dCS Network Bridge

[agentsmith]

3 minutes ago, Patatorz said:

What would be your thinking if a dCS leader, who know that you are looking for usb output on top of spdif/aes, is writing you « please move forward the firmware will be released soon » ? 

 Agree that the pre-announcement was big mistake.  But from my experience with them they did it in good faith.  They are the other extreme of my dealing with Devialet, who steadfastly refuse to communicate, even with many releases of buggy updates.

[Patatorz]

I agree with you that they would have done it if they could. But sorry for me it is. It enough to say ... sorry...apologize ...

[mecani]

It is a question of deceptive advertising

[mecani]

thinking badly
If for a casual the usb output is superior to the dual aes ebu it would be counterproductive to the brand

[Patatorz]

31 minutes ago, mecani said:

It is a question of deceptive advertising

?

[Vule]

SQ wise NB is a jewel in my audio system. 

I purchased  some albums from HDTracks in DSD 128 res with hope to play them with NB. Now i cannot utilise NB in the way I wanted and I’m afraid it will become OBSOLETE sometime soon. 

Nobody likes restrictions and everybody likes exploring. USB output, is it a way to go? Why do other high end companies (Lumin,Aurelic,etc.) invest in its development? Bit depth wise or SQ wise?

Company such as dCS depends on only one SW Engineer??? I am not frustrated at all, here I am confused. 

 

[agentsmith]

13 hours ago, Patatorz said:

What would be your thinking if a dCS leader, who know that you are looking for usb output on top of spdif/aes, is writing you « please move forward the firmware will be released soon » ? 

Noted the frustration on that risky pre-announcement.

[agentsmith]

I personally do not put Lumin,Aurelic,etc on the same class as dCS

 

[Patatorz]

Could you elaborate Focusing on streamers ?

 

thanks

[agentsmith]

Just a general statement on the legacy of dCS as a respected high end digital audio icon, comparing them to newfangled companies like Lumin and Auralic would be like comparing Porsche with Hyundai

[Patatorz]

Ok it is purely a feeling. 

To my knowledge, LUMIN and auralic to take as example the ones named before, are designing their products fully. They are not relying on a OEM cards (stream unlimited, engineered...). Not to say it is good or bad, they are putting their r&d budget in a design they are mastering. Both of them are now at ta very good level in terms of power supply, features (roon, MQA, usb audio, usb storage, multiple outputs etc...).

So from a technical standpoint I’m not sure where is the Porsche or the huyndai. 

From a brand standpoint I perfectly understand what you mean. The question is to understand if at the speed of the digital era, a Porsche could remain a Porsche for a long time. A lot of high end automotive brands were not able to survive without big brands (Lamborghini , etc...).

At this time I’m not sure I want to pay for a Porsche and the service of a Hyundai .

[Vule]

It's time to settle down some thoughts.

Despite the fact that at that time I easily accepted guarantees made by dCS for USB output release feature now I partly have to take responsibility for buying NB and overall not involving my self in gathering more info about internal parts of NB and the famous project by itself. I assume that from the start mission was impossible due to factory setting of Stream Unlimited Module including its controller and driver. No doubt dCS team gave their best to make it working and achieve decent SQ as per their well established standards.

Speaking of future time if dCS plan to implement USB output in NB2, it will have to be revised internally with separate USB Bus and assuming present limitation of AES/SPDIF re bit depth even dCS DACs will benefit of that function.

Until that time appears It'd be good decision to move forward and continue to enjoy in beautiful instrument such as dCS Network Bridge.

[rickca]

4 minutes ago, Vule said:

I assume that from the start mission was impossible due to factory setting of Stream Unlimited Module including its controller and driver.

What does Stream Unlimited have to do with implementation of USB output?  

[Vule]

http://www.streamunlimited.com/products/streaming-audio/streamvienna/stream810---imx7dual-audio.html

[Patatorz]

On 8/6/2018 at 2:46 PM, Vule said:

SQ wise NB is a jewel in my audio system. 

I purchased  some albums from HDTracks in DSD 128 res with hope to play them with NB. Now i cannot utilise NB in the way I wanted and I’m afraid it will become OBSOLETE sometime soon. 

Nobody likes restrictions and everybody likes exploring. USB output, is it a way to go? Why do other high end companies (Lumin,Aurelic,etc.) invest in its development? Bit depth wise or SQ wise?

Company such as dCS depends on only one SW Engineer??? I am not frustrated at all, here I am confused. 

 

 

You can always look for a DoP compatible DAC and transcode your DSD128 to DSD64 with minimserver or Roon ?

or at least transcode you DSD to PCM 24/176...

