PS Audio Bridge Beta Testing

[ManWithAPlan]

Folks, my first post here, love the site. I have been a Beta tester of the PWD/Bridge combo from the start, you'll see my comments on the Beta blog for those that have been lurking there. But I wanted to just post here as well to say that I see so many folks here with so many different "hops" in their architectures to get high rez music into their listening rooms. I have been through the same over the years, until at one point I thought the Olive Symphony would save me. I have to tell you, the Bridge/PWD DAC is staying in my system, for a long long time. In short, the sound quality is outstanding, and this is how simple my system is:

 

Netgear ReadyNAS-->PWD with Bridge-->Anthem D2V via XLR-->B&W 703's.

 

ReadyNAS storing bit-perfect FLAC (everything from 16bit/44.1 to 24bit/192 and everything in between). All files tagged including album artwork.

 

Folks looking for a good NAS, please please please do your research. The Netgear ReadyNAS products are outstanding, and yes I've been through many others. They have their own uPnP server built-in, that can be tweaked for those that are inclined, but it literally is 2 clicks to enable and have it working. No use of Twonky, unless of course one wants to load the available plug-in for it no the ReadyNAS, but there's no need for it. It just works as they say.

 

I'm enjoying the HDtracks.com 24/96 FLAC's of Ella Fitz and Louis Armstrong as I write this. Simply amazing DAC, I love it.

 

Thanks for the oppty to share,

Brian

 

[ManWithAPlan]

Thanks, I appreciate the welcome silverlight. The upcoming Tag N' Play Server (and library management capabilities) are still expected to be out by the end of this year according to Paul/CEO. I haven't heard much about the NAS lately, though I would expect that probably shortly thereafter. I will not be using either of them, though I see that at least the library mgmt software will be of use to some.

 

My opinion on NAS gear is that there are many VERY good NAS devices out there, and I use my NAS for so many other things, that I don't want to experiment with an audio company trying to replicate what some of the best minds in storage have perfected over many years. I store my FLAC library on the ReadyNAS for instance, and those same files are served up in numerous ways, using different file server protocols, etc. I would suggest to those planning on a proper implementation that a proper NAS opens you up to the possibilities of serving up those files in new and interesting ways beyond just streaming them to the Bridge or other in-house audio devices. For instance, my NAS music library serves the main listening zone via the Bridge/PWD, but also serves me when I'm on the road via other NAS plug-ins on the ReadyNAS, where I can stream to an iPad, laptop , etc. from hotels, offices, etc. It also is available to me via secure FTP when I'm on the road and feel like downloading a complete album, or maybe just a couple tracks. The NAS has excellent drive redundancy with RAID array for fault tolerance. Even so of course, off-site backups are always required for precious digital assets like music!

 

So yeah, I'm all set on the NAS side, but I can see where maybe for some, a simplified "fisher price" NAS that does one thing well might be interesting. To me, that defeats the spirit and value of a NAS. But to each his own!

 

Cheers, enjoy that PWD/Bridge!

Brian