Confused Posted February 7, 2017 Share Posted February 7, 2017 The Network bridge has been available at few dealers for a month or so now. (At least it has in the UK). Has anyone had the chance of a decent audition yet? Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade. Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones. Link to comment
Confused Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 I lost a bit of interest after finding out it doesn't stream from local file copy like Aurender. I'd still like to hear it out of curiosity but it feels like a missed opportunity, unless I'm missing something. According to the specs it 'streams digital music from an external drive'. Looking at the pictures it does have a USB connection on the rear panel. So to me it does look a bit like an Aurender, but without external storage. I suspect the vast majority of purchasers would be runnng it via Roon / ethernet though. So I think regarding functionality it looks very versatile. I have listened to the Vivaldi Upsampler and Clock running direct off a USB thumb drive, this sounded very good indeed. It fell down a little in terms of value for money though, with a UK list price of £24K. Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade. Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones. Link to comment
Confused Posted May 16, 2017 Share Posted May 16, 2017 It's interesting that I run a Devialet that sounds best fed via AES/EBU and so I run a microRendu which in turn feeds a Mutec MC3+USB, which provides the preferred AES/EBU output plus reclocking goodness. I wonder how this combination would compare to the dCS, and it is apples for apples as far the input and output methods are concerned. The mR/Mutec combo has the additional advantage of being HQPlayer compatible, which offers further sound quality advantages in some systems. I wonder how Roon + dCS would compare to mR + Mutec + HQPlayer? mikicasellas 1 Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade. Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones. Link to comment
Confused Posted August 1, 2017 Share Posted August 1, 2017 4 hours ago, Emerald Core said: BUMP! Are there any users who owned/listened to the Network Bridge. I am extremely interested to read a comparison between NB, N10 and Signature Rendu (assuming that these are the most raved streamers/renderers at the moment). Three different philosophies in digital playback. Three different value per $ tier. I have never listened to the Network Bridge, but I did have a very interesting conversation about it with a dealer a couple of weeks ago. The dealer knows me very well, he also knows that I had an interest in the Network Bridge and that I prefer AES input with my Devialet amp. So the guy has every reason to try and sell me one. The dealer stocks dCS and Aurender products, amongst other stuff. Anyway, he told me that they were having difficulty selling the Network Bridge, with some customers trying Network Bridge vs Aurender comparisons and preferring the Aurender for sound quality, this includes the X100, let alone the N10. Of course the X100 is similar money, although has internal storage, USB out etc. He then went on to say that they found the sound quality of the Network Bridge to not quite as good as they had hoped, hence the unfavourable comparisons with the Aurender, however, he then stated that things get very much better with the Network Bridge if it is used with a decent external clock. OK, this is second hand stuff and who would trust a dealer! I am just passing on what I was told, it seamed relevant here. Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade. Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones. Link to comment
Confused Posted October 22, 2017 Share Posted October 22, 2017 I am tentatively thinking about upgrading my current 'digital from end', which is currently and mR and Mutec MC3+USB. I have pretty much decided that I will be getting a Mutec REF10 to accompany my existing MC3+USB. This then leaves the mR as very much the week link in this chain I suspect. OK, the mR could be replaced by the uR or SOtM Ultra kit. An alternative I was thinking about would be the Network Bridge. One dealer I have spoken to in the UK reports that the Network Bridge gets a decent lift in sound quality with an external clock. So one obvious thing to consider would be to use the word clock output of the REF10 fed Mutec MC3+USB to feed the Network Bridge. Mindful of the issues with clock rates, clock multipliers and all the rest of it, would a REF10/MC3/Network Bridge set up work as it should? As far as I can work out, it should work fine, but one thing I am learning is that this the reference and word clock topic is far more complex that it first appears, so I though I'd double check. Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade. Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones. Link to comment
Confused Posted October 22, 2017 Share Posted October 22, 2017 51 minutes ago, AmusedToD said: Best thing would be to demo it all before making a buying decision. Or you can consider getting a used dCS master clock with a 10Mhz input and attach the Ref10 to it, that might be the ultimate proposition. Absolutely, the good thing about the Network Bridge is that it is one thing I could easy get for home demo, I have a good relationship with a dealer that has a demo unit in store. I would have a problem getting hold of Sonore or SOtM alternatives for comparison though, not an easy thing to do in the UK. BTW, the Mutec MC3+USB also has AES/EBU (XLR) input, so a Network Bridge + Mutec MC3+USB set up could be a USB free solution. Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade. Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones. Link to comment
