dCS Network Bridge

[mecani]

Hello I already have the dcs network at home First probe the dcs connected to the dac by aes ebu without connection to the clock and the sound compared with the auralic aries femnto is a huge step I would say as of night to day then I started playing with the mutec mc3 + ref 10, connecting the two clock inputs of the dcs to mc3 + ref10 and the output of the clock dcs to the dac another big step in the quality of the sound, with the only drawback that you have to manually change the frequency 44.1 or 48khz but you can tell the difference of the ref10  the last proof that done is to use the mutec pak as recloked for the dcs and waaaaaao AWESOME If the dcs has an impressive quality, but when it passes through the mutec without words 

 

[mecani]

I forgot using the mute of recloked for the dcs change the frequency automatically right now the dac, the dcs and the mutec logically have the ref reference 10 and it shows I need to try dua aes ebu but I do not have wiring if it exceeds this I could be something incredible

[Beolab]

I am using the same config with dual clocking. 

 

 

 

The sound is great, one of the best on the market! 

 

But what i I don't like is the behaiour of the App, it moves out to the welcome screen each time i toggle back and forth between apps, it also starts all over again from the top in the album list if i browse to tracks inside the album, and then go backwards. It cant remember the tracks / Album in Tidal, so it read them in on the fly like slow old computer. 

 

It crashes and starts over again an so on, very unstable app i have to say, but maybe it is because of my network access points / repeters interfere where i sit in my listening room. So i would be glad if someone can describe if they have the same issues, or if it is just my NB + NB App that behave like this? 

 

In comparison my other old streaming products, like Auralic ,  Oppo 105 , BlueSounde,  Aurrender , does not behave like this, they read in everything and remember it, and the app do not crash. 

 

 

 

 

 

[matthias]

On 25. Oktober 2017 at 1:40 PM, wdw said:

 

Yes, I have....the bridge was recognized immediately with A+ 3.1.  Have been using a ROON ROCK but now alternate with A+ which, to my ear,  sounds somewhat better than Roon.

 

Did you or others compare Tidal (integrated in A+ 3.1) going into the dCS bridge  vs. Tidal (integrated in the dCS Bridge)?

Thanks

 

Matt 

[mecani]

the application gives many problems let's hope they are solved with the expected update

[Beolab]

Very very unstable, that App is not worth the asking price of the NB??

[mecani]

is not up it is quite frustrating

[wdw]

2 hours ago, matthias said:

 

Did you or others compare Tidal (integrated in A+ 3.1) going into the dCS bridge  vs. Tidal (integrated in the dCS Bridge)?

Thanks

 

Matt 

haven't tried but will check it out...A+ (and/or ROON) is a far more fluid interface such that I never considered using the NB App.

[rickca]

On 11/7/2017 at 9:02 AM, xtraktz said:

It would also be interesting to compare dCS NB with Bricasti M5, Ultra/Signature Rendu, Aurender W20 and Onset by StackAudio.

 

 

Thanks for mentioning that Onset streamer.  This seems like a really nice product.

http://hifipig.com/the-onset-music-streamer-from-stack-audio/#more-35163

http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2017/11/new-kid-on-the-block-stack-audios-onset/

 

Note however that this device is not Roon Ready.

[George Hincapie]

6 hours ago, rickca said:

 

Thanks for mentioning that Onset streamer.  This seems like a really nice product.

http://hifipig.com/the-onset-music-streamer-from-stack-audio/#more-35163

http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2017/11/new-kid-on-the-block-stack-audios-onset/

 

Note however that this device is not Roon Ready.

 

A spectacular missed opportunity. A streamer that doesn't support Roon isn't worth buying.

[iefbo]

I agree, the onset looks slick!

Gotta wait for reviews now ... even better comparisons!

 

[rickca]

50 minutes ago, George Hincapie said:

 

A spectacular missed opportunity. A streamer that doesn't support Roon isn't worth buying.

Well, here's what Stack Audio says: 

 

We use a Swiss made module which is ultra low noise and EMI but the chip cannot support Roon.  The Swiss company are working on a new module that will support Roon and MQA.  However, a delivery date is still to be confirmed.  So I am not making customers any promises.  The fact that it does not support Roon is reflected in the price, if it did support Roon it would likely cost twice.

 

 

[George Hincapie]

2 minutes ago, rickca said:

Well, here's what Stack Audio says: 

 

We use a Swiss made module which is ultra low noise and EMI but the chip cannot support Roon.  The Swiss company are working on a new module that will support Roon and MQA.  However, a delivery date is still to be confirmed.  So I am not making customers any promises.  The fact that it does not support Roon is reflected in the price, if it did support Roon it would likely cost twice.

 

 

 

 

I think they are taking the piss. Why should it cost twice the price because it supports Roon? Nonsense. There is no valid argument for any streamer costing that much. In my view, dCS/Aries G2 pricing should be the pinnacle.

