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dCS Network Bridge
#11
I have not listened to one. At the moment I am waiting to see how the new SOtM-sMS-200Ultra works out, as well as the forthcoming Sonore UltraRendu, and of course the mighty Devialet streamer board.

I think I would have been more keen to try the dCS Network Bridge if it was HQPlayer compatible. The point being is that trying HQPlayer remains on my 'to do' list, and so until I get around to trying properly, I am not sure if not being HQPlayer compatible matters to me or not. So depending on how things work out, I may well be trying one later in the year.
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
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#12
(17-May-2017, 01:06)Wdw Wrote:
(16-May-2017, 21:46)Confused Wrote: A short review:

http://www.audiostream.com/content/dcs-network-bridge

does look awfully nice....!  

I'm sure quite a few D owners are questioning whether their over-long wait for the mythic "streamer" board should simply be jettisoned for this fine bit of kit.   I am.

The difference being, one of them you've already paid for and the other's quite expensive.

I'd have to be in a real rush or have a specific problem to solve to buy an external streamer now. There's only just over six months left in 2017 after all!

In fact I do have specific problem to solve but I'm still going to wait. The chance of sticking to the one box solution I've finally got working after two years waiting is just too strong. Plus for me personally, I feel much happier being away from the constant thoughts of what's 'the best' device out there and tweaks available. I got quite carried away with it and much prefer the simple life.

>>> 1st Place Award: Devialet, last decades most disappointing technology purchase.  <<<

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#13
The advantage of the DCS bridge is its AES output. I have the impression that the USB input got somewhat better with the Pro upgrade but AES is still the best sounding input in my experience (too bad there is only one). But otherwise I am quite interested in the sMS-200 Ultra and I will check both out at the HighEnd end of this week.
I would still like to know what the promised streamer board will do (and how good) as I hate make a significant investment which could be obsolete in a month or a year (one never knows with Devialet).
P.S.: and there is Ravenna
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#14
(16-May-2017, 21:46)Confused Wrote: A short review:

http://www.audiostream.com/content/dcs-network-bridge
Thanks for the link.
I had a quick listening at the local dealer and the same opinion about it.
Still waiting for... and waiting...
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#15
(17-May-2017, 08:37)Confused Wrote: I have not listened to one.  At the moment I am waiting to see how the new SOtM-sMS-200Ultra works out, as well as the forthcoming Sonore UltraRendu, and of course the mighty Devialet streamer board.

I think I would have been more keen to try the dCS Network Bridge if it was HQPlayer compatible.  The point being is that trying HQPlayer remains on my 'to do' list, and so until I get around to trying properly, I am not sure if not being HQPlayer compatible matters to me or not.  So depending on how things work out, I may well be trying one later in the year.

Or you can get that full dCS stack you really wanted, which now comes in a singe box and at the bargain price of £55,000! You'd never think about HQPlayer again once you fired that puppy up I'm sure. Big Grin

https://parttimeaudiophile.com/2017/05/1...valdi-one/

>>> 1st Place Award: Devialet, last decades most disappointing technology purchase.  <<<

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#16
(17-May-2017, 21:57)Hifi_swlon Wrote:
(17-May-2017, 08:37)Confused Wrote: I have not listened to one.  At the moment I am waiting to see how the new SOtM-sMS-200Ultra works out, as well as the forthcoming Sonore UltraRendu, and of course the mighty Devialet streamer board.

I think I would have been more keen to try the dCS Network Bridge if it was HQPlayer compatible.  The point being is that trying HQPlayer remains on my 'to do' list, and so until I get around to trying properly, I am not sure if not being HQPlayer compatible matters to me or not.  So depending on how things work out, I may well be trying one later in the year.

Or you can get that full dCS stack you really wanted, which now comes in a singe box and at the bargain price of £55,000!  You'd never think about HQPlayer again once you fired that puppy up I'm sure.  Big Grin

https://parttimeaudiophile.com/2017/05/1...valdi-one/

Nice try!  However, it was the Vivaldi Upsampler I liked.  In my slightly flawed back to back test (a couple of weeks apart with different speakers and different room) I preferred the 1000 Pro to the full dCS stack.  (Genuinely)  Quite lucky really, that rig was £200k.  As for HQPlayer, it's $100 or so a year, the dCS Upsampler is £14k, £10k for the Master clock, I think I'll try HQPlayer next!

