Mac AIR v MiND 180 v Auralic ARIES v totaldac d1 server

[GuillaumeB]

If clocking is the main reason for the difference in sound between AIR and Totaldac AES/EBU and both mechanisms provide bit-perfect data to the DAC then the implication is that Devialet's buffering and re-clocking of AIR-transported data is sub-optimal. If so, I'm very surprised that Devialet would have made that compromise given that AIR is one of their flagship technologies. And it sounds pretty good to me anyway

I would agree that AIR does indeed sound very good. AIR does seem to outperform most things, with the one exception appearing to be the Totaldac D1. However, I think it is helpful to remember that the Totaldac D1 is not far off the full price of a complete Devialet amplifier, with AIR, phono stage, ADH amplifier, shiny case and nice remote all included. So yes, if you throw large amounts of cash at something, you can perhaps get a more "optimal" solution. At one time AIR was effectively free with some Devialet models. So for the money, I would say AIR is very, very, optimal indeed. You could perhaps argue that this is a compromise by Devialet. The truth is that there are probably very many compromises made by the designers, but to lose this particular compromise would add maybe 4000 Euros to the Devialet's asking price.

In the context of my system 5k euros (or £4k) actually seems like quite good value in terms of improvements that I have achieved. So I think price is relative really, which is why I said in an earlier post that it's probably a good idea to think about optimising the rest of the system first before considering something like a d1 server. For someone with a 200/250 unit it might make more sense to think about getting a second unit and going dual mono. Or getting better speakers.

I agree AIR sounds good. But going back to one of my earlier points re usability, it's not for everyone either. There is a certain amount of complexity involved in bringing a PC/Mac into the audio chain. And let us not forget the issue of reliability with dropouts and white noise. Admittedly many are running AIR successfully but this will still be off-putting to some.

Guillaume