Matrix Audio X sabre Pro MQA connect to II2s

[One and a half]

Nice system!

 

Total agreement to put macmini to pasture. Not so much agreement with DSD1024. After some time, the upsampling was tiring to listen to, far better to play files as is, anyway. There's a theory where high sample rates introduces brightness caused by noise as a mask for clarity....

 

To this end, and especially for redbook,  some dacs excel at this sample rate , a good indication that it can work at higher rates with equal performance.

 

IIS is a VERY short distance transmission like 3 inches, the rest is a form of LVDS with so many dizzying variations,  no DAC can accommodate them all. Personally I would forget this protocol and stick with AES 3, or the other variants of SPDIF. USB, the jury is still out on this, for DSD IMHO, it works, for PCM SPDIF has the edge of low fatigue factor.

 

I bought a Lumin U1 and have never looked back. Files store & Roon core on the one machine, directly cabled to the U1 and to DAC.  Done.