Is a USB stick directly into ones streamer (renderer) better than streaming from a PC/NAS?

@erik_squires - I'm not looking to 'invest' in anything. I'm simply putting the question out there, as there seems very little discussions going on around my question.

@fuzztone - I'm not frugal, quite the reverse, but I'm also not dumb. I don't see the need to spend, possibly, thousands, to get no, or very liitle SQ improvement. I'm willing to try anything out. I'm open to all possibilities - although expensive fuses in your mains pre/power amp input is where I draw the line! In a speaker, yes, maybe, as they're in the direct line of music. People get drawn in by 'good' dealers selling Foo. 'Good' meaning good at their job, the job of SELLING stuff.

@tomic601 - Where would I use the Jitter Bug in my scenario? The Jitter Bug that's been reviewed many times, and most conclusions are - the only thing a Jitter Bug does is relieve you of $60/£50!

@jond - So you spent c$1k. My NAS (920+) + 3x6Tb drives came to about the same, but my 32Gb stick was £12. A slight difference. And music from the stick sounds better. I've seen people who've spent c$10k on a streaming setup. Maybe they couldn't directly stream into their renderer from a USB drive/stick; maybe they haven't even tried it. Scared to no doubt after that expense. c$10k v $10. One would imagine/think/BELIEVE that the $10k setup would be much better. If so, by how much, if at all (that's not a question btw)?

@akg_ca Thank you, and everyone here, for the useful input. Although you say the USB is equally good as your NAS. There's so so much written about LOTS of noise produced by a NAS/Switch/PC/Cableing, and how much one needs to spend to alleviate it, which is what prompted my original question. A USB stick obviates the need for any of that, IF your renderer has a USB input.

@daveteauk Yes you are correct the only way to get a better sound would be if your streamer had a SSD internal hard drive. A USB is essentially a SSD. I recently bought a Sandisk 2TB portable SSD which is like a giant USB. Thing with USB is you can play it in the car too : )

When I look at the value of my time then streaming services and Roon are pretty easy to justify. I think many of us have more money than time these days unless you're retired. Then there is the whole aspect of the user interface. I can't remember the last time I used something like a memory stick for music storage definitely more than a decade ago. The phone provides the music for the car with more than adequate quality.

I think if I took a poll I would find that more people who use turntables more and have two amplification are the ones complaining about noise then those with all solid state and primarily digital. It's a guess but I have a feeling it's going to be somewhat accurate. What does that tell me? I think most people can figure that one out. You can transfer noise over USB but that can be solved for somewhere between 20 and $100. Noise over ethernet is a really big stretch at best. And who is to say that there's not something screwed up in the DAC powering the USB stick doesn't cause more noise?

Sounds like you are in the UK or I would just send one in the post to try. The jitterbug plugs into a port and usb stick plugs into Jitterbug 

my NAS lives in a closet far away from listening space with clean power and a high speed gaming switch. The USB stick is great sonics, happy w either.

jim

OP:
 

I can see you are going to be one of those difficult one's.  OK, fine I'm in the mood.

 

@erik_squires - I'm not looking to 'invest' in anything. I'm simply putting the question out there, as there seems very little discussions going on around my question.

Did I say you?  Did I say you should invest?  Could you not infer a bridge between my answer and your question, that it's really not a good investment, and therefore not really requiring much discussion?