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+--- Thread: Digital to Digital Converters with Devialet - New products (/Thread-Digital-to-Digital-Converters-with-Devialet-New-products)
RE: Digital to Digital Converters with Devialet - New products - markush - 15-Aug-2022
Another year has passed by very interested to hear experiences when comparing the sound quality improvements Someone made when using a ZEN stream, Audio-Gd DI20HEc, Denafrips GAIA or any other shortly released or upcoming projects.
What also seems exciting to see how specifically the Devialet performs to inputs (USB vs SPDIF vs AES/EBU etc)
RE: Digital to Digital Converters with Devialet - New products - hardcore - 16-Aug-2022
Interesting discoveries this past year:
- Fibbr Alpha optical USB cable is amazing at isolating the source-side noise, especially with a good power supply.
https://hometheaterhifi.com/blogs/fibbr-alpha-usb-audio-cable-review/
- Toslink optical input on the Devialet Expert sounds surprisingly good with a good source, based on experience with a Singxer SU-6 DDC. Slightly different flavor from the AES input and sometimes preferable.
- Lifting the ground pin on the Devialet Expert AES input yields amazing results in my setup. Easily done using XLR ground lift adapters. Should be safe for Experts because the AES input is transformer isolated.
https://devialetchat.com/Thread-XLR-AES-Ground-Lift-Experiments
- ifi iDefender+, a lesser known but useful tweak for USB source side, an old but good product. It breaks the ground from PC side and supplies clean 5V power to a USB DDC / DAC.
- Have not yet come across any new DDCs besides already mentioned Singxer SU-6, Audio-gd DI20/HE, Denafrips Gaia. Based on Goldensound's reviews they measure similarly.
- ifi Zen Stream is exciting but yet to try it in my system. Another system uses Zen Stream with Singxer SU-6 over USB and it sounds amazing used as a Roon Bridge.
RE: Digital to Digital Converters with Devialet - New products - markush - 16-Aug-2022
@hardcore Thanks for the update.
Really looking forward to your experiences with the ZEN stream.
RE: Digital to Digital Converters with Devialet - New products - hardcore - 20-Aug-2022
Just found this - the user manual for an 'ifi NEO Stream' is available but the product has not been announced yet.
If real, this one has some interesting features:
- Optical Network input
- AES / Toslink / SPDIF / I2S outputs
https://manuals.plus/ifi/neo-stream-ultra-res-network-audio-streamer-manual.pdf
RE: Digital to Digital Converters with Devialet - New products - markush - 20-Aug-2022
Yes it’s coming end of August, iFi confirmed to me.
Did you try the ZEN stream already?
RE: Digital to Digital Converters with Devialet - New products - hardcore - 21-Aug-2022
(20-Aug-2022, 19:50)markush Wrote: Yes it’s coming end of August, iFi confirmed to me.
Did you try the ZEN stream already?
Interesting. Actually wonder if it will sound better than the ZS or not. The optical ethernet is a great idea, and the added outputs add flexibility. But it also looks more complex so not sure if that brings any drawbacks.
I don't plan to try the ZS on my system anytime soon, because I need the real-time audio from my PC for videos. In theory the optical USB cable should provide complete galvanic isolation from the PC, so there shouldn't be much difference. But I am curious to try.
RE: Digital to Digital Converters with Devialet - New products - Confused - 12-Mar-2023
The Holo Red Streamer / DCC is an interesting new device, with the potential to be a very fine companion for a Devialet Expert.
My rational for this is that my ears tell me that the Expert sounds best when fed with a decent quality signal via AES/EBU. My ears also tell me that the very best results can be achieved using HQPlayer as the source software. The Holo Red Streamer can do both. Plus it is relatively compact and affordable. On-line it is currently selling for £884 (with taxes) or $798.
In terms of objective performance, it has very low jitter and very low noise. Quite how is influences sound quality is debatable, but with key measurements this good at a relatively affordable price, what is not to like?
Plus, if you don't want to use HQPlayer, the Holo Red uses a pi CM4 module, so you could use it as a RAAT endpoint, or pretty much anything else, there are a lot of software options available for the pi.
GoldenSound measurements per the link below:
https://goldensound.audio/2023/02/09/holo-red-streamer-ddc-measurements/
RE: Digital to Digital Converters with Devialet - New products - hardcore - 13-Mar-2023
(12-Mar-2023, 10:40)Confused Wrote: The Holo Red Streamer / DCC is an interesting new device, with the potential to be a very fine companion for a Devialet Expert.
My rational for this is that my ears tell me that the Expert sounds best when fed with a decent quality signal via AES/EBU. My ears also tell me that the very best results can be achieved using HQPlayer as the source software. The Holo Red Streamer can do both. Plus it is relatively compact and affordable. On-line it is currently selling for £884 (with taxes) or $798.
In terms of objective performance, it has very low jitter and very low noise. Quite how is influences sound quality is debatable, but with key measurements this good at a relatively affordable price, what is not to like?
Plus, if you don't want to use HQPlayer, the Holo Red uses a pi CM4 module, so you could use it as a RAAT endpoint, or pretty much anything else, there are a lot of software options available for the pi.
GoldenSound measurements per the link below:
https://goldensound.audio/2023/02/09/holo-red-streamer-ddc-measurements/
Interesting! If it had that optical ethernet converter that the Optical Rendu or ifi Neo Stream has, it could be even better. I wonder how it sounds as a DDC alone.
Also, I wonder how the best of these DDCs sound compared to something like the Grimm MU1.
RE: Digital to Digital Converters with Devialet - New products - Vivialet - 13-Mar-2023
Interesting device…if it wouldnˋt be red…
RE: Digital to Digital Converters with Devialet - New products - Confused - 14-Mar-2023
(13-Mar-2023, 11:03)hardcore Wrote:(12-Mar-2023, 10:40)Confused Wrote: The Holo Red Streamer / DCC is an interesting new device, with the potential to be a very fine companion for a Devialet Expert.
My rational for this is that my ears tell me that the Expert sounds best when fed with a decent quality signal via AES/EBU. My ears also tell me that the very best results can be achieved using HQPlayer as the source software. The Holo Red Streamer can do both. Plus it is relatively compact and affordable. On-line it is currently selling for £884 (with taxes) or $798.
In terms of objective performance, it has very low jitter and very low noise. Quite how is influences sound quality is debatable, but with key measurements this good at a relatively affordable price, what is not to like?
Plus, if you don't want to use HQPlayer, the Holo Red uses a pi CM4 module, so you could use it as a RAAT endpoint, or pretty much anything else, there are a lot of software options available for the pi.
GoldenSound measurements per the link below:
https://goldensound.audio/2023/02/09/holo-red-streamer-ddc-measurements/
Interesting! If it had that optical ethernet converter that the Optical Rendu or ifi Neo Stream has, it could be even better. I wonder how it sounds as a DDC alone.
Also, I wonder how the best of these DDCs sound compared to something like the Grimm MU1.
I would have thought that some of these latest DCCs should sound every bit as good as something like the Grimm MU1. Jitter and noise measurements are so good that it is difficult so rationalise how anything better could provide an audible improvement. The other variable is software, but with things like HQPlayer, Audivana and others available, there seems little scope for improvement here either. The MU1 is a lot more money also, for whatever improvement it might be able to make.
So those are my rational thoughts. Although I have never heard an MU1, and for some reason rational thoughts do not always apply to audio, so who knows!
@Vivialet - It is indeed very red. Although I guess it is small emough that you could hide it away somewhere if red is an issue. For sure, it is not an obvious match aesthetically for a Devialet, or a match for much else for that matter.