A stream is only as good as the weakest link between the server and your DAC.
I remember the first time I played a downloaded high-resolution file back to back against the same track streamed from a major service. The downloaded version had a solidity and ease to it that the streamed version lacked. That experience sent me down a rabbit hole of understanding why streaming, despite being bit-perfect in theory, does not always sound identical to local playback.
The internet is a noisy, unpredictable place. Your streaming service encodes a file, chops it into packets, and sends those packets bouncing through routers and switches before they arrive at your streamer. Most decent streamers buffer the incoming data, reassembling the packets and clocking them out to the DAC in an orderly fashion. In theory, if every bit arrives and the buffer does its job, the result should be identical to playing the same file from a local drive. In practice, the process of managing that incoming data stream taxes the streamer's processor and introduces electrical noise inside the device that would not exist if it were simply reading a file off a solid-state drive.
This is not about lost bits. Modern streaming protocols are robust enough to ensure every bit arrives intact. The issue is the real-time processing overhead and the electrical noise it generates within the streamer. Network activity on the circuit board creates tiny perturbations that can modulate the clock feeding your DAC. Clock jitter translates directly into a smeared, less precise soundstage and a slight hardness in the upper frequencies.
It is subtle, but it is measurable and it is audible on a resolving system.
When we designed the AirLens streamer, one of our primary goals was to minimize the electrical impact of network activity on the output signal. Galvanic isolation between the network input and the audio output was critical.
Streaming is one of the great conveniences of modern audio. Done right and with the right equipment, there's little to no improvement over stored local files.
What about discs? Well, that;'s a whole different kettle of fish because discs still are superior to streaming but, you know what? The gap's closing and closing fast.
Stay tuned.
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