Article: dCS Network Bridge Review

[Paul R]

4 hours ago, JamesBardsley said:

Holy Mackerel!

You were spot on.

The Network Bridge has made a big uplift in the sound.

Every track I've listened to (about 40 tracks I know well) sounds much better - as good as I've ever heard them.

Bigger soundstage, better separation, cleaner sound.

But retaining the Naim musicality that I love.

e.g. Max Roach 'The Drum Also Waltzes' - I can hear the physical relationships between the drums and cymbals far better - and each drum and cymbal is crystal clear in itself.

'Miles Beyond' by the Mahavishnu Orchestra - so clean and yet it rocks even more than usual too.

Then my 6 year old son came in - he said it's miles better - listened to Get Lucky by Daft Punk - such a fuller and better sound.

Then my 12 year old daughter came in and played a track by Drake (not Nick Drake) - there was a wierd and amazing twisting bass effect that made it sound like I've got a sub-woofer.

The speakers are into another dimension.

Now all I need is to wire in a dedicated hifi radial and I'm done.

Roon, I'm afraid, is toast for me for the foreseeable future.

The dCS app picked up all my favourites and playlists too.

Huge thanks to everyone on this thread who encouraged to do buy the dCS Network Bridge.

cheers!

Jim

 

That's what it is all about friend!  Enjoy!

 

-Paul 

 

P.S.  Wait till you hear DSD.  

 

[JamesBardsley]

9 hours ago, Paul R said:

Wait till you hear DSD.  

so that would be available as per your previous post

probably best via Roon?

[you temptress!]

so how would DSD via Roon actually increase my SQ further - by upsampling 44/16 files to higher resolutions/speeds?

[Paul R]

They may not, but it is fun to try!  I was actually thinking of you getting to try  native DSD though, as it can knock your socks off. 

 

There is a free trial of Roon you can load on a laptop, and your dCS is Roon Ready. They just have to be on the same network to play music together.  🔊 And once you route Tidal or Qobuz through Roon, the native apps can get very “dusty”...  😄

 

Seriously, I have no affiliation with Roon or NativeDSD, but I truly think they make playing music a fantastic experience. Both elevate the sound to entirely different levels. The difference with DSD is night/day to me, but other folks don’t have the same opinion on that. I think it has something to do with personal preference! 

 

http://help.nativedsd.com/high-resolution-dsd-listening/new-listeners/getting-started-playing-dsd-and-dxd-files

 

Oops, I meant to link to their free sampler page.  https://www.nativedsd.com/information/welcome

 

[JamesBardsley]

thanks Paul

that'll keep me off the streets for a few more days

Jim

[JamesBardsley]

On 4/19/2019 at 6:18 PM, The Computer Audiophile said:

The Bridge has an S/PDIF output on the same interface so it will work just fine. 

Do you know of anyone using a dCS Network Bridge into a Denafrips Terminator?

Do you think that would work well?

The Terminator with its new DSP board can now I think receive dual AES/EBU - does this mean the NB could transfer files at twice the sampling rate to the Terminator? If so, would the dual feed be likely to give better sound than say spdif (which is what I currently use)?

[smodtactical]

Late to the party but James I am thinking of doing exactly that! dcs bridge into terminator with dsp v2 card.

[Blake]

35 minutes ago, smodtactical said:

Late to the party but James I am thinking of doing exactly that! dcs bridge into terminator with dsp v2 card.

 

Interesting but very expensive experiment.  It seems the majority of Terminator owners consider i2s or USB to be the Terminator's best performing input (as do I), but perhaps the dCS Bridge would work some magic with dual AES?

[JamesBardsley]

Sorry I sobered up and did an ABA test and realised that changing my Ciscos had made me misjudge how good the dCS network bridge was.

 

I part exchanged it for a Naim 555DR psu and that Really made a positive difference.

 

am listening to it now................

 

Paul Bley, Charlie Haden and Paul Motian on an all Cisco and Naim system

[smodtactical]

13 hours ago, Blake said:

 

Interesting but very expensive experiment.  It seems the majority of Terminator owners consider i2s or USB to be the Terminator's best performing input (as do I), but perhaps the dCS Bridge would work some magic with dual AES?

 

I have compared AES to usb and AES was clearly superior to me. But never tried the I2S input.

 

Maybe I should try a usb to i2s box and compare it to the streaming option.