Takedown of pricey servers, streamers OCD HiFi guy

Hi,

 

I agree 100% with musicfirst and bigkidz. Listening to different audio products/servers is the key to this hobby. Respectfully I believe enjoying this hobby involves many different opinions.

 

Audiodesign I think what musicfirst is saying is that you need to listen to the different server/streamers and make your own decision on the sound quality rather than hypothetically saying that there will be no difference between the units.

Cheers and enjoy your weekend.

What I am saying is I have AND I understand the why. Buy a good USB isolator and a good DAC and the streamer becomes 0 importance unless it is intentionally modifying the sound.

Exactly audio2design.  What is so hard to understand?  If bitstream A is identical to bitstream B, they will sound identical.  

“Buy a good USB isolator and a good DAC and the streamer becomes 0 importance unless it is intentionally modifying the sound.”

@audio2design,

What did you buy to accomplish above? Please list brand names so we can replicate and learn from your experience. 

I have Intona 7055-B and Coolgear USB 2.0 high speed isolators. I run them with home brew supplies for the output to keep switching noise out.

I have Chord Qutest and Benchmark DAC3 for main usage. Have a DAC2. Also picked up an RME ADI-2 based on a recommendation here. The Chord and Benchmark are almost impossible to tell apart if level matched. Not sure I could reliably. Have had other DACs from friends, some much more costly in system. Can't say any were better. Different, obviously intentionally, but not better.   Picked up a Topping E30 to play with. With the isolator it is very good. Gave my son my Node2i. I would say the isolator and Topping is quite a bit superior but that is off memory.