The simple answer is I2S, but it depends what you connect via this. In my case I connect the PWT. This is almost as good as Bridge II in sound quality, however I have 2 very important caveats:
I’ve not heard one but the consensus here is that the DMP is much better than the PWT for SQ, so I2S would likely then be better.
From my experience the SQ from the Bridge II is very dependent on the ethernet it is connected to. In my case I have a remote NAS with optical isolation in the ethernet route from it to the Bridge. Without this isolation the I2S input sounded better.
When the DMP was introduced there was a thread here discussing its SQ re the PWT. From this discussion I gathered from Paul that one of (the most important?) reasons for the superiority of the DMP is a much improved implementation of the digital lens technology, compared with that in the PWT and in the Bridge II. In view of this I await with impatience the implementation of this technology in the Octave server - I have no need for the serving technology, all I’m interested in is access to the latest digital lens implementation i.e. a box that has an ethernet input (and maybe an I2S input for my PWT) and outputs I2S to the DS DAC. I’d guess this would level the playing field for inputs to the DAC.
There is a limitation on Bridge II and its communication with the front panel display processor. This is an older system architected quite a number of years ago. When it comes time for Bridge III we should be able to provide nearly instant cover art.
Yes and no. The core principals and operating system have been in the works for a few years and are getting close. The actual hardware is a ways off. There’s a chance for 2019 but if I were a betting’ man I’d be more comfortable with 2020.
My optical isolation method comprises a pair of TP-Link MC100M fibre-to-wire ethernet converters connected back to back by a 1 metre pair of fibre optic cables. Upstream of this is a wired ethernet connection to my home network and downstream a 1 metre length of wired ethernet to the Bridge II. As supplied the TP-Link units come with switched-mode power supplies. I replaced these with generic linear power supplies to avoid any RF interference effects.
I first heard of this approach to optical isolation in 2015 from reading a blog by Andrew Everard, here:
Can someone play and test this attached song(dsf) and see if there’s tick during the play?
I am using Roon and DSD with bridge II. Even with Snowmass and the latest bridget (3.6.17) I am still getting lots of ticks during the play of this song. However, it sounds perfectly fine if I use foobar or other programs.
Thanks for testing it out. From the start, I hear lots of ticks when playing it with Roon + Bridge II + BHK pre/power + DSD.
Strange thing is that all the other songs in the same album, they are fine. Only this track gives me lots of ticks and pops. I had to replace this track with flac file in my case. I extracted dsf files from one big iso file.
I played the track via Roon -> Bridge II -> DS Dac.
I got ticks during playback. Maybe 3 in the 1st 30 seconds. I then rewound back to the start and they disappeared. When I got past the 30 second mark, I got the occasional tick back again.
In every case, when I rewind a little and proceed, the tick is no longer there at the point it once was.
Does this mean the problem is not with the rip but some interaction in the Bridge/DAC ?
I also played the track back from another PC running Minim Server and BubbleUPnP. I used MConnect to send the file direct to the Bridge.
I got the occasional tick again, but less frequent. Every ~30 seconds.
I didn’t try the rewind experiment in this case.
Thanks for the test. I suspect it has to do with bridge/DSD thing as I occasionally still get ticks from other songs, not to the level bothering me as much as it did last time though.
I get ticks on most DSD files through Roon and Bridge 2.
It is a Bridge issue , because I get zero ticks on the same files through USB.
This issue has been repeatedly reported by several people and acknowledged by Ted, and I have asked Paul if the latest bridge release would fix it, but he didn’t answer me.
I am a big fan of PS Audio, and I own three of their products (dsd senior, dmp, p5), but I am disappointed by their lack of responsiveness on this long-standing issue.
Most DSD files? Could you identify where those files came from?
I have over 1,500 original SACDs properly ripped to DSD64. They are from Telarc, Mobile Fidelity, Audio Fidelity, Sony, Analogue Productions, etc. They are stored in a Synology NAS. I listen to them them through both Roon and mConnectHD (via Minimserver on the NAS) since Snowmass and Bridge 3.6.17 came out.
I have not had the time to hear them all, but I have listened to around half of them. None of tick. I wonder why yours does…
The same with me. But I heard only about 3 clicks in the whole piece. So i cannot speak about “lots of ticks”. Jumping forward or backward causes also a click. Listening via my Linn Akurate DSM/III was immaculate. No clicks/ticks at all. Jumping forward or backward causes no clicks, cince volume is ramped up.
