Would like software that would appear in applications as a directly connected DS on it’s inputs and be able to send to the Bridge 2 on it’s output. As many programs such as Audirvana, Dirac and HQP aren’t ethernet, Bridge2, aware on their outputs. They expect a hardware output, such as USB. I know that HQP can use the uRendu as and NAA. But, I just think that if they could go to the Bridge 2 the sound quality would be much better, ie, No USB mucking things up. Simply put, the application would just think they were sending out to USB, but really it’s going to the Bridge 2. Is this possible?
Sorry, I didn’t know where to post this exactly, but as it has to do with the DS and it’s Bridge, I put it here.
David said
Simply put, the application would just think they were sending out to USB, but really it's going to the Bridge 2. Is this possible?
I don't think so. The Bridge is a UPnP/DLNA device. UPnP is a protocol designed to operate over ethernet, with its own set of commands and so forth. It's not just a matter of fooling the OS into thinking that it's feeding a USB device when it's actually using ethernet.
JRiver and foobar2000 (latter with plugins; Windows only) support both USB playback and the UPnP spec. There might be others that I’m not aware of.
Ok, so how about we have this program present itself as something that the Application (ie, Audirvana) sees as an output, such as SPDIF, or anything that will make the Application think it’s an output, and then converts this output into UPnP to talk to the Bridge2.
No, I’m not a programmer. Those more technically knowledgeable than I can speak to whether what you suggest is possible. Even if it is, I expect it would be expensive and messy. Better for PSA to focus on doing what they do so well: building hardware.
David said
Ok, so how about we have this program present itself as something that the Application (ie, Audirvana) sees as an output, such as SPDIF, or anything that will make the Application think it's an output, and then converts this output into UPnP to talk to the Bridge2.
The point is that the bridge is a hardware device as far as MACs and PCs, i.e. it doesn't need drivers on the MAC or PC - it's just a UPnP device. The result is that you'd need third party software that looked like a standard audio output device and "talked UPnP" to the bridge.
It’s theoretically possible to write a generic virtual sound device driver that could talk UPnP for output, the fact that there isn’t one out there (at least that I know of) is an indication that tho it seems like a good idea no one yet can do it well enough for a product or that no one thinks they’ll make enough money to make it worth while.
On the PC you can kludge a “virtual sound cable” and, say, foobar2000 or JRiver MC to do this (tho often there are problems with sample rate changes, etc.), so I suspect you could do something similar on the MAC with a virtual sound cable and JRiver MC. I’m not a MAC head so I couldn’t help there.
In the case of PS Audio products something like the LANRover might be a better place to start than using the bridge.
Ted, I am using the LanRover, and the Bridge still sounds a little better. USB > LanRover > Audiophilleo2 > SPDIF on DSjr. Sounds much better than to USB on DSjr, and yes, it’s limited to 192khz, but so is Dirac. So many people are asking how can I use Dirac with Roon and/or HQPlayer without spending a ton of money to get a setup like mine. So I thought I’d ask. Thanks
Ted, It just occured to me, are you saying that I could plug the ethernet output of the LanRover transmitter directly or thru a switch to the ethernet input on the Bridge?? That would be perfect! It makes sense, it just an ethernet signal with data.
No the LANRover looks like a USB HUB from the USB side, but not like UPnP on the Ethernet side. (Presumably it uses a private protocol over, say, TCPIP.)
I suspect that one can get pretty close to the Bridge level of sound with USB, with enough care and not a lot of expense. The LANRover can certainly be a part of such a solution and it delivers most of the convenience of the Bridge (wire routing, etc.) without the UPnP style of interface. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a simple universal set of instructions for getting optimal sound for anything audio related as far as I can tell
Not so hair brained. PS Audio did try to create a ‘virtual soundcard’ driver for the computer that the players would see as a regular output like a soundcard that would sent the audio stream out over Ethernet to the Bridge. The got it to the stage of halfway working and in the hands of beta testers, but there were significant bugs that just refused to be squashed. Eventually the project was dropped, primarily for financial reasons. It was becoming a more expensive hole in the water than a boat, with no evidence of coming to completion. Disappointing, but understandable.