[firedog]

To support Roon all  it needs to do is have RoonBridge installed. I guess it is possible the CPU they are using is somehow incompatible with RoonBridge, but it is a small program that uses little resources and in theory can be installed on almost any type of computer/streamer.

[firedog]

1 hour ago, rickca said:

Well, here's what Stack Audio says: 

 

We use a Swiss made module which is ultra low noise and EMI but the chip cannot support Roon.  The Swiss company are working on a new module that will support Roon and MQA.  However, a delivery date is still to be confirmed.  So I am not making customers any promises.  The fact that it does not support Roon is reflected in the price, if it did support Roon it would likely cost twice.

 

 

I've written them and asked about that quote, as it makes no sense to me. 

[AmusedToD]

This is what Mr. Martin Reynolds of dCS replied to my question regarding the NB firmware update:

 

”We hope to release the MQA update for Rossini by the end of the year, then we will roll MQA out to NBR and Vivaldi over the following months. I cannot be more precise, as some of the delays are beyond our control. The Network Bridge will then perform the first unfold on bit-perfect MQA data, which will result in good-quality audio at 24/88.2 or 24/96. Unfortunately, the Paganini DAC is no longer in production, so we cannot update it to perform the final MQA rendering, but it will give good results.“

[rickca]

25 minutes ago, AmusedToD said:

This is what Mr. Martin Reynolds of dCS replied to my question regarding the NB firmware update

Could you please ask him about availability of USB audio output on the NB?  That's more important to me than MQA.

[AmusedToD]

3 minutes ago, rickca said:

Could you please ask him about availability of USB audio output on the NB?  That's more important to me than MQA.

 

Well, it took them a week to reply to my question which was sent through their website. You could drop them an email the same way: https://www.dcsltd.co.uk/product-support/contact/

 

[rickca]

8 minutes ago, AmusedToD said:

You could drop them an email the same way

Done.

 

So according to the update you got from Martin Reynolds, the MQA schedule has already slipped from the timeframe Darko mentioned only 3 weeks ago.  Clearly Darko's input was stale by the time he published his article.

[AmusedToD]

10 minutes ago, rickca said:

Done.

 

So according to the update you got from Martin Reynolds, the MQA schedule has already slipped from the timeframe Darko mentioned only 3 weeks ago.  Clearly Darko's input was stale by the time he published his article.

 

Yes, apparently so. According to Martin’s email, we shouldn’t expect any updates this year.

[George Hincapie]

Clearly they are employing external coders to deal with the software changes. That isn't a bad thing at all, but as soon as you involve a 3rd party you lose control and your priorities sadly aren't theirs.

[firedog]

2 hours ago, firedog said:

I've written them and asked about that quote, as it makes no sense to me. 

I wrote and asked them what the issue was with installing RoonBridge (Roon streaming app) on the Onset Streamer and they answered me right away and said this:

 

Quote

 

Hello, 

 

Thank you for your email.

 

The chipset we use is not supported by roon. You are right the platform is tiny so size is not the issue and the cost is also not an issue. I chose a Hi end swiss streamer module that has very low EMI and noise. The alternative was to use a platform from stream unlimited which supported roon but it did not sound good. In hindsight I may have made the wrong decision from a business perspective but sound wise I made the right one.

 

The company that supplies the module are working on a new one that will support Roon but this could be a little bit down the line. I launched the Onset at a price that reflects the lack of roon Support.

 

Sorry I could not be much more help.

 

Many Thanks

Theo

 

 

[AmusedToD]

25 minutes ago, firedog said:

I wrote and asked them what the issue was with installing RoonBridge (Roon streaming app) on the Onset Streamer and they answered me right away and said this:

 

 

 

So according to them, the Stream board (made by Stream Unlimited in Vienna) is not good sounding, thus dCS made the wrong decision of using this module in the Rossini DAC and the Network Bridge. Everybody hurry and dump your Rossini's and NB's in favor of the Onset Streamer! And forget Roon along the way too!

[George Hincapie]

2 hours ago, firedog said:

I wrote and asked them what the issue was with installing RoonBridge (Roon streaming app) on the Onset Streamer and they answered me right away and said this:

 

 

 

 

Yet again with the price. Does my head in. And utter BS too. £2500 for a non-Roon supporting streamer is theft IMHO. How he can sleep at night is beyond me.

[austinpop]

4 hours ago, rickca said:

Done.

 

So according to the update you got from Martin Reynolds, the MQA schedule has already slipped from the timeframe Darko mentioned only 3 weeks ago.  Clearly Darko's input was stale by the time he published his article.

 

dCS may be whizzes at digital audio, but they seem to lack even the most basic marketing skills. To wit:

1. They successfully avoided giving a precise timeline during the entire development cycle of their firmware update. That's fine, some grumbling, dealers soothing with phrases like - this is dCS, they take their time to do it right, blah, blah.
2. Then, they expose a timeline - see Darko, exhibit A - just weeks prior to the claimed release
3. THEN, they miss the deadline, and now go back to a vague timeline.

Pure genius, that. Bravo!