I'd love to try the full dCS rig properly back to back with the 1000 Pro.  This would make a nice dealer event if anyone was brave enough, don't you think?
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
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#17
(17-May-2017, 22:11)Confused Wrote:
(17-May-2017, 21:57)Hifi_swlon Wrote:
(17-May-2017, 08:37)Confused Wrote: I have not listened to one.  At the moment I am waiting to see how the new SOtM-sMS-200Ultra works out, as well as the forthcoming Sonore UltraRendu, and of course the mighty Devialet streamer board.

I think I would have been more keen to try the dCS Network Bridge if it was HQPlayer compatible.  The point being is that trying HQPlayer remains on my 'to do' list, and so until I get around to trying properly, I am not sure if not being HQPlayer compatible matters to me or not.  So depending on how things work out, I may well be trying one later in the year.

Or you can get that full dCS stack you really wanted, which now comes in a singe box and at the bargain price of £55,000!  You'd never think about HQPlayer again once you fired that puppy up I'm sure.  Big Grin

https://parttimeaudiophile.com/2017/05/1...valdi-one/

Nice try!  However, it was the Vivaldi Upsampler I liked.  In my slightly flawed back to back test (a couple of weeks apart with different speakers and different room) I preferred the 1000 Pro to the full dCS stack.  (Genuinely)  Quite lucky really, that rig was £200k.  As for HQPlayer, it's $100 or so a year, the dCS Upsampler is £14k, £10k for the Master clock, I think I'll try HQPlayer next!

I'd love to try the full dCS rig properly back to back with the 1000 Pro.  This would make a nice dealer event if anyone was brave enough, don't you think?

It would be interesting to hear what you think about HQPlayer. I bet you would be positively surprised.
Bluesound Node > Matrix Audio X-SPDIF 2 > Genelec 8351B & 7360A
Devialet 1000 Pro
Bluesound Node 2i > Genelec 8330
Tampere, Finland
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#18
(17-May-2017, 21:57)Hifi_swlon Wrote:
(17-May-2017, 08:37)Confused Wrote: I have not listened to one.  At the moment I am waiting to see how the new SOtM-sMS-200Ultra works out, as well as the forthcoming Sonore UltraRendu, and of course the mighty Devialet streamer board.

I think I would have been more keen to try the dCS Network Bridge if it was HQPlayer compatible.  The point being is that trying HQPlayer remains on my 'to do' list, and so until I get around to trying properly, I am not sure if not being HQPlayer compatible matters to me or not.  So depending on how things work out, I may well be trying one later in the year.

Or you can get that full dCS stack you really wanted, which now comes in a singe box and at the bargain price of £55,000!  You'd never think about HQPlayer again once you fired that puppy up I'm sure.  Big Grin

https://parttimeaudiophile.com/2017/05/1...valdi-one/

Limited edition and available in gold!!! Hang on... Confused 

Guillaume
Industry disclosure: UK distributor for Shunyata Research

220 PRO, totaldac d1 server with additional external power supply, totaldac d1-seven, Echole PSU for Totaldac, Wilson Audio Sasha 2, Shunyata Research cables, Shunyata Hydra Alpha A10 + DPC-6 v3, Various Entreq ground boxes and cables, Entreq Athena level 3 rack, 2 X SOtM sNH-10G with sCLK-EX + 10MHz Master Clock input + sPS-500 PSU, i5 sonicTransporter w/ 1TB SSD

UK
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#19
(18-May-2017, 12:21)GuillaumeB Wrote:
(17-May-2017, 21:57)Hifi_swlon Wrote:
(17-May-2017, 08:37)Confused Wrote: I have not listened to one.  At the moment I am waiting to see how the new SOtM-sMS-200Ultra works out, as well as the forthcoming Sonore UltraRendu, and of course the mighty Devialet streamer board.

