Everything else being equal, should I expect better Spotify quality through wifi or USB?

I have heard that computers are noisy, and that their internal clocks can cause issues with music playback.  I was thinking that this would impact the playback through the USB cable.  Do you get the same jitter/clock issues regardless of if you go through a USB or wifi?  What about if I go through an ethernet cable from my wifi hub into the DAC?  Any difference to be expected?

Willemj:  Can you explain more?  If you change between cable for USB and wifi, where does optical/coax come into the picture?

The 2 choices I am looking at are:

1) USB out of desktop computer into DAC
2) Wifi connection to DAC

I am wondering if there would be any difference in streaming Spotify sound quality between these 2 options, using something like a Bluesound Node 2, which can work with either option.

willemj: Did you read my original post?  Yes, same DAC.  My question is written:

If the DAC, amp, speakers are the same, will one of these 2 options likely provide better sound quality?

kalali: thanks for the response.  I don't have a laptop though.  As I said in my original post, I have a desktop.  Having said that, since you brought it up, should I expect better sound quality through an ethernet cable to DAC or via a wifi stream.  I'll add that I have high speed internet, and the DAC and wireless router will be very close to each other.  If you tell me Ethernet should be better, then I won't look for a DAC that accepts wifi.  If wifi is expected to be better, then I won't look for a DAC with ethernet.  Or I guess I can look for one that accepts wifi, ethernet and usb, and try them all.  I was just thinking someone else may have already tried this and could provide guidance.

kijanki.  Great information.  Thank you.  Is there an easy way to tell what band my wifi is operating on?

gasbose.  I am still a newbee, but I believe I would be correct to say that you cannot expect great performance from a $25 DAC from Amazon.  I just tried a Google Chromecast audio "puck" ($35) into my receiver via the analog output, and I was not impressed at all.

I just bought a used Cambridge Audio 2 channel amp, and am thinking of getting a Bluesound Node 2 for the streaming and DAC functions.  I listened to one at a store, and it was decent.  I also listened to a $4K Linn DAC, and at least for Spotify, could not really hear much difference when compared to the $500 Node 2.  I am going to try using some old Klipsch KG4 speakers I've had in storage for 10+ years.

gdnrbob: I was planning to use the Bluesound Node 2 as a streamer and a DAC, as it does both.  Why did you add an Ayre Codex into your pipeline?  Where you not happy with the sound quality coming out of the Node 2?

willemj:  Why are you bringing up Bluetooth?  There has not been any talk about Bluetooth in this thread.  We've been only talking about wifi, ethernet, and USB.

Also, if you read my earlier post, I did try a Chromecast audio puck into my receiver, and was not impressed with the sound quality at all.

willemj: I hooked up a Chromecast audio puck directly to my receiver via the analog output, and was not impressed with the sound of spotify.  Compared to a CD, it sounded really bad.  I would not consider it a good DAC.

gdnrbob: The Ayre Codex is much more expensive than the Node 2, so out of my price range.  But I did compare the Node 2 ($500) with a Linn DAC ($4000) and didn't really notice any difference, so I am thinking the Node 2 must be pretty good.