STREAMER - WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE?

@mdalton The leap that I can't make with @helomech is the one that suggests thar "there is absolutely no way he is going to hear differences in streamer quality." 

With regard to SNR specs, we already know that tubes are noisier than solid state, but not sure how much that impacts my system's ability to express differences between two streamers.  SNR is one of the least relevant factors when comparing streamers in revealing systems.  

Here's what I've learned:  The differences between two streamers comes from  noise entering the DAC through the USB ground (Rex's quietest path), clock stability, Power‑supply noise inside the streamer (which someone mentioned earlier), and network isolation.  The BAT DAC has 3 noise control layers: 

1. Galvanic

2. Asynchronous clocking which reduces RF, ground noise and packet-timing variance.  

3. Local power regulation that places voltage‑regulating components close to the circuit blocks they power.

Its analog stage sets the noise flow through having balanced topology. zero global feedback, high‑current discrete analog output stage, and massive power supply reserves.  All of this means black backgrounds, stable imaging, and clarity.   Once I select a new streamer, what I hear using the A8 should be much improved. 

@patrickalston 

All that stuff you “learned” is nothing more than marketing nonsense that you’ve read or been told. It doesn’t change the fact that the DMP-A8 is audibly flawless by all known performance metrics. Learn how to do level-matched, blind A/B comparisons and trust your ears under those conditions. You’ll save a lot of time and money. 

Yeah, gonna have to respectfully disagree.  SNR is absolutely relevant to streamer noise.  There may be some rfi/emi not captured, but there’s a reason it is featured by HiFi News as one of the two measurements chosen by Paul Miller to evaluate noise levels of streamers.  Not sure where you got your info on that one.  But all good, I’m just offering my 2 cents for you since you asked.

@helomech  wrote, "All that stuff you “learned” is nothing more than marketing nonsense that you’ve read or been told."

RESPONSE.  <sigh> Yawn. Ok.  You got me.  I read brochures with a bottle of lube and post to forums.

@helomech Support your position.  You still haven’t addressed my sincere inquiry about why there is absolutely no way he (i.e., me) is going to hear differences in streamer quality because I have an all-tube system. Please explain.  You seem to dislike tubes.

Perhaps you’re describing the performance limits of your system and trying to apply it's performance to mine.  What are you listening to that allows you to arrive at your conclusion? 

@mdalton  wrote "SNR is absolutely relevant to streamer noise."  

Uh, yes sir, I agree Signal-to-Noise ratio is relevant to a streamer’s noise (That’s like saying the blueness of the sky is relevant to how blue it is.).   Here’s what I said: 

The BAT’s quietest path is USB

The BAT DAC has 3 noise control layers: 

1. Galvanic

2. Asynchronous clocking which reduces RF, ground noise and packet-timing variance.  

3. Local power regulation that places voltage‑regulating components close to the circuit blocks they power.

Your real issue is my position about SNR being irrelevant.  The reality is that USB sends data--not analog audio.  I assert, based on "marketing nonsense," that a streamer’s SNR never enters the DAC with asynchronous USB. Only data packets do. The DAC — not the streamer — sets the system’s SNR limit because Asynchronous USB isolates the DAC’s clock from the streamer--The DAC controls the master clock.  So, The streamer’s timing quality (and therefore its SNR) is irrelevant to the DAC’s clocking.

Please explain why you disagree with what I’ve written?  I'm genuinely curious (why else would anyone be here?) It’s easy to say "You’re wrong."  It’s another to support that position.