Streaming vs Physical Media

@steakster

I agree with you wholeheartedly on clean power and synergy. That’s what I set out to accomplish four years ago when I started putting together my current system. And yes, Sablon Ethernet cables are well designed and highly sought after. I did reach out to Mark Coles to make me a set of Ethernet cable with M12 connectors but to my disappointment, he stopped working with M12 plugs. I end up going with JCAT Signature LAN GOLD M12 X, amazing cable and I couldn’t be any happier with end results.

Thank you again for your recommendation on Fidelizer router, definitely going to audition one in very near future.

@lalitk 

Keetakawee @Fidelizer-Audio provides excellent customer service. Be sure to be clear on how you plan to use the AirStream. That will determine how he formats the firmware. For my WiFi, the AirStream was formatted as an access point - not as a router which provides the DLNA.  This added another LPS, power cord & ethernet cable.   Yet, it can be defaulted to a standard router that provides the DLNA.   If you’ll be using it in a hardwired manner, the setup might be different. Get the particulars first.

Ultimately there is no arguing with the fact that all the 1's and 0's get to the streamer in the right order because of the TCP/IP protocol which is designed to do this.

So what does this mean? This means the music is sent perfectly to the streamer / bridge.

So if the streamer is always getting a perfect binary signal where does it go wrong?

Well the only thing I can think of is that noise is entering the system along with the binary stream. It's noise that's the polluter nothing else can be!

But whatever the outcome - TCP/IP ensures a perfect binary order due to checksumming the stream <-- therefore nothing at all can go wrong at this stage (unless you have a bad network).

@steakster

Thanks for your solid advise!

@chopandchange 

So if the streamer is always getting a perfect binary signal where does it go wrong?

Well the only thing I can think of is that noise is entering the system along with the binary stream. It's noise that's the polluter nothing else can be!

You're right it's noise of various kinds, e.g, but not limited to -  RF, EMI, and high-impedance leakage currents from SMPS and network component clocks that increase jitter and clock phase noise. 

The whole clocking thing is another space I haven't grasped enough to figure out how to make it right or even better

Thus there are some products available to address reducing the noise in our perfect binary signals

Here's a couple of links that describe the problem(s) and some products that improve the SQ

https://www.smallgreencomputer.com/pages/systemoptique-certified