A/B Comparison On A Pair Of Moderately Priced Streamers

So ... what you’re saying is that, given the same (uncompressed) source file, different streamers send different bits and bytes to the DAC? I can’t believe that to be the case.

@rudyb You’re free to “believe” whatever you want, but there’s more to it than just sending “bits and bytes,” not the least of which is the elimination of noise, which is the mortal enemy in streaming.  Most people here will tell you streamers make a big difference in the ultimate performance of a streaming system, and I suggest you try it yourself instead of relying on a belief.  

Let me rephrase ... I know that not to be the case. A 'high end' streamer still streams the same digital data to my DAC as my tablet or PC or Bluesound Node does. If I suffered from noise, I'd invest a little in an optical cable, or a galvanic separated USB dongle.

 Let me rephrase ... I know that not to be the case. A 'high end' streamer still streams the same digital data to my DAC as my tablet or PC or Bluesound Node does. If I suffered from noise, I'd invest a little in an optical cable, or a galvanic separated USB dongle.

@rudyb What streamer are you using, and how exactly do you “know” you’re performance isn’t being compromised by noise (I think the more accurate descriptor here would again be “believe” rather than “know”)?  I started streaming from my iPad and upgrading even to a modest iFi Zen Stream brought my streaming to an entirely higher level in every way.  And streaming from a PC is fraught with noise and if you think that’s a suitable way to get good streaming performance, well, I think we know what we have here. 

@soix Let me first say there’s no need for us to quarrel. If someone hears an improvement after upgrading to a more expensive streamer, then that’s great.

I doubt though that such improvement has anything to do with the digital data. Playing from disk, or USB drive, or NAS, the data that reaches the DAC is exactly the same, no matter what streamer is in between. If it isn’t, there would be cracks and pops or hiccups. 

And if the data is streamed over the internet, coming from the other side of the globe, it already passed countless hubs, switches, servers, repeaters, amplifiers, routers and what have you, before it reached our home … still it is the same data.

Streamers can’t generate an ’improved soundstage’ or ’deeper bass’ if that information is not already encoded in the digital stream in the first place. For the same reason I also don’t believe in ’audiophile’ ethernet- or USB cables … it really is exactly the same data that comes out. We can both read this text without the characters being messed up, the bytes all reached our screen perfectly well, with Megabyte or even Gigabyte speed.

FYI I use a Bluesound Node Mk2 with my main system. A dedicated fanless PC with my second system. And a ’high end’ (not audiophile high end, but digital high end) PC for synth and DAW music production, with two powered studio monitors. Besides the BS Node I use two DACs. With the powered monitors I suffered from digital noise, which was eliminated by using a galvanic separation between PC USB out to DAC.

@rudyb I absolutely agree with not quarreling.

You present a reasonable argument why streamers should not make a big difference. I told myself that for years. I streamed with every conceivable device.

Then I finally took home a reasonable mid-level streamer (Auralic Aries G2)… jaw drop, and all that theory went out the window. The problem is, in the real world it is not true.

The streamer is like a turntable in… if you do not have a great source… it doesn’t get any better. Now having owned streamers from the $3K range to over $20K… the streamer is absolutely critical in the playback.

My most expensive component is my Streamer.. to which non-dedicated devices cannot hold a candle… assuming you are being reasonable and not pairing a $200 streamer against a $2,000 carefully optimized PC… or some stacked comparison.