I think this is important. My Roon Ready ethernet input DAC (DirectStream) needs a lot of work on it’s ethernet input to better it’s USB input (fiber converters and a linear PSU on the most downstream converter) to my ears and in my system. I’ve been told by a couple of DAC designers that the ethernet physical interface can suffer some (not all) of the same/similar issues that the USB physical interface suffers.
At the same time there are a lot of DirectStream DAC owners using the Bridge 2 as is and prefer it over all of it’s other inputs - that’s where the YMMV caveat always comes in of course and I’m always mindful and very respectful of that.
Charles Hansen makes a Roon Ready DAC and he prefers the USB input too (he loves Roon like all us here do too). He also added some other comments in this thread:
Funnily enough, the DirectStream DAC’s network card and the card Ayre use are both made by ConversDigital. No doubt things will improve over the next couple of years (as happened with USB sources too).
Putting aside the convenience of ethernet and having the server in a different room etc and just looking at sound quality, I don’t think just seeing an ethernet input on a DAC and seeing the Roon Ready logo automatically means that is the best sounding input for that DAC.
It may be but it may not - it’s not an automatic given (yet).