am thinking some hifi blogger named Archimago. Running a Sonore Ultra Rendu and an I-transorter for the roon core here. Out to --yeah--a Chinese made but Singaporean company DAC.

Hell ya, 20 a month AINT SHIT!!

Audio Linux can play movies too?

@OCDHIFiGuy

5 ай бұрын

What's a Movie ??

@MrBazsi888

5 ай бұрын

​@@OCDHIFiGuyi mean a mediaplayer inside that distro that could play video files. Like a hollywood blockbuster film.

Analog is old and it does have a certain sound but give me digital all day no hassle and sounds better most of the time too. DSD is king. And i don't stream quality sucks.

Is the tail long enough to donate it to cancer patients?

@OCDHIFiGuy

5 ай бұрын

Maybe. I'll look

Stylist? omg, I'm a barber guy c'mon man. Same as a dog or cat person, a little disappointed lol!

@OCDHIFiGuy

5 ай бұрын

Barbers give me a Dominican haircut.

I gave my stack of very good records to a music store so they could sell them to people that would enjoy them as much as I did. They gave me $30. 😂

Qobuz $13 per month

No vinyl, I grew up on vinyl. No more cassette, couldn't give it away. Cd, ÿes. Minidisc, have them from concerts. All mixed to cd. All in bins. Bluetooth only on my phone. Hoarder of many other things, yes. "But it's ALL good stuff!!!" I might have a problem😂. Just built to stereo systems just because. Total cost under 500.00. One with a 70's sound, one more digital and 2010 era. Love them both. It's more about the build, but I love music, playing and listening. Been my hobby since 1964

@OCDHIFiGuy

5 ай бұрын

Glad you're having fun !

@BarnabyBarry

5 ай бұрын

My daughters have all my old albums (some attached to their bedroom walls)!

FLAC does not claim to be uncompressed. Just lossless compression.

@OCDHIFiGuy

5 ай бұрын

Lol. Thanks for the detail

@glenncurry3041

5 ай бұрын

@@OCDHIFiGuy Triggered random neuron firings. FLAC stands for "FLAC is Loss Audio Compression". Most people think the "F" is for "free". But opensource coders are strange people and they liked the recursion!

Buy good equipment, streaming becomes enjoyable. Listen less and less to my Rega P10 these days once I upgraded my DAC.

What's your new diet?

I understand it, I can afford it, but I just wanna dig my heels in and reject it…like the curmudgeon I am 👊🏼

@OCDHIFiGuy

5 ай бұрын

Free will is great, isn't it ?? ;-) 😉

I like the fact that you don’t have a English accent and don’t speak in metrical structure.

@OCDHIFiGuy

5 ай бұрын

Lol. Rough around the edges...

You have access to the music until the service pulls your album from your library.

@OCDHIFiGuy

5 ай бұрын

You mean steals the file off your drive ?

@kennethoransky4881

5 ай бұрын

@@OCDHIFiGuy No, the streaming service (Tidal, Qobuz, et al) loses the copyright permission to that album and has to stop allowing it to be streamed.

Who would pay for this information?

@OCDHIFiGuy

5 ай бұрын

Audiophiles