Very true! I’m discovering the Bridge II can do a great job with the “full rate” AIFF. The presence in the music is more like what I find when playing albums at > CD rate streaming services. So if this is business as usual on ripped music through the Bridge II, then well, I’m all for the likely step up in the Bridge III/streamer partnered with the better again DAC, in the new Directstream.
Hi @paul and @jamesh, with the news that the Bridge III / streamer won’t be available at the same time as the MkII DAC, would you be willing to set up a list of interested people, who you could notify when pricing and trade in details are known for a combined package of the MkII DAC and the streamer, for existing Directstream owners?
I know a similar list is there just for the MkII DAC, but I expect there’d be a bunch of people, me included, who won’t be in a position to move on the MkII DAC until the streamer also becomes available.
No problem. I’ve added you to said list.
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Keep me on list for the MkII and I will upgrade the streamer when it comes out. I already have a streamer so I can wait.
Many thanks @jamesh, much appreciated!
I just bought two copies of Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers (Roots & Herbs). one in 24 bit 192k FLAC and one in AIFF just to see if I can hear a difference between the two. It is very close but the AIFF still had a little more presence. I can hear it more with the piano and cymbal in the background. For me AIFF does sound a little better.
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Can someone at PS Audio describe the differences between server to be released in early 2022 and Octave. I’m trying to understand the respective capabilities and approximate release timing for the various products. I know there’s been plenty of discussion of this over the last several years of development, but I’m wondering about the current thinking
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Thanks for this/that (or is it the other thing?).
Cheers.
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ProStudioMasters must think I’m a wacko to buy the same recording twice, and perhaps I am, but I wanted to know that the higher resolution files would show the same differences between FLAC and AIFF just like the CD’s I ripped before, and it does. Maybe I’m not that wacko after all.
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Thanks for sharing - more than happy to rip into AIFF from now on (am re-doing the library and rediscovering old favourites!) and buy in AIFF (rather than FLAC) after learning from your steer. Thanks again!
+2! would be great to understand the current thinking of the likely capabilities of the products to “bridge” the gap that will be left by the outgoing Bridge 2.
I can see why a aiff might sound better than a flac during playback (very equipment dependent), but remember a flac can be converted offline to aiff producing a file bit identical to the source file that was flac’ed, making comparisons of the same file in different formats somewhat cheaper than buying in both formats (if that makes sense).
Also Bandcamp, once purchased, allow download in any and all formats multiple times 
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You are correct!
Years ago my experiences after Paul‘s hint:
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I should hope that a PS Audio Octave unit released in 2022 with galvanic isolation should be able to unpack FLAC without any degradation vs. AIFF or WAV in what it sends to a DAC over I2S via HDMI.
Also totally support Bandcamp as a download source. Many recent releases available from them are also 24-bit, though usually 24-44 not 24-96 if so. They are not marked as such. But they are not priced as such either. Not sure I can hear the difference though.
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I hesitate to say much because nothing has been finalized. Other than I’m absolutely certain it will output I2S and act as a Roon end point. Before the product has actually been launched, the design is in such flux, I don’t want to say it’ll have a feature, not have it, and then have folks on here coming to me pitchforks and torches. 
… 
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That’s a big difference to the pre-communication of DS Mk II, Stellar phono (at the time), FR30 or even BHK 600 features…why so shy with the Octave products so short before release? 
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Unless I’ve got a gross technical misunderstanding, which is always possible, I don’t think it’s possible to make a blanket statement regarding the “sound” of one codec vs. another, that would be applicable across all digital front ends.
I would absolutely agree that for any given rendering software that two codecs, like FLAC & AIFF, might sound different, with a slight nod to say AIFF. However, that doesn’t imply that a different rendering software might not sound better processing a different codec, or have no discernible difference. Similarly, I wouldn’t discount the possibility (or likelihood) that the hardware platform on which the rendering software is running is creating potentially audible differences.
I guess where I’m going with this is…the codec, in and of itself, makes no difference in sound, unless the underlying data is different. How two different codecs are handled in the software domain, by a given hardware configuration, could very likely cause a difference in sound for any given front-end chain. That doesn’t mean one would get the same result with a different front-end chain. Point being, it’s not a single-variable analysis.
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Tell me about it. I’m more in the camp that I’d like to hold off releasing much info before we know for sure. Paul tends to get so excited that he wants to share with the community. It works well for Paul because we get so many opinions and insights to what folks want. I just got the best parking spot at the building so I don’t want to say something stupid and lose it! 
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I understand that! It’s just obvious that things are different concerning Octave products, not generally
The Grimm MU1 looks like a superb device. Innuos are also big believers in the importance of eliminating jitter, which is what the Innuos Statement does and the Phoenix Net does in a separate box. Both companies have does a lot of work on their power supplies, the MU1 appears to have two proprietary SMPS power supplies, Innuos devices use between 2 and 8 separate internal linear power supplies. The MU1 has completely proprietary upsampling and processing using an Activ FPGA chip.
When Jason Kennedy reviewed the MU1 he tested the reclocker by using a Rega CD player as a transport and sending the signal by S/PDIF into the MU1 before the DAC, and this had a dramatic improvement over sending it to the DAC directly. That said, it depends if you DAC reclocks the incoming signal as to whether it is worthwhile.
All this talk about the Octave server/streamer seems pretty meaningless until there is a fairly detailed explanation of the technology being used, the connectivity, the services provided and the quality of the streaming software.
There is talk about galvanic isolation, but that has been commonplace for a while. I am curious as the next person as to how Octave is designed and what it offers.
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