@audphile1
Please don’t speak for me, you’re wrong on the facts.
@soix
It’s really not all about you, I was asking the OP if it was helpful, not you, lol!
Be that as it may, I have been streaming since 2004 - I was a very early adopter, obviously. My experience of direct A/B comparisons during the last 20 years includes some in my system, some in friends’ systems, and some at dealers. In addition to my original Musiccast system, I’ve owned Sonos and a wyred4Sound modified Sonos, both using external DACs, of course, and then more recently, the 6 streamers in my current systems (2 Bluesounds, the Pro-Ject, iFi, RPi in Okto DAC, Goldnote streamer/DAC) as well as a Raspberry Pi I built as an experiment for this very purpose. Friends’ and dealers’ streamers I’ve A/B(ed) include DCS Bartok, Innuos Zenith, Simaudio Moon 681, various Aurender products, and others.
I’ve sat next to a good friend who, being coached by a dealer, heard things I simply did not. I know he thought he heard them, and I honestly believe the dealer did too. (This friend, btw, is almost 10 years older than me - over 70 - and has definitely experienced greater hearing loss than my 63-year-old self, so it wasn’t my hearing!). Aural memory sucks, valid A/B comparisons are difficult, and confirmation bias is challenging.
In summary, I didn’t start doing research and reading reviews until recently, almost 20 years after I began listening to streamers in all sorts of environments with lots of different gear. This research has only served to validate my 20 years of experience. It certainly helps explain my experience, and I offer it to others to help them as they try to sort their way thru the disparate views and experiences on this forum and others, including yours.
I don’t really understand why my contrary views are such a threat to your constitutive self. Oh well. I’m quite sure we’d enjoy each other’s systems, certainly more than each other’s company, lol!