Then there is the plethora of non-standardized, custom interfaces which makes it impossible to buy something of your liking and simply connect it to your system. There is not a single standardized I2S format for the market.
There is no PS Audio Stellar I2S music source either. A third NuPrime CD player is available that does not support native DSD playback, it only upsamples Redbook CD to DSD. So we are back to CD!
TOSLINK, SPDIF and AES/EBU are the best way to go, perfectly suitable for Redbook CD and 24bit 48 kHz which is good enough. Even if your system is more than 10 000 EURO’s.
Ethernet RJ45 is completely software dependent, which seems to work. But, even though I spent more than 2 000 EURO for Gbit ethernet through the entire house, not counting labor hours to put the cables in, and a network of WiFi access points (mesh) I get in trouble. When I internally stream higher resolution than 24 bit 48 kHz from my local server, performance of the network for Netflix or gaming to the children’s room will drop to unacceptable levels.
Unless the entire industry can agree on DSD and HDMI I2S offering music and equipment that is affordable and 100 % compatible to each other, it is not for me.
With the Stellar Gain Cell DAC I bought my way into high res digital, hoping it would pull off. But even PS Audio made it perfectly clear to me, that DSD and I2S is not for Stellar budget minded audiences. There would never be a SACD transport for Stellar budget and there is still no streamer playing DSD file format and offering I2S HDMI.
I invested the highest amount ever, at that time, in a new piece of stereo of PS Audio for EUR 1 800. It turned out that I felt having invested in a R&D project that never really materialized.
When the pre amplifier section broke down too, I jumped off that band wagon and went mainstream. The NAD BluOS system offers me comfort and a piece of mind that allows me to enjoy the music. Because of the ease of use we spent much more money on NAD equipment later on and we do not regret that. It plays my Apple AirPlay, Ripped CD library, vinyl and CD’s really fine. And for just a couple of hundred EUROs I can expend the music to any room I like.