I’ll stick with Roon and Bridge II for now, well until Octave comes out.
Thanks for the info. I should have clarified that in my system the Matrix via I2S crushes the Bridge II for SQ.
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Philippe, I finally got my Aries G2. Definitely an upgrade in sound quality.
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Hi jvvita,
Thanks for your response. I will give it a go now.
Steve
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Nice !
Does it do the second mqa unfold?
My Lumin does not, but it’s not a big deal for me.
I think it does, haven’t tried. I really don’t care about MQA though. I really prefer Qobuz to Tidal!
Are you loving your Lumin? Does it seem to have a burn in curve?
Oh yes, happy times 
I haven’t noticed any burn in, but then again I bought a well travelled demo unit (at a nice discount).
I’ve noticed, a darker background and airy detail that is just beautiful. The Bridge 2 is excellent, but, the Aries G2 is on another level.
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I think there would definitely be an advantage to separating the electronics for the bridge streamer to outside of the DAC itself.
I agree, maybe Paul and Ted will chime in on that one?
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One of the reasons we want to make a separate Octave streamer is because of this very thought. Any time we can separate chassis and power supplies and then make sure the interface doesn’t cause more problems than separating them does, we’re better off.
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Will there be a Stellar level of Octave?
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I have to agree with Bootzilla. In my system, Roon server running on the realtime OS Audio Linux (see Here on a dedicated i5 custom built server). On the network side it connects to a separate 6 port LinkSys switch powered by an LPS 1.2 linear power supply. The 6 port switch connects to my main HP Pro Curve 48 port switch via an SOTM CAT 6 Isolation transformer. My SOTM SMS200 Ultra sits in the computer rack with the server, all running on their own 20 amp circuit in a different room well away from my stereo rack. The SOTM SMS 200 is also powered from a custom build linear PS (with a toroidial transformer). The USB out from the SOTM to my Matrix, is via a 50 foot run of Corning Glass Optical USB, from there I use a Curious cable USB that goes from the Corning Optical USB into the ISO Regen >> Matrix. The ISO Regen is powered by another LPS 1.2. From the Matrix, I use Wireworld Platinum HDMI into DSDac. Sound is sublime. No difference between playback server, software. But then again, the server is far away and isolated from the DAC. Ground loops / grounds are not connected (due to corning optical USB). The Matrix re-clocks, and provides a very stable signal to the DS DAC. And yes the HDMI cable makes a fairly noticeable difference. My digital sounds so good, I no longer need to tweak anything. I have tried messing around between how the Matrix is powered, either via the ISO ReGen or direct, and I found a slight (and by slight I mean very small) improvement by powering via the ISO ReGen with the LPS 1.2. I tried going direct DC in at 7V and 9V, and could not detect any difference between the two voltages. Going 7V through the ISO ReGen offers slightly better bass definition. Changing the HDMI cable made a bigger difference in sound quality.
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I recently read about changing out my router with this unit.
I connected the router directly to my cable modem , this made a very notable improvement in SQ. Replacing the stock 12V SMPS with the LPS 1.2 improved SQ again and then replacing the stock DC cable of the 1.2 with a Canary cable once again improved SQ especially the power of the bass. Each of these steps was a big jump in SQ.
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Wow, nice setup! If you love Roon in that arrangement, you might consider trying HQPlayer as the Roon backend. Takes it to another level 
LOL - I actually have a license for HQPlayer, and used to use it when I was doing JPLAY with two PCs, etc. I believe there is a Linux build that will work with Audio Linux - I should try it. But I am v. happy with the sound now, so will see… possibly when I have some free time and am bored 
If you’re new to HQP, its going take quite a bit more than free time and boredom - patience and fortitude are the most needed noble ingredients. There is a learning curve, but it’s not as scary as it seems. Once you understand its archaic interface language, it takes 5 minutes to get going. It has endless filter combinations. Also, FWIW, HQP 4 just came out.
In my mostly baseless, unprovable, unsubstantiated and primarily biased opinion, I venture to guess that 90% of audiophiles would prefer a properly set up Roon/ HQP combo to Roon by itself in a blind A/B shootout. And the other 10% would have hearing aids impeding their evaluation 
This is all part of my new internet audiophile discussion forum strategy to preemptively undermine my own opinion before someone else has a chance to 
One tip is to make sure Roon’s DSP engine is completely turned off when using it with HQP.
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The HQPlayer 3 license is per plataform. If you bought it for Windows, it will not work on Mac or Linux. I understand Miska changed it in v4. You should check with him.
Also, the Linux build is for specific distros only. I don’t remember audiolinux being one of them. And to install it on Ubuntu is not for the faint of heart (own experience)
This is the link to the downloads. On v3 it lists only Ubuntu.
Brilliant!
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