Munich 2018

[zdenes]

That's because there is nothing wrong with the source.

Nothing wrong with a Macbook. I have a Macbook Pro myself. A perfect laptop computer. 

It is also a superb source.  That's why the engineer (as am I) "politely" stated what he did.  If you want to debate the matter further we'll probably need to take it up in a new thread.

Although I have a degree in physics but have worked in other professions, so my knowledge now is only enough to follow arguments for and against certain digital sources, not enough to debate over them. 

I would not even go into summarizing what I learned over a period of time on different digital interfaces, connections and protocols reading information on the internet. It's time-consuming and may not be accurate, I'd rather listen to music. But as we all know USB, AES/EBU, optical, ethernet have their own protocols and to lesser or more extent are influenced by both the clock at the source and at the receiving end. For one, USB is in packets and the receiving end is more important (but not exclusively) while AES/EBU also transfers the embedded clock signal. If anybody is interested, this a digestible source of information 
https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/...nterfacing

and another introductory level talk on USB https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBLto-DlGJo

Last week in Munich, Mathieu clearly acknowledged that the SQ can improve with a better source whatever better might mean. But less jitter is better and less noise is also better. And better cables is also better.

In my 8 years with Devialet amps (D-Premier, D250, D800) I have tried a large number of sources for extended periods (most of them I owned). Accuphase, Theta Digital, MSB, C.E.C transports to name a few, laptops and desktops running Windows, MacOS, or Linux with JRiver, Audirvana, Amarra, iTunes, Roon, HQPlayer and Bughead (maybe more). Also professional playback devices such as the Merging HAPI with Ravenna 67 protocol. 

I tried all inputs on Devialet over and over again with the exception of HDMI which most of us don't have any more anyway. 

Also many ethernet cables, USB cables, AES/EBU cables, etc from off the shelf products to high priced audio brands. 
I can only say that they all sounded different, sometimes the difference was little sometimes huge. 

Let me just say, in my experience, the MacBook didn't make the shortlist. In fact, it took me quite a struggle to achieve computer playback that matched my MSB transport with CDs. Finally, I exceeded that level so I could sell the MSB but it was a lot of trial and error and also thanks to a friend from the studio world who helped me with both advice and lending me quite a few pieces of hardware to try. 

Is my system the best possible? Surely not. There are extremely good one box streamers/playback devices as the Auralis G2 (I liked the sound in Munich a lot), Totaldac, dCS Network Bridge and others that I have not tried in my system.  

Zoltan