Source Is Still King

Source Is Still King

Source is still King. During the 70s, the source component was cited as the most important aspect of any system. And for good reason. The quality of a turntable was and still is governed by how well it is engineered. Since the dawn of the digital era and particularly over the past few decades, this source guideline has largely been forgotten, as digital is seen to be as good as it gets. The difference between digital sources may not be as big as it is between analogue sources, but the old adage still holds true – source is still King.

Hierarchy

Regardless of how good your amplifier and speakers are, their ultimate capabilities are going to be limited by the quality of the source you use, and this includes the software. Your system can only sound as good as its weakest link, and the best audio system in the world can’t reproduce what isn’t there or improve on a low quality source.

Improve Your Source

 If your system relies upon compressed audio files or low bit rate streaming services, you are not off to a good start. But all is not lost. You can still make the most of compressed music and sub CD quality streaming services with a good quality Digital to Analogue Convertor. In fact, the difference a good quality DAC can make can be far more noticeable with lower quality music than with high quality, well recorded music. So next time you book an audition, take along a few CDs that you think don’t sound very good. You might be surprised.

Improve Your Software

Don’t settle for MP3 downloads and low quality streaming services. Give your system a good source foundation to start from. FLAC, WAV, high resolution downloads, high bit rate streaming services, CDs, and records will all provide high quality music. You'll end up with a far better sounding system because of it.

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