I have used a variety of DACs that range from $100 to $300 to $1000, and I can definitely notice a difference in the sound.

I typically use either a laptop or my TV when connecting to my DAC (USB for laptop, Optical for TV)

However I’ve seen streamers rise to popularity and some people seem to recommend them over TVs and Laptops as a streaming source.

Could they really make a noticeable difference in sound compared to changing out other major components (DAC, AMP, SPEAKERS)?

For example, why would I want a dedicated streamer if my smart TV has Tidal and Spotify built in? Are they not sending the same signal to the DAC that a separate streamer would?

  • antlestxp@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I’m not sure the TV is sending the same stream. One most tvs resample everything to one bitrate. My Samsung for instance makes everything 48khz. Second I’m not sure if tvs get lossless streams to begin with. If I were tidal or apple, I would assume people streaming through their tvs might not care if they are getting lossless streams and save bandwidth (money). Just a guess tho. Either way streaming through my dedicated streamers always sounds different than the apps in the TV.