why expensive streamers

@grislybutter Slow and thick? I doubt it!

RFI noise accompanying but not part of the digital signal. It can arise anywhere along the playback chain and is why many people choose to incorporate an optical connection or a switch close to their streamer.

You say the signal comes from a server; sometimes it does, and sometimes it comes from a router. Both require a streamer to unpack the packets into a stream of 1s and 0s.

Some streamers simply pass the noise on. Some might add their own (do they have noisy circuitry? does this include LEDs?). Some might incorporate the sort of galvanic isolation we see in switches so actually mitigate the noise they receive and pass only some or none of it on.

So yes, a good streamer sends on to the DAC as close to the purely digital signal as it can. I’m not sure "clear" is the right word, as this might suggest that some streamers send more accurate 1s and 0s than others and it would be a truly terrible streamer which shuffled these!

The effectiveness of how various streamers handle/address noise is therefore a key factor in their performance.

The second thing a streamer does it to add a time signal to the bitstream it creates from the data packets/frames it receives, but this is a separate point.

Does this help?

Nigel

yes it sure does, thanks @nigeltheflash 

I hear a lot about timing, slow and fast, so I have to learn about the clocking part. I would have thought when analog is converted to digital and it becomes a stream, timing is encoded in the stream, the 0s and 1s. There is no layers of data, such as content and "pace" or whatever timing means, it's all one linear series. The DAC has to figure out how to unpack it.

@nigeltheflash

If noise wasn’t a thing and jitter wasn’t a thing, all streamers would sound the same. Unless I’ve missed something, and I’m sure someone will be along shortly to politely enlighten me if so...

As you wish . . .

@blisshifi eloquently summarized the analog electrical aspects of 1’s & 0’s in this post.

Synergistic Research has understood these aspects for a while - and has created products around it.

- - - -

Pre: streamer - during the ethernet packets/frame stage. My router & access point each have dedicated clocks.

A Synergistics Research digital power cord is delivering electricity to the LPS to my router. This SR cable accepts proprietary SR tuning modules. When different tuning modules are installed, the SQ changes.*

Everything else in the digital chain remains the same.

- - - -

Post: streamer - during the bitstream stage. My streamer & DDC each have clocks.

A Synergistics Research USB cable is delivering data between my streamer and my DDC. This SR cable accepts proprietary SR tuning modules. When different tuning modules are installed, the SQ changes.*

Everything else in the digital chain remains the same.

Also:

A Synergistics Research Galileo digital cable is delivering data between my DDC and my DAC. This SR cable accepts proprietary SR tuning modules. When different tuning modules are installed, the SQ changes.*

Everything else in the digital chain remains the same.

Also

A Synergistics Research digital power cord is delivering electricity to my DDC. This SR cable accepts proprietary SR tuning modules. When different tuning modules are installed, the SQ changes.*

Everything else in the digital chain remains the same.

- - - -

A streamer’s SQ can differ if manufacturers implement different electrical properties within the component chassis. In other words, inside the box. Synergistic did it outside the box. Innovators.

- - - -

* UEF Tuning Modules work outside the signal path to contour the sound of your cables by changing the way your cables resonate. By altering the relationship between signal and ground resonance you take control of the sonic balance of your cables and in the process, the overall sound of your system.

RED Tuning Module’s Sonic Characteristics:

• Warmth
• Liquidity
• Musicality

BLUE Tuning Module’s Sonic Characteristics:

• Refinement
• Detail
• Focus

noise is easy to measure, which is why I find it extraordinary when high $ streamers are advertised as lowering noise without any measurements/data to back it up.  However, there are a few places where some analysis of the differences - or lack thereof - across different streamers - is done more comprehensively.  These include hifinews (paul miller’s measurements sections of streamer reviews), archimago, goldensound, and, yes, ASR.  (For a reaction to the point from @blisshifi, see Amir’s video entitled “Is digital transmission really analog?”)

 

 

 

grislybutter

I would have thought when analog is converted to digital and it becomes a stream, timing is encoded in the stream, the 0s and 1s. There is no layers of data, such as content and "pace" or whatever timing means, it's all one linear series.

Oh no, "streaming" is a misnomer in that sense. It isn't linear at all. The data arrive in packets and they can arrive out of sequence, and perhaps even multiple times if errors are detected.