0s & 1s are all the same aren’t they? Is it really worth paying for a “better” Streamer?

It's funny how no one can actually make any relevant commentary, apparently no real experience.

I'd suggest you invest time into learning how to listen. It's apparent by your comment about Linn that you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.

@ironlung 😂😂😂😂. Thanks for that.

Should I also learn how to tap my toes?

My point was, anyone describing Linn "house sound" as "smeared" obviously has no real experience with Linn at all, and needs to listen to a properly set up Linn HiFi. You just sound ignorant.

The LP12, Klimax DS/DSM, CD12, Karik/Numerik, et. al are industry standards for performance by which all other domestic HiFi sources are ultimately judged. In ANY system.

Your comment is akin to an owner of a Dodge Charger claiming a Porsche 911 GT3 Turbo is "sluggish". Absolutely bollocks, and no basis what so ever in fact.

There are so many owners of Linn sources in the HiFi and music industry you would be embarrassed to discover you should become part of the fringe instead of trashing it with your glib statements.

Sure there are plenty of other similar high performance brands but no one is high performance who makes "smeared" sounding products. That's just a ridiculous assessment.

Ah, who moderates this forum? Would you please explain why you removed my post?

• It looked like spam
• It was abusive towards another member
• It depicts explicit and/or violent content
• It contains profanity

OK, so other folks can make unsubstantiated, subjective, non-factual claims and when one attempts to provide them with relevant information the answer is to remove the post because someone was offended?

None of the reasons listed were present within my reply to @singintheblues or @jaybe, yet, they actually were abusive in their commentary towards me.

If this is how you moderate your forum I'd love to have a real conversation with you to determine what your reason for removing my post was.

Audiofools don’t like blind tests.

I once took a Chinese DAC board I’d bought from eBay to a “bake off” (not sure what you call Hifi meet-ups in US?).
It was hooked up into the same Pre amp as a fancy milled Aluminium Chord 64.   Track played & Preamp selector switched from one to the other.
12 guys & 2 women in the room.
The only two who said they heard a difference were the 2 women.
Guess which they preferred?
It wasn’t the Chord...

There are so many unmentioned variables within your anecdotal story of a "blind test".

If you're going to make a statement, why not put in the effort to describe the rest of the system components, how the DACs were connected, what source was used for the digital signal and with what connection, et al.

Most audio fools don't take the time to do the work to even know how a blind test is conducted, resulting in meaningless anecdotes like yours, containing information of no value to anyone.

Really? Explains what exactly, no difference between the raspberry pi or the Bel Canto or Aurrender or Innous etc.. ?

It explains a number of potentialities, a few of which are -

1. Your comparisons may have been made using a flawed method of evaluation 
2. There may be a technical limitation in the system being used to make the evaluation, masking any ability to determine a performance difference
3. You've not spent sufficient time learning how to actively listen 
4. You might not be able to hear very well?
5. You may not have ever made any of the comparisons you've claimed

As far as the technical reasons why different streamers can sound different, there are many. I've hinted at some of them elsewhere on the forum, but a few of them are:

1. What protocol(s) the device is using/can use on the network
2. How well the player software decodes the audio information from the file for delivery to internal digital buses 
3. How well internal digital bus processes (e.g. USB, PCI Express, SATA, RAM, Southbridge/Northbridge, etc.) and other DSP (filters, digital EQ, etc.) are implemented and performed before delivery as audio data to an output 
4. What output or interface is used to translate the digital audio data to PCM for use by the DAC (whether internal or external)
5. How the DAC clocks synchronize the PCM audio data between the sending device (player software and digital bus transport) and the receiving device (DAC interface/input) which can be done a number of ways including Asynchronous/Isosynchronous via USB, a Phase-Locked-Loop using SPDIF connections (Toslink, Coax, or AES/EBU), or an I2S process in which the DAC and Streamer share the same clock. On this note, high performance streamers will typically have multiple clocks on board, one for each word length and sample rate the device is capable of. Some devices like the Aurender W20 have a word clock input for sharing an external word clock between the DAC and Streamer.

Anyway, if you are still convinced there is no difference between streamers after a somewhat succinct and yet technical accurate analysis of why in fact there is, none of this will be any help to you.