You're not missing anything. This coming from a former software engineer with network experience. I think we're at a point where the last gasp of the marketeers is down to clocking (jitter), but as you point out the amount of information is not sufficient to cause a problem as jitter measurements are always way under the human capability to hear them. Marketing is a very powerful tool.
why expensive streamers
@soix and others
I am unclear about the effect on sound of streamers (prior to getting to the dac). Audio (even hi-res) has so little information content relative to the mega and giga bit communication and processing speeds (bandwidth, BW) and cheap buffering supported by modern electronics that it seems that any relatively cheap piece of electronics would never lose an audio bit.
Here is why. Because of the huge amount of BW relative to the BW needs of audio, you can send the same audio chunk 100 times and use a bit checking algorithm (they call this "check sum") to make sure just one of these sets is correct. With this approach you would be assured that the correct bits would be transfered. This high accuracy rate would mean perfect audio bit transfer.
What am I missing? Why are people spending 1000's on streamers?
thx
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Component with probably lowest sonic benefits, with ridiculous price ladder. Its basically a low noise ARM based computer with off the shelf components, decent power supply and variant of some Linux OS. Cheap to manufacture, crazy high profit margins. Going from cheap PC to few hundred $ gives small sonic benefits, but then next step is 2-3k$ streamer, where i bet 95$ people wouldn't pass blind A/B test. I tried few cheap and expensive ones, but can't say expensive ones are worth the money, not even close, i would rather invest that in amp, speakers, room treatment. |
@kennyc and @andy2 and a few others have stated it best. The 0’s and 1’s that constitute the bits are actually processed with voltage pulses that are susceptible to not only jitter, but also EMI and RFI. While the introduction of noise will typically not cause playback errors or stuttering, digital signals are incredibly delicate, and any introduced noise will detract in a number of ways:
Addressing noise is a key principle in high end audio, not only in streamers/servers, but in every component (phono stages, preamps, cables, room treatments), etc. With digital, as the signal is notably low in voltage, it takes much less noise to impact at a greater ratio. It takes incredible engineering as a result, via the design of sophisticated linear power supplies, advanced clocking, and isolation of noise from different components through architecture and chassis design to be able to combat the noise and deliver at a fidelity that rises above the typical streaming endpoint. The high cost of a premium streamer/server is also not warranted for many audiophiles as they may not have a system that is able to take advantage of the auditory benefit they may bring. If someone is not hearing the difference between streamers, it is likely that they either do not have a system optimized to deliver a certain level of clarity or are not listening critically enough to care. If you have been wanting to upgrade your streamer but have been disappointed with the results, you should be looking to address weak links in your chain first. The same logic applies to everything even further upstream from the streamer, including routers, switches, Ethernet cables, etc.
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