Thank you, everyone. As I had hoped, there have been plenty of thoughtful, knowledgeable contributions from our community and not too much in the way of a pile-on.
Just a quick note to Jerry: Thanks for reading at least some of my topic. Of course, I wouldn’t purchase a component based solely on the I/O, Jerry, but I genuinely wanted to take advantage of the knowledge here and better understand the subject matter.
I’m sure I am a fairly typical purchaser. Like many here, I have a decent budget and a very understanding better half, but I don’t have unlimited funds either. So, I regard these purchases as consequential since music listening and enjoyment are important to me. As I look to add this relatively recent music resource to my system, I need to do some due diligence. I always believed in attempting to do this to the best quality I can afford. These will be substantial and, I hope, long-term investments.
I’m not a luddite; I do have a digital source in my system. But this whole discussion is about how we turn digital into analogue, i.e., music. I would add that a quality vinyl solution will remain a part of the equation for me, at least in the medium term.
I asked about I2S because my left brain needs answers. It’s far from clear what investing a substantial ratio of the streaming savings pot into a streamer, which in my case potentially constrains what I regarded as the more consequential part of this particular chain, the DAC.
If a streamer collects the data packets and establishes they are all there, it feeds this stream of data via I2S. Then surely it deals with the clock signal differently by isolating it and presenting a clean, jitter-free signal for the DAC. I have heard this work with a CD player outputting to a DAC via I2S, and there are audible differences for me. I appreciate that there isnt a pin confiuration standard as yet but most DAC's with this connection can accomodate this by offering configurable I2S. So why isn’t it discussed as a possible game-changer? And why, when a quality DAC can and often does use separate super quiet regulated power supplies, one for the analogue circuit and another for the digital; heck I have even seen that they often utilize twin “high-end” DAC chips and two “high-end” temperature-regulated clocks?
Am I being unreasonable to suggest, at least to myself, that anything the streamer does regarding jitter/timing is pretty much redundant? As long as the stream contains all the zeros and ones that sum correctly, these amazing modern DACs take total control and will deal with jitter and noise very effectively. Therefore, possibly negating the need for a super expensive streamer beyond the implementation of a decent power supply, a well-thought-out motherboard, and ample processing power, allowing me to spend much more on the DAC.
This whole ethereal rabbit hole of what happens when obtaining data packets from a remote server before handing off the digital stream to analogue conversion is becoming more contentious an area than any part of the more traditional analogue chain.
I have to admit I’m leaning toward the influence of the DAC as more important than the data stream, as it should be pretty much error-free, as is most of the half a zettabyte per day that gets zapped around our world.
Most of what a high-quality DAC does, including the importance of the internal clock functions, is somewhat easier to grasp. So just how important is the data stream being clocked from the streamer, then re-clocked by the DAC before it becomes an actual music waveform? No one has really convincingly explained this.
High-quality DACs seem to equally emphasize the importance of stable power the internal clock functions, but in addition also how the DAC chips present the waveform to the analogue section ready for amplification. So just how important is the data stream being clocked from the streamer, only to be re-clocked by these powerhouse DACs before becoming an actual music waveform? No one has really convincingly explained this to me.
I am already getting from reading the great contributions here, that there are hugely differing experiences being shared. So, in addition to what I have learned and still learning here, is that I need to and on listening to some streamers and DAC combinations, as well as DAC Streamer units in different price sectors and hopefully narrow a few down to audition in my not low end but certainly not esoteric £50-60k system.