I don’t take away anyone’s ability to hear a difference but i was spending more time on eBay looking at valves and then thinking my tinnitus ears may be able to pick up on a few things from certain tracks that I almost forgot that I enjoy a broad range of stuff and I was missing out on that. I have also learnt that on new music what ‘extra’ I don’t hear then I don’t miss!
I prefer the term “optimizing”. Yeah it can be stressful, but occasionally the effort pays dividends. ‘No pain, no gain” sometimes applies to audio. For me it’s more about not wanting to leave money on the table. I am a big time procrastinator and a few times that has left me kicking myself for not trying something years earlier.
I do have fondness for a lot of music that can be hard on the ears because of the recording quality. This stuff has gotten so much easier to listen to over the years. That’s what makes all the optimization worth the effort, as the goal is enjoy the music and overcome the stresses of life. The more free the music is from grain and harness the easier that is to do.
I know for a fact that there are some folks like that, but it’s not right to ascribe this to all or even a majority of audiophiles. It’s because of the immense satisfaction we get each time we advance our systems that we do so. It’s because of the massive contentment our investment has brought us that we believe additional investments will bring us even more contentment. That’s a big reason also why we want to share our experiences. To know that my recommendation might bring another the same contentment makes it all the more enjoyable. I think we part of the reason we engage with naysayers is because we see them Ebenezer Scrooges who irrationally deny themselves the joy they could be having if they just stopped with all the “bah humbug” nonsense.
Personally, I have no idea if Roon could sound any better or not. I know my Nucleus sends data to my Oppo 203 and RPi4’s and, as far as I know, it’s just data that has no sound. When it passes through a DAC, it sounds great, so I don’t know how it could improve. I think it might be possible to sound different, but different is not better. Better is probably a subjective thing in the ears of the beholder. I have multiple ways to listen and they all sound great.
I remember a magazine once saying a system managed to produce the sound of the church bell throughout pink floyds high hope (I think) on division bell. I have played that track on every ‘upgrade’ since and even on the most expensive I couldn’t swear to hear it chime on the densest mix of the track. What I can say is that I can’t play that track for pleasure now as I’m sick of it and always feel I’m missing something. I would rather have kept my ignorance and am happy to do so now. I’m not sure would think when they print such comments.
After reading this thread I think Audiophilia is a mental sickness. People listening to cables and switches. How crazy is this?
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Bach’s Fifth Cantata for Cables and Switches is particularly lovely.
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Even though I am one of those “audiophiles” I have to agree with you, psychiatrists just need to classify it and give it a name, like “audiophilia” or something. 
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Data without sound.
That’s very good I like it.
Do wonder how that fits into audiophile network switches and cables though?
Noise is just one parameter of a power supply. Changes in sound with a better power supply are more due to better transient response, less overshoot, better line regulation, better load regulation, less drift etc. All these parameters have more effect than noise in general, especially for digital equipment That’s where the focus should be, not only about the noise. I have read it so many times over here that a power supply sounds better than another and the only parameter that is talked about is noise. You cannot simply ignore all the other more important parameters and conclude A is better then B because of less noise.
The problem is that people do some reasoning based on reading up on a particular subject and have made some assumptions, in this case mostly about noise and like said above, ignored all other parameters. Then you start experimenting with power supplies and cables and such and you hear a difference so your assumptions are confirmed so it must be due to a reduction in noise. Have you ever considered that your assumptions might be the wrong one or are not complete? What if you had assumed something completely different but heard the same differences, did that confirm your assumption as well? Don’t take this personal, it’s just to demonstrate how these kinds of things work. Don’t stare blind on one parameter, it will only make you come to the wrong or incomplete conclusions. It happens a lot of forums like this one where people are moslty talking about the same thing over and over again. Focus narrows.
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Then I see also signs of pseudo religious cult.
Phrases like WE engage with the Naysayers and etc…are truly worth of reflection.
What a Gaga world.
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I use two of these and standard cat 6 ethernet cables. I did purchase six AudioQuest Cinnamon HDMI cables for my 4K TV and all, but mostly because I like having all the same cables.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000BVYT3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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It’s more like human nature. People are inquisitive. It’s also a bit of an insult to people who really do have a mental illness, it demeans it a little.
It’s not at all crazy, it’s true, it’s fun, it’s real.
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It’s all good…as long as you can afford it and aren’t depriving your spouse or kids and have your retirement secured, etc.
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I think this is a mental sickness. A true and real one.
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I was responding to an attack on “audiophiles”. I then distinguished some from other and lumped myself in one of the groups. This is a common rhetorical tactic.
I don’t know what it means to be in a Gaga world. But in the real world decent people don’t ignore context just so they can take a cheap shot.
Drive-by posts that take cheap shots are a real problem on this forum. The heavy moderation makes it worse. A community needs to be able to police itself by occasionally calling foul on bad behaviors. On this forum bad actors can just swoop in to take their shots and not contribute anything to the discussion - but then then those who call foul on them will find that their posts are removed.
This is a horrible “community” in which to have free and open discussions. I will go back to using this forum only to report bugs or to seek assistance.
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You are right when it comes to power supply, more than noise matters, but I simplified it a little (low-impedance power isn’t that important though on the digital side).
But when it comes to the DA conversions, I see only two main culprits (assuming bit-perfect data and fully functioning equipment):
1: Electronic noise (I include deviations in voltage here). The effect on electronic noise is partly less accuracy on oscillator and partly decreased transparency in the analog output stage of the DAC.
2. Jitter, and if we assume asynchronous USB than its only clock-jitter. Some of this can be due to 1, but also due to the quality of the oscillator and surrounding components like voltage regulators and design of the PCB board.
If we assume we won’t change the DAC, we can often affect electronic noise in other ways and improve the DAC that way. This could be (but not limited to) better power, better transport, using fiber or better ethernet switch, better digital cables and yes, even better software.
Just be thankful there is not a mechanism whereby everyone , including politicians, could express opinions in short post of 280 characters or less for the entire world to see. Oh wait…
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Hmmmm… not sure which is mental sickness. Audiophilia, or people who constantly post online about how bad “audiophilia” is 
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