Sound quality differences in streamers

You must be directing your comments to someone else. I’ve never said Antipodes was better than any other music server. I always use " preferred" when I compare components. I never used the words "more accurate" either. I’ve never sad anything that you have posted. 

I don’t follow reviewers. I determine how much I’m willing to spend for a component  and I get a home audition when possible. If my wife and I determine a component to be a good value, I purchase it.

Great responses still coming through, thanks. However, I should clarify my interweb signal which, due to my “remote” location and where my listening room is situated is via WiFi only, no hardwired connections. So cleaning the signal with line switches or Ethernet is not possible. I will be relying on the ability of the streamer to handle to WiFi signal and pass it along to a DAC. 

Might as well put in my two cents. As far as streamers, the way I see it is deciding which application to use to send an email. Regardless which one you choose, the message should arrive 🤔.

I should clarify my interweb signal which, due to my “remote” location and where my listening room is situated is via WiFi only, no hardwired connections. So cleaning the signal with line switches or Ethernet is not possible. I will be relying on the ability of the streamer to handle to WiFi signal and pass it along to a DAC.

You should at least try something like a Wi-Fi extender or Mesh system so you can run an Ethernet cable from that to your streamer.  Many people here have done that and found it to sound better than letting the streamer process the Wi-Fi signal.  I believe it’s due to the Wi-Fi receiver in the streamer degrading performance due to noise, poor quality, or whatever, and hardwiring the streamer to an extender or Mesh node gets around this.  Either way, it’s relatively cheap to try and well worth the effort given the potential benefits. 

As far as streamers, the way I see it is deciding which application to use to send an email. Regardless which one you choose, the message should arrive

@johnsmith55  Yeah you would think that, but unfortunately that’s not the way it works in audio.  Unlike emails, Word documents, etc. audio is very susceptible to things like noise and timing, and better streamers employ better power supplies, cases, clocks, galvanic isolation, etc. to minimize those things degrading the digital signal.  Anyone who’s compared a $400 streamer to a $2k+ streamer will tell you there’s a very significant difference between the two.  Believe me I know it doesn’t make intuitive sense, but it is what it is.