I apologize (slightly) for the clickbait subject line, but for >95% of us, I'm confident what I said is true.
How can I say this? I spent most of the last two decades clinging to the belief that bit-perfect delivery to the DAC was all that was required to achieve the best analog output it's capable of. There's comfort in this belief as our hobby presents plenty of other distractions to worry about (acoustics, power, cables, isolation from vibrations, etc.).
The inconvenient truth, which a few of us have discovered, is that the transport matters quite a lot. In fact, it may even be more important than the DAC! If you have a tablet, laptop, or desktop computer connected via USB to your DAC, I can guarantee you've never heard what your DAC is capable of. It can sound much, much better, with the degree of difference scaling with the resolution of your downstream system.
Even if you are using a bespoke dedicated streaming transport or streaming DAC, you are listening to a system that employs Band-Aid solutions to optimize its sound quality rather than addressing the problems inherent in virtually all modern digital transports at the source.
The attached plots show what all streaming transports must contend with as they receive digital audio streams from the source vs. what optimized network audio delivery looks like. I captured data for this plot while playing a 96 kHz stream from Roon, but I see virtually identical behavior from other streaming sources.
- The red plots on the left show how audio data is delivered to standard streaming transports and DACs. It does not arrive as a smooth, continuous stream. Rather, it's herky-jerky and bursty.
- The plots on the right show the contrast with optimized network audio delivery.
Those bursts in delivery cause bursts in processing (all streamers have a little computer inside of them). And, those bursts in processing cause bursts of electrical current demand, affecting everything inside of, near to, and downstream from the streamer, including the analog output of the DAC.
DACs are quite effective at filtering out high-frequency noise (in the MHz range) from the power rails. However, this noise is more insidious because the frequency falls within the audio band, where the DAC's PSRR (Power Supply Rejection Ratio) is ineffective. It results in a low-level grain and edge that's often falsely perceived as enhanced "detail" or "air." It's not. It's unwanted signal.
Even if you have a fairly elaborate digital transport, it may not be working as well as you think. I've seen people replace transports up to $12k with the solution I'm proposing with no regrets. Folks with DACs up to $45k have experienced obvious improvements in sound quality and listening engagement with this solution.
What makes this solution different?
Instead of relying on expensive hardware solutions to mitigate processing noise, the transport connected to the DAC (or DDC) simply does not generate the noise in the first place. The approach leaves nothing to mitigate.
I'm selling nothing and have no commercial affiliations. But I've helped over 200 people around the world discover the sound of their DACs for the first time, and I'm happy to do the same for you. You'll find more information at https://diretta.diy/, but if that looks complicated, please reach out to me directly so that we can chat.
-- David
dsnyder0cnn@gmail.com
+1-678-231-0568