Discerning a difference between streamers is difficult...only me or common for all?

@sls883 I have never been good at describing music- but will try. The WiiM was much clearer, the Hegel was depressed. The WiiM sounded fuller, kind of blooming (not booming).

I forgot to mention earlier- the Hegel of course was hard wired via Ethernet. The WiiM was on WiFi. Ideally the latter should have degraded the performance as compared to an Ethernet connected device but I guess it didn’t. I didn’t even think about this till now.

My overall view of A/B comparisons is a few years when we used to buy TVs and the choice in the showroom was between LCD and Plasma. At that moment LCD would outshine the plasma TV- but if you got the plasma home, which I did, it looked great. I know I might get dissed for saying this - for sure some components provide phenomenal differences but eventually I think what matters is what makes you happy. I have an Eversolo streamer, a WiiM Mini and a WiiM Pro Plus. Am happy. Have always debated about getting an Aurender or a Lumin or something else but eventually decide against it - because the difference for me will be in the first few minutes and then everything sounds the same - to me. Apologies for long post.

@dxbwineguy  Thank you for the description  I'm terrible about describing the sound of my system.  I'm often inclined to say "it just sounds right", but that's not a very good description.

I have an Innuos streamer that I like.  SQ is excellent and it has a large buffer, so music doesn't stop if my internet drops (which it seems to do quite often).  It also has a cd ripper which I do use.  And the Sense app is excellent.  I did notice an improvement in SQ over my Node 130, but I didn't spend serious time doing a comparison.  I'm happy with the Innuos for it's SQ and features. 

+! @akg_ca, It really is a matter of what is good enough and to what lengths one is willing to go to get there.  There is a BIG difference in everything, and everything matters.  No one can tell another what is good enough or what is worth it.  That is the beauty of our Audiophile world..excellence is obtainable, yet there are levels of satisfaction for everyone.

You are not alone.  I used a Node with an upgraded LPS, a good USB cable going to a Pontus ll for years. The switch to a N200 was a definite improvement, but not anything earth shattering. Someday I might get a different DAC, but I’m really in no hurry.

I'm using an ASUS gaming computer running Windows 7 and Qobuz for streaming. It's going into a Berkeley Alpha USB which is connected to a Berkeley Reference MK II DAC. I also have a Jay's Audio CD3 Mk III transport hooked up to the same DAC.

I have compared streamed files from Qobuz to the corresponding CD at least a dozen times (being careful they are the same version) and I can't hear a difference. If the computer is adding noise or some other kind of distortion to the music I can't hear it. I am skeptical that a streamed file would sound better than the corresponding CD played though a state of the art transport into the same DAC. If they sound the same I think that's about as good as it's going to get.

If someone has a streamer and a CD transport I suggest using the CD as a control. When you just disconnect one streamer and hook up another one it's very difficult to accurately compare them. When you use a control, such as a CD, you can remove some of the possible expectation bias that we all have.