If you stream music from the internet, I can't recommend this more highly


I had been using a Roon Nucleus to stream Qobuz, with my Chord Qutest directly connected to the Nucleus. I thought I was getting pretty decent sound quality. And then I got a marketing email from Small Green Computer touting some of their optical gear. The basic idea is that normal cables and connections used to stream from the internet pick up noise of one kind or another (radio frequencies and electromagnetic something or other). But fiber optic cables and their connections/interfaces do not. I don’t know anything about anything, but it made theoretical sense to me, it wasn’t a huge amount of money ($1,400), and with a 30 day return policy I figured I could always return it if I didn’t hear any improvement. Well, I didn’t just hear a slight improvement; it was like turning on the lights in a dark room. Much greater clarity and detail, much better micro and macro dynamics, better timbre to acoustic instruments -- overall just more lifelike. Two quick examples: I’ve listened to some of Steely Dan’s top songs 100s of times over the course of my life, and this is the first time I’d ever noticed a particular and very subtle sound characteristic of Fagen’s keyboard in Babylon Sister. It’s hard to describe, but it’s like there’s a slight sound of air being exhaled by it. The other example: the specific timbre of whatever percussive instrument is used at the beginning of Copeland’s "Fanfare for the Common Man" (a recording by the Minnesota Orchestra). There’s more of a metallic sound than a drum skin sound to it that I didn’t know was there before. The metallic sound starts in the center and then projects out and to the sides, like a wave washing over you. Anyway, I’m just thrilled about having stumbled upon the whole "optical" thing and felt obligated to let others know about it. If you stream music over the internet, I highly recommend giving it a try. (The product I got was the opticalRendu, with the linear power supply option, and the Fiber Ethernet Converter Bundle option.)
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Julie, if you have a decent audio system that can take advantage of the greater resolution and reduced noise-level of optical, I’m confident it would significantly improve the sound quality. But I’m not tech savvy enough to know how it would fit into your system. The owner of Small Green Computer (Andrew) can answer any questions you have. His email address is [email protected] I had a 10 minute phone call with him and a long email chain, and he was very helpful and got right to the point.

Larry, I felt the same way about streaming Qobuz with my Roon Nucleus, but the optical thing is just crazy good. I would recommend Doug’s review of it in the following article (in which he says that the sound quality of optical is vastly superior to that of his high-end CD rig): https://www.dagogo.com/audio-blast-sonore-systemoptique-signature-rendu-se/?fbclid=IwAR3jp6Gth94SMBi...

"A pure fiber connection from ethernet switch/media converter to DAC would be fantastic." I’m sure someone somewhere is working on that right now.
Get your self the topping bc3 bluetooth module, and a samsung Galaxy (2018 model year) Tab-A 10.5 inch tablet with 5 bluetooth codecs built in (including aptx hd and sony ldac....). It can bluetooth cd quality 16/44 and higher. The Tablet can still be had at HSN for $299, $20 less with a first time user coupon. The topping bc3 can be had from Apos for $69 bucks! Watch the cheap audio man on YouTube, he explains it all. Personally, for not a crap load of money, I think it’s a great option for the casual streamer. The topping bc3 connects to a dac of your choice via toslink mini to full toslink. It Also has it's own built in dac and can drive headphones. Pretty freakin' cool device for a lousy 69 bucks....
Do you have to have internet service via optical cable for this to work?  If not, could one adapt to optical from a router directly into an integrated system, in my case a NAD M33?
The level of misinformation routinely passed around on here is absolutely wild. Optical has measurably more jitter than coax, AES/EBU or USB. Asynchronous USB is still the best method of transmission available today, it’s not even really a contest. 
No, your internet service doesn't need to be delivered via optical cable. There's probably a way to make it work with an integrated system, but you'd have to ask Andrew at Small Green Computer to find out how. Just send him an email: [email protected]   You might be able to figure it out by looking at the following two pages on their website:  1) https://www.smallgreencomputer.com/pages/systemoptique

2) https://www.smallgreencomputer.com/collections/systemoptique/products/opticalmodule?variant=32001196...