Point of higher priced streamer?

As a recent subscriber to Audiogon and the world of the audiophile, I find this discussion on DACs very interesting. And also as someone with a limited budget it’s interesting to hear from people who run through various DACs seeking a ’better sound’ like they’re trying different brands of razor blades.

My questions may show my ignorance about DAC technology but they are thus: With limited access to audio showrooms how does one sample the qualities of different DACs without actually listening to them? Is there a ’DAC of the month’ rental club?

How far away are we from a ’variable’ DAC that, instead of ’bass, treble, balance’ controls you’d have ’instrument separation, nuance accentuation, etc’ for fine tuning your sound.

Speaking for myself, I recently purchased a Bluesound Node 2i and am thrilled with what I’m hearing.

^Actually this thread is about “streamers” not DAC’s, though some streamers have built in DAC’s.

Sangbro – 

Thanks for the followup.  I now agree with you:  ASR is your best source for what you are looking for.  

If your objective function is the most provably well-measuring (by scientific devices, not your years) end result for cheapest dollars spent, that is a good path.

As long as that will make you happy, and the question of "well does it actually sound enjoyable to a human" is 2nd order of importance or maybe even irrelevant, you should be all set.

It seems like for a bunch of enthusiasts, no one really knows what they are talking about around here...

Allow me to provide a hint - anyone who thinks that AirPlay is "indistinguishable" from other methods of data delivery on a network has absolutely no idea what they are talking about. You should not listen to these people, they have no insight to offer, and your enjoyment of music will suffer as a result (I'm speaking as someone who listens to music. not gear).

To also slightly illuminate your awareness as to why purely rational, knowledgable individuals are willing to part with hard-earned cash to improve their listening experience in this particular arena, I offer the following sliver of technical analysis as to what is really happening with audio and streaming.

AirPlay is flawed because it is using kernel-layer audio processing on the device one is using to play back the audio. This alone means the signal itself is suspect as it may not be bit-perfect (and usually isn't). Not to mention, sample rate conversion on the device and in the player/playback software (which itself may be considered as a "component" in your digital audio system, much like a CD transport - it's just virtual so most pay no attention to it) can dramatically affect sound quality before it is delivered over the network to the endpoint. Sure, it works (meaning, the 1's and 0's sent by the device arrive at the endpoint intact as they were sent) but most have no idea of flaws in the playback software (application layer) they are using, let alone the fact that the device uses kernel audio post-software (so there are two competing processes at work).

This is why so many "audiophiles" use bit-perfect programs such as Audirvana on their Mac or PC (I also remember Amarra, and personally used programs such as this one when I was using a Windows machine to play digital music: https://sourceforge.net/p/playpcmwin/wiki/PlayPcmWinEn/)

The answer for the OP should be - please don't play music from your iPad at all. Use your iPad as a control point, not a playback device, and buy a computer or device that provides bit-perfect output to your DAC (or better yet, has a high-quality DAC built in). Those suggesting a Raspberry Pi are on the right track, but much of their reasoning is flawed (digital is digital).

As an analogy, very few in the digital video or imaging world would have any problem acknowledging the dramatic affects software processes (embedded or otherwise) can have on the final image results. The idea that audio is somehow different is simply ludicrous.

As you have discovered, you will get different opinions on ASR and Audiogon in response to your question about whether there is a point to buying a higher priced streamer.

Here on Agon, you have heard either that (1) all streamers should pretty much sound alike (so buy based on cost, features, and ease of use) or that (2) some streamers sound better than others and you should listen to enough of them to decide what sound differences matter to you. Most of the technical discussions about why streamers can sound different focus on issues of noise, jitter, memory buffers, and software implementation, and it is critical to recognize that existing methods for measuring equipment may not do a good job of evaluating differences in streamer sound quality.

On ASR, you have heard that streamers cannot sound different because they are digital devices that only process 1's and 0's. (For a differing opinion, check out Darko's discussion of this issue, if you haven't already.) The ASR approach is typically to measure first and then listen later (or even not at all), without making an honest attempt to overcome the confirmation bias of "sameness" for digital devices. ASR also makes assumptions about how small differences in noise or distortion can be used to judge the sound quality of equipment even in the absence of data to establish that correlation reliably (e.g., ranking DACs primarily on SINAD measurements). 

If the ASR approach works for you, that's your decision to make, but it's not actually science-based because audio science does not yet have valid measurements for everything the human brain-ear can process. I would instead take the approach of many others on this thread and urge you to listen to different streamers and confirm whether you can hear any differences that matter to you. If you've already done enough listening and don't hear differences under similar conditions, then you can buy whatever inexpensive streamer is reliable and easy to use. Given the reasonably generous budget you describe, however, it would make sense to do a bit more comparative listening before wholeheartedly embracing the "flat-earth" opinions voiced by our friends at ASR.