Three Affordable Digital Upgrades That Are Cheap, Easy and Work

There are a lot of tweaks that you can make to an audiophile turntable. Many of them make big differences, as the analog nature of spinning vinyl discs benefits from having excellent setup. The reality for nearly every audiophile today is that we listen to more and more digital sources, be they their music collection ripped from Compact Discs or, more likely, streaming, often in HD formats, from any number of good sources, be they Amazon Music, Tidal, or my personal go-to choice, QoBuz. The idea of getting nearly perfect digital replicas of the master recording streaming into your music system is a total game-changer, but to get the most audiophile performance from your digital rig, you need to make sure that you’ve crossed every I and dotted every T. 

The good news is that getting your digital music rig dialed in isn’t difficult or expensive. Here are some creative ideas for any audiophile who is looking for a performance boost to try out sooner than later.

Music Servers Are Not Expensive – Neither is HD Streaming …

For the cost of a single Compact Disc (about $15), you can have full access to pretty much every recording ever made, with many of them in HD formats that actually rival the sound that is found on the actual master tape. That is the biggest audiophile game-changer ever, even if the elders are stuck again talking about legacy formats. You likely don’t need more than one or two streaming services, but you need at least one.

Today’s best audiophile endpoints and music servers are also not expensive. I am just in love with the BlueSound Node, which often sells for less than $500 at retail. The user interface and streaming options on the BlueSound Node are almost as good as those of the Sonos Port, but unlike the Sonos Port, the BlueSound Node outputs formats in HD. There are more expensive streamers and, until I listened to the Bricasti M5 digital endpoint ($2,500 review pending), I couldn’t hear a meaningful difference to justify any of us spending five times more money. The Bricasti is a difference maker in early listening tests, but the Node is, without question, the value leader. 

To get ready for premium digital, you can go any number of ways in terms of system configuration. The good news is that you don’t have to spend a bloody fortune to get great sound.

Digital Audiophile Tweak Number One: Upgrade Your Ethernet Connection

Connecting to the Internet via a hardwired cable provides the best performance. However, there are sorts of issues that come via Ethernet. Noise is one of the biggest ones, as network noise is no good in your system. Anyone that reads my equipment reviews knows that I tend to promote cables that are well-engineered and flexible, but often not crazy expensive. I like cables that don’t add anything to the sound.

At the suggestion of audiophile industry cable designer and overall inventor David Salz, I tried some of his very reasonably-priced WireWorld directional Ethernet cables. They are designed to knock out noise from your hardwired connection, which promised to be a nice performance boost for more modest digital systems. 

Did the cable make a difference? On the BlueSound Node, the Wireworld Ethernet cable made a nice connection and was a small, incremental change. On the more expensive and pro audio-inspired $2,500 Bricasti M5 endpoint, the difference was more notable. 

Even for people who aren’t true believers in aftermarket cables, perhaps a very well-shielded Ethernet cable is worth a try for a low-cost performance boost to your digital system? This isn’t a design to change the sound as much as it is a way to lower noise and digital junk in your signal. It is an incremental move to get closer to the master tape without spending much more than a 12-pack of Scotch packing tape costs at Staples. 

Digital Audiophile Tweak Number Two: Avoiding USB For Your Reference Rig

USB is a great concept for a digital connection in the world of mainstream tech. USB-A and now USB-C are great ways to connect smart devices like smartphones, tablets and whatnot. I’ve used big (think: one terabyte) USB-A thumb drives to transfer or port music quickly and easily between music servers and other digital audiophile components. The convenience is unbeatable. The cost is nice, too, but USB has a major problem for your higher-performance audiophile rig. USB has power incorporated into its design and, while the power works flawlessly to recharge your device, it isn’t the cleanest way to get a digital signal from your streamer to your DAC. 

Not all components have AES-EBU options but, for those that do, it is my go-to choice. Most recording studios agree with me, as the AES in the name stands for Audio Engineering Society, and they came up with this 110-ohm impedance cable format that also benefits from the same plusses (common mode rejection) that you get with XLR (balanced) connections over RCA (unbalanced). These are quiet, high bandwidth, physically solid connections that benefit both analog and digital connections, even though AES-EBU is a digital audio format. While not the only viable digital audio connection, it is often the best one for serious audiophile systems, and better than USB. 

My trusty BlueSound Node doesn’t have an AES-EBU output, so what’s an audiophile looking for a good upgrade to do? Use S-PDIF via a COAX cable. A good COAX cable can be had for $100 or less, and it connects to more consumer-grade (as opposed to pro audio-grade, thus AES-EBU) streamers, like a Sonos Port or a BlueSound Node. There aren’t as many physical connection benefits, but the lack of power on the digital cable is a big plus. 

Another more new-school but purely audiophile digital connection is I2S, which is kinda like the HDMI version of AES-EBU. Not many components have this, but I got a chance to play with it a bit in the $4,000 PS Audio Stellar Gold DAC that I recently reviewed. I was impressed, but this isn’t an option for many of us. 

There are a lot of ways to connect your digital audio successfully. I am not sure that I’ve seen anybody publicly warn about USB but, for the most performance-oriented audiophiles, there might be a little performance bump to be had. For $100, it is worth a try.

Digital Audiophile Tweak Number Three: Aftermarket Power Cables?

Anybody who knows my work in audiophile reviewing will know that I’ve not been a big believer in aftermarket power cables. The idea that egomaniacal audiophile equipment engineers would leave the Nth degree of performance just sitting there with a power cable change is just too much for me to accept. I know these guys (they are all men, thus “guys”), and they are quite fond of themselves, and they are also fully dedicated to getting the most performance from their equipment designs. Even $100 at parts cost is nothing for a $50,000 power amp, thus they aren’t ever going to compromise.

Here’s where I’ve been working on a compromise in this department … For consumer-level digital devices that are susceptible to noise and interference from the AC power, perhaps a pliable yet well-shielded AC power cable might be one more little nudge in the right direction? I’ve done the tests, and the difference can be heard more in aggregate with the others above. It is not a mic drop moment. It is a small, small incremental improvement, but they all add up, and when they don’t cost a fortune, why not give one a try? I’ve done it, and I’ve now got two Wireworld power cables on my BlueSound Node, as well as on my Bricasti M5. You can buy a good aftermarket power cable and try one out. If the benefit isn’t there, by all means, you can send it back. 

Final Thoughts on These Digital Audiophile System Tweaks …

There are a ton of places to spend a lot of money in your audiophile system. Some of them yield big results from the first time you hit play. Others are much more subtle. For the cost (and low commitment), these digital tweaks are worthy of placing some orders with your local AV dealer or online, and you can test these upgrades out in your rig. You are going to be listening to more and more digital music in the years to come, so why not take the same “performance matters” approach to your digital audio as much as you would your turntable setup? 

Give us a comment below with your thoughts on these tweaks. Perhaps report back on what you tried and what you think. We will approve your comments and share them with the community ASAP.