We Need To Talk About Ones And Zeroes

@devinplombier 

Audio streaming presents a very, very light load in Ethernet terms, and error-free transmission is a given

It is not a given, not by Ethernet.  Ethernet on its own does not guarantee packet delivery, nor timing, nor error-free status.  You need higher level protocols, which may operate over Ethernet, if you want to guarantee delivery and error correction. 

Ethernet timing is indeterminate, because unlike USB there is no central controller managing timing.  However, as you point out, it is usually fast, depending on the version.  Early Ethernet was under 3-million bits per second, though, which is not really enough for a CD let alone high res.  Ethernet does have significant overheads.

You might care to rethink your statement that latency is not important for audio. It is the reason streaming was introduced.

Also most Ethernet network components including routers, switches and gateways do include processors and do a fair bit of work on each packet.  They build up lists of Ethernet devices connected to each port and only forward packets to the necessary port(s)

@chrisoshea 

My advice to all on this thread…. Buy a Rega Planar 3, a Schiit Mani 2 phono stage and some records

I would say get a universal disk transport with HDMI outputs, and some SACDs, Blu-ray audio disks, 4K opera recordings and CDs.   You will always have your media, and it will always be as new because it won't wear out. Keep your fingers crossed that somebody will still be making transports if yours carks it!

Having said that, I have started buying records again ... but not if the music is also available on SACD!

So I asked the web about "ethernet packet delivery guarantee" and Google's AI overview came back with:

Ethernet, at its core, is a best-effort delivery protocol, meaning it does not guarantee that every packet will be delivered or that they will be delivered in the order they were sent. While Ethernet frames are encapsulated in IP packets, which in turn can be part of TCP or UDP protocols, the underlying Ethernet layer itself doesn't provide delivery guarantees. 

richardbrand

Qobuz also claims on their website that "An analog audio signal is composed of a sine wave" when they probably mean an infinite set of sine waves. They are careless with the truth.

No, Qobuz is correct - analog audio is just a series of sine waves (and cosines). That's the Fourier Theorem. If you doubt that, just look at the squiggles on an LP - a series of sine waves. It's not infinite, though. To do that you'd need infinite bandwidth, which isn't needed and isn't possible.

Streaming is different from downloading, which can be bit-perfect using TCP/IP.  The functional difference is that you can start playback of a stream before it is complete. Nothing in the world can guarantee the future will be error free.

But the future is "error free" because Qobuz is using TCP/IP and the file is at least partly cached before playback begins. And even hi-res audio requires a download speed of only around 10Mbps, so there's plenty of time for any damaged packet to be re-sent.

TCP/IP only guarantees bit perfect transmission after the transmission is complete ...

It isn't clear what you mean here. TCP/IP guarantees perfect transmission with the transmission of each packet. Each packet is "complete" unto itself.

Qobuz is very tight-lipped about the actual protocols used ...

My experience is just the opposite - I've found Qobuz to be remarkably accessible and transparent about its protocols. My information regarding how Qobuz works comes right from its US execs David Solomon and Dan Mackta.

My only connection with Qobuz is as a paid subscriber and to be clear, I have issues with the service. In particular, its files are often the "remastered" compressed versions, so my local files often sound better. But facts are facts, and Qobuz delivers bit-perfect audio direct to your streamer, provided your connection speed and network are capable to the task. And for audio, those requirements are minimal - almost trivial here in the third millenium.

I highly doubt bluray players/transports for blu-ray audio are going obsolete any time soon...

Panasonic is bound to keep it alive...Sony playstation consoles will be around forever...thanks to the ever growing number of gamer dudes. In fact, i believe sony has been killing other manufacturers off (yamaha, for instance) w.rt the bluray market. Essentially, they take a loss with ps5 player/console sales & make their money with game sales and subscriptions. But, to be fair,  the ps5 is a very high quality bluray transport for audio. I wouldn’t know about video, am not a videophile.

The future of sacd could be bleak. 

I would say get a universal disk transport with HDMI outputs, and some SACDs, Blu-ray audio disks, 4K opera recordings and CDs.   You will always have your media, and it will always be as new because it won’t wear out. Keep your fingers crossed that somebody will still be making transports if yours carks it!