earnmyturns
Headphoneus Supremus
If what you say were true, nothing in modern networking would work at all. Digital files are just that, files. The only thing that matters in transmitting a digital file is that the bits are preserved exactly. Checksums, error detection and correction, and retransmit when needed, ensure that. What is different between different digital transports is not what happens to bits carried by any reasonable modern protocol such as TCP/IP, whether they come via Ethernet, USB, or carrier pigeon. There are two main factors that make different digital transports appear to sound different: 1) misconfigured digital network or transport>DAC interface; 2) various ways in which analog electrical noise from transport circuitry sneaks down the transport>DAC connection and pollutes the analog side of the DAC. Problem 1) is straightforwardly solved with the correct network configuration, software and settings, but the reality is that current networking and digital sound hardware and software are sufficiently complex that such misconfigurations may be difficult to debug for anyone but a professional. Problem 2) is harder to solve, as it involves subtle interactions between devices, power supplies, and the physical environment, although @Baldr made it much less of a problem for USB connections between transport and DAC with Gen 5 USB boards and Eitr. Ironically, these innovative devices use Ethernet's electrical design to reduce electrical noise leakage from transport to DAC. So much for Ethernet's badness.I don't think you are alone in this. I have always thought that the act of transmitting a file across an ethernet wire degraded the sound. Ethernet by its nature deconstructs a file and puts it back together.