PC vs streamer with MiniDSP Flex

[HoJ76]

Hi guys, I use a fanless PC that streamer to my MiniDSP Flex rca (with Dirac Live)
I have tested the WiiM Pro (spdif) for the Flex and compared it against my PC (usb) - there I think - and several people who have heard from me - that it sounds best with the PC. The question is, will a better streamer do a better job in my system? Especially thinking about EverSolo.

I can't test this well in your system as the WiiM Pro doesn't have usb and my PC only has usb.

 

[onlyoneme]

The Flex is, let's say specific, and the digital stream before DA conversion differs every time it's sent to the DAC, even if the source material remains the same. The difference is bigger when spdif streaming is compared to usb streaming, but I really doubt it can be heard.

 

[widemediaphotography]

In this forum of scientists you will find several members ready to swear, complete with measures certified by no one, that one pc is as good as another... Nothing could be more false because the oceans pass between theory and practice. A top-notch streamer can only match the audio performance of a PC. The difference is then made by the software and its evolutions, but which at the audio level do not add or remove anything.

 

[phofman]

IIUC MiniDSP Flex uses Sharc DSP chip. This DSP always resamples asynchronously the incoming signal to its internal 96kHz sample clock, e.g. https://www.minidsp.com/forum/minidsp-for-newbies/20859-can-i-bypass-the-dac-oversamplingfilter

That would be the reason why every run the resampled output is different, because every run the momentary ratio of incoming/internal clock is different, that's the nature of asynchronous resampling.

ASRC by principle cannot fix all jitter of the input clock, and it is technically possible a low-quality SPDIF stream will have an effect on the output stream.

MiniDSP Flex USB input is async, it can be assumed decent clock generated by its XMOS receiver , the async resampler will have little work.

A streamer is a linux computer. I do not believe there would be an audible difference between PC USB out and streamer USB out.

 

[ZolaIII]

Costume PC with deacent audio card like A-E 5 Plus or better will have 2x more chenels than regular Flex and of course possibility to decode property multichannel (Dolby) formata, will retain much wider compatibility to use almost any ever written software (especially Windows based one) and plugins (where quality actually depends of software implementation) and of course it will be able to do other stuff (video, games...). On the other hand when you master using Flex (including FIR filters import) you have good and moderate easy to use self stand four chenel DSP with limited band full filter support PEQ and FIR filter. Which is better depends on what you want to achieve.