No truer words have been said.
My lowly Sonos ZP90 modified to 24/96 over 7 years ago by (then) Cullen Circuits, before (now) Wyred 4 Sound was even a gleam in someone’s eye and has been powered on 24/7 every day since! Today it is my sole source component and has been for over a year. Since Deezer Elite came online and started streaming 24/96 I’ve had no need for more. It simply serves my EVERY need today. Sure there were glitches years ago but they’re long, long past. Its GUI/how-is-ted-coding-the-fpgaroller is dedicated to rote memory and a breeze to use. Having access to millions and millions of 24/96 albums or tracks is better than I hoped to see in my lifetime. I ended my tenure with 192k 3 years ago when I could no longer hear things I did before as a result of (Goooooooooood Moooooorning Viet Nam!). Today 24/96 just kinda suits ya know? That lil ZP90 never complains, never fails to work, never hiccups, sputters, coughs or does ANYTHING but work… work incredibly and sounds an absolute treat as well! As reluctant as I was to buy into Sonos initially (Thanks Walt Stinson!) all those years ago and a few scattered controller issues for a little over the first year I’d be patently remiss today to not say this cheap little plasticky dynamo is hands-down the best GD for-the-money audio component I’ve ever owned, PERIOD! An interesting aside is I had W4S make me another 24/96 unit when they changed the name years back thinking my original re-clocked ZP90 had to be on its last legs by then as it had been powered up 24/7 and in near constant use well over 2.5 years and was HOT to the touch all the time! Heheh that was almost 5 years ago… the old one’s still running perfectly while the new 5 year old ZP hibernates in the original box. Maybe next year… then again, maybe not!?!
Ditto for Squeezebox Touch. It just works and the iPeng app is the best control point I have ever used. Also love the big clock display when not playing. Once the IP address for all the network devices were “Reserved” via the router everything stayed connected. Too bad Logitech wishes to wallow in the low end seas-pool.
Rich
Elk said No one yet has any aspect of computing nailed, especially communications.I think Merging is on to something with their NADAC (using the Ravenna protocol).
The NADAC Ethernet based DAC has no USB input.
Well, at the risk of having a rock thrown at me since I always bring it up (but in this case Rich did it first), the Squeezebox team had streaming music over Ethernet pretty much nailed by 2005. While one could argue as to whether their Redbook audio was “audiophile quality”, they had good sound for the time and things like gapless, (ultimately) different PCM resolutions, formats and protocol management, etc, all working as near flawlessly as I’ve ever seen. I think they succeeded because Ethernet streamed music was the one and only thing they focused on at the time. I think that got them out of a lot of the traps that audio companies focused on many different products may have fallen into.
The fellow who started SB left the company (Sean, I think his name was) sometime before 2011 or 2010, perhaps right around the time PS Audio was working on the Bridge. He was the lead technical honcho and from what I could tell a very skilled digital designer. If my memory of history is right, I always wondered if PS Audio knew at the time there was somebody like that out there (perhaps for hire?).
Plus at my last check the OPPO does not stream gapless via ethernet. If it does now please correct me.
Correct, Oppo gapless a no-go.
It’s been quite a few years since I dug out my SB Touch, but I don’t remember the sound quality as even being in the same league as the Bridge. That’s the reason it was initially banished to the back of the storage closet.
years ago, folks were modifying the Touch to improve the sound. There were also software tweaks that worked well (I tried those). But even with tweaks, the Touch was limited as far as SQ.
My system uses both a Bryston BDP and a Touch. The Touch if for internet radio because the interface is great and my wife loves it. With content like internet radio, there is no SQ difference between the BDP and the Touch. Of course, with CD quality and better, there is a significant difference.
Which players combine the sound of the BDP with the interface of the Touch?
If the Bridge has an interface my wife would use, and it sounded as good as the BDP, I’d purchase the bridge in a heartbeat and simplify (reduce boxes and connectors).
