bodiebill

Indeed, I finally managed to extract an ISO that Sonore's software could not cope with. Thanks for this pointer!

From John Brown I understand that the U192ETL will be shipped coming Monday! I think it is wise not to order the DA96ETF (Fractal DAC) yet. Scenario's: (1) PC + U192ETL + Terminator TosLink sounds worse than SDTrans384 + Terminator I2S Then I have less confidence to buy the Fractal DAC as it should correct that delta. (2) PC + U192ETL + Terminator TosLink sounds as good as SDTrans384 + Terminator I2S Then I might use both setups. At least then I have added the possibility to conveniently play from my PC/music library via usb. And I would still be able to play 24/192 and DSD. (3) PC + U192ETL + Terminator TosLink sounds better than SDTrans384 + Terminator I2S Then I could switch to the U192ETL altogether and sell the other setup. I would loose the ability to play 24/192 and DSD but this could be compensated for by the overall SQ improvement. So in scenario (2) I might, and in scenario (3) I certainly would, add the Fractal DAC.

Are you a clairvoyant? Struggling to exercise discipline 😐

I just ordered an U192ETL to initially use with my Terminator. Who knows what is next... 🙂

Agreed. Endless tweaking by laymen like ourselves cannot compete with simple but brilliant design decisions for the main building blocks. After years of tweaking, my recent adage is: 'to omit' rather than 'to tame'. And that is exactly why the ECD products appeal to me.

Yes, read that also. Though much cheaper (and needing some DIY skills), it seems to be in the same league as the SDTrans384. (In the meantime I am using a HXMelody HX500, which is already very good with SD card and I2S. See below.)

Clear, thanks. And that is due to proper isolation from the source I guess.

Thanks! Do you mean no benefit compared to using the wtfplay PC directly into another DAC? Or compared to using U192ETL with another source? Apart from SQ there is also the Terminator's versatility compared to the ECD's limitations, offering more possibilities to compare different setups, with more file formats. Currently an SDTrans384 SD transport is on its way to me. Looking only at SQ, I would then be interested in this comparison: SDTrans384 => I2S => HDMI/LVDS cable => Terminator UPL96ETL => ElectroTos => Fractal DAC However, we are talking about two esoteric products (SDTrans and ECD) so it is not very likely that someone will compare these setups any time soon -- unless it is me 🙂

I have been reading this thread and the ECD website with great interest and am considering to get myself a U192ETL usb transport or UPL96ETL usb-stick transport. My initial preference was the UPL96ETL as this appears to be a purer solution and I am already used an attached to playing network-less (and usb-less) from a standalone SD transport for which I fill an SD card ad hoc with wav (and DSD256) files. However, I became reluctant when I noticed the requirements for tagging the files with the UPL software; this seems to me too much much of a hassle. As an alternative I am thinking of: wtfplay standalone PC => usb cable => U192ETL => ElectroTos cable => Denafrips Terminator Would this work? I already tried the TosLink input on the Terminator and it is the best sound by far I have have heard with TosLink. P.S. A layman's summary of the ECD principles, philosophy and possible setups would be welcome. The makers' brilliant minds may benefit the products but do not always benefit the readability of the product descriptions.

Another good option is xrecode3: https://xrecode.com/ I think I prefer it to EZCDAC for upsampling DSD64 => DSD256. Anyone else using this?

Mind-boggling 🙂 And what would it achieve compared to I2S source -> Terminator ?

The Gaia can convert from many inputs to many outputs. So it look useful to convert to, say, usb to I2S. However I see no I2S in. So it looks like there is no benefit if the source already outputs I2S?

That is also how I understand it. So using polarity inversion on the HX500 seems the best option as then I do not have to change anything on the Terminator when switching between SDTrans and HX500. Thanks, I hope to receive the SDTrans in a week or so. Yes, but I think also for higher resolutions. I believe the Terminator upsamples to 1536 kHz.

See pic + PM.