Sound quality

[DavidHB]

In a streaming system, sound quality is primarily a function of the DAC and the circuitry that relates to it (including, perhaps, the renderer but typically not the server). Reducing noise levels in the analogue domain (some of which arrives via the digital circuitry) appears to be a key part of the effort to improve sound quality. High end streamers from the likes of Naim and Linn, and correspondingly high end DACs from, for example, Chord, already provide what, for old hands like me, seem to be astonishingly good signal to noise ratios, but it seems that reducing noise even further does provide an audible improvement in, for example, Linn's new Katalyst models.

There is probably nothing that a server as such can do to improve sound quality. However, as tarnkappe says, transcoding to a different format or (particularly) a greater bit depth can be beneficial; apparently, Naim said some time ago that it can have the effect of lowering the noise floor in the player. I certainly found that it produced a small but noticeable improvement in my system. I continue to use transcoding, as it costs me nothing, but I'd guess that, in some systems, the benefit would reduce as the noise performance of the system itself improves when equipment is upgraded.

David