Streaming vs Physical Media

@stevewharton 

Nice summary - and I sort of do get where clocking is relevant from within the streamer or from within the CD player - but before that - no - I don't get it.

At the time of streaming say from Qobuz - the transmission of the data from Qobuz is sent in the correct binary order (courtesy of TCP) to the streamer - so if all the information at the streamer is identical to the information from Qobuz then nothing is lost en-route to the streamer whatsoever! The data arrives at the streamer identical to that from Qobuz.

And when the data is being sent to the streamer over IP there is no need at this point to make a perfect analogue waveform, therefore no clocks needed - just a checksum to ensure perfect data delivery.

Clocking from within the streamer fine - but clocking before the streamer on network switches at the data send stage when TCP is involved - sorry I am still lost. But I sit here open minded and  I am happy to be proven wrong ....

I just don't want us gullible audiophiles to be mugged off.

@chopandchange here's a link to a whitepaper that explains this in better detail, warning is bit head reading but you strike me as quite technical

@gdnrbob thank you Sir for the kind words

@pwayland I have nearly the same digital front end kit with the PS Audio DAC and Network Bridge, using Roon with Tidal and Qobuz libraries, a great source of enjoyment and musical experience

Matching clocks is another often overlooked issue with clocks. Sine wave vs square wave, what freq. running at. I recently experienced what I presume this issue in rather recent negative experience with audiophile switch. I believe John at Uptone has another white paper discussing these issues.

@sns great point and who knew?

So many boxes to check just to ensure compatibility, much less optimization

This is hard stuff to keep straight even for the reasonably or well informed

I'm exaggerating for humor, but how in the heck can we expect the mortals to play along without getting frustrated and pulling their hair out

At first, I was one of the biggest sceptics of  streaming music.  I was  totally convinced that the steaming SQ was inferior to that of an high end cd player.  But, during the course of time, after many positive listening session with streamed music at Audio Dealers, Audio Shows and fellow Audiophiles homes, I decided to give streaming a shot in my own home high end rig.  Long story short, I was able to achieve cd and beyond SQ from my system only after being willing to purchase a reference level DAC, ethernet cables, switch, tweaks, Roon Nucleus Plus and all associated equipment.  No more cd's or vinyl for this guy!!!