Tony
Seasoned Member
  

"Life without ..music is inconceivable" A.Einsteln
Posts: 744
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For several reasons, I decided a couple of years ago that my primary music source would be streaming. To that end, I will consider anything that might contribute to or improve that option. For example, switching to Qobuz and using a fiber Media Converter to remove network noise helped - thumbs up.
Over time, I have found some changes that improved the overall sound in my system. Most changes were incremental, bumping SQ in a direction that I liked. A few changes were remarkable. Replacing the speaker wire with Decware's ZSTYX speaker cable made a big difference. Adding the Omega SAHOM speakers was huge. My latest addition falls into that remarkable category: Denafrips Gaia digital to digital converter.
Since I already had the Pontus II, I initially minimized the value of adding another component, like the Gaia. From what I had read, "adding a digital-to-digital converter (DDC) to your digital audio system can potentially improve the sound quality by reducing jitter and providing a cleaner digital signal to your digital-to-analog converter (DAC)." "Jitter " refers to the irregularity or variation in the audio data's timing as transmitted over the network.
If you had asked me before adding Gaia if I had a jitter problem, I would have said I don't think so. How would I know? It reminds me of when I was a kid and got my first pair of eyeglasses. I was unaware of the detail, colors, and contrasts I had missed before getting glasses. Once experienced, however, it changed everything, and there is no going back.
If you are considering adding a DDC to your system to improve SQ for streaming, go for it. Of course, YMMV, but my results were remarkable from this single-subject case.
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