BridgeII now "seen" as CONVERS CDMCM-210 in Sense App

Hello Everyone,

Just an interesting observation that my Innous Zen MkIII via the Innous Sense App is now “seeing” the BridgeII connection in my DSJnr as CONVERS CDMCM-210, not BridgeII?

This has only happened in the last month?

If you look at the properties, it directs you to a website
http://www.conversdigital.com/

On this website you can find CDMCM-210

image

Does this mean that the BridgeII was never a PS Audio proprietary part, just an off the shelf part or has PS Audio sold off the “Bridge” now that they are launching the AirLens?

Cheers all
Matt

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I think the outsourcing of the Bridge Ethernet cards is more or less “common knowledge”, so to speak.

FYI.

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Oh…ok, maybe with all the talk about the meticulously programmed & upgraded/updated FPGA’s, I took my eye off the ball & just assumed their Bridge II was also proprietary.

Maybe the reason they’ve had issues with it & have now dropped it in favor of the AirLens?

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Matt,

The main reason that’s spoken about was to remove any possibility of noise introduced by having a internal streaming card within the DAC itself. Some users report reduced “noise” when cards are removed from the DSD MK1 (not possible in the DSDJR) I guess this led to not having the streaming board option in the DSD MKII.

There has been discussion in the forum on making a external box to put the bridge cards in until the Airlens is out.

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The Bridge has always been a PS product based on the Converse digital engine. We use their digital engine to do the network communication and conversions necessary to stream audio. We also use it for the first MQA unfold and as a Roon endpoint. The Converse modulation gives us the raw digital data which we then take and run through a custom Digital Lens buffer and rebuild system that is built into the Bridge. This, along with the power supply and other peripherals, is the PS part. It is where we take kind of high jitter grungy output and turn it into something you want to listen to.

Think of the original PWT. We used an off-the-shelf DSD drive, built the control functions and then ran the “ugly” output through a Digital Lens that output through a fixed low jitter output. That’s where the magic of what you hear is. The ROM drive or Converse module does the heavy lifting of connection and data extraction, then we take over from there.

The AirLens too is built around a newer Converse module. So, yes, for years we have been partnering with Converse. But, it’s hardly a repackaging exercise. :blush:

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There you go - from the horses mouth so to speak! Thanks for the insight Paul

I thought, the DLNA connection dependency and problems that you couldn’t fix/get fixed by them lead you to make an own independent SW with the server idea…wasn’t aware that with the Airlens you again went with converse. I remembered it as a bad experience for you from what you wrote at the time, but I may be wrong.

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Hi Paul,

Many thanks for taking the time to explain this to me all the way over here in the Adelaide Hills in South Australia. It was just strange that DSJnr endpoint now shows up as CONVERS CDMCM-210 on the Innous Sense App which did cause some confusion for 10 mins or so as I thinking “where did my PS Audio BridgeII go”?

Cheers
Matt

When I had a DS Jr, the same thing happened a few times, but with no I’ll effects.

Hi Paul. Thanks for bringing this out. The newer converse cards do look great - and it sounds like you have the latest and greatest in line for the AirLens.

With that, I expect the bridge in the box concept will remain locked as an interim to carry over the Bridge II card. Was thinking you might have a fantastic modular upgrade vehicle that you could use there, but not to be.

Will wait to see how both it and the AirLens go.

Better than from the horse’s ass. :blush:

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Of course.

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I saw this mentioned in the AirLens thread and it caught me by surprise. Didn’t see that coming given what was said years ago. I sure hope the Convers folks will update their app to be comparable with other streamer apps (yes, I’m dreaming …).

There is no app. as far as I know.

FWIW.

Mconnect is their control app. Designed and built by them. I version for their hardware and another for all other UPnP devices.

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Hi @Paul, just checking - are you saying the Bridge II only does the first MQA unfold and then it’s Roon which takes it up to 192k?

If that’s right, would it be fair to expect the AirLens - together with Roon, would also allow MQA unfolding up to 192k?

Hi @Interested,
Decoding happens in the core decoder, then gets fully rendered by Bridge II. Please note that files could be encoded as 48/24 all the way upto 384/24. Some DACs are equipped to handle the high rates such as Matrix digital streamers/dacs.

As dawkinsj pointed out, the MConnect app, the very same one used with the Bridge II. I am not a fan of it, but it does a meh job.

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Thanks for flagging this! Paul’s comment that the Bridge 2 card and the AirLens card (the CDM4140?) would approach MQA in the same way has me intrigued.

I know from having the Bridge 2 that it unfolded MQA through to 192k in practice and it seems this will be carried over to the Bridge 2 in a box…

What I’m really trying to understand is whether, if the Bridge 2 and AirLens cards both approach MQA in the same way, is whether the AirLens will actually allow for MQA through to 192k in practice via Roon.

@Paul, can you help?

I was under the impression that the AirLens will be DLNA compatible in the generic sense and that there would be no App. specifically associated with its operation.

I guess two things can be true at the same time. That is, mconnectControl will work with the AirLens as will any number of similar “interfaces”.

Apologies if I seem to be a bit too pedantic.

:slight_smile:

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