Maybe I missed it, but one thing missing in a lot of streaming/ external DAC discussions is buffers. The data signal processing is not like a telegraph that goes straight from signal to output. The data is assembled in buffers, whether in a PC, Mac, Streamer, or DAC, and then fed to either the next buffer or the final internal processing within the unit. So the transfer is much closer to transferring a Word file, which USB can do all day without errors. This is not to say there aren't difference, but it makes the issue more puzzling. I just think we err in thinking of the data transfer as a finely tuned triple-play in baseball where timing is everything, and a pause is fatal.
Perhaps the issue is the resulting blackness of the background from which the music emerges. We can think we know black until we encounter blacker, so perhaps the noise is not distortion of signal but a graying of the background.
Just wild speculation.
Perhaps the issue is the resulting blackness of the background from which the music emerges. We can think we know black until we encounter blacker, so perhaps the noise is not distortion of signal but a graying of the background.
Just wild speculation.