The best approach is to only buy audio products that have been objectively measured by the manufacturer with the results made public (Schiit, etc.) or have been carefully measured by folks like ASR or Audioholics or a few others. That way you can escape from your cave of uncertainty about your own hearing or limited knowledge about science and engineering using expert advice that brings about a Xanadu of confidence in the performance of your equipment, and so will you rise into the nirvana of audio bliss. 
Are all streamers the same?
Dogma says they’re all the same. Experience suggests otherwise. Price may or may not be guide. Are there solid tech reasons such as bleed of noise into the digital signal? What does “it’s all about the ‘implementation’”really mean? How come power cords and interconnects make a difference? For example, there are numerous USB cords that separate the power from the signal cables to minimize interference and noise transference.
Why don’t we have an accepted science of audio, as yet? Where’s the research compilation esp at textbook level? Yes I’m happy just listening and using my ears and my biases to make judgments; no problem.
Yet I continue to see dogma, from the USA and Europe, indeed everywhere, that remains steadfast in their disbelief in variances. It becomes tiresome at times. But hey what do I care? Lol, my pursuit of fidelity and knowledge remain equally strong.
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If you mean dramatically overpriced, then yes. |
Some have nicer displays. On a more serious note, I think the conversation has to be split between servers and such and the device that is actually connected to the DAC (or has the DAC in it). For example, Roon recommends one box acting as the server, decoding the audio, doing DSP, running the user interface, etc., and a separate, much quieter box that only takes the decoded audio stream from the network and passes it to the DAC. |
I use a 2014 Mac mini usb out to a Matrix D2D converter- which in theory, isolates all computer interference - then XLR out to a Devialet 250 the result is starting , at A very low budget, as testified by anyone entering my listening area. most important is the software - IMO no software offered by streamers (cheap or expensive ) comes close to managing large multi-genre libraries, that include artists with difficult to remember names (German, Japanese). Hence a Mac is necessary.
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@jji666 makes a good point about there being a difference between a server and a streamer. In the Roon world, the server operates Roon Core and selects and/or stores music files while the streamer (or Roon endpoint) interfaces with a DAC. All servers are basically computers. In my experience, having a server connected to my home network, at a location away from my audio systems, and connected to my streamer using an optical cable, has resulted in zero sonic difference being noticed between the three servers I have had in my system over the past year. OTOH, switching from a Metrum Acoustics Ambre streamer (a Raspberry Pi device with LPS and femto clocks) to a Sonore Signature Rendu SE Optical resulted in a noticeable improvement in the sound of my system. With the Sonore streamer, I perceive a richer tonality and greater dimensionality, which results in a more natural and musical presentation. |
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