Does anyone have a digital system that is as involving as their analogue front end?

@audiomirror @audphile1 

And everybody else. Two things I'm having trouble believing. First, that my 35 feet of decent ethernet cable will affect the sound of my system. I have not done A/B tests, but the ethernet cable plugged directly into the fiber hub sounds better than when I had a meter of Kimber ethernet plugged into a mesh. According to chatgpt, 35 feet of ethernet cable is a short run. People run ethernet cable for hundreds of feet. Plus, when you read the about the MA3i, it does what the isolators mentioned here do. The Meitner's isolation is excellent at garbage and sound isolation.

Second, it sinmply makes no sense to me that whatever interface app. you use on your iPad will make a difference in the sound of the Meitner MA3i or any other DAC/streamer. There is a difference between Qobuz and Tidal because Qobuz sends PCM files and Tidal sends FLAC files. But the interface simply tells the streamer what to play. It does not affect the files themselves.

My bottom line in regards to what changes to make to my stereo: If I cannot tell the difference between the A and B options after leaving the room for a while and coming back, it's not worth the investment.

@audio-b-dog I was not aware kimber made Ethernet cables. 
1. I wouldn’t worry about why Ethernet cables make a difference. Starting this discussion here will derail this entire thread. It’s unnecessary. They make a difference and you have a good ear and a revealing system to hear it

2. As to what app you’re using it’s not the app that makes a sonic difference. But rather what method is used to deliver the stream to your streamer. 
Jplay has the info page that explains how it works

https://jplay.app/how-jplay-works
 

Well I pretty much only stream these days and when I play a record I convert it to digital to add to my digital library.  Not detecting anything lost when streamed. So I suppose I can say it’s more involving.  
 

Main digital front end is Roon using dedicated ASIO audio on a windows PC to Topping d90 Sabre DAC via async USB 2. 
 

@audphile1 

I had a different experience with jplay than what they say on their info sheet. Jplay showed the progress of each track, which meant it must have been "in touch" with the streamer. Anyway, Jplay isn't working for me now. It won't connect with my Meitner. When I receive the MA3i and burn it in, then I'll start playing around with apps.

Again, my bottom line question. (I think A/Bing fine tuning can be deceptive because you're listening so intensely, in a way you don't when you're simply listening to music.) Have your wife or a friend play either Jplay or mcontrol and see if you can hear the difference after leaving the room for 15 minutes. The difference might be so subtle that you'll have no idea.

This is the experience I've had with changing speaker wire and interconnects. I can hear the difference when I'm concentrating on nothing else. But in real life, I'd never notice which cables were in my system.

@ejh369 

Thank you for the suggestions. I will try them when I burn in my MA3i. I am, though, a bit leary of returning too many somewhat expensive pieces of audio equipment to Amazon. I was experimenting with Chinese DACs off Amazon, and they dinged me for returning too much. So, I'll have to be circumspect.