Yes, for those who have been early adopters in HDMI upgrades, the path has been WWPL7, RAL, AQ Dragon. Dragon remains king. Tested and uncontested.
4 Likes
Thanks, this did it, though I had to connect to Wi-Fi first, and the lights never flashed as they should have. The UX on this thing is poor, to be honest. I need to acess the bottom to perform functions? There’s only a lashing light for an interface that requires Wi-Fi access and firmware upgrades? Really frustrating experience. There should be an app or a web interface where you just type in the IP adress and can work through a menu.
That’s been the words around here. Agreed. I have Al’s old WWSP7 on the PST. Like it more than the RAL, but never sprang for the Dragon, and don’t drool over any AQ stuff. Also purposefully avoid their highest end stuff. Outta my league.
Speaking of outta my league (and AQ), when I picked up the AirLens today in Boulder, I gotta hear the newest room. Wow! They are really getting after it up there. Listened to a couple songs with a gracious and kind host.
1 Like
I see your point. I have a PS Audio DAC so I2S is no problem. However, both my fidata NAS and my Lumin U2 mini offer very high performance USB outputs that are meant to go directly to a DAC USB input. The AirLens would appeal to a larger customer base if it had a USB output. Although it might also need a USB input.
1 Like
Why doesn’t my AirLens sound like that!? 
I use the same cables for my digital signals.
1 Like
Thank you!!
I ordered Airlens on Wednesday and not shipped yet 
Really, this is just too much! 
Not one beta tester of the AL has a PST? Not one with an alternate streamer? Considering how with everything else everybody on this forum gets, the comparisons and opinions are typically the equivalent of rain during monsoon season, this comparative vacuum so far with AL impressions postings is odd. 
I’m giving the new retail buyers a pass. Burn in and all, you know. 
But the rest of you, start yammering! 
7 Likes
@Tony222 My Airlens just came last night. I also have a PST. Of course that goes directly to the Mk2 which also arrived last night. What info are you loking for?
3 Likes
A PST/Airlens comparison, using same mastering, same cabling, AIF/wav (not Flac) format from local storage, not online streaming with a burned in Airlens would be interesting.
And as one can play thousands of hires files on a streamer and only CD format and some SACD‘s on a drive, a hires vs. drive comparison would also be interesting relative to the equal CD format comparison.
5 Likes
I’ve been most pleased with them, as they strike a nice price to performance balance. Are there better, certainly. One can get carried away with them and exceed the purchase price of the device they are connected to. I’d rather put the difference in music. It’s mostly up to what you value, and of course, system synergy.
I think with time we will be rewarded. consider a 100-300 hour burn in puts any meaningful comparison at or past the Labor Day. holiday, IMO.
Agreed. That’s why I was only pestering 
the beta testers. Figured they’d have hopefully a couple of hundred hours on theirs.
1 Like
In my setup Qobuz is superior over Tidal and Tidal is superior over Deezer. And Deezer is superior over Spotify. Well, I’ll be waiting for Qobuz Connect. That is my Trigger to start listening via Airlense. In the meantime Lindemann Bridge 2 will do all the streaming-job for DSD MK2. Good News from the High End in Munich in May according to the Launch of Qobuz Connect later this year.
I forgot something at the beginning of my short story. It should start with: PST is superior over Qobuz and …
3 Likes
Hopefully a bigger sample population and some constructive comments for FW upgrades, etc.
Just signed for mine. 
3 Likes
Congratulations.
Hope you take the time to post about your experience once you have some mileage on the kit…
Cheers
1 Like
I had the same experience, Verendus. A few months ago, I added a Matrix X-SPDIF2 reclocker (with LPS) before my DSD DAC. For the digital interconnect, I used a better-than-average HDMI cable that, I think, retailed for $50 or $60. The guy I bought the reclocker from told me the RAL cable would make a big difference. I was skeptical, but I trusted the guy and took the leap (for the price of the Matrix itself). I was stunned by the difference the RAL cable made - the SQ improvement of the cable was as much as the Matrix itself. And this is a digital cable! I don’t get it, but I can’t argue with my ears. Rocked my world.
5 Likes