why expensive streamers

@8th-note This is a Thread I am revisiting and carefully reading the content.

Your Post covering a Streaming Source as Qobuz > PC > DAC AND FLAC > PC > DAC. Where each are compared to a CD Source from a highly recommended producer of CDT has been captivating to my thoughts on how to produce a Streamed Content.

It does seem a dedicated Streaming device is maybe a tool with attractive user  interfaces, and maybe blends in better aesthetically.

Your report strongly suggests that as a end sound in your system, a dedicated streaming device will struggle to present itself as a worthwhile successor to already used devices.    

@pindac Yes, I think you got my point. But the other point I want to make is that if you listen to a new component without using a control to compare it against, you are highly succeptable to expectation bias. It's interesting that so many people on this thread say one streamer sounds better than another but how do they compare to a standard control, like a CD?

My question to the goldenears is, If you hear a significant difference in two streamers, can you describe the differences compared to a CD? Have you compared the same song (using the same DAC) between a streamer and a CD? Did you run this test at least 10 times on different days over a period of at least a couple weeks?

There are dozens (probably hundreds) of blind tests that show that as soon as a listener doesn't know what component he is listening to, the differences in sound mysteriously dissappear. I am unaware of even one blind test that confirms that listeners can tell two streamers apart or two brands of cables for that matter.

My point is that if you are going to compare multi-thousand dollar streamers then you should use a CD as a control to judge their performance. I suspect that doing repeated listening tests, using a control, over several weeks, will greatly diminish the SQ differences between streamers.

@8th-note My experiences of Digital are from a limited time period, I was late to the Party.

My experiences of Digital used in my Home System are measured, I have taken my Bespoke Built Valve DAC to quite a few homes and arranged audio events organised by HiFi Clubs or Forums.

I have the measure of the Digital Source (CDT > DAC) and know how it compares to other Sources, some very carefully selected for the end sound that is to be achieved.

My own Digital Source stands up very very well in all comparisons it has been used in. 

I have heard streamed music from devices costing up to £6K in systems I am not familiar with, and can say without reservation the Streamed Source was not convincing in any demo' given.

More recently I have received Demo's of a Linn Device used to supply streamed and FLAC music as a Source on a system I am very familiar with and can state it the most impressed I have been. Not CD Source or Vinyl Source impressive, but enough on offer from streamed content to suggest there is room for Streamed Content to be used in my home System or as the Sole Source for a Second System, where music is not necessarily to be listen to when seated in front of the Speakers.   

It is these most recent experiences that have encouraged my ear to be on the ground to learn a little more.

Your descriptions enabled myself to see the Source as a multifunction device that can serve more than one role only.

For those interested in an authoritative technical explanation of noise in digital audio, here's a link.

https://audioxpress.com/article/audio-electronics-is-digital-jitter-really-a-problem#:~:text=Noise%20from%20the%20power%20supply,it%20can%20still%20be%20measured.

@mashif - the article is about DA conversion. Jitter is not an issue in networks like Internet.