Welcome to Digital Q&A. This is the place for information and answers to any questions you may have about digital content, namely music that is streamed and/or downloaded, rather than purchased on a physical disc. The aim with digital is the same, namely great sound coming out of your speakers or headphones, but the way you go about it is different ... more like how most consume movies at home today. Digital can open up possibilities for advanced processing of the data for even better sound, parametric EQ etc as will be discussed.

The focus here is Hi-Res music as served by the site's partners Presto Music and Qobuz. Specific means of integrating with both services will be discussed, but the general principles may apply to other services.

I have been using digital (both streaming and download) since 2012 but don't profess to know everything there is to know about all this so I encourage others to contribute their findings and expertise here. And if you have any questions, no matter how basic, this is the place to post them.

Digital can open up a veritable wonderland of music content, both new and old. It's well worth at least trying it out to see if it can complement your current listening and enhance your music enjoyment. If however you've decided for whatever reason it's not for you, support for physical media on the site is unchanged.

Digital content can be either streamed or downloaded. What are the similarities/differences?

To stream music content with Presto Music or Qobuz you need to take out a subscription, payable monthly or annually. This entitles you to stream practically everything on their respective sites, up to 24bit/192kHz lossless. A reliable but not an excessively fast internet connection is required. Both currently offer an obligation-free month to try out their service to see if they have the content you're after, the quality is what you expect and their ecosystem works for you. Playback can be through their respective web interface, desktop apps, mobile/smartphone apps or integrated software/hardware partners. While you can save the content on your smartphone (and desktop with Qobuz) this is no longer accessible if/when your subscription ends.

Downloading on the other hand requires a purchase but you get to keep the content forever. The files are in a standard format (usually FLAC) and usable with any playback software/hardware. Qobuz additionally offers some content in DSD and DXD formats for download (only). You don't have to take out a streaming subscription to purchase downloads but both Presto Music and Qobuz currently have slightly higher priced streaming plans which can save you on downloads. They also both regularly offer discounts on selected content.

The important thing here is that all content up to 192kHz is essentially identical whether streamed or downloaded so what comes out of your speakers is the same. The choice between the two is an individual one, however having a relatively low cost streaming subscription allows you to sample before you buy plus gives you access to their content on the go for when you're travelling etc. Note that a limited amount of content is available for streaming or downloading only, but not both (this is a rights issue).

For playing streamed content perhaps the easiest means (currently) is Qobuz Connect. You may find that you already have a setup you can use for streaming. This is only for Qobuz however. The way it works is that you use the Qobuz app on your smartphone, tablet or desktop to select what you want to play, the destination networked device and hit play and that device takes over fetching content and playback (at up to 24bit/192kHz).

Here's a list of compatible brands:

https://help.qobuz.com/en/articles/314578-list-of-brands-integrated-into-qobuz-connect

Whether a specific model is supported will depend on age/implementation and networking capabilities but it's worth looking into to see if you have a workable solution. Included on the extensive list above is Denon and Marantz, as any model with HEOS will support Qobuz Connect out of the box (though you may have to update its firmware if you haven't recently). I've tested this on a six year old Denon receiver and it works a treat.

Presto Music doesn't currently have a similar facility but instead offer their Hi-Res Streamer, a low cost hardware solution which connects by analogue/digital inputs. Untested by me.

Qobuz Connect doesn't work for you? Don't worry, there are plenty of other great options.

A large part of being a music collector is seeing the fruits of your collecting (and untold expense over decades) neatly stacked on shelves and (hopefully) sorted for ready access. Music player software attempts to emulate this experience, it's not the same but has other benefits as I'll discuss.

There are a number of products that can help you organise your digital collection. I recommend Audirvana Studio which I have been using since its early days. Another popular choice is Roon (untested by me) and there are plenty of other options. With all you designate a drive/NAS and the player software will read the metadata from the included files to build its index. This becomes your "local" library. The library displays cover thumbnails of all your recordings and selecting an entry shows full details (artist, composer, track information, timings, file format/resolutions etc). Included can be a link to the PDF of the booklet. If you have ripped a disc or downloaded a set of files from wherever, copying the files to the designated location makes them accessible to the player software, visible in the catalogue and you're ready to go. Keeping your music files in one, secure place is preferable to using multiple USB sticks, portable drives etc.

If you subscribe to one or more streaming services you can add them to the software as well. Audirvana Studio fully supports both Presto Music and Qobuz (among others), a consideration in choosing them to partner with this site. Once you have your files accessible, the catalogue built and streaming services added, the magic now happens. Want to search for a composer, artist or work/track just enter the relevant text in the search box and it will find matching recordings, across both your local library and any streaming services. Seen references to a particular recording by Barbirolli from 1958, enter its details and it will likely find it. Same for other recordings by artists/composers you've just discovered.

If you're interested you can currently get a free 30-day trial of Audirvana from here:

https://audirvana.com/try/

Audirvana supports most music file types (in stereo and multichannel) including PCM, DSD in DSF/DFF, MQA and even SA-CD ISO images.

If you listen with headphones you will likely benefit from Audirvana's 10-band parametric equaliser. This is applied in the Processing stage, before any upsampling or DSD conversion. Your file has to be PCM. Enter the desired Filter Type, Frequency, Gain and Q-Factor values for up to 10 bands, remembering to activate each band. Audirvana can calculate the Pre-gain automatically. Then save the set of adjustments as a preset. Repeat this process for different headphones and/or listening characteristics and select the appropriate preset as required.

If you're new to parametric EQ (as I was until recently) you can find great starter settings for a large range of headphones here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/oratory1990/wiki/index/list_of_presets/

I found oratory1990's settings excellent for taming the unwelcome 6kHz peak on my Sennheiser HD800 headphones. You can tweak these settings to your liking, for example a flatter bass response for classical.

An increasing number of DACs also offer parametric EQ and you can then decide whether it's more convenient to do it in Audirvana or the DAC. If however you're going to convert to DSD in Audirvana, you won't be able to do it in the DAC as the incoming data should be PCM.

If you're using Audirvana and have an external DAC, or player/amp with a digital input, that supports DSD you can convert PCM content (at any sample rate) to DSD for arguably better sound quality. Audirvana performs the conversion on-the-fly, assuming your computer is fast enough to avoid dropouts. This can be done with both local (downloaded) and streamed content, and in conjunction with the EQ above. Upsampling doesn't create more music information but the DSD data (especially at high bit-rates) allows gentler filtration in the DAC which can improve listening quality. For me the differences manifest as a more relaxed, natural sound with better low level bass detail. This is something you will have to hear for yourself to judge.

How high you go depends on the capabilities of the DAC (and as mentioned your computer speed) but DSD256 (11.2 MHz) seems optimal to me, with benefits still at DSD128 (5.6 MHz). (For comparison, all SA-CDs are DSD64 (2.8 MHz), irrespective of how the recording was made/mastered.) There are a number of parameters in Audirvana for the DSD conversion and my experience is that the default values aren't the best. I recommend playing around with these until you get the sound you like. I'm happy to share what I use as a starting point, also interested in hearing what others use.

I found this nifty tool on the web which helps visualise what's happening here:

https://frieve-a.github.io/sound_toolbox/dsd_explained/dsd_explained.html

Lastly, if you're in the market for a new DAC I personally wouldn't recommend spending big bucks on this, as the heavy lifting is being done by Audirvana here. There are a number of excellent DACs coming out of China these days and at very reasonable prices.