Is using an Apple Computer a weak link...?

I started streaming using a MacBook Pro running Audirvana. I briefly tried a Node 2i but ended up returning it. The SQ of the Node was on par but I preferred the UI of Audirvana. Still not satisfied I purchased a Bel Canto eOne Stream. I much preferred the SQ of the Bel Canto over the MacBook, adding a W4S DAC to the signal chain made things even better. I firmly believe that a good dedicated streamer will outperform a PC.

I am under the impression that the "effect" of a computer on sound quality depends on the software used to send the music file to the DAC.

The major piece you’re missing is noise.  Computers, especially if they’re used for things other than just playing music, infuse noise into the signal that good dedicated streamers largely avoid. 

Dedicated streamers are just computers that have been optimized for audio performance.   Compared to a bog standard PC they tend to have better parts, better power supplies, and inject less noise. Programs such as Audirvana do help the sound from a computer.
The noise issue is real, but it isn’t like like vinyl, where it sounds like frying bacon.  It is mainly the depth of the black background.  Compared to better equipment, the music just doesn’t seem to emerge from nothingness, and therefore seems a little less tactile.  You don’t really notice it until you compare with better equipment.

mahler  a dedicated server can be designed from the ground up  for one purpose to extract a  pristine digital signal to a dac this is accomplished through both hardware and software utilization

we import one of the best lines of servers from Europe:

432 EVO Music Servers | High End Digital Audio Streaming | Roon Core | Upsampling & Bit Perfect - 432 EVO Music Servers | High End Digital Audio Streaming


if you look at their designs they are far more sophisticated then a simple computer with an external linear power supply

the Evo"s higher end models  all separate the main cpu board from the soundcard and clock board

theses critical boards are powered independently to keep noise from jumping into the usb output 

they use a low noise cpu.


they use a custom liux kernal that was written to minimize jitter the os actully  loads  Roon"s  operational procedures onto its own cpu core where other cpu related tasks run on  their  own core.


dave and troy
audio intellect NJ
us importers 432EVO music servers

audiotroy:
I appreciate your point, but note that you discuss the noise on the USB cable.  If the MacPro (desktop not laptop) is connected to the DAC by ETHERNET, is there still an issue with noise reaching the DAC?