Do streamers make a difference?

About the LDMS, I took a closer look, and while I'm sure it's a well-built piece of kit, I can't get past some of the core claims at this price point. Here are my comments, to the best of my ability.

Jitter: The marketing emphasizes "virtually jitter-free playback," but jitter at the server is irrelevant in a properly designed system. The DAC reclocks the incoming stream—its oscillator determines jitter performance, not the source. This framing made sense for CD transports with S/PDIF, but it doesn't translate to network streaming.

Galvanic isolation: Standard Ethernet already provides galvanic isolation via the magnetics in every PHY. "True galvanic isolation" sounds impressive, but I'd want to know what's being additionally isolated and why.

Vibration control: Chassis damping matters for turntables and CD transports with spinning media. For a solid-state device with SSDs, I'm skeptical there's a problem to solve here.

The vague bits: "State-of-the-art thermal optimisation" and "cutting-edge EMI/RF shielding" don't tell me anything. What specifically is being done, and what measurable or audible improvement does it yield?

None of this means it's a bad product. The linear PSU is a legitimate design choice, the casework looks beautiful, and the feature set is sensible. But at £24k, I'd want the value proposition grounded in things that demonstrably matter for digital audio—not language borrowed from contexts where it made sense but may not apply here.

Not for me, but I'd be genuinely curious if anyone's done controlled comparisons against more modestly priced streamers.

"...jitter at the server is irrelevant in a properly designed system. The DAC reclocks the incoming stream—its oscillator determines jitter performance, not the source."

@hilde45 This is valid only where the DAC receives signal input via USB. With SPDIF/AES EBU/I2S, there is no reclocking by the DAC, and jitter is indeed a concern for the server because its oscillators determine the timing. Even where the DAC does the clocking (USB), the jitter performance of its oscillators are oftentimes susceptible to some extent by infiltrating galvanic noise generated by the server. 

Great, interactive, and educational post.  @fastfreight @tcutter and everyone else, I found this discussion to be very beneficial. I have a similar setup to some of you. My main DAC is the Naga Tube DAC with a separate power supply along with a Siltech Royal Double Crown AES cable connected to my Grimm MU1 streamer. Currently, I am demoing a Nadac D and Nadac C by Master Fidelity with a Kubala-Sosna USB connected to a "homemade NUC." I know using the AES cable to connect my Grimm (since it does not have USB out) to the Nadac D+C defeats the clock; however, initially that was the only way to test the Nadac D. I have not spent much time demoing with the new NUC. I did speak directly to Mr. Xu, who was incredibly helpful with setup and filter selection using the AES, and he was the one who recommended a NUC to test the Nadac C+D. I'm interested in the thoughts of others as it relates to streamer selection and possible scenarios for my streamer and DAC setup.

This thread on the value of digital-to-digital convertor in between streamer and DAC when connecting via USB might be of interest to some here.

Hearing is believing.  Or, really, believing is hearing.