Streaming audio in the high quality required by the DS DAC appears to be vexingly difficult.I've realized this after my recent experience monkeying around with network audio software, and returned the Bridge, in favor of a repurposed MacBook Air: solid-state disk, battery power supply and USB for audio. JRiver works well, and the Mac or iPhone provides a touchpad interface.
It even looks elegant sitting on top of the DS.
Any update on Bridge II availability? Was going to be late Spring, then July, now??? Thanks, and very much look forward to it!!
amsco15 said Any update on Bridge II availability? Was going to be late Spring, then July, now?????? Thanks, and very much look forward to it!!
+1
Ready to purchase…
Paul McGowan said This update is mandatory for Bridge II or it won't work.Any Update for Bridge 2 release?
I am Hoping soon…I only have 1 problem with the current bridge, for some odd reason I cant ever get both my pwt and DS to be connected at the same time.It’s always 1 or the other …it has me stumped but I’m guessing that for whatever reason because they are basically using the same bridge circuitry or something that my router see the firs one and n the seconds calling for its Ip it will assign 1 but thats it
Have you tried assigning static IP addresses to your equipment? This often helps with network issues. I don’t own a PWT, so I’m not sure about that, but I have my Bridge (installed in a DSD), my NAS, and my network switch all on static IP.
magister said Have you tried assigning static IP addresses to your equipment? This often helps with network issues. I don't own a PWT, so I'm not sure about that, but I have my Bridge (installed in a DSD), my NAS, and my network switch all on static IP.Yes I have them both assigned statically to different addresses the ds is xxx.xxx.1.9 and the PWT is xxx.xxx.1.119 and what is weird is I had the ds first and it was connected no problem but when i connected the PWT it almost seemed like the ds was trying to connect thru the HDMI connection from the PWT..It would show as connected on the display but i cant get to it same goes for the pwt it depends which connects first then the other just shows a connection on the display but it isnt connected it is like it thinks it is because of some data it is getting thru the interconnect connecting the 2 of them
I hope someone with more knowledge of the PWT jumps in here. If not, I would contact PSA technical support to get this straightened out. I have no idea whether B2 is designed to deal with this – I don’t recall reading about this problem before. Good luck!
I have a PWT that I rarely use. Honestly, I didn’t know you could put it on a Home Network. The DAC with Bridge ip is all I have ever had to use.
Have any beta testers of Bridge II tried loading dsf to the Bridge? If so I need to know if the load times are comparably to flac on Bridge 1. Using JRMC Media Network with DoPE enabled it takes too long to load dsf files in Bridge I
I want to upgrade to Bridge II. Its either that or Auralic Aries when they get the Lightning DS app to work on iPod touch.
So come on PSA workers and pundits alike. Surely someone has an answer/advice for me.
I’ve tested the BII with JRiver streaming DSD files, and although there is a delay in streaming the initial file in a playlist, I find that once the music starts it continues to stream without any further pause or gap. Also, the initial delay mentioned is much shorter then those I experienced via the BI.
I also have had the Aries in my system and they both do sound great. You really can’t go wrong with either of them. However, for me the elegance of the BII, with one less large power supply and one less piece of equipment to house has won me over. For serious listening sessions I utilize the JRiver/BII. For casual listening and information gathering it’s Roon on my Mac Mini via USB.
T
Thanks tpauline…I think I will go B2 and trade B1 in if its available Downunder. It seems it will be cheaper than the Aries (2.2k in Oz & no discount possible)
Ive been using B1 from the get go. Apart from the occasional drop out & the lack of gapless its OK. I will be over the moon if B2 fixes all these problems. Especially if there is less latency loading dsf files. Plus any improvements in SQ is a major bonus.
I especially hope that Bridge 2 will work better in Mac networks. Bridge 1 was an absolute failure in my Mac ecoystem. It almost never worked properly. I still took it over to my DSD but I’m only playing songs through USB input. Would be nice if PS Audio would offer customers like me a good trade-in offer for the Bridge 2 once it’s available…