Confused Posted November 10, 2017 Share Posted November 10, 2017 18 hours ago, matthias said: Interesting the comment of Antipodes Audio regarding AES: "With poor quality servers, playing over the network to an Ethernet DAC can make sense, but with an excellent server playback via USB sounds clearly better. SPDIF and AES3 can compete with USB if done properly, but will generally sound softer and warmer due to higher jitter, and some people will prefer that in some contexts. We expect to move away from providing SPDIF and AES3 over time as customers are preferring to use higher bit-rate file formats, including upsampling their ripped CD files. SPDIF and AES3 interfaces are much less suited to transferring high bit-rates than USB and Ethernet, because they don't have the bandwidth to "square out" a high bit-rate signal." Matt Agreed, interesting comments. It is a case of generalisations though, the quote itself states 'will generally sound softer'. The point being that with USB being asynchronous and with AES3 carrying a clock signal to be used by the DAC, they are different beasts. Taking the Network Bridge as a specific example, I understand it comes with a decent internal clock, and on top of this there are some users that have reported good results when feeding the Network Bridge with a Mutec REF10/MC3+ generated word clock signal. So in theory, this should mean that the Network Bridge is outputting via AES3 a very high quality / very low jitter clock output that the receiving DAC will hopefully make very good use of. So done like this, it is fair to speculate that although AES3 'will generally sound softer', when that AES3 signal has the benefit of a REF10 clock then the end result should be excellent. Via USB, it is a little harder to understand the benefit of decent clocking, when the DAC's own clock is in control of the asynchronous feed. (although the 'Trifecta' thread has much subjective evidence that improving the clock in a USB feed also yields good results, it is just easier to see how clocks provide an upstream benefit when AES3 is used) So in terms of a generalisation, I think there is a lot of truth in the Antipodes quote, but when you look at specific system topographies, things can be very different. Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade. Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones. Link to comment
Confused Posted November 11, 2017 Share Posted November 11, 2017 1 hour ago, pam1975 said: who made this test here? is it on this thread or another one? for me the MC3+USB doesn't change anything alone as external reclocker vs internal clock from dCS. Wondering about the addition of the Ref10 though... thanks! See mecani’s posts in this thread, a couple of pages back. Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade. Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones. Link to comment
Confused Posted June 13, 2018 Share Posted June 13, 2018 I was wondering if anyone has any experience using the Network Bridge with a decent external master clock. I recall that a while ago @mecani posted some very positive words with respect to running the NB with a Mutec REF10 / MC3+USB providing word clock input. I already own the REF10 and MC3+USB, so this would be possible for me. I was just wondering if there was any other experience out there? Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade. Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones. Link to comment
Confused Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 56 minutes ago, Darryl R said: I have a question for anyone familiar with the Vivaldi Upsampler. If I recall, one pitch for the NBR is that it provides interfacing capability for those who can't afford the entire stack of dCS components (which is most of us). Upsampling aside, is there anything else the Vivaldi Upsampler provides which the NBR doesn't, and vice versa. I think you said it in your question - Upsampling aside. As far as I am aware, there is no difference in the basic functionality. That said, I did have two demonstrations of the Upsampler a couple of years ago, this was with a Devialet D800. In one demonstration the Upsampler was being fed 16/44.1 material, upsampling to DSD, and feeding this to the Devialet that will accept DSD64, but converts to PCM for it's ADH core. This made no sense to me, and I thought it would sound better upsampling to PCM. I was wrong, It sounded utterly sensational upsampling to DSD, and definitely ahead of upsampling to PCM. At home, I can feed my Devialet DSD using HQPlayer, and although this sounds good, it does loose a little in dynamics and bass accuracy versus PCM. With the dCS Upsampler everything sounds good, every aspect of the performance. At the time I had listened to the D800 with the Aurender N10, Aurender W20, Melco N1Z, CAD CAT and others. Nothing sounded as good as the Upsampler. If it was a little cheaper I would buy one, but £16K for something in what is a fast developing product category is just a bit too steep for me. It is good though! So yes, it is just the upsampling, but dCS's upsampling is very special indeed. Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade. Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones. Link to comment
Confused Posted June 26, 2018 Share Posted June 26, 2018 I posted this earlier in the Network Bridge review thread, but I think it might be more relevant here, see link below. I know @mecani has tried some of this. Does anyone else have any thoughts? Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade. Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones. Link to comment
Confused Posted July 14, 2018 Share Posted July 14, 2018 On 7/7/2018 at 12:37 PM, Emc1 said: Yes I am now using MC3+USB/REF 10 as a reclocker and clock provider for my NB as well. The sound is great. Recently I ask a technician to help me change the internal switching power supply of MC3 into linear power supply as well. The effect surprise me as well. This is interesting. Are you taking the AES feed from the NB and then running this first through the MC3+USB and then to your DAC or simply providing a word clock feed to the NB and this feeds the DAC directly? Plus, do you have any issues with providing just one word clock feed to the NB, when ideally it should have two, one at 44.1kHz rates and one 48kHz rates? One thing occurs to me here, you have two MC3+USB's, so in theory, one could generate the 44.1kHz rates and the other 48kHz rates, and you could then feed both word clock rates to the NB. Just a thought. Maybe this is unnecessary if you simply upsample everything to 24/192 or similar? Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade. Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones. Link to comment
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