Why do so many quality DACs sound better with WAV than FLAC, AIFF, and others?

[Andre Marc]

I have my optical connection installed today.
Two tp-lite mc2200 fiber/Ethernet converters, 15m of om3 fiber and 2 short cat7 cables, total cost less than $150. I left the 50ft cat6 cable in place so I can do comparisons this week.

Lesson 1-- the duplex assembly of 2 fiber connectors is a lot wider than any of the holes I've made in the LRfloor down to the basement where my router resides. By taking apart the plastic that pairs them side by side, I could separate the tx and rx plugs and run them separately through a hole sized for an Ethernet plug.

Also installed minimserver on my netgear NAS, switched to the upnp/mpd renderer on the sonicorbiter and using bubble as my control app.
So no more Logitech

Lots of comparisons to come

Good man! I very much look forward to our findings. As I may have noted before, I love when dedicated users go through the process of experimentation and reporting back. Let's face, it can be drudgery. When we moved into our new house two months ago I spent several weeks trying numerous set ups...can't say it was fun, but I am all set up and in "set it and forget it" mode because I have dotted every i and crossed every t within reason pertaining to my network audio set up.

Here is a curve ball..as much as I thought the fiber isolation was an improvement I still wondered if one of the several LAN filters on the market would also improve things.

Well MUCH to my surprise, adding the SOtM ISO-CAT6 LAN filter (write before the streamer) actually did improve things even more. I also ordered the Acoustic Revive model, and there are a few others. The last link in the chain, literally, is I ordered Supra "CAT7+" cable and was impressed. They are one of the only ones selling boutique ethernet cable that actually have a proprietary design.
http://www.jenving.com/products/view/cat-7-stp-patch-1001908415

The lesson learned is that there can never be too much isolation?