Yes, and with the Matrix I don’t feel the USB cable has as much importance. The I2S from the Matrix to the DS does most of the heavy lifting.
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Hi Ted - Where would you put the Bridge 2 in this as far as SQ?
I tried my Mac mini, with external power supply with Cardas USB cable to DS dac, then from the Bridge II. Roon from Itunes. Bridge II in my system is far superior in every way. I have not tried the Matrix at all. I may try?
I’ll defer on the Bridge sound quality - I was referring to differences between cables from the same source to the same destination. Different sources add another level of complexity. You can get any DS input to sound great and the Bridge input might have a leg up there, but it’s much harder to configure at the source side and the UI for using the Bridge is usually much different than the UI for the other inputs. That swamps any sound quality differences in my book. You should choose the UI that works best for you IMO.
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In my testing, the Matrix does sound better than the Bridge II, no doubt.
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With roon?
If not, is it other software that is the difference?
Yes, with Roon. Both alone, and with HQPlayer as the backend for Roon. Imho, Roon by itself has the poorest sound quality of the many software players I’ve tried.
I can say, that with a few tweaks, the latest incarnation of Audirvana sounds really good.
Good to know. looks like I need to try some changes
I would concur with you on this. While Roon has the best looking and interacting interface it doesn’t seem to sound as good as Audirvana’s.
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I have same feelings comparing Roon and Audirvana. One good tweak for me is in Windows pc configuration the use of free software called VB-Audio Asio Bridge. Sounds much better than with Matrix x-spdif 2 Driver selected.
Initially I found Audirvana a bit aggressive and harsh. A knowledgeable Audirvana user over at Audiophile Style forums sent me the tweak below that has things sounding really good to my tastes. I’m using the Sox filter, and sometimes boost the low shelf.
”get this very nice and very, very good free EQ:
activate the filters I, II and III
set Filter I to:
peak (the symbol in the middle above the Q and FREQ button)
Q: 0.5
Freq: 60Hz
Gain: 0.3db
set Filter II to:
low shelf (the symbol above the Q button)
Q: 0.5
Freq: 360Hz
Gain: 0.5db
set Filter III to:
peak (the symbol in the middle above the Q and FREQ button)
Q: 0.85
Freq: 3.2kHz (=3200Hz)
Gain: -0.2db
out gain (bottom right): -5db
This should get you close to something you might like…
For somewhat bolder bass increase the gain of Filter II (leave Filter I and Filter III as they are for the time being).
But don’t overdo …
If it’s still too bright decrease the gain in Filter III (start with -0.5db … but I wouldn’t go lower than -1db).”
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I used to find Roon did not equal Audirvana or Bubble UpNP but the more I improve my overall system the narrower the Gap, to the point now I use Roon almost exclusively and don’t feel i am missing anything
I have two PCs with Audio Optimizer and Windows Server 2019 GUI and JPLay . I have the ISO Regen between my AudioPC and The DS. I have the JNET Femto Ethernet card in the Control PC and I use linear power supplies or batteries were appropriate
In term of cables I have discovered ViaBlue out of Germany
https://viablue.de/com/menu_cables_digital.php
I use their USB cable ( About $50) and find it excellent
there Ethernet cables ($80- $200) depending on Length
I also have one of their HDMI cables (1M) that I tried with the Matrix and compared to the Wire world Starlight Silver 7 ( 1M) I found the Via Blue to be equal if not slightly preferred over the Wire-world. I am selling the HDMI if anyone is interested. the 1 Meter sells for about $80
If anyone is interested in getting some of these cable I have discovered a good US dealer, PM for details
magicknow
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I had a request for the dealer info for Viablue
His name is David Choy tritonaudiocables@gmail.com
http://tritonaudiocables.com
The price including shipping works out to be about the equivalent Euro to USD, So if a cable is a 100 Euros it will be about $100 US
Contact David if interested he is very responsive and good to deal with
magicknow
I see. You need to filter and EQ Audirvana to get it to sound good. You do know you can filter and EQ Roon too…
Roon sounds every bit as good as Audirvana. I own both and have for years…
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Yes, I have explored all of Roon’s options. For me, Roon’s priority and skill does not lay with sound quality. But they are excellent programmers otherwise. As mentioned, Roon with HQPlayer does sound very very good.
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Roon is bit perfect though, so I’m not sure why it would sound worse - for me it has always sounded as good if not better than audirvana/JRiver (or Itunes with Bitperfect). That said I’m using it on a Nucleus + so maybe that makes a difference.
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In my experience, all of the “bit perfect” software players sound different. As to which sounds best to whom, that’s entirely personal, like what sort of dessert you prefer… I can say that I’ve never gotten along with Audirvana until the latest 3.5.x release. It sounds great and convinced me to ditch Roon once and for all.
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HQPlayer, especially combined with Roon, kills Audirvana. Audirvana is really piss poor software. If you want to deal with all the UI flaws and playback hiccups, more power to you…
I agree, the reason I have stuck with Roon for so long trying to get the SQ on par is because it just works all the other one always seem to have hiccups.