Why is my expensive streamer to my DAC better than sending Roon or my Mac directly to DAC


I recently upgraded to a Lumin U1-X and it really sounds great, the DAC is ARC CD9.  I was telling my son how great this upgraded unit sounds. He asked me " What does a streamer do, and why can't the Mac simple go directly to the DAC".

I was at a loss of words, other than I don't know but it sounds amazing.

Can anyone offer a better explanation? Thank you

weiserb

Showing 2 responses by cleeds

The streamer is getting the initial signal from the noisy computer

You'll probably get a better result by connecting your streamer via ethernet to its own port on your router.

why can't the Mac simple go directly to the DAC

Nothing prevents you from connecting the Mac directly to the DAC.