Ugliest sounding CD player vs. PC Stream Test Ever!

[cany89]

Disclaimer: Sorry for what I did. Just happened out of curiosity with the worst possible setup possible.

I wanted to see if I can record any difference between PC Stream and CD player.

Here is what I did:
- I downloaded a shady record app to my iPhone, set a tripod, and put it in front of the left speaker.
- The right channel was also working, got a reverb-y living room so the right channel and reflections are there.
- Turned off all the kitchen, etc. to have the max. silence (which is 20-25 dB).
- Ripped CD to uncompressed Flac - bit perfect.
- Played the same song through Audirvana and CD player
- Matched the output dB shown on Adi-2
(RME Adi-2 -> Balanced -> SPL S800 amp -> JBL 705 speakers)

Test setup:
MacBook Pro + Audirvana -> USB -> RME Adi 2 -> Amp + Speaker
Roksan Caspian CD Player -> Coax -> RME Adi 2 -> Amp + Speaker

Perfectly aligned and cut the recorded tracks on Audacity.

Here are the tracks

So, can you hear a difference? And if yes/no what? If not, how can I have a better rig so that the difference (if any) is obvious and we can choose a winner? should there be a winner? Is a specifically designed CD player (isolated power source and everything) when used as transport is not better than a simple mac with a noisy power supply and audirvana? Let the comments flow!

 

[Blumlein 88]

Where are the downloads?

 

[LTig]

Disclaimer: Sorry for what I did. Just happened out of curiosity with the worst possible setup possible.

I wanted to see if I can record any difference between PC Stream and CD player.

Here is what I did:
- I downloaded a shady record app to my iPhone, set a tripod, and put it in front of the left speaker.
- The right channel was also working, got a reverb-y living room so the right channel and reflections are there.
- Turned off all the kitchen, etc. to have the max. silence (which is 20-25 dB).
- Ripped CD to uncompressed Flac - bit perfect.
- Played the same song through Audirvana and CD player
- Matched the output dB shown on Adi-2
(RME Adi-2 -> Balanced -> SPL S800 amp -> JBL 705 speakers)

Test setup:
MacBook Pro + Audirvana -> USB -> RME Adi 2 -> Amp + Speaker
Roksan Caspian CD Player -> Coax -> RME Adi 2 -> Amp + Speaker

Perfectly aligned and cut the recorded tracks on Audacity.

So, can you hear a difference? And if yes/no what? If not, how can I have a better rig so that the difference (if any) is obvious and we can choose a winner?

Without checking the still missing files: Just skip amp and speakers and use the RME to record the file from the CD player and compare it with its original (FLAC).

 

[cany89]

@Blumlein 88 and @LTig just added the files - I couldn't upload flac or wav so I had to upload them to dropbox.

 

[cany89]

Without checking the still missing files: Just skip amp and speakers and use the RME to record the file from the CD player and compare it with its original (FLAC).

I'll see if I can do it this weekend. I haven't used Adi-2 as a source for recording audio. Didn't know I could do that!

 

[Blumlein 88]

I'll see if I can do it this weekend. I haven't used Adi-2 as a source for recording audio. Didn't know I could do that!

Maybe you can, maybe you can't. They do make an ADI-2 DAC along with an ADI-2 ADC/DAC. If you have the DAC only, then you can't record with it. If have the ADC/DAC then yes it can record, and doing as LTG suggested is much better. Without even listening to this however I'm pretty sure it would have been better to mono the original recording and play that only over one of your speakers.