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Point of higher priced streamer?

Hello,
Assuming I have separate DAC, and I just want to play songs from iPad by Airplay feature.
In this case, I need a streamer to receive music from my iPad -> DAC.

What’s the point of high price streamer? I’m bit surprised that some streamers are very high priced.
From my understanding, there should be no sound quality difference.
(Streaming reliability and build quality, I can see it but I do not see advantages in terms of sound quality.)

Am I missing something? If so, please share some wisdom.
128x128sangbro
thyname's avatar
thyname
3,107 posts
 
Chromecast Audio is (was) a very good, convenient device for modest systems. It does the job well in freeing up your laptop for streaming functions. That’s where it ends.
pokey77
1,260 posts
 
@lalitk 

Seriously laughing along with you!
thyname's avatar
thyname
3,107 posts
 
LOL!!! This is very funny. I totally missed this part. Hilarious! Especially if “backed” by the world famous & renowned ASR. How do you know? Or you just KNOW?

if connected via optical to a "decent" high performing DAC (e.g. Topping D50), it will outperform many higher-priced streamers 



audio2design
1,351 posts
 
Funny enough, ASR did measure the Chromecast audio and showed that it had somewhat high jitter on the optical output, and that final performance would be DAC dependent. Maybe I am selectively remembering the review, but I am too lazy to look it up again :-)
djones51
4,947 posts
 
Using Roon and a good DAC, they used the Topping D50 the chromecast was fine.

3. The Chromecast output has more jitter than an audiophile/instrument grade Toslink output. This is evident when used with low quality DACs like Schiit Modi 2 Uber.

4. Using a well-designed Dac like the Topping D50, there is no difference at all between Toslink from Chromecast or higher fidelity sources. All the jitter is filtered out resulting in the performance of the DAC itself being the limit.
I know it’s hard for some to believe but price of components is not an indicator  of good digital playback.
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