I think I would have been more keen to try the dCS Network Bridge if it was HQPlayer compatible.  The point being is that trying HQPlayer remains on my 'to do' list, and so until I get around to trying properly, I am not sure if not being HQPlayer compatible matters to me or not.  So depending on how things work out, I may well be trying one later in the year.

Or you can get that full dCS stack you really wanted, which now comes in a singe box and at the bargain price of £55,000!  You'd never think about HQPlayer again once you fired that puppy up I'm sure.  Big Grin

https://parttimeaudiophile.com/2017/05/1...valdi-one/

Limited edition and available in gold!!! Hang on... Confused 

Guillaume

LOL! Due for a mayor upgrade in 4 months  Tongue
                                                    Lifetime Roon, Mac mini, int. SSD, ext. HDD, tv as monitor, key board and track pad on bean bag as remote,Devialet 200, Od'A #097, Blue jeans speaker cable,                                     
                                                                                                                                                                            Dynaudio C1 MkII.
                                                                                                                                                                              Jim Smith's GBS.
                                                                                                                                                                        Northern NSW Australia.
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#20
Interesting..
Option 1: Network Bridge with AES could be the best combination yet waiting for Qobuz to join in via their software update to order one online
Option 2: Auralic Aries G2 + Auralic Upsampler G2 + Auralic Master Clock (G2 Aries alone is almost similar price to Network Bridge)
Option 3: Get an Aurender N10
Option 4: ahem... AIR?

P.S:
Further reading about it on the web. Here are few quotes:

Listener 1
"Been auditioning in my system as a replacement for my "aging" Berkeley Alpha USB D/D along with microRendu/Sonore Signature LPS. Clearly this bests that kluge with finesse. Anyone using the Alpha USB should give this a go. Easy to install and use, but most importantly takes your system to new heights of sonic splendor.

See if this is helpful: https://www.computeraudiophile.com/f...comment-613370
Best to check with dCS about all of this. I have accomplished this with my MacMini and am running this with the dCS Network Bridge (Ethernet from MacMini directly into the dCS, while the Thunderbolt/Ethernet dongle is wired into my Cisco switch that has a WiFi Router (Eero mesh network) attached along with my NAS. The setup was tricky given I'm running headless. Best to have display/keyboard/mouse wired into the Windows system or you'll possibly lose access to the system along the way to success."

Listener 2
"Heard the bridge last night at Paragon Sight and Sound in Ann Arbor. Streamed a few songs from Tidal. Sounded ok. The Staff said the mac laptop that they were playing red book files from sounded better
At 4200 there may be better choices out there."

Listener 3
"Post#1 I am demoing one at the moment vs N100H - its very good seems bigger in presentation but with all the subtly that the N100H delivers - early days but so far so good. The N100H is fed from a Melco N1 currently with Melco LAN cables and the USB cable is a AQ diamond. This has made a big difference to the N100H. The DCS is running straight from the LAN with stock cables - having tried swapping things around yet.

Post#2
Initial impressions were quite good - but on extended listening, the Bridge is almost completely on a par with the N100H. Both have been playing into a dCS Scarlatti system.

Using the N100H with Stillpoints, Grounded in to a Entreq Silver Tellus and using a Entreq SPDIF cable the sound is controlled and very musical - with a wide and deep soundstage. The Network Bridge without any of these goodies was good - but lacked the base control and sound-staging. Swapping a few things around - adding the Stillpoints and the SPDIF cable - got things much closer.

So is there a difference between the devices? At this stage with Firmware V1.0 the answer would be not really. The addition of Roon in the Bridge is very useful - but doesn't warrant the price at this point. Qobuz isn't supported on the Bridge as yet and it seems that is still work in progress. As with most things in the dCS camp - I would expect great things in the coming months as the firmware is updated - but today it is probably no better than the Aurender.

I will keep listening for a few more weeks but it's not making sense at the moment to upgrade to a similar level product with the hope of things to come."

