Are streamers digitally enhanced?

I originally asked this question hoping someone knew more factual information about how digital designers program chips to convert Internet packets to a PCM stream and, how that might affect the sound. I don't know whether chips are just built to do that off the shelf or whether a designer has some control over parameters. I'm not asking about magic, just electrical engineering. 

For the moment, I agree with @soix that the clock quality matters. I believe the differences I hear between my coax and USB input are due to the streamer having a better clock than my DAC. That will eventually change. 

To put a coda on this discussion, I spent an hour with Gemini as an EE professor, explaining the fine points of digital streamer design. It confirmed the primary of clock and PSU, but also mentioned another variable. 

FLAC is a lossless but still digitally compressed file that has to be converted to PCM and the quality of that conversion depends on both hardware and software. The lower tier of streamers use off the shelf computer versions, while higher end ones use specific chips and in-house specialized software to do the most bit perfect translation. 

Apparently few audiophiles are curious about the technology underlying digital sound. We'll go on for hours about tube types, but chips and software are somehow uninteresting. Personally, I find all aspects of audio technology fascinating. 

@sudnh 

I can assure you that both my friend and I have forgotten more about audio during our 40 year careers than you will ever know. But I appreciate you informing me that better components result in better sound. That’s apparently the one thing you know.