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

@audphile1  Not sure why I had trouble initially but saw the upload image field this evening so added a photo.  

My 12yo daughter listens to music with me all the time since she was a toddler.  I haven't ever got her to compare sounds between any components.  Whenever she sits on the loveseat with me she is just listening to enjoy the music, never analyzing of course.  I had her sit in the prime spot this afternoon to compare a $130 digital coax to this $1300 Clearer Audio that continues to impress me.  I did not bias her in any way, just said that I wanted her to listen to a song two times to compare a cable.  I played the song twice with the Clearer Audio and then the other twice.  She said without reservation that she could hear things more easily in the first one...it was Dr. Heckyll & Mr. Jive and she could hear the little ticks in the beginning more clearly.  She also said the first one 'just sounded better'.  This was another song where the cheaper cables sound bright/harsh to my ears.  It was pretty cool that she could hear a difference.  I have read some reviews of this Clearer Audio cable and a reviewer actually said he thought this was the most important cable in his system between the streamer and DAC.  

@dhite71 nice system! See if your daughter can hear difference between streamers…sounds like she’s got a good ear!

dhite71 I agree with your thoughts on streamers.

I have tried a lot of streamers, dacs and all in ones.

Here are some of the things I have tried:

Bluesound (most of the models)

DCS Bartok

Lumin X1

Lumin P1

Lumin U2

T+A Dac 200 

Berkeley Audio ALPHA DAC 3

I bought most of these used and sold them without losing a lot of money and it has been really fun to try them out.  I am a gear junky LOL.

What I found is that all of these dacs and streamers sound really good with my gear.  I love the Bluesound app which is really good multiple zones. I am sure roon is also good but I have not messed with it since I want the system to be user friendly since my wife uses it as well.

I have settled in with:

Bluesound Node 130, Mcintosh D1100 (DAC/PRE), Mcintosh MC462,

Harbeth 40.3 XD.

I will eventually try the new NODE Icon.

Just as a note, I have been a musician (not professional) for almost 50 years and feel like I have pretty decent ears.

Happy Holidays!

@efoo 

After visiting a fellow audiophile a while back and doing some cable swapping in his system containing a brand new Mcintosh pre/amp combo, I would say if someone was wanting to discern differences between cables or other upstream components, that would not be the gear to have to do that. Maybe that is a good thing though.

What do you have for cables?

and Happy Holidays to you too!

Wywires Platinum cables.  I also tried Nagra amp and pre against the mcintosh stuff.  It was better but only incrementally not 3 times better.

I take it by your comments you are not a Mcintosh fan.

In my experience from a cost for performance and resale value Mac is hard to beat.

I don’t dislike Mcintosh, but I did own a Mcintosh pre and a set of power amps years ago and moved on. Notice my handle on here starts with "mc".

I will add that I brought my $2000 Apollon class D amp to this fellows house, and we plugged it in place of the Mcintosh, and I’ll quote what he said: "I think I overpaid for my amplifier".

But I would never bad talk Mcintosh, or try to talk someone out of owning them. People own gear for a multitude of reasons. I still like their look.

I just got a little Yamamoto tube amp that has 45 tubes, not because I thought it would sound "better" than my Coda, but because it is a work of art, and it sounds lovely. Pride of ownership abounds. Maybe it is less inconspicuous regarding cable changes, or streamers, whatever- I enjoy listening to both. 

mclinnguy

I agree that looks are part of it.  I love turning on the blue/green meters.

After chasing the perfect sound for a few years I have settled on what works for me.  Sounds like your in the same camp.

Cheers and Happy Christmas.