Any audiophile use computer (MacBook) as your audio streaming source?

@lanx0003 

Well, if you are going to make a claim without backing it up with any scientific data or proof, then this is purely anecdotal, and should be dismissed as uncredible. 

why would anyone bother adding something unnecessary or unbeneficial?

Exactly. Thank you for stating this. I just wanted to hear you say it. 

Oh boy, you have some research to do.

Yes, I used a macbook years ago, and it was trounced by an audiophile streamer/player. I have since upgraded my audiophile streamer/player to a better audiophile streamer/player and music sounds even more natural. Adding quality cabling to all components raises the level even higher. 

Don't be fooled by what you read regarding 1's and 0's, and a lossless data stream etc. and "bits are bits". All the sound quality improvements are in the design, the output stages, power supplies and reducing electrical noise. Use your own ears. 

But technically my streamer/player is still a computer, actually more than one computer in a single box, just engineered to control and play music only. 

Could it be that the DAC in the streamer is better than what you used when using a computer as file source? So what you are hearing is not computer vs streamer, but different DACs.

I’m not going to say this is total garbage , but it indicates very low knowledge about what is going on here. Most of the high end streamers most are referring to here do not have built in DAC’s, so no that is not what we are hearing.

Even if you don’t like Winer,

But what this guy says is total garbage. I didn’t read this article but from some posts I have read from Winer previously, anyone who claims cabling doesn’t make a difference is not an audiophile. Winer, just like ASR proponents, if people do the exact opposite of the advice given from them you will most likely get better sound. If someone built a system using a batch of "not recommended" components I bet it would sound pretty good. 

@herman

 

so all you all can just move along, nothing new to see here. There is NOTHING anybody can add to this conversation that isn’t posted in 1000 other threads here and elsewhere

You will never find the answer here or on any forum. The ONLY way to determine the answer for YOU is for YOU to try it.

Agreed, but I am not sure the OP knows what to try.

I don’t have a clue when it comes to digital, but here is a good writeup where the CEO explains some of the measures a top-notch streamer manufacturer takes in order to produce good sound: That is the procedures/steps taken to ensure signal integrity before it is fed to the DAC, so the DAC in turn can seem to do a better job. I think I am right in stating with a quality server/streamer and a quality DAC a DDC is redundant.

Oladra

@lanx0003

In such cases, the additional conversion step could introduce unnecessary complexity or even compromise sound quality due to the increased signal path. 

Do you have a graph showing the evidence of the compromised sound quality? 

Here is a PC streamer that, in addition to supporting SFP, checks every audiophile box. Barebones price is 3900 € but I quickly customized it to 9660 €. It's a useful template for state of the art PC streaming though. 

https://griggaudio.de/produkt/fis-audio-pc-konfigurator/

And people are concerned about the high price for dedicated "audiophile" streamers? Geez.