why does streaming from local storage sound better than the same album, at same resolution streamed from Qobuz?

[audiobomber]

18 hours ago, davide256 said:

Qobuz sounds pretty good streamed on my Euphony Roon or Windows 10 Roon  setup. The subliminal cues that create a lifelike playback are diluted comparing an album

streamed from Qobuz vs the same album bought and stored to NAS but its not a big difference.  Have tried Roon core in the following configurations on my i5 server build,

booting from M.2 drives,  boot OS solution does make a difference.

 

from best to worst

1. Euphony w/Roon core

2. Windows 10 64 bit w/Roon core

3. Roon rock

 

you might give a whirl to a thumb drive boot test trial of Euphony w/Roon core to see if that reduces the difference.  I wasn't impressed with Roon rock but

Roon core under Euphony or Windows installation sounds pretty good.

Some people also consider Roon to be sonically compromised. I don't use it, so I have no opinion:

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/what-features-of-roon-are-worth-the-price-compensate-for-roon’s-poorer-sound-quality.32265/

[audiobomber]

2 hours ago, Blackmorec said:

In order to move a digital file along a piece of wire it needs to be converted into a voltage.  The voltage you create when listening to a ‘stored file’ is basically created in the server, using the server’s DC power supply, then shipped out to the DAC via an interface along a single cable. The DC power supply adds its own noise and ripple to the voltage representation of 1s and 0s and the cable adds any radiated emi voltages it may pick up.  Servers very often use high quality, low noise power supplies optimised for audio. So the resulting noise can be fairly minimal. 

 

When listening to remote files from Qobuz for example, the data bit stream is synthesised several times along the network, with each power supply adding its own noise and ripple to the stream. Power supplies in commercial networking products are usually $5-$7 affairs made in China from the cheapest components possible and are not optimised for audio applications. Then there are several cables along the way to pick up stray EMI. Noise from the multiple plover supplies interacts and create harmonics, so the final noise spectrum CAN be immensely complex.

 

So what ends up entering the DAC is either noise from a single, audio optimised PS plus a single cable’s worth of EMI in the case of a server stored file vs noise from a variety of super-cheap power supplies, plus harmonics, plus EMI from several cables, often long in length for remotely streamed files. 

 

Interesting description. Could there be another factor at work? EMI and RFI are very high frequency signals, and higher frequency vibrations die out faster than lower. Maybe there's more attenuation of noise vs. data over longer distances.

 

Just spitballing, due to something that @plissken said about there being nine hops before data reached his house, and how that would collect a lot of noise if EMI/RFI was a problem. I believe the closer the noise source is to the DA conversion, the greater the impact on sound quality. 

 

I have a LAN Isolator between my modem and router. I hear a bit of high frequency hash without the isolator. It's pretty minor but I'm audiophile, so I need the thing.