Digital music questions

@soix 

Noise and clock quality are basically immaterial when you're using the USB interface as the transport. This is an asynchronous mechanism - the receiver (i.e. the DAC) will buffer and clock out the data.

Also, I'm not sure why having a technical background is frowned upon. All of these concepts and components were created and advanced by scientists and engineers. In short, audio reproduction wouldn't exist without science.

@thyname 

I'm not part of the 'ASR contingent' as you call it but I do like to see and use evidence (whether it's from measurements or valid listening tests) to make more informed choices when it comes to spending my money. I guess you have a different system.

@yage : OK. Fine. Judging but what you previously said, and I quoted above, I sense you did not try anything (such as experimenting). Anyone with any digital system knows that statements such as  “zeroes and ones, it either works or it doesn’t, one streamer is no better than another “ cannot be taken seriously, regardless of what the technical acumen (or the power of their Google Machine) of those who proclaim it with confidence, or forcefully demand “evidence” of the contrary.

I understand your desire. I have a McIntosh MX122 with a MC462 along with MS500 going into a pair of Focal Stella Utopia EVOs. Using Tidal and Apple. I find for my purposes the MS500 is a terrific buy. The sound is on the Tidal Master albums amazing. You would be hard pressed to find a better sound for the dollars spent. 
That being said a separate streamer and DAC would be preferred only if the rest of your system is up to the task of hearing the difference. While my system is very good, I tried some of the best streamers and DACs but the money didn’t sound better actually it sounded more or less the same.

now I did audition Boulder 3000 series combo going through the Wilson XVX and the difference was awesome and unforgettable. So now I am saving up a little over $300,000.00 to get such a system. But for now, my combo is hard to beat at its price point.

Noise and clock quality are basically immaterial when you’re using the USB interface as the transport…Also, I’m not sure why having a technical background is frowned upon.

@yage Because it tends to be “tech” guys, ASR disciples, and engineers that say noise, etc. is immaterial and it’s just 1s and 0s, which is completely ignorant and wrong headed — that’s why. To be clear, many tech, engineers, etc. are extremely valuable members who provide extremely valuable and useful insight here. Then there are the blind deniers/flat earthers like you who are largely frowned upon here because most of us have considerable personal experience that’s completely at odds with your assertions. People here tend to have enough listening experience to trust their own ears rather than blindly following scientific dogma. That’s why the likes of you and jasonbourne, etc. hold little to no weight here whatsoever and are indeed “frowned upon.” Comprende amigo?

BTW, this also begs the question, what streamer do you use and what have you compared it to?  That’d be interesting info. 

@thyname 

Statements which I made in my first post can be taken seriously because that is how digital data works. If the data received by the DAC's USB receiver from two different components is the same - whether it was sent by a $100 streamer or a $10k streamer -  then there's no difference between the two components. It is literally the same audio signal that's being communicated. This is fundamental to how digital systems function. The OP understood this concept and made a rational conclusion from that and I basically confirmed it.

In any case, this aspect of performance can (and has been) tested before. See this post in Audiophile Style. You can test your digital interfaces for yourself if you want to download the program (available here). This blog post is also a good reference on what errors in digital audio transmission sound like.