23-Oct-2016, 22:00
FWIW - I'm about 10 months in and have tied more configurations than could be recounted.
This works great for me- PC -> USB -> Gustard X12 (SPDIF/Optical) -> dialog -> 2 Silver Phantoms.
The PC, Dialog and Phantom all have an Ethernet connection to an old ASUS consumer grade router with WIFI, configured as a network bridge - which bridges the Dialog network segment to my DMZ/router all over Ethernet. Gave up on WIFI other than as a means to connect from a remote control device to the PC/Dialog network.
Using WIFI or non-dedicated connections between the Dialog and Phantoms just never worked reliably. Speakers dropping out, remote Panning rather than adjusting volume, more frustrations than I can remember, all so seem so long ago, now that I am solely using Ethernet.
I have noticed the Dialog or Phantom optical input is a bit more picky with decoding than other DACs i have.
The basis for my opinion about picky SPDIF decoding is SOLEY because previously used a Squeezebox 3 as my optical source and it works flawlessly with several other DACs but never worked reliably with the Dialog or Phantom. It could be an issue with the old and crusty SB3 since others report using a newer Sb device without issues. I don't really care to keep flogging a dead SB3 but I just did.
There was noticeable sonic improvement using the X12 Optical over the onboard SPDIF/Optical output on the prior PC I was using.
Better defined audio, better clarity, fewer digital artifacts. that could be described as Crackling, popping, screeching, or skipping at various times.
Its quite possible this is not the X12 alone, too many things changed and given the old system was too underpowered, and it is not going to be used, i don't care to obsess.
I've been searching for the minimum viable PC to use, and have settled on a fanless J1900 based system for now - which is a big step up from an AMD A4-5000 CPU with additional cores and clock cycles.
Briefly tried a Raspberry PI / Hi-FI Berry running VolumeIO with an Optical connection to the dialog or phantom with promising results but the software interface was a bit too limiting for my desires and probably did not use it enough to be able to provide any review other than it seems like it might be promising at some level if you wanted a tiny remote streamer that produced reasonably high quality results.
I also use a Sony Walkman NX-Z2 either as a remote (running spark/Music Bee/ or media monkey remote) or as a Bluetooth source.
The walkman is actually the best method for me to Play DSD files at the moment. Noticed DSD playback on my PC has a tendency to spike at 100% CPU too long even with the j1900 and results in Crackle, and other digital artifacts.
The only limitation I am seeing with choppy sound at the moment is trying to playback DSD files with the current configuration. Some work ok, others have consistent digital artifacts, which I correlate to high CPU utilization for now. Maybe need to look at this further but don't have enough DSD files that I care right now other than noted as a bug with my setup to address when time and priorities permit.
This works great for me- PC -> USB -> Gustard X12 (SPDIF/Optical) -> dialog -> 2 Silver Phantoms.
The PC, Dialog and Phantom all have an Ethernet connection to an old ASUS consumer grade router with WIFI, configured as a network bridge - which bridges the Dialog network segment to my DMZ/router all over Ethernet. Gave up on WIFI other than as a means to connect from a remote control device to the PC/Dialog network.
Using WIFI or non-dedicated connections between the Dialog and Phantoms just never worked reliably. Speakers dropping out, remote Panning rather than adjusting volume, more frustrations than I can remember, all so seem so long ago, now that I am solely using Ethernet.
I have noticed the Dialog or Phantom optical input is a bit more picky with decoding than other DACs i have.
The basis for my opinion about picky SPDIF decoding is SOLEY because previously used a Squeezebox 3 as my optical source and it works flawlessly with several other DACs but never worked reliably with the Dialog or Phantom. It could be an issue with the old and crusty SB3 since others report using a newer Sb device without issues. I don't really care to keep flogging a dead SB3 but I just did.
There was noticeable sonic improvement using the X12 Optical over the onboard SPDIF/Optical output on the prior PC I was using.
Better defined audio, better clarity, fewer digital artifacts. that could be described as Crackling, popping, screeching, or skipping at various times.
Its quite possible this is not the X12 alone, too many things changed and given the old system was too underpowered, and it is not going to be used, i don't care to obsess.
I've been searching for the minimum viable PC to use, and have settled on a fanless J1900 based system for now - which is a big step up from an AMD A4-5000 CPU with additional cores and clock cycles.
Briefly tried a Raspberry PI / Hi-FI Berry running VolumeIO with an Optical connection to the dialog or phantom with promising results but the software interface was a bit too limiting for my desires and probably did not use it enough to be able to provide any review other than it seems like it might be promising at some level if you wanted a tiny remote streamer that produced reasonably high quality results.
I also use a Sony Walkman NX-Z2 either as a remote (running spark/Music Bee/ or media monkey remote) or as a Bluetooth source.
The walkman is actually the best method for me to Play DSD files at the moment. Noticed DSD playback on my PC has a tendency to spike at 100% CPU too long even with the j1900 and results in Crackle, and other digital artifacts.
The only limitation I am seeing with choppy sound at the moment is trying to playback DSD files with the current configuration. Some work ok, others have consistent digital artifacts, which I correlate to high CPU utilization for now. Maybe need to look at this further but don't have enough DSD files that I care right now other than noted as a bug with my setup to address when time and priorities permit.
