This is probably a bad example, but remember how not so long ago seeing ‘galvanic isolation of USB input’ on marketing material for a DAC meant no worries (and some people still believe that).
Some DAC designers have explained that not all isolation methods are created equal (i.e. effective).
https://forum.psaudio.com/t/lanrover-issues/4052/14
I guess the point I’m trying to make (doing a poor job) is that more will be learnt and shared about what’s happening in networked audio, over time.
I went to demo some Meridian DSP loudspeakers recently and Meridian marketing says that their DSP loudspeakers are immune to the environment.
But for some reason, a Bluesound Node 2 source sounded different (a bit brighter…) to my WiFi enabled and 5Vdc battery powered Pi2Design digital coax source… and the owner was mumbling away at an explanation (which tells me he heard a difference too) but the real technical reasons would be over his head, and probably mine.
There’s still a lot of unknowns in technical explanations for SQ observations unfortunately but we’ll learn more over time.