Listener 4
"Although I've been a happy camper playing my system via a front end of MacMini -> microRendu / Sonore Signature LPS -> Berkeley Alpha USB -> Berkekely Ref. 2 DAC, my local dealer offered up his dCS Network Bridge for home testing.  The guys had been using it in lieu of their Berkeley set up and felt it was a real winner. 
 
So, for some time I've been giving it a go.  I can say that when I first put it in place and started listening, I knew something special was happening.  Going through familiar album after album, I was treated to an overwhelming feeling of elation, followed by a soon to be a leaner bank account.
 
The overall effect of the dCS Network Bridge is refinement.  The sound comes across as fast, precise and revealing, in a way that's more about layering and timing than anything else.  It's more relaxing and less congested than I'd been used to.  Instruments and voices seemed less "smeared" across the soundstage but just properly located in space; the sense is a bit holographic as the depth of the field is enhanced.  Massed voices are now more distinctly separated and located.  There's a clearer sense of spacial cues as well as things like a vocalist's sibilance (if that's the right term from speech) and this is at the microphone - distance and intonation and air around voices and instruments as well.  Another word that comes to mind is coherence.  That applies to the venue (live music with audience and quite apparent in opera as singers move about the stage both horizontally and forward/back).
 
Also, the better the source material the greater all these elements come through.  Listening to "The Jazz Soul of Oscar Peterson" 24/192 is a treat.  There's both delicacy and a flow to the music as well as a lowering of the noise floor.  Much emerges from a deeper blackness.  As a result dynamics seem greater.  Decay of sounds becomes more pronounced.  Listening to the first cut on Miles Davis's "Kind of Blue" I'm struck by the natural, almost shimmering ringing of the cymbals of the drum kit.  And at the other end of the spectrum the bass is more layered and extended.  The extended solo of Ginger Baker on Blind Faith's "Do What You Like" really brings out all the characteristics I'd hope for in music reproduction.  But best of all is solo piano.  It's that lower register that seems hardest to replicate.  You get it with the dCS.  I'd say that anyone with a DAC that's capable of taking advantage of this device (assuming network based digital reproduction) should give it a go.  Don't think they'd be disappointed. These are systems after all. Even the "weakest link in the chain" notion is problematic. Every device/cable in the system can be both affected or affect other elements in the process of getting bits from network/disk to produce sound in the room.

As an aside, my testing with the dCS Network Bridge has revealed that what's coming into the Roon enabled device (microRendu or the dCS Network Bridge) seems to be affected by any intermediary devices. In my case the Berkeley Alpha USB D-D converter (USB in AES/EBU out). It appears to be "choking off" data going into the DAC. It's especially evident with lower frequencies. Playing the Saint-Saens Sym. 3 Organ 192/24 from Ref. Recordings I do not get the room rumbling and audible very low organ frequencies from the microRendu/Berkeley Alpha USB combo. Putting the dCS Network Bridge in it's place bring these elements out quite clearly. In the absence of any other means for "placing blame", I'm inclined to think this is a limitation in the Berkeley rather than Sonore component. The Berkeley is about 5 years old and likely using much less capable clocking and other elements than what is possible today. But that's just my guess.

As for cost delta it really is not as great as you might imagine: the dCS is $4250. Replacing the microRendu - Sonore Signature Power supply - Berkeley Alpha USB = $3934 and if you do, as I did, opt for the SR fuses you arrive at of $4124. So, it's nearly the same cost. All other cabling (AC from Berkeley into dCS and Ethernet) remains the same.

Having had an Aurender N10 in my system and then switching back to a combination of MacMini and microRendu I found that a better sonic alternative. Best to get a dealer to loan an N10 to you for trial, as you may or may not find it to your liking. I'd say the A10, based on what I understand, and Chris and other's reviews, is likely a solid and more universal solution to the emerging streaming world while retaining most of the benefits the N10 offers. Though I cannot speak for how the A10 fares against the N10 sonically, especially for locally attached media. For me, swapping my combo Digital to Digital converter and microRendu for the dCS Network Bridge is my next step up.
"
Mac Mini ----> Audioquest Diamond USB ---> Devialet Expert 250 ---> AudioQuest Meteor ---> Focal Scala Utopia
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