Options to improve digital sound

I'm certainly not the first to say this, and surely won't be the last, but the streamer is right up there with the dac in order of importance in streaming chain. I don't care about all the signal and network filters, audiophile switches, lps, etc., these all just band aids if streamer and dac not optimal, the full potential of these devices will only be realized after attending to dac and streamer. 

I'd also add a totally maxed out mac mini can be a very nice streamer at a certain price point. I learned a lot from incrementally optimizing my mac minis. Optimizing operating systems, quality RAM and linear power supplies are critical for streamers, powerful processor for low latency next. The proof of need for a powerful processor with Roon was crystal clear when I was running both Roon and Audirvana with the minis, Audirvana always had superior sound quality to Roon with all three of my minis. It wasn't until I obtained my present custom build server (I9 Intel processor, Euphony operating system, Optane industrial RAM, powered by $6k JCAT Optimo ATX lps) that Roon sq surpassed Audirvana, adding the second streamer as an Endpoint/renderer added that much more. Roon is capable of sq equal to or better than very nice vinyl setups, seemingly requires more extensive optimizations than streamers with proprietary music player apps. I should add Roon sq superior to the Euphony Stylus proprietary music player app with my setup, very few Euphony Stylus users agree with this.

 

sns

3,890 posts

06-30-2025 at 10:50pm 

I'm certainly not the first to say this, and surely won't be the last, but the streamer is right up there with the dac in order of importance in streaming chain. I don't care about all the signal and network filters, audiophile switches, lps, etc., these all just band aids if streamer and dac not optimal, the full potential of these devices will only be realized after attending to dac and streamer. 
 

Agreed 100%. Don’t go down the rabbit hole with tweaks. You can’t polish the turd. 

Hi. 

Instead of suggesting various streamer, endpoints, cable or configuration options, I’ll try to briefly breakdown various areas to consider that create interference in the cable/ network path affecting audio resolution (sound floor). That way you can work to find a solution that is best for your system and budget. 
 

A. Reduce Electrical or digital noise: Major factor! 

(1) By decoupling electrical connections: For example, use UTP (unshielded) Ethernet cable. Create fiber optic connections/  galvanic separation links.
Use devices design specifically for low noise high quality digital processing and delivery (not a home computer). Ground devices if possible.  Use separate power supplies, if possible. 
 

Regardless of what some may say, in hifi, everything matters at some point and to some degree. Start with the very first step in the digital chain. For me, I started with coax cable feeding into my house from my ISP (Xfinity). I considered every step the data traveled to reach my Dac. I then looked for every opportunity to reduce or eliminate line noise entry points.
 

I suggest, start with the noisiest device or section of your network/ data chain and work towards your DAC. Go slowly, take your time to learn as much as you can about each section and find a better solution. You will be absolutely amazed how much this can improve SQ. (And it doesn’t need to cost a lot)
 

I have a basic Roon Nucleus, but my digital network from coax cable drop outside to my DAC is well thought out and designed to reduce noise. 
 

FYI, I also have the Gibbon X speakers :)

best to you 
 

Roon Core is where vast majority of processing goes on, the relatively complex interface of Roon is processor intensive. CPU's working at relatively high rates creates more noise and higher latency, both are enemies of resolution  Higher latency also means greater chance for timing issues. The reason so many find Roon inferior to the proprietary music players is those music players have been designed as to require far less processing and deliver lower latency, result is both increased resolution and more analog like sound quality. 

First going to start by saying everything you know and love about analog signal transfer, do not transfer to digital. a packet is so different over a analog signal, they share almost nothing.

@sns  Going to buck this trend. Streaming is NOT CPU intensive, it's all network speed, and computer IOPS. Roon may be CPU intensive, when indexing, sorting playlist, getting artwork, etc, but all those task are RAM and disk intensive. 

Latency is only in networks, not in the computer. What happens inside the computer is cacheing, and processes start to get stalled waiting for CPU time. Nothing inside the Roon should make it run completely run out of resources. 

What is happening on the app on your tablet is not the same as what is happening inside the Roon core, or your streamer. The streamer doesn't care about anything but getting the stream, it doesn't concern it's self with anything else. 

CPU's do not create noise, noise on the processing side are not thing. What does create noise are spinning disk, fans, and power supplies. A CPU will not introduce noise when running at 100% anymore then when running 25%. That is simply not a thing.

Unless something is wrong with the end to end system if your stream is 16/44, it will be 16/44 at the DAC. Nothing in the chain will drop the 16/44 bit rate unless there are issues. It takes around 5mb of bandwidth for 16/44. When you do have issues, the streams does not degrade, the song just stops playing. 

For everyone, who is so worried about getting the cleanest stream to the DAC, if you have the rented modem it is the biggest pile of poo in your entire chain. If it's Xfinity, you are also sharing it will everyone in WiFi range. 

For networks, you want AS FEW HOPS as you can get. You also want AS FEW conversions along the way. Adding several switches, and swapping from coax, e-net, fiber, and so on is not a good thing. All have their places and uses. Get a good commercial switch, set it up properly and you should be good. If you are so worried about it, do some QoS, port mapping, network segmantation....

@mswale thank you for the fact-checking and sanity check 🙏