Why dont more standalone DACs come with ethernet???

The iFi is not a standalone DAC, it is also a streamer, hence the Ethernet.

The Bricasti M3 has an Ethernet renderer option that is very good. I have thought the same thing and theorized that it will slowly ‘replace’ (well, you know, maybe just in addition to) USB over the next 5 years. Ethernet doesn’t have the same level of noise issues USB can have, so why not?

DACs don't do ethernet.
Streamers do ethernet.
Ethethet and USB bi communication a 2 different things

There are definitely getting to be more available. Bel Canto e1X and Black EX DACs both have Ethernet input. Disclosure: we're a Canadian Bel Canto dealer.

Gold Note is another and there are more as well. But, still not very common at all.

Well a stand alone DAC with an Ethernet connection is called a music streamer with a DAC.

The streamer converts packetized internet signal to digital bit stream. This process if done correctly requires a high level of sophistication and a box.... is a stand alone component. The DAC then converts the digital bitstream into a line. Level analog signal that can be amplified in the analog realm. Done correctly it requires high level of sophistication and a box. They can be combined... but usually there are compromises. 

Bricasti seemed to of gotten it right though. Many have said they preferred the internal renderer option to an outboard option. 

How does it sound?
The only important thing to me.

I have a Bricasti M1SE with the ethernet module. After the MDx board upgrade, and in my humble opinion, ethernet is superior to USB.

It seems like there are quite a few DACs with built in ethernet these days: Bricasti, Mytek, PS Audio, Lampizator, Lumin, MSB, Simaudio, Naim, Aurender, Auralic, Krell, Ayre, Hagel, Mola Mola, dCS, and the list goes on.

PS Audio has done this for a while.  That's one thing that attracted me to the DSDjr.  I am now curious how something like an Innuos Zenith would sound compared to the PS Audio Bridge II.  Extra digital cable, extra power cord, extra rack space - significantly more cost. Is it six times better than the $1k Bridge II?  That will be an path for me to explore in the next couple years.

@treebeard1

While the PS Audio w/ Bridge and the Innuos can both be streaming end points, the Innuos differs in that it can be a Roon or UPnP Server and it has the ability store music locally on an internal hard drive.

If you don't run Roon or store files locally on a computer/music server, then you might not benefit from an Innuos. 

@jayrossi13 
The DSDjr is a Roon endpoint and a UPnP Server. I use Bubble UPnP. But your right, no storage. I think the only way to really know is to buy some streamers, connect to the DSDjr and compare to the Bridge II. Unfortunately it sounds expensive :)

I've owned the DirectStream with Bridge II, my understanding (at least according to the manual) is that the Bridge II provides UPnP rendering capabilities but still requires a a separate UPnP server. 

Is a renderer and a streamer sorta the same thing?

i smell a troll 

@jayrossi13 
I don't know all the techno babble but I have a DSDjr and use the Bubble UPnP app.  That's all I need. 

@treebeard1

I completely understand, the terminology is definitely confusing and different vendors make it more complex by adding their spin on the terms.

Based upon your use case, and the fact that you already have a great DAC/streamer, the Innuos probably wouldn't be rewarding for you. 

So its clear that many are unclear about the transition from an ethernet signal as it makes its way to a dac, including me.

this is important to understand, for me at least.

i guess an ethernet signal requires a transformation before being allowed into a dac via usb cable.

what happens here? Seems a network player without dac is whats needed, but exactly what does it do? Mostly rendering? And i guess as tom cruise said, ‘there is no substitute’.

so is a network player a renderer?

The internet transports packeted data. Digital words made up of digits that have address information and sequence numbers so they can be transmitted through the internet and reassembled at the user site. They need to be received and translated. The translation usually occurs in a PC, phone, or iPad. The packeted data can be a email, photo, or music file.

.

Before the data can be used... to produce an email or music... it has to be translated into a bitstream and then create a file.. if a email or music file. Since it is not practical to wait to receive a whole file and then play it for music and home theaters the process of conversion from internet packets to a stream of bits that a computer (or “streamer”) can translate has been made to work in real time. This is a stream of bits that can be passed on to a Digital to Analog (DAC) converter to converted to an analog signal that can be amplified and used to drive analog speakers.
.

So, Ethernet / packetized data has to be converted to a bit stream before it can be converted to an analog signal. The streamer function can be in a PC, iPhone, laptop, or a high quality device called a music streamer. The output can be handled inside the device and passed on to the DAC in the PC, or iPhone, or it can be passed by a digital connection to an external DAC via USB, SP/DIF, or optical connection. This is a timed bit stream... not asynchronous packets.


I hope this helps.

@jumia

i guess an ethernet signal requires a transformation before being allowed into a dac via usb cable.

Maybe you will take this path if your ethernet in plugged into a computer or server which is connected to a DAC via USB.  However, many DACs take ethernet direct and there is no need for USB unless you want to connect another source with a USB output.  Ethernet and USB are both digital so there is no conversion between the two. The only thing that changes is the protocol that each technology is bound to.   

Brilliant reply, last paragraph key.

so bit stream conversion necessary before reaching the dac.  
A network player does this.  Dont want a streamer as it comes with lots of extra stuff i dont want.  

What about the rendering process, related to bit stream conversion?

thanks so much

@treebeard1. “However, many DACs take ethernet direct and there is no need for USB...”

.

Then that is technically a DAC with a streamer. A pure DAC will not have that function.
.


There is the streamer function, the DAC function, the preamp function, the amplification function and the speaker function. They can be all in a single devise or in a combination. The connection types vary between the function if in different boxes.

I dont like happy meals, i like to buy it all separate.  
Focus is the streamer in its purist form.  Is it a network player?  Doing only bit stream conversion?

standalone DACs come with ethernet make better sound,that is the reason,and I believe more and more DAC will have that input.

It is not a streamer! It is DAC with new input.  That's it.