From the DAC’s unbalanced output, we ran a short interconnect to the PTP Blok20 integrated 20wpc amp. From there the Arcadian Audio Pnoe hornspeakers with sub 40Hz assistance from a pair of Zu Audio Submission subwoofers became part of the initial audition. In JRiver we selected Bill Frisell’s Guitar in the Space Age. Playing started instantly. The sound was open, detailed and the virtual image seemed no different than when played from our resident streaming solution. We went through a variety of music styles ranging from classical orchestral works to some mad opera, then Nordic Jazz. In this setting, the Pink Faun made clear that it was no beautifier. A flawed production was mercilessly lambasted - tied to the whipping post as it were. And no, Frisell was not the bad recording we had to endure. The voicing of the streamer/DAC combination, the audio signature of its designer, did not favour compressed thus deadened musical expressions. But well-recorded and produced music thrived and came alive. Tiny nuances gave away venue clues, enhancing the virtual landscape that unfolded between and behind the loudspeakers. Who needs surround surround when one can get enveloped by two channels working in perfect harmony? What about CD quality? Is it really the laughing stock of the industry which wishes to resell us re-whatever'd issues of old favourites? To our mind, not. There is so much to retrieve from the humble format still that it’s just a matter of the proper tools for the job.

Which brings us to the next step in our assessment of the AV Streamer. How would it work with Internet streaming? We use two purveyors for streaming content. One is the original French Qobuz who offer quite a lot of world music not well known beyond the French borders though retrieving that music from their vaults is not always easy. The second is the newer Tidal with its own limitations. Neither solution is yet perfect on user friendliness, transparency about what is actually available for streaming in your country rather than verboten based on all manner of jurisdictional licensing crap. For example, say you find an interesting piece of music on Qobuz and attempt to play it only to be presented with the message ‘Erreur serveur inconnue’ (Shai Maestro Road to Ithaca); or to learn that playback is restricted to MP3 quality or offers only 30-second teaser samples. Otherwise, no complaints. Tidal has other issues stemming from the recall of the original desktop app which now inserts Chrome as the default web browser.  Where Qobuz have their own Desktop player which allows for off-line use, Tidal rely on an Internet connection via Chrome. Twaddle aside, both work when all is happy, which is to say most of the time.

So, we had to configure both Qobuz Desktop and Chrome on the Streamer. For web access, we connected the Ethernet cable which taps into our downstairs router. Then we used Internet Explorer for the first and last time to set Firefox as our default browser. With that and a few security plug-ins, we had Qobuz Desktop and Chrome running but insured to pick legit versions of these programs. Qobuz was easily configured and routed to JRiver. Tidal was a bit more cumbersome as its default system sound device is used by the Chrome browser. But in the end we could switch between local files from HDD or the Qobuz and Tidal streaming subscriptions. As a bonus, once the Streamer was connected to the wobbly web, JRiver executed an automatic software update. In use, JRiver should always be booted up before one launches Qobuz Desktop and Chrome/Tidal.

Running streaming content through JRiver had FLAC files upsampled to 24/192 and processes as WAV as duly confirmed by the DAC 2.32’s display. Oversampling and other processing occurred in the Pink Faun DACc whose ASCR equipped with its own TCXO clock converts all data to the preferred 32/192 format of the PCM1795 chips. The best setting for JRiver or any other player software is thus to output native resolution. Qobuz offered far more control over local buffering and content handling than Tidal which relies on the underlying Chrome and Windows OS settings. With the intervention of JRiver however, certain Tidal omissions can be overcome. Still, we are waiting for the relaunch of Tidal’s Desktop app. But in the end we could switch quickly between all three sources to start our comparisons.

Running off HDD straight into JRiver books a disadvantage of noise since spinning hard drives are noisy. To load music, the disc has to spin up, when done, spin down again until the next load buffer is due. With network-accessible storage aka NAS, the disk/s can live in a location other than the streamer. As long as there’s a network connection, it doesn’t matter. Otherwise, large RAM can reduce rebuffering when a player software reads large amounts of music content into so-called memory play. Streaming off the Internet cloud can be prone to network interruptions. For some reason we suffer Qobuz unavailability on Sunday afternoons when, for an hour or so, our network connection does the jojo. Here local storage comes in handy which Qobuz accommodate. Whenever an album or track is streamed, a copy thereof is stored on a designated HDD – or SSD as in Pink Faun’s case. When these files are made available offline, one can play them even when the Internet connection is lost. Mind you, these stored files are encrypted for copyright reasons and no, we have never tried to decrypt them. With Tidal, there’s no music when the Internet connection disappears. We’re lucky that Holland hosts a stable Internet infrastructure though our area is without glass-fibre option to relegate all Internet traffic to telephony lines. Here it’s a bonus that most people today no longer use wired phone to leave plenty of bandwidth for other purposes.

Sonically there were differences, albeit very small. For us playing from local HDD or via Qobuz was indistinguishable. Switching back and forth between either source playing the same album revealed no cues as to which was playing. Comparing either against the Tidal version did show a little difference. Tidal sharpened the sound with a little more emphasis on the higher registers. This was most probably caused by a different approach of JRiver. These impressions were collected using the PTP Audio Blok20 integrated chip amplifier. One of the reasons for our purchase of it was its tube-like character. The sound is nicely mellow on top. The mid and lower midrange become more prominent without getting warm. Our inventory also holds a pair of Hypex nCore 1200-based mono amps. These are the predecessors to the long awaited now available Mola Mola Kaluga. To get the most useful volume control over these powerful amplifiers (1200wpc into 4Ω), we combine them with our custom-commissioned Music First Audio passive magnetic preamplifier. The nCore amps only accept balanced connections, the PTP Audio only single-ended. To turn the whole chain balanced, we used the AES/EBU output from the Pink Faun 2.32 DAC running the Pink Faun tinned copper XLR cable to the Music First pre. Another balanced run of Oyaide Terzo V2 leashed up the Dutch class D amps. Loudspeaker cables remained Nanotec Systems SP777 into the Pnoe horns, Crystal Cable into the Zu Submission subs.