mark-d said Nobo...I would think that PS Audio would have the foresight to lay in a replacement supply of drives for any future problems with the DMP. That would make for smart business sense.Actually, I seem to recall a post in these forums several years ago by either Paul or someone else in the company that the original drives on the PWT were no longer available and replacing one that had gone south was going to be beyond what even a handy customer would be able to manage...
Elk saidMy 1984-vintage Toshiba CD player had this capability along with the ability to display and skip to index points within tracks. I miss both features.Nobo said Regarding repeat functions accessible from the remote, am I the only one who would be interested in an “A-B” repeat in which the user presses “A” to bookmark the beginning of a selection and “B” its end . . .Great idea. this would be wonderful.
Paul did indicate earlier that this drive is sourced from Oppo. And I’m glad it is, as doing so will assure a ready supply of replacement drives in contrast to other sources. A bit of history: Three years ago, I had the SACD laser replaced in my Sony XA777ES player, after having the CD laser replaced a few years earlier. Although this player was thirteen years old at the time, a local repair shop could complete the task. So, as I was contemplating a possible purchase of the DMP, I was especially concerned that replacement parts (Lasers or whole drives) would be available far into the future. The fact that Oppo was chosen greatly alleviated my concerns. Oppo is a major manufacturer of universal DVD drives and in addition to being very reliable, their drives are readily available on the repair market. I own a both a BDP-83 SE NuForce and BDP-105D. Neither drive has ever given me any problems. So, the fact that the DMP uses an Oppo drive is very reassuring to me, as I expect Oppo to remain in the drive support market for a very long time. They have been leaders in universal drives for many years, and have supplied many secondary or brand-labeled drives for years.
Coincidentally, the drive unit in the DMP seems much quieter that the drive unit in my Oppo BDP-105D, even though it looks almost identical. I don’t know if that means anything, other than perhaps that PS Audio was able to select it’s drives on performance specs. Perhaps they can afford to do that based on the retail price of such retail units. Oppo’s are fairly inexpensive relative to their performance specifications.
Just a thought…
Peanut Butter saidElk saidNobo said Regarding repeat functions accessible from the remote, am I the only one who would be interested in an “A-B” repeat in which the user presses “A” to bookmark the beginning of a selection and “B” its end . . .Great idea. this would be wonderful.
My 1984-vintage Toshiba CD player had this capability along with the ability to display and skip to index points within tracks. I miss both features.
Almost every CD player at the time had this feature. It was a very useful feature, especially for those of us that wanted to do direct comparisons of specific portions of tracks. I would add it to the list of “eventually desired features” but not of the “should have immediately” features. There are already too many bugs that need to be corrected first before we add to the list of “wants”. I think that the beta program should work out the bugs first, and then later add to the the list of available features.
Hi everyone,
I am very happy with the DMP! Read my previous post for my review.
However I’m not so impressed by the 1/2 meter HDMI cable. I have a 1/2 meter cable that I was using with the PWT that sounds much more open and clear. I’m wondering if the supplied cable needs a lot of break in? It sounds fine but not nearly as good as the one I already have.
Roger
kline42 saidRoger, please share!However I’m not so impressed by the 1/2 meter HDMI cable. I have a 1/2 meter cable that I was using with the PWT that sounds much more open and clear.
Round two of listening impressions of the DMP. Now that the unit has some hours on it the red book SQ has opened up substantially. Better soundstage. At first my Music Vault and Bicasti M1 playing the same cd/file had more realistic height and width of soundstage. Now they are very very close to each other. The bass definition is still better on my Bricasti but the DS/DMP has improved with more hours. The DMP quality of Timbre , imaging and dynamics are on par with the server/M1. All of these observations are much improved over the PWT.
On SACD the more I listen the more I’m impressed. Never heard them sound sound real smooth and clean. Clarity of voice and instruments is incredible. Comparing HIGH RES file of Paul’s ONE project to the SACD version on the DMP I find I like the SACD better. They are close but the SACD has better dynamics and had a slightly better soundstage. My system is extremely revealing and anle to easily discern small nuances. I’m hearing more details and just a more refined SQ that is amazing.
Thank you PS Audio for the opportunity. Great product.
David Brook said I just joined this forum after reading about this new "wonder" player and not being able to acquire an Esoteric transport without paying silly money. The million dollar question seems to be when will the final version be available?A space has been made on my rack already!
