Point of higher priced streamer?

My Lumin U1 sounds orders of magnitude better than my Node2 when streamed through the same DAC. This should be impossible according to many posters here. I had 60 days to return the Lumin U1 but of course I kept it. It also handily beat out an Auralic Aries G1 streamer...all using the same outputs. Look, I return gear that doesn’t make a difference in my system and keep the components that do. I don’t want to waste money and I have zero expectation bias. Many professional reviewers note the exact same thing. Line noise can absolutely get transferred through these devices if not designed correctly. It’s not all about 1’s and 0’s as people like to ignorantly reference all the time.

mgrif104

Expectation/confirmation bias goes both ways. All devices were level matched. I went in a skeptic.

I think that explains many audiophiles and that many of us are inherently skeptical. There was a time I found it difficult to believe that a cable could make a sonic difference. But my dealer at the time put a pair of Fultons in my hand and told me to try them at home. And so I became convinced.

I bought an Aurender N100H as a more elegant solution to a Raspberry Pi, which I was using with the DigiOne hat. It was easy to A/B the two by feeding the same file from each into my DAC - the outputs inherently equal in level - and the difference was more than enough to warrant the Aurender’s cost. Of course, that’s a subjective evaluation; for someone else the price difference might not be worth the expense.

I grew weary of the Aurender’s rocky software updates, intolerance of power outages and indifferent support, so I upgraded to a Bryston BDP-3. For a while I had both connected to the system and in A/B’ing the two I found subtle differences. Again, I realize it’s subjective for me to characterize the differences as "subtle." Someone else might consider them major differences, or perhaps hear no difference at all.

Technical explanations for these differences are really just a matter of curiosity to me.  Because of my own first-hand experiences, I tend to ignore those who insist that there can be no difference.

I know one reason the Node2i may not measure up to other streamers: the power supply. It is a small SMPS. That's why there are upgrade kits being sold which are more robust and use a linear PS. Even with the stock PS, a higher quality power cord is an upgrade. 

The Node is built to a certain price point, has good sound, and doesn't claim to be more than it is. I haven't compared mine to other streamers, but in combination with a very fine DAC, my CD playback is superior.

All the streamer does is deliver the packets to the DAC. It's purpose no more affects the packets of audio data than the miles of cables, myriad of switches and routers affects the packets delivering this post from my keyboard to your screen. Sangbro just get whatever streamer that has the options you want and forget about it. I've  used streamers from raspberry pi4 to Lumin, Bel Canto, Auurender, Auralic and others not a dimes worth of difference when level matched .

Yes, It’s called expectation bias. The same phenomenon that largely drives the high end cable market. That and listeners neglecting to level-match when conducting comparisons.

That's is an extremely wide brush to use to simply dismiss differences that many folks hear, myself included.   

I've been using a RaspPi (running Roon) with a Digi+ SPDIF interface and iFi power supply as my primary streamer for years.  I recently spent less on a new DAC than I was expecting (because the most expensive one and it also has the most brand cachet didn't sound as good as I was expecting); I settled on an an R2R NOS DAC that costs considerably less but to me sounds better.

I then decided to spend the extra $$ on a better streamer to see if I could hear a difference, knowing I could flip the streamer (a Bricasti M5) easily if it wasn't worth it.  It made a significant difference in my system that I'm now disappointed I didn't try a better streamer years ago.   And yes, I have a sound meter (my trusty old analog Radio Shack meter).   So no, I don't buy your expectation bias or level-matching argument for my scenario.  I choose what sounds best to me and gives me the most musical enjoyment, working within my budget.

There is no doubt in my mind the Pi with a good quality SPDIF board is an excellent audio value relatively speaking, but in absolute terms in my system and using my ears, the M5 takes my listening enjoyment to another level and the difference in cost is more than worth it to me.   If the Pi sounds the same or better than the M5 to some folks in their system, then they should be happy they are saving some money, but that doesn't change the fact I prefer its sound quality more and am willing to pay for it...