Understand that when I say the results were as expected, this was not a criticism of PS Audio but rather of streaming in general. I have been down the rabbit hole and have tried endless combinations of streamers/interconnects/power supplies. In the end, a good transport with i2s connection is still King and in my opinion will always be King
of course no criticism! i welcome comment that helps me out!
i am an audiophile. but not much in the way of all things technical! learning curve. i bug PS Audio a lot.
just got the new FPGA-228 installed on Mark ll. anxious to have time to listen to that.
i dont have stored AIF or wav format material.
The AirLens is not that expensive and I suspect a more expensive and larger version would first have a better power supply. Streamers are just very sensitive to power noise. The SACD player is probably better in that regard, but I’ve not spun a silver disc for 14 years.
Comparison with Holo, EverSolo and Innuos Pulse would be nice, but the output cables would be different, so unfair to compare.
I cannot speak to what PSU is in the PWT but the air gap technology deployed in the airlens is from the PWT. It is “supposed” to negate the need for better PSU.
I don’t see it quite as such, Steven. My take on it is - use the best optimized interface available in each unit to connect to the DAC. Doesn’t matter what it is - if the LUMIN U2 has an optimized USB audio out (for example, and it does), use it. If PS Audio decided the I2S out of the AL is to be its preferred output, use it. All that really matters is getting the best audio output from each of these streaming sources, into a DAC that is able to accept them. That’s how a purchase decision would be made. But that’s just my opinion.
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@Paul even mentioned that the Airlens has the newer digital lens technology than the PWT and that the SM PSU doesn’t harm SQ compared to a linear one due to their cap influence findings.
As the noise influences of the streaming processing compared to a disc drive are isolated galvanically, my question is “what makes the streaming worse sounding than discs then (assumed we compare local non-Flac streaming instead of online streaming)”, if the complete surrounding is equal or better for the Airlens?
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Great question. Has anyone don’t that with Airlens?
I am no expert. But I feel. Based on my listening for a week or so.
The airlens is a miss? If this is what streaming is good? Well. Think maybe I would prefer buying my typical 300 to 500 cds a year. Of the music I love. Rather than wonder through these services… and listen to music I could care less for. Pop or classical.
Who buys thus stuff?
People who like the music on offer.
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It turns out the air gap is an RF transmitter in the signal path. The power supply is still going to affect the input and output sections.
I fully agree. PS Audio is effectively a closed system using I2S. One of the best closed systems (galvanically isolated, fully balanced) was Quad’s Quadlink, and that was 30+ ago. I mentioned dCS and Marantz, also effectively closed systems. (All those brands need closed systems for SACD.)
I’ve only ever used ethernet or USB. Paul is very opinionated against USB, he’s not the only one, but he’s wrong because, as you say, the likes of Lumin and others use it very effectively. Ironically, Ted Smith designed for PS Audio their brand-leading DAC that apparently does USB extremely well.
What is relevant is that ethernet and usb are the only standardised formats that can handle the highest audio data rates (I think).
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For many, streaming simply serves as a vehicle for new music discovery rather than their primary critical listening source. If you are purchasing 300-500 CDs per year, it would seem your purchase selection process would benefit by being able to screen potential titles. As a Roon user, one of the biggest benefits it provides me are the recommendations it offers once it gets a sense of my tastes. I’ve become aware of many artists/albums that I would probably have not but for the suggestions offered. In any case, the good news is you have the 30-day return window going for you if the AL just isn’t cutting it.
well said. I have not bought CDs in a long time. Just getting back into music loving the past 3 years. Post kids college and such. Roon has let me catch up on much of what I missed. I could never go back to spinning a disc from the usability standpoint, not SQ.
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You have to be careful taking about signal paths with networked audio. From what I understand, if a device is instructed to send out data, that data goes all over your network, but is only used by the device or devices to which it is addressed. In my multi-zone system I have the same data being recognised by several devices and played at the same time.
There seems to be this crazy myth / concept that having too much music available is somehow bad or wasteful. No one ever complained that libraries have too many books.
Roon has good ways of recommending music, so does the Qobuz app. Personally, I find new things to listen to mostly from live performance, performers I prefer and music magazines that come through my letterbox every month.
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That would be the Holy Grail of audio - give that just about every component is dependent on the quality of its power supply.
My primary use case is the streaming of my own digital files from my storage locations via Ethernet to the DAC c/o an I2S connection.
On balance, especially when using JRiver Media Center to manage the music library and serve the files via my network, the AirLens/DS Sr. yields the best performance I have ever experienced in my system - seemingly topping the Bridge II’s performance before it.
Not “a miss”, to my ears…
FWIW.
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How did you come to this conclusion?
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Do you have a PST ?
Really? I thought it was an optocoupler, similar in concept to the Denafrips ARCE streamer. I’ve done a quick search of the forum and see both techniques mentioned.
PW SACD Transport uses RF transmission. From the brochure:
Signals are transferred by a form of focused beam short-wavelength radio signals between the two boards
I have NFI 