Cary Audio DMS-500

[GUTB]

11 hours ago, ahwelch said:

I recently purchased the DMS-500 and have enjoyed how it has taken my system to the next level. My prior system was a NAD M51 with Audiophilleo2 SPIDF converter, had excellent sound but couldn't play DSD. I have the DMS directly connected to my MacMini with a CAT8 cable, no switch involved - only the Macmini is connected to the router. When I did the direct ethernet connection by bridging the ethernet ports full internet access was still maintained by both the Mac and the DMS; I also noticed a jump in sound quality. The DMS also upsamples to DSD256 and plays native DSD512. I find the DSD256 files upsampled by the DMS to sound better than DSD512 upsampled by ROON. Add to that the DMS app that streams Spotify, Tidal etc.

 

After months of looking at various configurations involving NAAs, fiber optic converters etc;  this has proven to be much simpler and sounds great. Even the Absolute Sound has recently made the DMS-500 an Editor's choice. 

 

 

 

Since you have Magnepans you might not be getting much of a soundstage, but do you care to comment on that? How does soundstage and imaging differ with your old system?