Sound quality differences in streamers

I should clarify my interweb signal which, due to my “remote” location and where my listening room is situated is via WiFi only, no hardwired connections. So cleaning the signal with line switches or Ethernet is not possible. I will be relying on the ability of the streamer to handle to WiFi signal and pass it along to a DAC.

You should at least try something like a Wi-Fi extender or Mesh system so you can run an Ethernet cable from that to your streamer.  Many people here have done that and found it to sound better than letting the streamer process the Wi-Fi signal.  I believe it’s due to the Wi-Fi receiver in the streamer degrading performance due to noise, poor quality, or whatever, and hardwiring the streamer to an extender or Mesh node gets around this.  Either way, it’s relatively cheap to try and well worth the effort given the potential benefits. 

As far as streamers, the way I see it is deciding which application to use to send an email. Regardless which one you choose, the message should arrive

@johnsmith55  Yeah you would think that, but unfortunately that’s not the way it works in audio.  Unlike emails, Word documents, etc. audio is very susceptible to things like noise and timing, and better streamers employ better power supplies, cases, clocks, galvanic isolation, etc. to minimize those things degrading the digital signal.  Anyone who’s compared a $400 streamer to a $2k+ streamer will tell you there’s a very significant difference between the two.  Believe me I know it doesn’t make intuitive sense, but it is what it is.  

"You should at least try something like a Wi-Fi extender or Mesh system so you can run an Ethernet cable from that to your streamer."

 That is exactly what I do with my second and third systems, by running Ethernet cables from mesh system satellites into Roon endpoints/streamers.  Works great for background and/or party music.  Never tried it for my main system but, based on the sound I get from the other systems, it may work fine in my main system too.

@soix I would agree that non-data "noise" such as, say, SMPS noise can affect sound quality if and when allowed to enter the analog realm, if you will (usually meaning your DAC’s output section); but would you say that that noise can affect sound quality while within the digital realm, unless of course it is so extreme that it results in gross RW protocol failure? Trying to understand where you’re coming from. Thanks!

@johnsmith55 

The logical fallacies abound from our friends.  “Anyone who’s compared a $400 streamer to a $2k+ streamer…”  This is called the “appeal to authority” fallacy, and it’s not even a good authority.  Note in my first post where I linked to a discussion where an audiogon member actually didn’t hear a material difference between a bluesound node and an Aurender W20 ($23k).  So I guess the full appeal is to “anyone who’s compared a $400 streamer to a $2k+ streamer and agrees with me.”. lol!!