Best Streamer without a music server (no Roon etc)

[Kal Rubinson]

9 hours ago, m5sime said:

My gut feel is that the Mytek DAC is happier with AES in than USB in..

Possibly but that is quite dependent on the source as the two formats make very different demands of it.

[Kal Rubinson]

6 hours ago, m5sime said:

while subtle, my conclusion from tinkering over the years is that audio interfaces (AES) etc produce the best results and USB is one of those applied technologies to audio that is has plenty of catch-up to do in refinement (and more source dependant). 

And my experience suggests the opposite, especially since it requires additional functions in the source device.  Can you tell us what your conclusion is based on?

[Kal Rubinson]

6 hours ago, m5sime said:

With the LUMIN I will be able to test usb vs aes into the Mytek and compare.

Of course, the results will apply only to that specific combination. 😉

[Kal Rubinson]

Asynchronous USB is as you describe but it is also a reliable raw data transport protocol.  Since it is asynchronous and buffered, whatever the source does is somewhat irrelevant in the outcome.

 

OTOH, AES (or S/PDIF) require some inbuilt sound-card functions on the motherboard or card to reformat the data and supply it perfectly clocked.

 

In practice, I prefer using USB or LAN to leave the audio stuff to the DAC.  

[Kal Rubinson]

1 hour ago, RDSChicago said:

Since you’re saying USB is superior to SPDIF, am I better off continuing to stream through my MacBook Pro directly (or though an ifi Micro USB 3.0 with their Gemini USB cable) into the USB B input of the DAC vs. a music streamer such as Lumin or BlueSound via SPDIF?

I prefer USB to S/PDIF for reasons stated, all other things being equal.  In your scenario, they are not and I cannot predict what you might expect.  I\

[Kal Rubinson]

50 minutes ago, m5sime said:

I believe there is broad consensus that a dedicated streamer will always outperform a PC or Mac connected directly.

Too general a statement, IMHO.

[Kal Rubinson]

48 minutes ago, m5sime said:

Probably 😂 I don’t recall seeing a reviewer of a streamer comparing with their laptop and saying the laptop was better.. hence the general opinion that dedicating streaming to an optimised device is more widely reported to be best.

Sure.  I have to admit that I have not found a proprietary streamer box (including program control) that I would prefer to using a dedicated PC but that's because none of them are capable of multichannel.  

51 minutes ago, m5sime said:

Perhaps a specific DAC is very agnostic of the source, but again from what I have read over the years, many are affected by streamer quality (hence ever more high end streamers exist, people modify power supplies, endless devices are available to ‘improve’ usb audio. 

Mebbe but i do not think that all of those efforts are realistically valid proof of it.