Computer to DAC Streamer

Wow. I just read the summary findings of the blog posted by YYZSantabarbara.   I really disagree with the bloggers findings.  

I changed to an Aurender N100H (bottom of the line) from a dedicated Mac mini (nothing else was ever open or running on it - all settings were optimized for the task) and the difference was clear. The Aurender was simply superior - and this was not on a highly resolving system. Servers make as big a difference as the DAC in my experience.  I now have a Bluesound Node 2 (moved the Aurender to a different location) in that simple system and it too sounds better than the Mac using the same outboard DAC and cables.  That the blogger can’t hear differences in jitter is also surprising.  

I would politely correct one part of this discussion - it’s not data that’s corrupted (the bits are still there), but noise accompanying that data and timing errors in the spooling and reading of the data that, I believe, are the difference.  Is there a difference in hard drives?  I don’t know. I’m guessing it’d be subtle, but given EMI being radiated and the fact that there’s a buffer in there, why would it be impossible?

I haven’t heard the Innuous servers - I’d like to but they’re not available in my area.  But, I’ve heard some of the Aurender and Lumin units.  Servers don’t sound the same.  Whether or not they’re worth the price is personal preference.  But, those who claim there’s no difference and likely doing so from expectation, not experience. 

Can anyone point me to measurements of electrical noise on various USB ports captured by a high precision (16 bit) oscilloscope?
I would love to see if there is any noise on the data lines (+/-) as well as ground and +5VBUS from a "noisy PC" compared to the same measurements on dedicated hardware streamers like Auralic, ultraRendu, etc.

I doubt these measurements exist because it would be tricky to probe these signals; one would need a 500MHz (or faster) high precision active differential probe connected to nearest VIA's or attached as direct to the connector pinout as possible. You would need an active session with an enumerated device on the bus receiving active packets.  Perhaps one does not need to measure the data lines, but just the +5V and GND signals;

I have not heard any difference between my 2018 Xenon Lenovo, Sonore ultraRendu with Linear supply, home built windows 10 pro, or my totally killer BOXX work machine when streaming directly to my Exogal Comet plus DAC. I plug my headphones directly into the Exogal and it always sounds amazing; No change in noise floor, no static, no loss of resolution, just beautiful music; These PC's all run Roon Core, Tidal, or Qobuz native apps, and more recently Audirvana.

I am not a cable skeptic, nor power conditioner. I have heard REAL and changes with my stuff all plugged into an Isotek Aquarius EVO3 (I heard NO improvement when stuff connected into Furman).
I have heard differences in speaker cables and power cords as well; 

There is much marketing talk about "noisy desktop PC's" but I have not come across anyone publishing USB noise comparison measurements. 

So, I guess I am skeptical that there is any actual electrical difference in terms of broadband noise on any of the nets mentioned above (D+/D-, +5V, GND); 



 

@mgrif104 I had to do a little research on the Aurender N100H and the feedback you provided was what I was looking for.

There are so many factors when considering getting the bits to your DAC.
- location of hard drive
- type of hard drive
- wired vs wireless
- Ethernet or USB out from source
- Type of input into a DAC
- use an internal DAC in a streamer
- cables
- ROON | JRiver | others
- quality of audio system playing the tunes

I can find a link somewhere online from reviewers, manufacturers, and users that argue for various combination of these things with so much divergence in opinion.

Good thing is that almost all combinations of the approaches today sound better than in the days of my old Squeezebox (2004ish).

This old dog is starting to think that maybe I need to learn a new trick and give a dedicated audio server a shot.

@dpac996 Your observations mirror mine regarding a noisy or busy computer streaming to a Rendu. I do not hear any difference when I have a lot of programs running on my computer. I have very good hearing (one of a few things I am good at).

However, the issue is whether a dedicated audio server is better than the noisy computer - Rendu approach. Quite a few posters are saying there is an audible difference with a dedicated server.