AES/EBU vs XLR cables for digital connection

@cooper52 

I know you’re using Roon but I’m wondering if you’ve compared streaming without the use of your laptop. Have you compared Qobuz through your streamer when using the app via an IPad or phone without the laptop/Ethernet connection? If you try that and here an improvement (or not) it may help narrow down your focus.

Thanks, designsfx for your suggestion, but I don't see how I can control the Hermes with my phone, as it doesn't seem to have wireless capability. Okay, I'm really new streamers, so maybe I'm missing something? It would certainly be a worthwhile comparison though, cutting out the middleman, so to speak. And, of course, it would be far more convenient to do it that way. Again, I'm very open to suggestions/instruction. 

BTW, it turns out that the Hermes doesn't have a USB port, just an ethernet input (to connect to the network), and outputs via AES/EBU, optical, coax, or ethernet I2S. They must have had their reasons for this, I guess...

@cooper52 

Sent you a pm to help with an explanation 

Just wanted to update the updates here, as I’ve been living with all this for some weeks now. To remind everybody, I’m using a Sonnet Hermes streamer and a Sonnet Morpheus DAC. The two are connected through i2s via what I think is a good ethernet cable. Streaming service is Qobuz, which I’m accessing through Roon on my Dell XPS laptop. (And yes, designsfx, it does connect wirelessly. Many thanks for your explanations and suggestions). Since last update, nothing has improved soundwise, I’m afraid. I still don’t think I’m getting anything like the quality I should be getting. Things are fine up to a certain point, but in the frequencies where voices live and higher, it’s still shrill and glassy. Also, dense musical textures get pretty muddy. This is not what I should be hearing.

I made a startling discovery about the Qobuz app on my Samsung smart TV, which is that there are only 2 choices of sound quality, MP3 or 44.1. It was actually set to MP3 (!) but since I’m upconverting everything to 24/96 with a Wyred4Sound reclocker, it ends up sounding quite good. I tried changing this setting to 44.1 quality, but then no sound came out. Go figure.

As far as I can tell, the Hermes streamer won’t allow direct access to Qobuz (or any streaming services) without going through Roon or similar platform. If there is a way to do it I’d be very grateful to learn how. The owner’s manual is pretty basic and doesn’t really cover much in the way of detail.

So this is where things are presently. Not a happy camper yet, but I hope to get there eventually. Still open to your thoughts and suggestions.

My iFi Zen Stream can’t directly run Qobuz either. I’m not familiar with your streamer, but I was able to run Qobuz using the mConnect+ app so maybe that could work? Point is, you wanna get that computer out of the signal chain however you can. Even if you have to temporarily bypass Roon to get to hear Qobuz without the computer I’d highly recommend you do so. You’ll be highly rewarded with significantly better sound quality, and maybe you can find a way to employ Roon later if possible (I’m Roon ignorant so I got nuthin’ there). Anyway, hope this helps at least somewhat, and best of luck in your journey.