why expensive streamers

If someone hears something with different network switch, good for them. Who am I to question someone else’s enjoyment. After all, I can’t tell one scotch from another.

But technically should not be any difference. Comparison with cables is not correct. Cables that carry analog signals susceptible to RF noise. They have resistance and capacitance so, combined with one component output and another input impedance they may make small or significant difference. Digital cables, not so much.

Network switch? Tidal stream passes thousands of switches on its way to you. One more won’t make any difference. Besides, there is no "stream". Internet is all chunks, compressed and chopped into packets that are frequently traveling arriving out of order at the destination, some are lost and get re-sent. At the receiving end it all needs to be reconstructed.

That WiFi router you have also does a lot of work and is a network switch.

@tomcy6 - it all is getting filtered, error corrected and retransmitted as needed. If noise affected bits, your Word file would not come properly from a network server, email would be unreadable and digital signature verification would fail. 

There are no bit errors in network transmission.

+1 @soix +1 @ghdprentice Going from a node to an Esoteric NO5 was a huge upgrade in not only performance but sound. Upgrading my Ethernet to fiber optic another improvement, and finally cables, ie: usb, Ethernet to the fiber connection, and interconnects another. 

Ridiculous amounts of money being spent on this stuff, with marginal difference in sound. The dac is where it’s at. No freaking way am I spending 1k or more on a fancy streamer.

I went from a Node 2 to a used Aurender that cost $1,800 a few years ago and had no expectations.  I was blown away at the difference.  You can now buy the same streamer for around 1K.  The "streamers make no difference" people are typically those who have never listened to a nice one.