Core Infinity listening impressions and comparisons

[Confused]

Actually streaming Roon/AIR wouldn't have to become that much better before I retire mR/Mutec. Roon/AIR (and AIR) is already very good. The convenience of Roon/AIR is superb so if the SQ with the CI board is better I'd probably switch. If I had a REF10 I would probably not say this... I'd wish for a word clock input in stead!
How a better clock will affect mono blocks is very interesting. Maybe that is why the CI is also installed in Companions?

I agree, I was very surprised when I discovered just how good Roon AIR.  I too wondered if clocking was behind the reason to have CI installed in the companions, but it is just wondering, pure speculation based on very little hard data.  Picking up on Celts88 post, it is of course the case that CI will need it's own audio clocks simply to function.  If the board is receiving Ethernet packet data, it will need to buffer (FIFO) and then clock as part of the process of converting to whatever the ADH is expecting to receive.  This leaves the question open as to exactly how good the clock is and how exactly it is utilised.  We may never fully answer these questions, Devialet are not usually that keen on giving such information away, so we may need to rely on 'listening impressions'.

Guillaume - I read your observations as being pretty positive, although your caveats regarding this not being 'apples for apples' comparisons obviously hold true here.  I guess in time your 'O'dA Pro' will be back, will have time to settle in, hopefully the CI software will improve, at which time we can maybe look forward to a TotalDAC D1 vs CI board comparison?  Something to look forward too next year perhaps?  Meanwhile, I remain quietly optimistic, although a little worried regarding software stability.  If this looks like a repeat of the AIR debacle, I'll be sticking with the ultra stable uR/Mutec solution.  Interesting times!