We’ll be shipping production units in December.
Herbert said I have spent some hours today comparing red book cds and SACDS played through the DMP and the old transport. Clearly there is less "smearing" through DMP. The difference is more noticeable on SACDS, clearly in favor of the DMP. Just astonishing how much closer SACD via the DMP brings one to what one would hear in a live performance. This new transport is the winner that I was hoping for which is why I have already put in an order for a second DMP for my system in the country home.Thanks! I'll bet your country home has a heck of a nice system.
Rob said:
“Roger, please share!” (re: the supplied cable) NB: I’m not Roger, but here’s my two cents as of the end of (my) Week 2.
AS WITH ALL OBSERVATIONS: “Focus Group of One”.
I started with the PS cable, switched through four others I have; a generic, solid black cable, another with ferrite cores on it, a pretty one with blue and black braid on it I got at Home Depot (which I have been using to deliver 10 bit 4k video from my camera to an external recorder without issue), and the “Arnie” cable. Didn’t notice any striking differences - the one with the cores might have been better. This was maybe Day Two of having the DMP, so that could be an aspect of it. The DMP does seem to continue to “open up” over time. (…or is it the cable…?)
A week and a half ago, the brief comparisons I did with the DMP and my server gave that “narrower soundstage” feel that a number have noted. (DMP narrower).
Decided to go out and get an AQ Carbon, as it was readily available, and (though it could have been expectation bias) everything seemed “more right” so I stopped worrying about cables. I’m not an Audioquest fan, generally. I’m not recommending it, YMMV, etc. I would bet there are better options. Just seemed sort of dumb to connect two expensive, state of the art devices with generic cable, especially since there are a lot of folks here with good systems and good ears who were going on about the difference the cable makes. My system may be less resolving of these differences than others.
It’s entirely possible that in the interim (if you subscribe to these things) both the DMP and the cable have “broken in”. Yesterday I put the PS cable back in, and while not necessarily dramatic, the soundstage seemed to shrink, and the image moved back more to a spot between the speakers. Also, one of the signature aspects of the sound of the DMP Is the way it gets transients right. These seemed a bit more rounded off, and the overall sound a bit more brittle. Though again, this was now comparing a cable that’s been in for a week and a half, vs. one that was only in for a day or so. I put the AQ back in, as I don’t want to get back on the cable-swapping merry-go-round in the midst of the beta.
I’ll let those who are into that sort it out over time, and will likely try others at some point.
The DMP now sounds bigger, more open, “free of the speakers”, etc. as well as the all-important Transient/Timing Thing. I’m not going to throw out my server. Still sounds great, but the DMP is doing stuff I’ve not heard before in my system. Plus, it’s a completely different way of playing your music, and that cannot be separated from the experience.
These are first impressions since my beta unit just arrived four days ago. I’ve owned a PWT for just over three years, but have hardly used it since I ripped all of my CD’s, approximately 1200, to a Synology DS412+ for streaming to my DS with BridgeII or my Auralic Aries. The SQ of the PWT just wasn’t enough better to counter the convenience of streaming using JRiver with JRemote or Auralic Lightning DS.
Now enters the DMP. With only a few hours playtime the DMP has already shown itself to be a far superior extractor and conveyor of data than the PWT, BridgeII, or Auralic Aries. The best analogy I can come up with to describe what I’m hearing is viewing a landscape through a window. Aberrations to the image caused by passing the light through even the best glass result in a loss of detail and softening of edges. Removing the glass restores the fine detail and edges are sharper. With the DMP the aural window has been opened. Micro details and texture is more evident. The attack of percussion instruments has sharper impact and the decay is more naturally sustained, not truncated. Everything just sounds more right. The soundfield is populated with ambient details that weren’t evident with the other sources. These aren’t dramatic differences, but taken in total make it easier to suspend reality and get pulled into the music.
What I’m really trying to say at this early stage is that whatever the DMP is doing I like it. This is the finest source component combined with the DS I have heard. My vinyl components, which retailed for a couple of times the MSRP of the DMP, come close but inevitably lose out. Perhaps they will equal it when the BHK phono section comes out, but for now the DMP with the DS dac is the reference source in my system. Judging by what others have said it can only get better with time.
These comments are based mainly on redbook CD playback. The few SACD’s I’ve listened to are yet in another league altogether.
