Do I Really Need a Dedicated Streamer?

@dunkin what’s the rest of your system and what chord dac is it?

@dunkin in that system I would ditch iPad as a source and Spotify as a service and switch to Tidal or Qobuz. 
Qutest is a nice DAC. Feed it a good signal and you’ll be impressed. 
Figure out the budget for a streamer. I recommend shopping on a used market. 
You can also try WiiM Pro Plus with a good digital coax cable as a starting point. Risk free from Amazon. 

@dunkin you have asked a question and you got answers. But you continue to doubt that a dedicated streamer will be an improvement.
 

Why did you get a DAC? You could have run an adapter from iPad to RCA and feed your McIntosh…iPad has a DAC in it. No need for Chord Qutest. 
Also…by your logic if I have a lawn mower I don’t need a car…I can just drive that thing to work…it’s got wheels so I’ll be alright. 
 

All jokes aside, purpose built streamers will execute their task better than a multi purpose smart tablet or computer. All the unnecessary crap that can compromise the performance is removed. You can be the judge if this by trying a WiiM streamer. 
But…you can continue to not listen to what we’re trying to explain to you and continue to use your iPad and I guarantee you no one on this forum will give a 💩. 

 
Actually @dunkin while you were getting kind answers you continued to not absorb the information that was being provided to you and you continued to ask. 
 

Let’s try this…

Dedicated streamers:

1. Better power supply - lowers noise

2. Isolated network from audio chain

3. Hard-wired to network - minimizes the EMI inside the unit caused by wifi receiver 

4. audio grade digital clock - reclocks the digital signal to reduce jitter on the digital output ensuring as clean a signal as possible to be sent to DAC

5. isolated USB output to minimize jitter 

6. Purpose built and designed firmware for better processing of signal in digital domain prior to feeding DAC. 
 

7. high resolution streaming with bit rates higher than the 16/44 redbook CD

8. no non-purpose tasks that the OS needs to run - focus is solely on ingesting the  feed from streaming services and converting it to signal that your DAC would understand  

The degree of improvement varies based on hardware and software design. Objective is to get the cleanest possible signal out to your DAC. User experience with the native software is a user preference and priority. Tethering your iPad to your DAC is not a thing with streamers because the tablet becomes your remote controller. 
 

iPad …

built to serve many purposes which it performs equally well. It’s a jack of all trades, master of none. It does everything at once without regard for minimizing jitter on its output because it doesn’t care…it isn’t built to be a streamer. This goes back to my lawn mower example. 
 

But somehow I feel you will continue to woodpecker this until you annoy yourself and everyone else. 
 

Good luck!

Congratulations @jssmith ! You have achieved musical nirvana…enjoy it to the fullest!

@invalid they don’t. But you can still program it if you really try.