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+--- Thread: dCS Network Bridge (/Thread-dCS-Network-Bridge)
RE: dCS Network Bridge - Kwan - 16-Dec-2018
(04-Mar-2018, 15:37)KIBM Wrote: Managed to get a loan of a dCS NB from Absolute Sounds - cheers Pedro.
Previously my pecking order for streaming on a MacMini has been
1. Amarra Luxe 4 / AIR 3.0
2. Roon / AIR 3.0
3. Krell Connect
3. Roon / Roon AIR
I was very keen to hear the dCS as it promised to eliminate the MacMini from playback giving me the shortest possible playback chain.
Linked it up to the Dev with Transparent Digital Ref (I have both RCA (1m) and XLR (0.6m) lengths. Ethernet cabling was Supra Cat8 (great recommendation from Axel).
All observations are with Tidal streaming.
Straight up you can tell this is something special - it sounds more spacious and immediate than any of my other options. The bass is outstanding, deep, percussive but never overblown - it was like an amplifier upgrade. The micro details and layering/depth were in another league - can hear studio wall echoes and reverb that were not apparent before. Is this what jitter reduction sounds like or the removal of a computer? My other options sound more 2D by comparison. It really keeps your attention but despite the detail it is not bright or fatiguing. Can't make my mind up over RCA or XLR connection though. It is also Roon ready and so I fired up the MacMini and in Roon found the dCS icon to link to. Sounds excellent - more dCS than Roon/Mac. However, there is a wee bit of a step backwards in SQ with Roon/Mac in the chain - slightly narrower flatter soundstage. It's not much and may be something you could live with to keep the brilliant Roon interface. However, when you go back to 'pure' dCS it is difficult to get enthusiastic about firing up the Mac.
The dCS app is ok and very functional but does something I hate - to play a track you touch an icon or text AND then you have to press play - grrr!
I also found that the MConnect app works perfectly and so I've been using that. Nothing compares to Roon or course.
So all in all this is a winner and looks like I'll have to sell the Krell!
K
I've my NB for half years, and I concur with you that "pure dCS" using Minimserver, has better SQ than Roon, even I've upgrade my Roon server hardware to a supposedly better one and whatever I tried, "pure dCS" is still difficult to beat.
Btw, anyone has experience using audiophile switch with NB and have good improvement can share ?
RE: dCS Network Bridge - samsca - 13-May-2019
After listening to my aurender n100c for awhile , I decided to go for the dcs bridge.
My A/B test was pretty quick. I was only streaming tidal mqa
Dcs blows the doors off of the aurender. Test was done with coax.
The only thing is that the dcs app is not as good as the aurender app, but I managed ok.
Instruments are real, strings sound textured, cymbals are spectacular.
This streamer is the closest I have ever got to my vinyl setup.
RE: dCS Network Bridge - Confused - 21-Aug-2019
A very positive review ......
https://darko.audio/2019/08/dcs-network-bridge-is-affordable-excellence/
RE: dCS Network Bridge - KIBM - 22-Aug-2019
(21-Aug-2019, 17:39)Confused Wrote: A very positive review ......Funnily enough I recently took the plunge and bought a Network Bridge (in black - looks wicked!). Now that dCS have released the Mosaic control app, things are a lot more user friendly. The app seems very stable an intuitive. It won't replace the ROON browsing and curation experience. Then again with ROON you also need to hook up a upnp computer and I (and others) have noted a slight degradation in SQ. In that regard I cannot agree with Mr Darko's otherwise excellent review. What I find a real eye (ear) opener is that in general the quality of decent recordings on Tidal is outstanding and in my system through the NB represent the best digital I've heard. Is it coincidence that it is the simplest digital I've ever had????? Anyway, highly recommended for sonics and simplicity.
https://darko.audio/2019/08/dcs-network-bridge-is-affordable-excellence/
RE: dCS Network Bridge - octaviars - 26-Aug-2019
Sold all of my SOtM equipment a black dCS Network bridge is waiting at my dealer to be picked up.
RE: dCS Network Bridge - octaviars - 08-Sep-2019
Yesterday I got my black NB. Have been playing with it for a couple of hours and it sounds really good. Cant say I miss my spaghetti solution with SOtM and Paul Hynes PSU.
RE: dCS Network Bridge - Duomike - 27-Sep-2019
The dcs dealer in jakarta has just couriered me the bridge. Will take a few days to reach lombok island where I live.
Currently using an old mini with external linear ps running Audirvana connected directly with Audioquest Diamond lan cable to my modded 200. no doubt the bridge will blow the mini out of the water. Will revert with first impressions next week.
Michael
RE: dCS Network Bridge - Duomike - 07-Oct-2019
There was some delay and I received the bridge last Saturday only.
Got 2 questions:
Roughly how long will it take to burn in?
Planning to try tidal. In case of streaming does the quality of the lan cable makes a difference?
Currently I have connected the bridge with a cheap 10m cat 6 cable to my router. Could move the router close to the bridge and could use an audioquest diamond lan which I used to connect my mini directly to my dev.
RE: dCS Network Bridge - Duomike - 04-Nov-2019
Got the bridge a few weeks ago and tried several digital cables and finally settled on one.
Everything is fully burned in. Used a tweaked Mac mini before with Audirvana, direct eth connection with aq diamond to my dev. Mac was powered by a very high quality lps.
What to say, all my music sounds like it has been remastered! Using pure dcs, no noisy nas, switches nor unpn computer.
Moved the lps from the Mac to my router and the aq diamond from router to dev.
Subscribed to Quboz high res service two days ago. Streaming sounds amazing and so much new music to discover.
Call me extremely happy.
RE: dCS Network Bridge - CongoFather - 04-Dec-2019
Do you still need Nucleus and Roon after using the latest Mosaic app of DCS Network bridge? I am planning to buy DCS network bridge but want to use it directly without any extra client machine/NUC for the best performance. But as far as I read, if you have hundreds of gigabytes of albums stored on NAS, the mosaic app seems to be frustrating and can not deal with the metadata and classification of them. Is it really true that mosaic is not a good way to handle large digital archieves? Do we still need Nucleus, Intel NUCs or Mac Mini to use with DCS Network bridge? If your answer is yes, how do you connect them with DCS network bridge(over a switch with CAT cables)? Lastly, is AES/EBU connection the best way to connect DCS network bridge to Devialet?