Sound quality differences in streamers

kckrs, good move.   I have been playing with my Rivo+ with linear power supply for a couple of months, and I think your proposed connection method will work great.  This is exactly how I setup mine.  I started with just the AT&T modem/router without the eero6+ mesh and the wifi connection was weak at 2.5 ghz.   Now, with the Mesh system, I get 5 ghz at the Rivo+, but, I also went to the direct ethernet cable to the eero6+ node.  I also run a linear power supply to the eero+ node and a Stack audio smoothlan to the Rivo+, but, of course, all that is overkill.  I believe you will love the sound of the Rivo+, please let us know...  BTW, I think the Volumio software with Qobuz connected on the back end sounds better than the new direct  "Qobuz connect".   Also, putting your files on microsd card (1TB in my case) is better than a USB stick.   I asked Volumio support which storage media would have the best sound on the Rivo+ and they ranked it 1 to 3 in this order - Microsd, SSD, USB stick.  Also, I tried multiple monitors with the Rivo+.   The only ones that work are 4K monitors.  I am running a linear power supply to a 13.5 inch 4K OLED monitor with a remote mouse which has the usb dongle plugged into the USB 2.0 slot on the Rivo+.  I could not get "touch" to work.  In addition, to your remote devices, ie. iphone, ipad, etc..., this works perfectly to control your Rivo+. 
Note:  Since my DSL is all copper, I bought a pair 10GTEC 1.25G Media Converter and a short fiber optic cable and put it right before the anchor eero6+ anchor mesh node.  Probably just more overkill... 

I am using the same DAC for the Rivo+ and my CD/SACD player and I can tell you that the sound quality is extremely close.   I will have to do some serious A/B testing to grade the differences, ie. ripped dsf file from SACD on Rivo+ microsd vs SACD player, and Qobuz hi-res streaming vs hi-res microsd file on Rivo+.

Here are a couple of pics:

Note:  Besides the Stack Audio Smooth Lan, the AudioQuest Cinnamon Ethernet cable, & the linear power supply to the eero6+ node by the stereo,  I did this ethernet to fiber optic to ethernet to eero6+ anchor node to help clean up my AT&T DSL - which is all copper.   I cannot tell you if it made a difference in sound because I made all my ethernet changes all at once.  One thing I did notice is that my TV picture got better, ie Blacks, color, and resolution.  My TV is using wifi from the eero6+ anchor node.  Overall, I am very happy with the sound quality of the Rivo+, but, I cannot really tell you which changes made a sound quality difference, or if they made a difference from just the Rivo+ with a Linear Power supply.  Adding the eero6+ mesh system made a huge improvement in Rivo+ performance overall, so, that was a game changer in itself. 

@hjdca 

pretty system.  what are your speakers?

@ mdalton

Thanks so much.  I run Wilson Watt Puppy 8.  They really complement the tube gear well.  

Can there be sonic differences between moderate and high priced streamers when used for streaming only.
 

Short answer is it depends. If your downstream components are of very high quality,  your room acoustics are dialed in and you have revealing speakers + trained ear, you will easily hear the difference. It also depends what streamers you are comparing. If you use MSB Reference DAC and compare WiiM to Taiko Extreme you will hear the difference. You will hear the difference even if you compare WiiM to a bottom of the line Lumin or Aurender. So without any specifics it’s Impossible to tell whether or not you need a higher end streamer.

@hjdca nice system! 
I’m contemplating eero 6+. I have the old original eero now with one of the eero nodes feeding my streamer. I’m curious to see if there’s anything else that’s improvement in sound going from eero to eero 6+

@audphile1

Thanks so much.  

Regarding the erro 6+, all I can tell you is that it was a huge improvement with wifi from the standard DSL wifi.   I was only getting 2.5 ghz wifi at the Rivo+ location and installing the eero 6+ node behind the Rivo+ made the wifi fantastic.  With the eero 6+ node, it was easy to go to ethernet, and I wanted to turnoff the wifi circuitry in the Rivo+, so, I went to hardwired ethernet into the eero 6+ node plus linear power supply and response is also instantaneous.  Note:  I started out as a pure analog guy.  I have been slowly upgrading my Digital front ends with DAC, SACD/CD, wav files, dsf files, and now the Rivo+ and ethernet, filters, linear power supply, etc...  I am a total digital / Streamer guy now, and I am super impressed with Qobuz hi-res streaming and the Rivo+ with all the garnish.  5 years ago, I would not have believed the sound quality that can be achieved with hi-res streaming from an online streaming service. 

@hjdca thanks. Since I’m using the original eero I might not get any improvement with 6+ but will probably still get it for even better coverage. 
 

As to streaming…yep sold my analog setup. Went thru few streamer/dac combos and arrived at a streaming solution that eliminated the need to spin physical media be it vinyl or CDs. 
I just got a new DAC and am breaking it in. It’s looking very promising to be a one box solution. 

I was somewhat surprised on how good my Bluesound Node 2i sounded with a SmoothLAN filter running the Node into my uDDC and utilizing I2s into Denafrips Terminator 2. It doesn’t sound up to my Innuos Zen MK 3 level In the same setup, but the Bluesound held its own pretty well. This setup let the Bluesound perform at its best capacity and very listenable. It’s always interesting to me to test the capacity level of more economically priced gear with much higher level gear supporting it. 

Somehow I am thinking the lower the voltage and amperage, ie. 5 volts 3 amps required to run a dedicated streamer, the easier it is for the vendor to manage an extremely low noise floor.  In addition, you add in the requirement of an external power supply, and you shift some of the issue to the consumer.   So, maybe the convenience of integrated components, ie. streamer, dac, screen, server, etc..., which require more power, provide additional challenges for the noise floor, and the vendor has to increase the complexity of the design and the cost.