2. digital
  3. 194394-162757

Are streamers digitally enhanced?

I had a conversation yesterday with a studio engineer friend and I was telling him about the sound of my Innuos Pulse. He has heard my system with the Node 2i and was skeptical about how much difference a better streamer could make. 

After I described improvements in soundstage and overall sound quality he remarked that it sounded like some digital enhancement, similar to a studio plugin, was part of the higher end circuitry. I offered that it was revealing, not enhancing, and he replied "how do you know". 

How do we know? Digital circuitry is controlled by software/algorithms and these can't be readily seen like hardware. When new hardware comes out, reviewers can open the hood and look inside. But what do we know about how streamers or DACs are processing the signal? Is the goal purity or beauty? 

mashif
soix
10,168 posts
 

To me, streamers are three to minimize noise and clock the stream as accurately as possible.  DACs can be there to shape the sound to your desire just like a preamp, amp, or speakers. Streamers should just get the hell outta the way.  But that’s me.  Those who say streamers don’t have a “sound” are kidding themselves, because minimizing noise and optimizing clocking IS A SOUND!!!  IT AFFECTS ALL THE SOUND WE HEAR DOWN THE LINE.  

deep_333
1,819 posts
 

Yes, there are high end dacs, streamers, that can "enhance" the sound with a dsp engine that’s hidden away. You wouldn’t quite know unless you had the engineering/software background, knew how to dig.

The manufacturer won’t tell you about it because the guy who’s buying it thinks he’s getting a purist piece. In reality, the purist piece won't sound as good, make his jaw drop, etc like the enhanced piece. 

mapman's avatar
mapman
22,750 posts
 

Processing the signal is what streamers do. Just like “smart TVs” but just sound.    The nature of the picture on smart TVs tends to be somewhat different and discernible when compared  in each case.  
 

Anything is possible with digital including house sounds or anything a vendor determines might give their product a one up on others.  The end result is what matters more than how it’s achieved. Do you like it or not?  Plus it’s a black box.  You hear the output but how that is processed is not necessarily advertised.  Vendors have been associated with “house sounds” since day one.   Digital just opens up new possibilities compared to say a phono cart designed to deliver a particular kind of sound when used properly.  

 

If interested it’s  a fair question to a vendor though exactly what kind of signal processing their product does  to get best results either by default or otherwise.  
 

It’s more about “how” than “if”. 
 

I have a background in signal processing. If it were me I know I would be fully leveraging various DSP tricks in my product in order to get best results.  What matters is if the DSP is applied wisely or not.   The resulting sound will tell. 
 


 


 

More to discover