Another post about a streamer upgrade

Again, I’m not saying more expensive streamers can’t be better-sounding. I’m just saying I have never been able to understand the logic for how they offer higher fidelity, in the absence of demonstrated perceptible difference (accounts of satisfied buyer feedback doesn’t count for this in any industry).

@benanders may I recommend you research various design and implementation of streamers and DACs. How each design influences the final product. I mean a thorough research from power supply and inputs to outputs and everything in between. If you’re sitting around twiddling your thumbs and expecting the community in this forum to present their arguments to you trying to prove streamers and cd transports make a difference, you will be wasting everyone’s and your time and effort.

@mdalton I was using mac mini as roon core only. Not a streamer. The comparison was done using auralic with lightning ds vs Auralic as roon end point.
There’s no jitter. Just different way of processing the stream by the Auralic.

@mdalton no. The steamer is what is connected to the DAC.
The Mac Mini in my example is just a Roon core that sends the data feed to the streamer, via network. The streamer is connected to the DAC.
For the mac mini to be considered a streamer it would have to be connected to the DAC directly via USB without a dedicated streamer in between. Not sure where the gap is in this communication. The review you’re linking to talks about testing roon nucleus as a streamer via its USB out. But that’s not my configuration. 

Sounds like you will really enjoy Roon. Give it a whirl. And congrats on the streamer purchase!!!

@benanders I’m totally cool with your stance on this.
Let’s not highjack this thread. 
Enjoy the music!

@mdalton yes nothing beats roon from the UI / UX and features standpoints.
However, one important note - with some streamers their proprietary UI/software forces the streamed files to take a certain path that involves extra processing such as caching (not buffering) and other tasks that might result in better sound compared to using the streamer as a Roon end point.
One example is Auralic Aries streamers. The Auralic Lightning DS sounded significantly better to me than Roon and I actually ended up pausing my Roon subscription. I had renewed it when I switched over to Lumin where I heard virtually no difference and the Lumin app was driving me crazy.

There are a lot of variables. The unfortunate truth in this hobby is that everything matters and as you go up the ladder it matters even more. Synergy is key though, so trying and listening for yourself to see what works in your system the best approach. 

Oh one additional detail..,Auralic Aries G1 wasn’t hardwired to network. 

Ok. Everything is a streamer - your ISP, your router, your mesh network if that’s what you’re using, your roon core and your streamer.
You’re 100% correct. And jitter exists between each of these communication points.

I hereby (gently) invalidate the test that I had conducted. 😂

I would also like to add a DAC, well At least the section that takes the input and streams that data to the DAC chip. At which point, once it reaches the analog section it ceases to be a streamer because it passes the analog signal to the output RCA or XLR that feed the amplifier.