The trouble with buying a DAC for your birthday.

[JustJones]

Glad you had fun. I don't think anyone here claims entirely different measuring electronics and different speakers in different rooms with different FR sounds the same.

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

I have a feeling you didn't actually read the wall of text.

Yes, myself and everyone in the house can easily tell the difference between the two setups, as can 99% of people in the world. Otherwise this entire forum and every review would be "there's no audible difference between these products", the entire audio scene wouldn't exist if everything sounded the same and had the same audio quality.

One is Spotify 320 compressed stream via Chromecast RCA in to an entry level onkyo ab and out through rear ported dali zensor.

The other is lossless flac through roon via a modern dac in to a good class d and out through front ported triangle borea.

Of course it sounds audibly different.

This is why there are a range of different products made and purchased, because they sound different, better, worse.

Note (identify) the differences with a blindfold on and somebody else making the changes.

"there's no audible difference between these products" is true much of the time - way more often than the general audio community would like to "imagine." Speakers mixed with rooms is where real differences happen and those are generally best managed (assuming the speakers are reasonably good) with EQ and room set up.

A primary reason for a range of products to be made available is to generate profit.

 

[bodhi]

Also, even if you can identify difference in blind test pretty accurately there are more considerations:
- is either one of the options noticeably better or just mildly different?
- can you notice the difference with any distractions at all? Like if you are just listening to some music, not looping certain ten second clips. If somebody switches the devices without you knowing do you notice it?

Blind testing with these extra considerations will take much "fun" out of the hobby, but if you are insterested in finding out what is real and what is not then it's the only way.

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

Also, even if you can identify difference in blind test pretty accurately there are more considerations:
- is either one of the options noticeably better or just mildly different?
- can you notice the difference with any distractions at all? Like if you are just listening to some music, not looping certain ten second clips. If somebody switches the devices without you knowing do you notice it?

Blind testing with these extra considerations will take much "fun" out of the hobby, but if you are insterested in finding out what is real and what is not then it's the only way.

Comparing 2 different systems that have different speakers is sort of a fruitless endeavor. Any differences you're hearing will almost certainly come down to the speakers. Do a blind test of some sort where the speakers are switched between the systems and see if the "differences" move with the speakers. Chances are none of the other elements in the chain are making any audible difference at all.