Sound quality differences in streamers

@devinplombier  Of course the better the DAC can clean/reclock the incoming signal the better, but even the best DACs benefit from a better incoming signal.  Nobody is gonna feed a $20k DAC with a $400 streamer or a $100 USB cable uncles they’ve got a screw loose.

Its nonsensical to believe dacs act as a noise conditioner for detail obscuring noise further upward in streaming chain. The only sense of 'conditioning' a dac can possibly achieve is optimizing certain inputs, this usually usb on most dacs. Galvanic isolation is one of the ways they achieve this, dac manufacturers understand they are only one link in streaming chain, so attempt to optimize how they interface with rest of chain. Interfaces amongst all the other components within a streaming chain require the same optimization dac manufacturers provide, data is traveling across the entire chain. And interfaces are only one consideration, minimizing noise within components is fundamental/a priori to achieve lowest noise floors for max resolution/transparency. And we haven't even gotten to clocks within these components, this has everything to do with presentation. And so are we going to argue that clocks makes no difference.

@johnsmith55 

 I tested, tested, demoed, tested, and demoed, against my personal custom built pc. 

I have read about some other fellow who custom built his own PC for streaming, pushing everything to the n'th degree, testing hundreds of combinations of processors, parts, and power supplies, custom ordering parts from suppliers to spec, some parts engineered and developed in house, including the power supply. Apparently the end product is very good, haven't heard it myself. His name is Emile Bok. 

Tell us about your custom unit. 

I'll add my thoughts.  I have a Wiim pro, a Zenith Mk3 and a Denon something or other.

Objectivist data seems to indicate they all should sound the same.  To my ears they don't.  Now, is my perceived difference worth the $?  for me it is.  Have not checked the specs but perhaps this relates to the size of the buffers?

In the end, IMHO, the biggest factors when choosing a streamer are which sources are handled (natively or through work arounds) and how friendly and useful are the apps.

I like the Innuos app and I also like the Wiim app.  Innuos does not stream Amazon HD thus I keep a Wiim for that on my main system.

@sns 

DACs can filter noise in the following ways:

1) jitter - if they reclock signal, they do so to eliminate jitter

2) power supply - DACs typically have filters at the power supply.  Extent depends on design.

3) analog output - most DACs have filters to separate analog signal from digital noise.

Bottom line, there is a wide variance in the extent to which DACs are susceptible to noise generated from a streamer.  That’s one of the reasons why not every persons’svexoerience of a specific streamer will be the same.