Sound quality differences in streamers

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.

I too have a custom build, while I've built/assembled or modified both general and audio only streamers, one I'm presently using was built/assembled by one of the most senior and respected audiophilestyle forum members. This particular unit was a proven standout compared to some of the top flight off the shelf streamers. Eventually this design surpassed by the Taiko Extreme clones which last time I checked were considered to be best diy design possible. The latest Taiko, Wadax, probably some others go beyond any custom build. These custom builds generally use Enterprise level components, low noise, latency (meaning speed) and precise clocking is the goal. My particular streamer, based upon a Windows motherboard, as do most of these custom builds, requires very specialized lps as Windows motherboards use a variety of voltages for various functions. I'm presently running JCAT Optimo ATX lps, $6200 last time I looked, this took it way over top of previous attempts at lps via a variety of external lps powering modified internal switch mode power supplies. And then there are choices of operating systems, I'm running Euphony OS which disables virtually every non essential function of a normal Windows motherboard. And there are a variety of PCie cards from JCAT, Pink Faun, others for optimized network, usb, I2S interfaces, these can also be powered externally via lps of your choice. Cool thing with custom builds is you get to hear what individual components add to the mix, everything matters. Understanding what's important in custom builds will allow one to understand how streamers work and why they're so important to the streaming chain. For those interested in learning from the experts and designers of streaming equipment the Audiophilestyle forum is an invaluable resource.