Ted mentioned in the thread about the actual MKII DAC that “PS Audio will have various streaming solutions available and there are plenty of great streamers from other companies”. It would be very interesting to know anything about those plans and options. Anyone from PSAudio could comment, please?
I’m not from PSA but sounds like you purchase a streamer from another company and connect via USB or whatever.
Bridge III, the Octave Server, and the eventual Stellar Server are forthcoming. All will be based on PS Audio’s Octave software.
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Nice. I hope that at least Bridge III will be Roon ready 
I hope so too. There appears to be enough demand for it that it would be a good idea for us to.
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Will bridge III be a standalone unit or an add-on card?
If it’s an add-on, will it be backward compatible with current DSD Sr?
I’m still hoping somebody winds up making an Ethernet In → I2S out device that supports up to DSD256. A fantasy, apparently. 
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Say hello to network noise and ethernet / USB rabbit hole.
WiFi to new PS Audio options will be better, and I2S. USB is worst of all methods.
The idea is for it to be a standalone device. Fingers crossed that it has I2S out, but I haven’t been given an update for a while.
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Thanks James,
A standalone transport / bridge would be fantastic. Be it USB or I2S output, if noise and jitter are under control sure it would sound great.
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@cxp Actually using a standalone device which uses wired Ethernet (preferred by many in audio circles) and sends signal to PS Audio DS via USB and it sounds excellent.
Sounds even better with the USB signal sent to a Matrix and then via i2S to PSA DS.
Have tried wifi before and prefer wired.
Also using laptop to USB to MAtrix to PSA DS via i2S and it sounds equally good.
How was WiFi used?
WiFi to a converter that spits out Ethernet is not optimal and still introduces noise. My issue with Ethernet and it’s only with Strata is that simply plugging in Ethernet changes the tone of other sources. It is possible that the Strata is more susceptible than other Ethernet solutions… I’m not sure.
The Ultrarendu also changes sound with Ethernet solutions… converters and cabling… this is not good. You then continuously chase your tail. PS audio server / streamer with WiFi would eliminate all of this nonsense with Ethernet. Fewer people have evaluated WiFi properly since it’s normally first routed to something else that then uses Ethernet.
Obviously there are tons of system configurations and network backends that send both wifi and wired signals to a network streamer. They all introduce noise to some degree.
I have a modded OPPO 105, and had a modded OPPO Sonica that could do both wifi and wired. I preferred wired.
I had an Ultrarendu and used a basic FMC setup to run fiber ahead of it. Sounded great, but slightly clinical.
Am now using a Lumin U1 Mini with external LPS wired.
Sounds great.
And am able to use the MAtrix to use the i2S input in the PSA DS which sounds even better.
Sometimes things do not make total sense from technical views. Apparently even the PS Audio DS measures very poorly.
This hobby is a lot of unexplained at times. But as Duke Ellington says if it sounds good it is good.
Of note, of course, is Auralic believes they have their units to the level of wired or they can surpass wired with wifi. I have not tried one.
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I use usb from an Innuos Zen via Roon Transport to my office DAC. It will likely improve when Innuos release their own uPnP software in a few months. It is already very good, helped by there being a dedicated linear power supply to the usb output.
The Innuos Phoenix apparently also provides exceptionally good usb.
Usb is better than most things for transmitting crazy high bit rates.
The Octave server may be optimised for the PSA I2S protocol, but it had better have some very good other output options.
In my case, the best results in descending order were as follows:
- Nucleus+ >USB >Matrix >HDMI >DSDAC I2S input
- Naim Core* BNC output >DSDAC Coaxial input
- Nucleus+* >USB >DSDAC USB input
- Nucleus+ or Naim server > LAN >Bridge II LAN input (this option was tested using both MControl and Roon)
*both Naim Core and Nucleus+ have SSD onboard, so files are played directly rather than on ethernet.
Key differences are in bass clarity and dynamics in general, including spatial info.
I need to add that I had similar experience with Naim Uniti all-in-one streamer amplifier. It definitely sounded better fed by the SPDIF and USB cables than over the ethernet. I am yet to try WiFi with any device.
I’ve owned three Auralic streamers and they all work flawlessly with WiFi.
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My Auralic streamer is also WiFi without any issues. Auralic actually recommends using WiFi for the best sound.
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They were forerunners in recommending WiFi over Ethernet for audio streaming.
Designer can incorporate WiFi into design and sound tuning. Ethernet you now have the upstream router/switch, power supply, and cabling. This includes the cabling on the power supply for the router/switch.
Absolutely not. Ethernet is not completely isolated and sound can change depending on usb cable, Ethernet cable, network router, network switch… its endless.
At bare minimum go OpticalRendu so you avoid the noise from router/switches.
I would just wait for Bridge3, use WiFi and I2S to DAC.
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