Point of higher priced streamer?

I should add that one way that I am thinking of improving my streaming quality, now that I have the room tamed, is using Fibre Optical cable. One way that streaming can degrade in quality is when analog noise goes from Ethernet to the DAC. My microRendu should have this issue, though I don't know if that is the case since I have not compared anything "better". My understanding is that Fibre Optical cable (I do not mean  Toslink) cannot carry analog noise from the 1's and 0's being transferred on the Ethernet wire.

The cleanest solution to this that I know is the Lumin X1 DAC which has a Fibre Optical input. You get a network switch like this,

https://www.ui.com/unifi-switching/unifi-switch-8-150w/ ($200)

and connect a Fibre Optical cable ($50) between the 2. Likely the best streaming quality you can achieve. Unfortunately the Lumin X1 is $15K. However, if what I am saying is not BS (I have not tested this myself yet)  then I expect more DAC manufacturers to have this as an input. If they can have I2S as an input why not Fibre.

I emailed Alvin of Vinshine (Denafrips) about this (and other topics) and he said they were aware of Fibre's benefits but it is not the highest priority at the moment.

Do you really take your hat off for this? I suspect the sound you are attempting to achieve is nothing like what was originally played. Vinyl most definitely is not "true to the source". Boring, technically accurate, digital is. You may not like it, but it is.

vhiner541 posts12-28-2020 2:50am My hat is off to any designer or company that manages to make digitally reproduced music more faithfully resemble the original sound that was recorded.

For a DAC manufacturer to add a fully isolated data interface to carry audio, let's say 32/784 to cover all possible cases, we are talking <$10 in volume, perhaps $25-50 for a low volume manufacturer and I am being pretty generous.

Your analysis of fiber optic is correct, but keep in mind Ethernet already is galvanically isolated though there is a path for high frequency noise.

yyzsantabarbara1,909 posts12-28-2020 3:00am My understanding is that Fibre Optical cable (I do not mean Toslink) cannot carry analog noise from the 1's and 0's being transferred on the Ethernet wire.

I have a node 2i that serves my purposes, but truth be told I don’t think I engage in "critical" listening as many here. I listen many hours a day going about my routines now that I’m retired and social distancing.

I may have missed it here, but my question is does the identical streamer produce a different sound when used on different internet providers feeds? For example, what difference can or cannot one expect when the only variable is using Xfinity versus Frontier or Verizon or EarthLink?

Same question regarding the impact on sound of using different brand/model modems with the identical internet provider and streamer?

Thanks

The Node2i is SPDIF out so there is potential for jitter introduction. If you were connected via wired internet, there is potential for the different routers (and their power suppliers) used by the different service providers to introduce electrical noise. If you have differences with WiFi you have bigger problems.