DenisD said
"These are first impressions since my beta unit just arrived four days ago. I’ve owned a PWT for just over three years, but have hardly used it since I ripped all of my CD’s, approximately 1200, to a Synology DS412+ for streaming to my DS with BridgeII or my Auralic Aries. The SQ of the PWT just wasn’t enough better to counter the convenience of streaming using JRiver with JRemote or Auralic Lightning DS.
Now enters the DMP. With only a few hours playtime the DMP has already shown itself to be a far superior extractor and conveyor of data than the PWT, BridgeII, or Auralic Aries."
Could you please give us details of your connection between the NAS and the BridgeII? Have you taken any steps to isolate the Bridge electrically from the NAS e.g. adding an optical fibre link to the ethernet connection?
I just loaded the newest software - get a “1 Test” before song title.
Same thing - as it was an SACD and the new My Playlist software is non responsive to SACDs, I thought it was just an SACD problem.
davidl said DenisD said "These are first impressions since my beta unit just arrived four days ago. I've owned a PWT for just over three years, but have hardly used it since I ripped all of my CD's, approximately 1200, to a Synology DS412+ for streaming to my DS with BridgeII or my Auralic Aries. The SQ of the PWT just wasn't enough better to counter the convenience of streaming using JRiver with JRemote or Auralic Lightning DS.Now enters the DMP. With only a few hours playtime the DMP has already shown itself to be a far superior extractor and conveyor of data than the PWT, BridgeII, or Auralic Aries."
Could you please give us details of your connection between the NAS and the BridgeII? Have you taken any steps to isolate the Bridge electrically from the NAS e.g. adding an optical fibre link to the ethernet connection?
I have this same Synology DS412 and Bridge II and am very curious about electrical isolation. Can you educate me or point towards posts that will?
davidl saidCould you please give us details of your connection between the NAS and the BridgeII? Have you taken any steps to isolate the Bridge electrically from the NAS e.g. adding an optical fibre link to the ethernet connection?
Hi David,
The DS412+ is connected to an ASUS RT-AC88U router in my office which is connected wireless over 5G to a Linksys RE6500 wireless bridge which is wired to the Bridge II. Other than updating the router and bridge earlier this year I’ve been running this configuration for a couple of years now with no problems. No lag, no dropouts, no problems.
Hello again,
Rob, The cable I am using is from Wyred 4 Sound (HDMI PCOCC 1/2 meter premium, $199.00).
Badbeef, I agree with you on your finding the PS Audio a bit softer and presenting a smaller sound field. The Wyred 4Sound cable has ferite moduals. Perhaps this has something to do with better ambiant response.
Roger
kline42 said Hello again,Rob, The cable I am using is from Wyred 4 Sound (HDMI PCOCC 1/2 meter premium, $199.00).
Badbeef, I agree with you on your finding the PS Audio a bit softer and presenting a smaller sound field. The Wyred 4Sound cable has ferite moduals. Perhaps this has something to do with better ambiant response.
Roger
I also have this cable, and prefer it to either the supplied PS Audio cable or an AudioQuest Vodka cable. There is a greater sense of space when using this cable.
bazza said
I have this same Synology DS412 and Bridge II and am very curious about electrical isolation. Can you educate me or point towards posts that will?Hi Bazza
Post 92 above on this thread has a block diagram of my system with precise details of the hardware I use. While not huge the improvement in SQ after changing from purely wired ethernet was noticeable.
Note I also got improved SQ when I moved the wireless access point (for control of playback by BubbleUPnP) from 1ft away from the PS DAC to 8ft away.
David
DenisD saidThe DS412+ is connected to an ASUS RT-AC88U router in my office which is connected wireless over 5G to a Linksys RE6500 wireless bridge which is wired to the Bridge II. Other than updating the router and bridge earlier this year I’ve been running this configuration for a couple of years now with no problems. No lag, no dropouts, no problems.
Hi Denis
I too use a wireless bridge to get from my home ‘office’ to the hifi system. Like you I’ve had no problems with lag, dropouts etc. I’m sure this gives good isolation from the NAS/computer noise, however I’d suggest you could get an improvement in SQ if you put an optical fibre section of ethernet between your wireless bridge and the Bridge II.
(Post 92 above has a block diagram of my system with details of components.)
David