My prior research and experience led me to the same conclusion as Jimmy2615--the cable determines which clock (streamer or dac) is prioritized and therefore will influence the sound. USB sounded far superior during A/B testing SPDIF vs. USB. To no surprise, my DAC is greatly superior to my streamer. This is also the reason I've delayed upgrading my streamer as I'm afraid I may not see the benefit I'm hoping for.
Help settle a streaming argument!
This is a SQ argument and is as follows- I argue if you connect your streamer to an outboard DAC the streamer does not matter it’s just serving the music to the outboard DAC to do the work. Therefore, buy a basic streamer. The other is that you need to buy a top quality streamer and DAC to get great SQ.
I liken it to cd players or the more pretentious cd transport argument- if the intent is to connect to outboard DAC the cd player doesn’t matter the outboard DAC DOES!
features and functionality aside! Thoughts…..