Dedicated Music server vs Mac mini on a Devialet via Ethernet (AIR) connection

I have not delved into the jitter rejection system on the Chord or Ayre.

Unfortunately most methodologies still allow low frequency jitter to affect performance even if all high frequency jitter is rejected and it performs well on the AES test that Stereophile perform. (Low frequency jitter can be quite audible)

@limniscate

Ethernet is great so is optical. Optical has perfect galvanic isolation and a jitter immune DAC will just reject the higher jitter on an optical feed. However it all depends on a good DAC. If the DAC works perfectly then it will sound the same if the bits arriving are the same - no matter if they come over optical, coax, USB or ethernet. (not saying all DACs sound the same but a good one ought to sound the same on any digital input if it receives the same bit perfect data)

It boils down to the DAC performance - and performance leaves a lot to be desired for many products out there...so no wonder folks report differences with all kinds of tweaks and different inputs, bridges etc.

@roestano  

Digital is digital. Bits are bits. So you dont need to worry about noise if you assume Devialet has built a robust device with good power supply and have separated and isolated the digital logic circuits from contaminating the DAC section (this can occur through a shared  power supply or mere proximity of circuits). The only complication with audio is the timing signal. This timing problem (jitter) is well understood and modern equipmemt should function asynchronously which means the jitter clock is ignored. If you are providing ethernet to the DAC then your DAC is behaving like a small computer and it will not be receiving timing information over ethernet like it would with SPDIF or Toslink - so jitter will be a function of the electronics and clock stability of the Devialet itself. The Devialet should not care about the path of how the ethernet signal reaches it - so upstream digital devices should have no effect at all (apart from contamination of the house AC power from SMPS supply and which Devialet should be designed  to cope with.

@dbphd  

I would expect the sound quality to be the same via the iMac or the Mac Mini if configured the same.

The only way to substantially improve sound is to get a better DAC. Any upstream changes are just band aids because any noise or distortion or jitter or other issues are ALL coming from your DAC. If the DAC is well designed it will be well isolated from any contamination from digital incoming signals, clock timing and power supply noise.

Think about it - the DAC design goal is high fidelity of the source signal
- so a well designed DAC should remove all extraneous noise or contamination that is not the audio signal. A poorly designed DAC will be sensitive to which input is used and possibly even the type of cable.

Blaming mac mini or cabling or power supply for DAC inadequacies is misplaced logic. The DAC has a job to do and a key design requirement: to accurately reproduce the source signal without any extraneous factors influencing the sound.

Part of the problem of multifunction devices is that the complexity multiplies the possibility for errors in design of hardware or firmware and signal contamination from shared power supply. A dedicated device has simpler goals and is likely to perform better.

FWIW - Mac/PC and pro tools is how most music is produced these days...so a computer core running roon and feeding a dedicated DAC is an excellent way to enjoy multiple digital formats.

You should not be "overloading" your ethernet unless you have multiple devices that are gaming and streaming HD video simultaneously - two channel audio is not a bandwidth hog.

For example, my wifi speed and download speed from my internet provider are both around 150 Mbps and two channel audio uses only 1% of this bandwidth.