http://www.innuos.com/en/catalog/go/music-servers-mk3
Some good information from Innuos…
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I guess my short answer to that would be - similar to any dedicated source component. The money is spent on doing a smaller set of tasks better than a box that has additional chips/functionality/I/O. No guarantees, and dependent on the maker.
One of the more definitive - sonically and cost-wise - elements of a standalone DAC is the Analog Output stage. I got that from someone who knows a lot more about it than me ; )
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This whole deal is such a Moving Target that I would really be interested to read something from some reputable and clever reviewer without an axe to grind who has actually Compared the Current Offerings. Not a cheap undertaking, especially if you consider that we want someone with a Purty Durn Good System, and Equally Good Ears.
Pretty much you get people like me who go, “I own a G1 and its awesome”. Have I compared it in my system with the competition? Nope.
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This seems to be the unavoidable nature of the beast. We have all different systems and listening rooms, the amount of variables are extreme. It would be impossible a reviewer to test all the many streaming options in all of our personal systems. So all anyone can do is say “I own a G1 and its awesome”, with the caveat of adding “I’ve tested” rather than just “I own”.
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Seems to me that reviewers, like Darko, are in a position where they could do a streamer shootout with 4-6 of the leading contenders at a particular price range: Auralic, Lumin, Innuous, Aurender, etc. Of course, they have a system and room unlike yours, but at least we could get comparative feedback. Why not?
Because that potentially pisses off perspective advertisers even more than the “Darko List” probably does. All of the leading contenders make quality products they just differ in what parts of the system they each think is the most important. Someone recently asked Chris at AS a similar question about doing comparison reviews and he said that other than the time it would take he didn’t think it would apply to anything but his system in his room.
Wake/Dawk:
Yup - sorta sums it up.
Yes, they could do a shootout. But it doesn’t explain how that will sound on our systems, or in our rooms. It would be interesting for sure, but ultimately all of this can only be a signpost, we have to listen for ourselves. Just too bad places like Music Direct, that have good return policies, don’t carry a lot of the stuff we want to try at home.
If we accept the notion that the reviewer’s system and room (professional or enthusiast) is unlike yours and ALL feedback is tied to this then all reviews are pointless in the extreme.
Philosophers in the branch called phenomenology are concerned with the problem of shared perspective and meaning. They called this the problem of “intersubjectivity.” That is, how is it that two people can communicate and experience phenomena in ways they can agree about? Seems to me that there must be aspects of gear that are not COMPLETELY dependent on the system and the room. Why do people with such diverse systems and rooms like the DS Senior?
Having a streamer at home for trial is great. But, not having an opportunity to compare it to other units is very sub-optimal if one’s goal is to find the “best” unit for the price point.
I guess we are just chasing our tail with this.
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If you are waiting on reviewers or publications that are ad revenue driven then I think we will be waiting a long time for a “shoot-out” style review of the big name players. Mentioning products from past reviews not on hand or items “in the cue” seems to be acceptable but I doubt the product suppliers would be up to a large head to head shoot out.
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It’s interesting to me that auto magazines are able to do “shoot-out” style reviews of cars in a certain class. I guess they have enough clout in the industry and with readers to carry out these “dangerous” comparisons. That reviews are strictly pay for play is really a sad state of affairs.
Motorcycle reviews too.
I wonder if it’s because the car is one system. The reviewer is able to describe that entire system’s performance as a whole. How everything comes together and how it feels to drive.
When doing a shoot out in an audio system, they are inserting one piece into that (probably) complete system. Its performance could differ quite a bit in one to another.
Doing a shoot-out between two difference types of tires on the same car will certainly give you some interesting results. Will the two different sets of tires have the same affect on a Porsche 911 and a Challenger? Well maybe, but because these two systems (cars) are so different, you may not want the same tires for both cars.
I think the tire comparison is apt. A reviewer could try different tires on a 911. That would yield useful feedback about the tires. Would not that be transferable to similar cars?
How about shoot outs between complete systems? I suspect it’s the allergy to comparison that is at issue not the lack of absolute apples to apples experimental conditions.
Great point. A tire shoot out on an M3 would tell me a lot about how they’d perform on an RS4.
Full system reviews would be awesome! Specially shoot-outs between them. 
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system shootouts would be almost impossible since each would have to be optimized in the same listening space and, for loudspeakers at least, the radiation patterns would mean changing any room acoustic treatments. extremely cumbersome proposition.