As some of you may have read, I have a new DSD Mk1 replacing a Jr that could not be repaired.
As an aside, I feel the “Sr” was more than an incremental improvement and am very pleased.
Here’s the odd thing. I received a marketing email about Roon 2.0 and thought, didn’t I cancel that? I haven’t used it for almost three years! Well, I hadn’t so thought I would upgrade and figure out how to integrate it into my system, as the computer configuration I have now is different.
I have my DSD hardwired (Ethernet) to my cable modem/router, but my Roon Core is on a Win10 PC in another room where I can’t hardwire so it’s WiFi, both from and back to the router by WiFi. I was delighted that when I opened Roon it discovered the DSD on my network and hooked up painlessly. So far, so good. Here’s the weird part.
Weird thing #1: Without Roon and with Jr, I was using the Bridge II input and MConnect for streaming and my normal listening volume was -18 on my Bryston SP3 and using fixed output from Jr at 100. After switching from Jr to Sr, using the Bridge II and Mconnect, I had to increase my normal listening volume to -15 to be roughly the same. Maybe the Sr has a slightly lower output. Is that the case?
Weird thing #2: Now using Roon with the Sr, it is several DB higher at the same SP3 volume setting. Oh, and it sounds just that much better than using MConnnect. Better I can believe, but louder?
Okay, PS Audio Forum wizards, how is that possible? —Happy Listening