Bob said:
she gets tech-panic whenever there is any kind of minor glitch or spasm
x2
We are still wait for protocol specs from Roon Labs. Only then can we determine if it can be implemented on the BridgeII.
Dennis
audiohippo said What's the latest with Bridge2/DLNA support with Roon?We still wait Roon programmers getting us code.
Any update on when Bridge II will become widely available ?
I understand thereās been a few delays.
They are shipping now, so hopefully they should begin reaching homes soon. Where do you live?
I have posted my experience with Bridge II and JRiver/JRemote both to seek help solving problems and to help others learn from my experience. I hope Iāve made the correct impression: I like Bridge II and JRiver/JRemote. If I didnāt, I would have moved on. I think JRiver rewards those willing to work through some of itās complexities. Now that I can relax a little more, I think Bridge II will do the same.
My network may be a little more complex than some otherās (I donāt think itās that out of control) and was most likely the cause of my latest issue with Bridge II: the Bridge wasnāt always recognized by JRiver. Usually after re-booting or logging out as a user and back in.
My network consists of one previous generation Apple Extreme (DHCP server connected to a Comcast cable modem) located in a mechanical room in my basement. On the main floor I have an Apple Express (Bridge mode) in my stereo rack and D-Link 5 Port Switch (DGS-105). On the second floor of the house, I have another Apple Express (again, Bridge mode). My JRiver server is on the second floor while my Direct Stream is on the main floor. I have an Ethernet cable (Cat 5e) running directly from the Extreme to the second floor Express with my JRiver server (Dell laptop running Win 10) connected to the expansion port in the back of the Express. Also, I had an Ethernet cable running from the Extreme to the first floor D-Link switch with the Express, Direct Stream, Apple TV & Power Plant 3 also connected to the switch. The primary motivation for this system is to have a strong WiFi signal on every floor and maintain the advantage of wired connections to my primary devices: server and Bridge II.
Last night I experimented. I assigned the follow devices a static static IP outside the DHCP range: Each Express, Direct Stream (Bridge II), and JRiver server. All devices connected to the internet quickly; however, rebooting my server caused JRiver to lose the Bridge II. Re-booting (unplugging) the switch allowed JRiver to find Bridge II. I then plugged the Ethernet cable directly into the main floor Express (stereo cabinet) with a cable connected from the Express spare port into the D-link switch. The other devices on the switch remained: Bridge II, P3 and Apple TV. Hallelujah: no matter what I did with the server (re-boot, log-out, log-in, shut off JRiverā¦), JRiver always found Bridge II within a minute or so. Donāt know if it was the combination of static IPs on the expresses and server or routing the cable directly to the first floor Express. I suspect the cable route was the real fix. Who knows why? Seems like it should work either way; however, it didnāt.
I think a lot of this trouble is caused by the Apple devices. They donāt support UPnP natively for reasons only Apple knows. However, the obvious culprit is the switch. Have no idea why and have no idea why such a seemingly simple change in configuration solved the problem. If I had to trouble shoot further: the next step was buying a managed switch and assigning port priorities. The step after that: run a dedicated cable from Bridge II to the last spare port in my Extreme.
Sorry for the long ramble. Hope this helps some of you our there. Good luck and enjoy the great music!!
Dale
Edit: I think I posted this in the incorrect thread. My apologies. I wanted to keep it consistent.
My first experience with Bridge II (firmware 1.2.3) I recently got.
- Gapless seems to be fine.
- UPNP support improved but is still behind expectations. Response time is better but support of playback control by UPNP control point has further room for improvement. I'm using Buble UPNP on an Andorid smart phone.
- Isn't the webinterface known from Bridge I implemented any longer? At least I couldn't connect to it by entering the IP in the browser. I definetly want it back!
- Mutated vowels like used in German or scandinavian languages are still not supported. Instead any graphic symbols are shown as with Bridge I. I would like to see those supported as I'm listening to a lot of scandinavian jazz.
- Changing the name of the Bridge has impact only on the inputs name shown on the device display. The network name stays BrigdeII. And the changed name is lost after cycling the power...
