Replace DSD bridge II with optical Rendu question

Where is a good place to find a Bridge II for the price you have stated $450? It’s priced at $800 on PS Site which of course is new

Once or twice a month someone puts one up for sale in the Marketplace section in this very online forum.
Yes, new they are $800. But there are a lot of people here who are convinced even having the thing plugged into the DAC trashes the sound. If it does, I do not hear it. So folks here get talked into yanking it out and then they sell it here. If you aren’t in too much of a hurry it will come.

Look, here is one now:

https://forum.psaudio.com/t/ps-audio-bridge-ii-115v/17773

And here is another:
https://forum.psaudio.com/t/for-sale-bridge-2-sold/17447
It says sold in the title but the original poster says offers still being accepted.

And one more:
https://forum.psaudio.com/t/for-sale-bridge-ii/16919

Better sound is possible but at what cost? For less than the price of a decent USB cable you could be done and satisfied. Or not. There is that danger. Some people around here would warn you away. Not me.

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I think you are better off avoiding the Bridge II card. It’s not made by PS Audio and they don’t really control the firmware. They are at the mercy of a third-party which has let them down numerous times. Plus, the card adds electrical noise to the signal path which is never good.

Since you are using Roon, getting a Roon Endpoint of some kind is, in my experience, a better way to go. I am using an ultraRendu but there are less expensive options. The Allo DigiOne Signature Player is one example and can be had for under $400 with a not terrible power supply.

One thing for sure is when you ask a question on an audio forum you will get all kinds of answers. I own a Bridge II card and after reading this forum, I jumped on trying an Sonore opticalRendu. The opticalRendu was very nice but not enough for me to replace my Bridge II card. I sent the unit back. If I didn’t already own the Bridge II card I would have kept the opticalRendu box.

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Awfully sensible of you…

:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

I already have built up a NUC i7 from ROON’s recommendation list running there ROCK operating system.I believe they term this as the core so the Allo DigiOne Signature Player which I believe is built on the Pi3 foundation would be unasary.Thanks for your input in helping me through this decision making process what you shared has caused me to really step further away from using the Bridge II as any solution for streaming digital content into the Directstream DAC.

The NUC is the Roon Core. The Allo would be the Roon Endpoint. In other words, the two perform very different functions in the Roon world.

The Roon folks believe, and my experience agrees with them, that the best way to get great sound is to keep the Roon Core and Roon Endpoint separate.

Just beginning this journey into building a digital storage/streaming/curating/ripping and interfacing all of the different pieces to make it all come together.In which case I already have the beginnings which I believe the NUC i7 would comprise of and the end point being a Directstream DAC. It’s the points in between that I am now sorting out and quite frankly I do not wish place a whole lot of boxes ( Fixer’s) between the two so for the time being from what i’ve gleaned from reading and exploring all the different ways others are going about this that maybe the most bang for the buck for now would be use the Matrix Audio X-SPDIF 2 USB Interface along with a 9VDC sbooster of which I already have one of (for the matrix) .

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Thanks for your response.I am leaning more into taking your direction I already have a sbooster 9VDC power supply that I got for my Koss 950 energizer that could multi task in powering the Matrix as well when not serving headphone duties.and as for remote duties I as well have a BHK Preamp so that’s covered.

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In the Roon world, the Endpoint is not the DAC. Here is my full chain:

sonicTransporter i9 (Ethernet) > ultraRendu (USB) > Matrix SPDIF 2 (I2S) > DirectStream (XLR) > Don Sachs Model 2 tube line stage (SE) > Don Sachs Kootenay 120 tube amp > Tekton Design Double Impact speakers

The Roon Core is the sonicTransporter i9 and the Roon Endpoint is the ultraRendu.

In my experience, this:

sonicTransporter i9 (Ethernet) > ultraRendu (USB) > DirectStream

Sounds better than this:

sonicTransporter i9 (USB) > Matrix SPDIF 2 (I2S) > DirectStream

In other words, getting the Roon Core separated from the DirectStream by Ethernet sounds better than separating the Roon Core from the DirectStream by the Matrix SPDIF 2.

I am a fan of simplicity. But too simple is not good either. This sounds best to me:

Roon Core > Roon Endpoint > Matrix SPDIF 2 > DirectStream

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I’ll link my recent mini review of the Antipodes EX endpoint / renderer with P2 HDMI output. Expensive but worth it my view to avoid all these boxes and power supplies (which add up). Compatible I2S source devices

A friend with an Antipode CX/EX+P2 setup recently tested a sonicTransporter i9 Optical/opticalRendu setup. His plan was to sell the setup he likes least.

He just sold the Antipode setup…

Sure, the chain I use has two linear power supplies, the server, the endpoint, and the Matrix SPDIF 2. but is FAR, and I mean FAAAARRRR cheaper than an Antipodes setup as sounds as good or better…

jhead4, if you do end up going down the Matrix path I would recommend this inexpensive HDMI cable: https://www.ebay.com/itm/OneConvey-High-Speed-4K-HDMI-Cable-Dark-Gray/324194054787?hash=item4b7b78b283:g:BkkAAOSwvppe4Pkl

Bootzilla turned us on to this one and said that the folks at Matrix recommended it to him. I compared it to the Audioquest Coffee HDMI cable and preferred the inexpensive HDMI from OneConvey. Unfortunately it looks like the OneConvey is no longer available on Amazon so I could only find the one above on eBay.

Best of luck and hope you continue to enjoy your audio journey!

Thanks for the reply.I as well seen that the OneConvey was not available at this time on Amazon looking at the internal cut away and the construction it appears to me to be made very well and I would not hesitate to say on the surface to say that it give’s you a lot for the money.I did find a pretty good deal for a 2’6" run of Audioquest Carbon A to B for $99 New in the box from TRM

This is the HDMI cable I ended up with (.75 meter):

https://www.thecableco.com/c-view-hdmi.html

It has been fantastic.

Took a look at your link that does indeed read like it should give great performance for the money.One of the A to B USB cables that I use on my desktop rig (Wyred for sound Recovery, NAD D3020 into PSB Imagine XB Monitors ) is made by Supra which I find to be no-nonsense without any kind of hyperbole marketing with a no-nonsense kind of pricing.

Nice! That was the USB cable that I ran from my PC to my DS Sr before upgrading to the Matrix where I just use the USB cable that it came with the Matrix now. The AQ Carbon doesn’t get much use anymore but I do pull it out from time to time when testing other equipment in my various systems.

For what’s it’s worth, I believe John Darko also uses the AQ Carbon cable.

Do you use other Chord cables in your system? If yes, which ones?

No, just that one…

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I asked because I’m intrigued by the concept of low cost interconnects from high quality companies. You have an extremely nice, and not altogether inexpensive system. I’m intrigued that you use a $50 Chord HDMI cable.

I’m contemplating buying the Decware ZRock 2 and will need to get two sets of RCA cables. I have a $500 pair of AQ Colorado XLR’s, so I’m not immune to spending on cables. But I can’t help but wonder it’s a bit of a waste.

What are your other interconnects?