Ethernet connection for best sound quality

Buy a top modem router combo ,the motorola 8702  is very good it has Docsis 3.1

but a good Linear power supply ,4 amp and up 12 volt , the Linear Tube Audio 

is the best LPS under $1200 for $750 a steal and makes a very good improvement 

and I bought a good Ethernet switch with a OCXZo clock,LPS ,and low noise regulators ,the SW-8.  But good quality Ethernet cables ,and a top usb cables .

Yeah, if there are no measurements you sure as hell can’t hear it.

No, if there are no measurements, there’s no proof that you’re getting what you pay for. A claim such as ’lower noise’ can (and I think should) be verified and backed up with data.

Clearly Innuos, Aurender, Lumin, Grimm, dCs, etc. are selling snake oil and all the people here who hear clear improvements are deluding themselves

No, I didn’t say they’re selling snake oil. Clearly the streamers can push bits to a DAC. The issue I have is that folks believe they need to spend thousands or in some cases tens of thousands of dollars for ’good sound’ from a supposed ’state of the art’ product when what’s inside is basically aged, low-powered commodity hardware and free open source software.

For example, look at the interior image of the Grimm MU1 in this review (link) . This shows the compute / streaming module in the upper left. It looks just like a standard Intel NUC motherboard (link). Here’s a review of the actual NUC PC itself (link). This review is from 2018. If you bought this computer, you’d have the same hardware that Grimm uses to stream audio data to a DAC. The solid state drive they use to store the audio data itself looks like a Samsung 860 or 870 Evo which is nice but nothing special.

You can buy the NUC currently on Amazon for $175 and the Samsung 870 Evo 2 TB for $119.

What are audiophiles really paying for?

I can almost guarantee you that these companies are using garden variety, off the shelf hardware in these products. It keeps parts costs low and increases repairability. It also ensures that the operating system they use (most likely Linux since they don't have to pay for a software license) will run without any issues.

I have an Innuous Zenith running through a Lab 12 Dac. Use all Transparent interconnects. Everything was bought used. Saved over 50 percent 

. Way better than my old system. I also drive a Porsche.

Mercy