It's your streamer, not your modem

I’ll chime in to say that the streamer is incredibly important, but the technologies in the router, switch and Ethernet cables in my chain make a huge, audible improvement as well. Take it for what you will as I am an authorized Synergistic Research dealer, but I purchased their Ethernet Switch UEF long before I was a dealer for them. It replaced an Uptone EtherRegen with a $700 Farad Super3 LPS and $1K power cable, and the SR Switch delivered a quieter noise floor, more relaxed, but naturally discernible Sonics over my previous switch setup. Moreso, I added the Router UEF after I became a dealer, which further lowered the noise floor and  increased the harmonics. All of this is feeding my Aurender N30SA.

It is a bit of a PITA to have a fully separate audio network apart from my home network, but the sonic advantages are worth it to me. YMMV. But where Erik mentioned router choices for speed, it’s not about that. Internet devices can be crazy noisy, and in SR’s case, benefits are evident given the way they handle the EMI, reclock the signal, etc.

At the end of the day, I agree a better streamer is a more worthwhile investment, but if you’re already investing in a quality streamer, do not hesitate to explore opportunities for improvement further upstream.  

cable is inherently noisy and using isolators and switches to clean it up has proven effective widely. It isn’t just the streamer’s buffering, EMI/RFI and ground level noise do corrupt signals beyond most DAC’s cleanup capabilities and reclocking makes subsequent stages at both streamer and DAC audibly better. In audio everything matters and monocausal explanations tend to be wide off the mark

All your saying may be true in part But

These pathetic $5 wall warts for router and ethernet switch

Induce a Ton of noise , put linear power supplies on them  it would dramatically 

Lower the noise floor , and decdnt quality cables 

A must if you want a streamer that sounds respectable 

And a good digital power cord .

I purchased a  Audio Art Signature digital power

Cord and sounds much cleaner then more expensive 

High current power cord , very surprising but true

Everything counts.

@audioman58 I hope you are right about the Audio Art Signature digital power.  I ordered one last Friday.

I agree. Streamer is the most important component in the digital setup.