(10-15-2021, 06:36 AM)DRONE7 Wrote: Be kind in these times of uncertainty..... support where you can be most helpful...then let everything else go... :-)
That's what I do. I try to tell people how digital data works, but if they still prefer to believe they can use analog approaches (exchange of cables or the data source) to enhance the sound, I point them to the snake oil department where a whole industry is waiting to pull their money out of their pockets.
The only way to enhance digital media data is to decode it, run the information through some analyzer/equalizer software, pick some frequency bands and either enhance or suppress them and then recode the data stream. After the recalculation the data can be sent to the DAC which finally decodes it into an anlog information stream and sends it to the hifi equipment.
Any change/enhancement in such a digital data stream automatically leads to a change of the data - you can't change the sound while keeping the same bits and bytes of the data, and the data doesn't change just because you store it on a different media or use computer 2 instead of computer 1 with a slightly different layout of the cables. This is a fundamental principle which makes computer usable, and it would be horrible if the outcome of the calculations of a computer would be depending on the cable/data path used to transmit, or like claimed by OP, the medium the data is stored on.
If you feel you have better sound when streaming from a local source, just calculate the CRC sum of the music file and compare the result when storing it on different media and/or reading the file other ethernet, wifi or from a local data source. If it is the same, you get the same sound output. Bits are really only bits...
On top, if you feel your sound is better when streaming the file from a sdcard than another media or by sending it over a different path (cable vs wifi), then the media needs to perform what I mentioned: decode the data, run some calculations (FFT as exmaple), reencode it and the forward it to the DAC. In realtime, without knowing what data format you are using and unaware of any changes you can apply (like changing the encoding mechanism). Clever cable or in case of wifi: clever air.
Or the media must be even more clever and perform this job by manipulating bits in the correct way while they are sent over it, without knowing what these bits mean. Clever cable, clever air.
Last but not least: I did some tests, just to be sure. I used a whole bunch of different cables with different qualities, different builts and lengths. I stored the audio files on sd cards, on SSDs, on regular hard drives, pushed the data over wifi with different bandwidths chosen, exchanged the PSU of the equipment and so on. Results: as long as I don't produce a nasty ground loop by accident, the sound is 100% identical. I still bought a bit of a little bit higher priced USB cable because it looked better than the one costing 1 USD at aliexpress. And yes, my equipment is good enough for such tests.
