Do Streamer only devices really impact sound quality?

Point is not to generalize about inputs/outputs, each case is different...blathering objective statements only further confuses people.

@sns Oh, you mean blathering like this?

USB inputs are optimized in many dacs, preferred by many.

Really? Where’s your proof? Didn’t think so. Of the hundreds of posts I’ve read on the subject yours is the ONLY one I recall where USB was preferred to i2S with the exception of Holo DAC owners where it’s well known that those DACs are optimized for USB, which seems to be much more the exception than the rule. By contrast, I’ve read many, many posts where i2S and/or AES/EBU were superior to USB or SPDIF. Maybe your DAC sucks and can’t realize the benefit of an i2S connection, or maybe you used an HDMI cable that was too long — I dunno, but I think you’re in the distinct minority on this unless you can quote others preferring USB over i2S besides, apparently, people with your specific DAC (or Holo, obviously) because I sure ain’t seen them but can cite many (including me) who’ve found i2S to be vastly superior to USB. Your move chief.

I have (and love) a BlueSound Node 130. It has a great interface, and is easy and intuitive to use. For a while I thought about upgrading, but instead went with a DDC (Denafrips Iris DDC). It isolates the signal galvanically and optically, so the signal gets sent to the DAC (Denafrips Pontus II) cleanly.....I've done a review elsewhere here.

I'll keep what I have now as I'm completely happy with it, but at some point will want to compare the quality of that pair with higher end streamer. Price will be hard to beat, $600 for the Node 130 and $500 for the Iris DDC; damn good pair for $1,100

So @ghdprentice, you’re saying that if I put a $22K dedicated streamer somewhere in my listening chain, only then will I hear the benefits of what digital can do?

I wonder how many people have compared I2S with USB in a well-controlled A/B test.  I2S still isn't all that widely available.  My streaming DAC does have an I2S input but I've never used it.  In my system, the most likely path into that IIS port would be from my Mac's, uh, USB port, via a converter box such as the Sonore ultraDigital or the Matrix X-SPDIF 2.  I've been slightly curious to see if that would produce a noticeable improvement, but don't really want to add another little converter box into an already cluttered system. Besides, the SQ already is pretty darn good.  But I do wish my music server (the SGC sonicTransporter) had an IIS output port. My DAC with IIS input can support 16-32 bit PCM, while its USB pipeline supports only 16-24 bit.  Perhaps more importantly, IIS might eliminate the annoying USB handshake problems I sometimes experience.

IIS from the Matrix X-SPDIF seems to be popular among users of the PS Audio Direct Stream DAC. I wonder if this popularity doesn't stem from limitations of PS Audio's USB implementations, or from problems with the Direct Stream's network bridge card. Point is, again, that if we're going to compare USB to IIS, I think we need to specify the context of how USB is being implemented in the system we're comparing.  

@tk21 You got it, context is everything.

@adasdad Not going to speak for ghdprentice, but my custom build streamer has been directly compared to top tier streamers such as his Aurender, Taiko Extreme, as well as to many lower tier, and it rightly belongs in that tier as both previous owners only sold after comparing and purchasing Taiko Extreme (and this prior to JCAT LPS I power it with).  The top echelon streamers pay extreme attention to noise reduction via top quality power supplies, jitter reduction via latency optimization and rendering via clocking and noise reduction of various ports. So, these are some of the theoretical reasons  for improved sound quality.  And then we have the listening portion, some may not consider that to be valid, but between what others report and what I've experienced with streamers, sound quality is extremely variable, at least on par with dacs. I can only say, try various steamers for yourself, assuming your system has sufficient resolving powers, the value of top tier streamers will be patently obvious.

I also have the ability to directly compare various protocols via drop in PCIe cards from Pink Faun and JCAT, top flight cards are available for network, coax, I2S, AES/EBU, USB. Presently using JCAT net XE to Sonore setup (FMC to USB), sound is simply sublime! I could stay here for the remainder of my life, never heard higher resolving, greater sense of ease with digital. Had to greatly upgrade my vinyl setup to keep up. Perhaps I'll compare other protocols over time, simply not motivated at the moment.

I'd only say believe those with top tier streamers, they are indeed hearing what they claim to be hearing, they are not delusional! I don't care about the damn theoreticals, audio is for our listening pleasure, not meant for some listening bot or textbook.