Does the streamer effect sound quality

How can a Streamer make any difference if the digital stream is fed directly to a DAC?  1's and 0's from Streamer A vs Streamer B can't sound different, right?  Not so fast there, Bubba. 

Only have experience with one Streamer connected to a quality DAC.  However, the Streamer offered sound "enhancement" features.  Claimed to 1) fix corrupted digital bits and 2) improve overall sound quality.  The reality is that disabling all "enhancements" produces better sound quality.  The more you mess with a signal, digital or analog, the more likely to corrupt the signal.  

Excellent point already made that quality of the source material will make a large difference.  Have no reliable insight into whether providers like Tidal, Spotify, Amazon, etc. process source files in any way.  I have done side by side comparison of a streamed track vs same from a CD.  There is a difference.  If the 1's and 0's are the same from either source, there should be no difference in sound quality.  Have to conclude something is different somewhere.

Of course it will, it also is determined by which Node you have.....the 2 is not very good, the 2i is decent, and the Node 130 can be very good with an external DAC. You did not mention budget other than the $800 for the CXN. I would add an LHY linear power supply bundle $279, an save your money for a better streamer later.

+++++ for Teddy Pardo…. there are often many opportunities to buy them used and implement them widely across your streaming network..

TIP get your remaining wall warts on a decent ( Furman 15 is fine ) power conditioning unit , preferably on a different breaker than the dedicated home run used for the rest of the system - the analog kit.

Finally you must experiment with where to plug the DAC in…. much will depend on the the competency of the DAC designer in 3 key areas: Power supply, input isolation and Faraday cage implementation… then we can wrangle over if they know much about filters and that ALL important analog stage….

Ones and Zeros is an incomplete sentence… ignore the poster who claims otherwise…

tomic601

Only have experience with one Streamer connected to a quality DAC.  However, the Streamer offered sound "enhancement" features.  Claimed to 1) fix corrupted digital bits and 2) improve overall sound quality ...

Hmmm. What streamer was that?

@texbychoice …”The more you mess with a signal, digital or analog, the more likely to corrupt the signal. “ You ran into something here.

“… I have done side by side comparison of a streamed track vs same from a CD. There is a difference.” Yes, that is virtually always true depending on the quality of the player vs streamer / DAC is and how much they conform to your values in sound.

Also, Qobuz is regarded as the best sounding streaming service followed closely by Tidal, the rest are not in the same league. However, Qobuz has over half a million high resolution recordings… while Tidal only has less than ten times less, making Qobuz the overwhelming best choice for streaming.