Interesting (and honest, as always) response Paul. Any speculation on whey there would be a difference? Aren’t they both using similar “airgap” technology? I don’t have a PWT (I have ripped everything, including my SACDs) so I’m just asking out of curiosity (I do expect I’ll be getting an Airlens when it comes out).
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Steve, without being able to answer your question, I can only tell you that I heard the alpha version of the Airlens at AXPONA immediately following hearing the same tunes on the PST. That early version of the AL was good, but not as good as the PST. Did not have the same sense of blackness or musical flow. I thought at the time it could have been due to any number of things - alpha unit, server feeding the AL, cables… but this posted observation from Paul leads me to expect it will maybe not be able to achieve the same sense of musical engagement as the PST.
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That’s very interesting Tony. Still seems a bit odd but then in this hobby you just never know what will make a real difference.
I’ve already got and am using a Holo Red. My remaining credit with PSA will get me the AL for free (I think?), so it’ll be here for comparison to an admittedly less expensive (but more technically capable) unit.
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I hope Paul and the others here who compared, did so with local (not service) streaming and in wav or AIF, not Flac format…as only then (assumed all cabling etc. was equal), disc vs. streaming is comparable imo.
And as I wrote before…if then the PST still sounds better, in my understanding this proves a certain grade of inefficiency of the galvanic isolation of Airlens and/or Mk II. If I should be wrong with this logic, it would be interesting why.
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The normal rule is your PSA credit can only offset 30% of the retail cost on a trade-in. Sometimes they give a bit more (DS Mk1 traded in for Mk2, for example).
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I would think that there are certainly more electronic variables in comparing the PST with the AL than simply galvanic isolation.
Comments from an microbiologist/immunologist 
Hopefully one of electronics gurus will chime in and clarify this discussion further or tell me I’m full of it!
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What’s wrong with FLAC? Perhaps there are concerns about the processing required to uncompress the files? I use uncompressed FLAC for all my CD rips because the meta-data that can be attached to a WAV file is so limited.
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If you use AIF you have the metadata capability of Flac and quite completely the sound quality of wav. If it’s audible depends on the setup. Although there are some varying opinions about this topic, many with revealing setups report the differences.
That’s why I assumed the Airlens may have a stripped down PSU compared to the PST. If so, no clear statement about disc vs. streaming is possible from this comparison, just about 2 different units with different design levels.
In case Paul says, every other difference is irrelevant, then we’d have the noise isolation as only possible reason imo, because the only theoretical thing that’s better with a disc drive is some missing processing and the missing LAN or Wi-Fi connection and their noise, which ideally all should be blocked by galvanic isolation.
All this imo is, why we can only conclude from statements when all preconditions are known.
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I remain unconvinced the streaming services are sending the same data as what’s on our discs.
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Thanks, Tony. I can add to his story that after Axpona I kept working on the design and got a MAJOR improvement from what Tony heard on that prototype.
I still don’t think it’s as good as the PST but it’s pretty danged close. Close enough you may not notice much….
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Does this mean you compared the disc with streaming from a service?
If so, I don’t wonder the disc sounds better for that reason alone.
Wouldn’t a fair comparison be the PST against a rip of the same disk(s) from, let’s say, a NAS/SSD over the AL?
That rules out any influence or doubts of external factors.
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That is exactly what I hope to do with my AL.
Thank you, Paul! I’m looking forward to hearing it.
Any further comments on the Lumin U2? Hard choices to make for a streamer with Lumin,Aurender,Innuos at the head of the pack as I have seen it. Any particular reasons you chose Lumin U2?
Thanks for your opinion.
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Is there any way to get Spotify, Tidal or Quobuz with the A Capella III?
I have yet to see any evidence that streaming services manipulate the files in any undisclosed way (like MQA, which is disclosed). Qobuz - been using exclusively for almost 10 years - are quite clear about this. Why would they want to so this anyway? There are people independently checking files. I have downloaded HD offline streaming files from Qobuz that I have previously purchased and they are the same size.
Loads of music never reached a CD anyway.
Unless there is actual evidence to the contrary, I must assume they are the same. The hardware used to source them and convert to an analog signal may have an impact on the sound, but not the data itself without proof it’s different.
The Lumin U2 I a streamer / volume controller, over and above lower models main differences are fibre optic input and toroidal linear power supply.
I have the T3, it has a low noise switch mode power supply which seems fine to me and I have to convert fibre optic to CAT6a. The price increment for these added features in the U2 and P1 seems very high.