Did you notice....

quality of the original recording overwhelms any minor (i mean very minor) differences in well implemented cd vs streamed music quality

streamed music sounding absolutely tip top quality takes some work and expense to achieve -- some are up for that, other not, but it can absolutely be achieved, as many of us have done it

cd’s sound great too, streaming just as good -- cd players have their own output stages, can have their own sound signatures, as do dacs... so it all depends... hi res streamed through tidal or qobuz is truly excellent - bear in mind cdp's play redbook 98% of the time

my cd front end -- 1) vsei level 6 sony scd-1 2) modwright marantz sa 8005 with tube output and rectification

streaming -- i7 roon core, uptone ether-regen, sonore optical rendu, dacs: msb analog w pb / bricasti m1 mdx / weiss 501

ghasley,                    I have the Analog DAC which does not have Pro USB. The AUDIOQUEST Diamond USB cable bettered all other cables I tried . I had a spare Jitterbug  which I just added . On reading your comment I removed the Jitterbug and agree that it makes no difference. Thank you for alerting me.

My theory is that you can approach streaming in two ways… low end plus fiddling with your incoming signal: the complicated way. Or buy a high quality streamer. I can’t prove it.. I don’t have enough of a sample. But each time I have upgraded my streamer, it has had much higher quality sound and MUCH less dependence on my network (my streamer is much more reliable listening to music than my iPad is for reading. I can’t refresh my page from the New York Times… but my high resolution music continues without interruption.

My current system sounds as good as my analog, but is running off a $59 wall wart repeater. A red book CD sounds exactly like a streamed Red Book CD file. I’m thinking that improving my network connection will not make a red book CD file sound better than my Red Book CD played locally with my excellent CD player / DAC.

So. My conclusion is not to buy a budget streamer and fiddle with your network… just buy a great streamer.

Anyway my conclusion. I have used iPods, iPads, MACs, PCs running different software, low cost streamers, mid-priced streamers, high end streamers, and etherRegens.

Oh no!  Darko has spoken!

Ha, ha.  I have tried four low end Marantz CD players (as transports) in my high end system.   As CD players, they were warm and slow, lacking in resolution and openness.  For $600-$1000, they were okay but old Denon 1500 and Kyocera 310 kills them.   I went with separate high end DAC/transport with a Synergistic Research Atmosphere X Euphoria digital cable and now my digital competes with my analog (VPI TNT VI/moded SME IV/Zesto Allesso SUT/Dynavector 20X2 L).  Again, streaming is great to find new music but is abysmal for listening to 40% of my collection of 78s/LPs/CDs, most will never be available in another format (especially ethnic music).  Then there is the problem of availability one day and gone the next (at least download good stuff to keep on an HD server or thumbdrive) and the 15% which is actually available in high rez, not compressed, poorly remastered or just CD quality (as if that were not sufficient).