Paul McGowan said They are shipping now, so hopefully they should begin reaching homes soon. Where do you live?NSW, Australia.
fm-maniac said
- UPNP support improved but is still behind expectations. Response time is better but support of playback control by UPNP control point has further room for improvement. I'm using Buble UPNP on an Andorid smart phone.
What exactly do you find lacking in āsupport of playback controlā? I use BubbleUPnP on an Android tablet and it works very well for me.
- Isn't the webinterface known from Bridge I implemented any longer? At least I couldn't connect to it by entering the IP in the browser. I definetly want it back!
This was a deliberate decision on PSAās part; you are not the only one who has commented on this. I too originally thought it should have been retained, but B2 is so much more reliable than B1 that I havenāt needed it to reset the UPnP server. Everything else can be done from the front panel (not always quite so convenient, I know).
- Mutated vowels like used in German or scandinavian languages are still not supported. Instead any graphic symbols are shown as with Bridge I. I would like to see those supported as I'm listening to a lot of scandinavian jazz.
I raised this issue during beta testing, and I thought it had been fixed. Itās possible that the problem lies with the metadata; if it is not encoded properly (i.e., using an older system like MacRoman rather than Unicode) it might not display.
- Changing the name of the Bridge has impact only on the inputs name shown on the device display. The network name stays BrigdeII. And the changed name is lost after cycling the power...
The name change sticks in my system. Not sure whatās going on here.
Hi,
I have been using Bridge 2 for one week now and I am very pleased with SQ. Clear improvement over Bridge 1. I am using qnap nas with minimserver and BubbleUPnp controller for android. Connection from bridge 2 goes thru galvanic/ optical isolator to dedicated netgear switch. Both switch and optical ethernet isolator are powered by same linear hdplex psu. From Netgear switch to main switch also there is galvanic (not optical) isolation used.
The operation of Bridge 2 is reliable: response time is fast, gapless works, tidal plays 24/7 while burning in bridge 2.
Only issue I have noticed is with volume control with bubbleUpnp. Quite often bridge 2 stops responding for volume adjustments. Still with remote control the volume control works always. With Bridge 1 and with same setup volume control worked ok.
Green Machine saidPaul McGowan said They are shipping now, so hopefully they should begin reaching homes soon. Where do you live?NSW, Australia.
Bridges are en route to Australia should be arriving at stores by the end of the month.
Using bridgeII for almost a month now. My experience is very similar to that of Cabin.
It works very smoothly - no need to reset it every now and then. Sound quality is great. Few days back integrated with Tidal. Works like a charm !!!
I think the key is to use the right control software. In my experience BubblePnP is best. Next is you need to have a good router connecting your NAS and Direct Stream DAC. My NAS is wirelessly connected with my router and DS is with ethernet.
@fm-maniac - Not sure how you compare DS with Bridge with a Remote UPnP Controller with a NAS to Raspberry PI + Volumino. Is it from usability perspective or sound quality ?
Regards,
Sourav
Sourav Mazumder said@fm-maniac - Not sure how you compare DS with Bridge with a Remote UPnP Controller with a NAS to Raspberry PI + Volumino. Is it from usability perspective or sound quality ?
Regards,
Sourav
Hi Sourav,
the comparision is from functional perspective only! Iām using a DigiPi with the Raspberry providing a transfomer coupled S/PDIF output. Itās connected by coaxial cable to the S/PDIF input of the PWD MKII. The sound quality of the Bridge is of course better, no question about that.
BR,
Michael
Some more details on the points mention above:
- The web interface is clearly just for comfort. But as long as it doesn't cause any drawbacks in sound quality, response time, stability or whatever why not bringing it back?
- Device naming for sure doesn't work with my PWD/Bridge II. As mentioned I can change the name but only the input name displayed on the touch screen is affected. The renderer name distributed via UPNP still stays "BridgeII". And with a power cycle the entered name is lost and reset to "BridgeII". Tried it three times yesterday. Definitly a bug!
- Mutated vowels: Metadata of my files are fine and distribution by UPNP network also. Mutated vowels are shown correctly by BubbleUPNP control point (s. attached pictures) as well as by the Raspberry former mentioned. So it's still an open issue of Bridge II.