[Patatorz]

Or invest in a dCS DAC ?

[Vule]

Thanks for suggestion ?, but I'll stick with my DAC.

[Beolab]

the new dCS streaming + headphone DAC just revealed 

 

the design is like the NBR not that intuitive or inivative, but i think it will sound great. 

 

I think thats  why dCS was down in Holland and visit Solution a couple of month ago so they could take advantage of some great cicuit power design to make great headphone amp. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

4 minutes ago, Beolab said:

the new dCS streaming + headphone DAC just revealed 

 

the design is like the NBR not that intuitive or inivative, but i think it will sound great. 

 

I think thats  why dCS was down in Holland and visit Solution a couple of month ago so they could take advantage of some great cicuit power design to make great headphone amp.

Been discussing it here 

 

 

 

[AMP]

16 minutes ago, Beolab said:

I think thats  why dCS was down in Holland and visit Solution a couple of month ago so they could take advantage of some great cicuit power design to make great headphone amp. 

 

Nope. The headphone amp is 100% our own design and was finalized long before that trip took place.

 

That trip was purely to exchange ideas on manufacturing processes.

 

[udis]

26 minutes ago, AMP said:

 

Nope. The headphone amp is 100% our own design and was finalized long before that trip took place.

 

That trip was purely to exchange ideas on manufacturing processes.

 

 

Amp, 

 

Are you able to comment how the Rossini sounds feeding a Soulution 330 integrate in theater mode (bypass preamp)? 

 

Or or any other Soulution amp for that matter?

 

Thank you in advance!

[The Computer Audiophile]

59 minutes ago, AMP said:

 

Nope. The headphone amp is 100% our own design and was finalized long before that trip took place.

 

That trip was purely to exchange ideas on manufacturing processes.

 

Thanks for clearing that up right away. 

[ken6217]

I just received a NWB an will be using it with my Debussy. Can anyone assist me with the optimum settings for both the Bridge and well as Roon? I am using Roon Nucleus as well.

I am currently using one AES/EBU cable as well as a 75ohm cable for the Clock out on the bridge to the clock in on the Debussy.

 

NWB Unit settings:

SPDIF Downsampling-

Dual AES Sample Rate-

DSD Downsampling-

 

Roon Audio Settings:

Device Setup:

MQA Capabilities-

Volume Control-

Max Sample Rate (PCM)- 

Max Bits Per sample (PCM)- 

Max sample rate (DSD)- 

Enable MQA Core Decoder- 

 

DSP Engine- Enable or Disable?

Sample Rate Conversion Filter- 

DSD Processing Settings- 

DSD to PCM Filter-

DSD to PCM gain- 

 

Any other advise in terms of settings would be greatly appreciated.

 

Any difference in sound quality using a standard hard drive or SSD?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AMP]

1 hour ago, ken6217 said:

NWB Unit settings:

SPDIF Downsampling-

Dual AES Sample Rate-

DSD Downsampling-

 

The defaults should be fine here assuming your Debussy is on the latest firmware (as far as I know your unit is) but you'll want to change the Dual AES  Sample Rate setting to get the Bridge to output Dual AES for more content. Set that to 88.2K and that will have the Bridge outputting Dual AES for everything above 88.2K.

 

1 hour ago, ken6217 said:

Roon Audio Settings:

Device Setup:

MQA Capabilities-

Volume Control-

Max Sample Rate (PCM)- 

Max Bits Per sample (PCM)- 

Max sample rate (DSD)- 

Enable MQA Core Decoder- 

 

These should all default to the correct settings when you enable the device in Roon. MQA Capabilities should be "Decoder only".

 

Volume control is up to you but if you're using a preamp then Fixed makes the most sense. In that case also make sure that the volume control on the NBR itself is at full scale. Same on the Debussy.

 

1 hour ago, ken6217 said:

DSP Engine- Enable or Disable?

Sample Rate Conversion Filter- 

DSD Processing Settings- 

DSD to PCM Filter-

DSD to PCM gain- 

 

This is totally up to you and your preference. I've had good luck setting Roon's upsampling to "Max PCM Rate (power of 2)" which will upsample all PCM content to DXD but pass DSD through natively. The filter used is totally up to you and your preference.

 

Since the Debussy supports DSD the DSD to PCM settings won't be used.

 

1 hour ago, ken6217 said:

Any difference in sound quality using a standard hard drive or SSD?

 

On your Roon core? No.

 

 

Lots of info on Roon's settings and setup is available on their forum. Worth checking out if you haven't already.

[ken6217]

Thank you.