- UPNP support: First I struggled with track advance. The playback stopped after each track. This could be fixed by disabling gapless in the BubbleUPNP settings. But any direct control applied to the PWD by touch screen or remote control (volume change, muting, pausing the playback) is not reported back via UPNP. Although response time improved it's still behind that of the raspberry which responses immediatly without any observable delay.
BR
Michael
I installed mine a week ago and am delighted. It installed faultlessly and was found by JRiver immediately. My two bugbears with the old bridge (no gapless and a tendency to play white noise at the end of some WAV files) have disappeared. The sound seemed a little rolled off on installation but it continues to open up, so I guess, like most audio gear, it needs to be run-in. Thanks to PS Audio for another excellent product - next step Roon?
Michael - Kari Bremnes! I have some of her stuff. Sheās got a nice voice and a nice way of expressing a song - even if I donāt understand the language!
tony22 said Michael - Kari Bremnes! I have some of her stuff. She's got a nice voice and a nice way of expressing a song - even if I don't understand the language!I also don't understand Norwegian. But some words are very similiar to English or German. And you always get a good impression about a song even by her way of performing it. I've seen her live three times and she's very present on stage, explaining all her songs.
Thereās one album available in English: Norwegian Mood. Just for the case you donāt know it.
So it would be very nice to have the track names of this songs shown correctlyā¦
Update for my previous post:
Volume control with bubbleupnp started to work after I left SD card plugged in. If not plugged in the dac display didnāt work properly after the cover was tried to be updated and volume control stopped working. Only way atleast in my case to recover was plug in SD card and restart the DAC. I donāt know if this is a bug or feature. Bridge 1 didnāt require SD card plugged in if there was no need for cover art.
I checked with network protocol analyser upnp http/xml volume control messaging and it was OK between bridge 2 and bubbleupnp application in case of SD card plugged in or not.
So I am happy with bridge 2 now and after two weeks of continuous music streaming still the SQ gets improving.
Hopefully in next software release volume control would be similar with bridge 2, Scandinavian character support added and support for both way upnp messaging will be added if e.g. volume adjustments are done with remote control (keeps upnp control point user interface up to date)
Hey there, Iām just preparing (in terms of file format & NAS/server) how to finally use my new DS DAC/Bridge II after set up. There are a few insights I got while reading forums and some starter questions, that Paul, Ted, Dennis or anyone familiar with it can possibly answer or comment as right or wrong:
Bridge II seems to deliver most probably in general better sound quality than even other good third party streamers over USB or any other input due to the Bridgeās direct digital lens connection to the DAC and the unneeded noisy USB connnection and add. cabling. Additionally the bridge uses the DACās internal power supply which is probably better than most of external streamers supplies and anyway than those of PCās, Macs or Notebooks. This implies that a double rate DSD file downconverted to single rate to be playable by Bridge II, still sounds probably better than played double rate by an external Streamer or PC. That would make the bridge II most probably the best source available. Correct arguments or not?
Weak power supplies of Computers, NAS, Routers etc., even if plugged into a different electrical cirquit than the one of the audio setup may have some negative effect to the performance of the DAC if connected to the DAC by USB, Coax, Toslink, XLR. But while plugged into a different el. cirquit they most probably have no negative effect, when PC/NAS is connected by ethernet to the Bridge II. Means, thereās less to no need to bother about power supplies of PC/NAS/Router under these conditions of separate cirquits, when connected by ethernet to Bridge II. Correct arguments or not?
Under the above mentioned conditions: Is there any reason why data on a NAS drive fed to the bridge by ethernet over a Jriver server could sound inferior to data fed directly from the NAS into the bridge (without Jremote server)?
Wow, jazznut, those are a lot of variables. Possibly, yesā¦ or no.
Servers do sound different and the only way to truly find out is to insert one into the food chain. If the server is just a plain old computer that hasnāt been tinkered with I would be tempted to say that you should stick with the NAS only. I would also venture to say that improving upon the sound of a NAS would take some pretty high level computer equipment, possibly from an OEM server maker so unless you are intending to āgo for the gold,ā Iād stick with the NAS.