dougi
Addicted to Fun and Learning
I bought one of these recently, hoping to simplify my Spotify Direct use as I was previously using my AVR and optical out of the TV extracted from HDMI, into my DPA-1 digital preamp.
I need to use digital out generally as it goes into my DPA-1 digital preamp to use the RoomPerfect room correction, then to RME ADI-2 final DAC.
The S50 PRO is the just superceded Arylic streamer, with two analog inputs. The new S50 pro+ has a digital input. Both seem to retail for US$200.
As no direct digital in, testing was limited to recorded REW tones etc played back via wifi (via Foobar2000 UPNP), usb stick and also bluetooth.
Analog or digital, depending on the test went to an RME ADI-2 PRO analog in or SPDIF in->main out->analog in loopback.
TLDR: it's not great, with poor THD and worse jitter. A sample rate converter or two helps to clean it up a bit but it is still worse than the AVR (Yamaha RX-A2A==RX-V6A). I was going to test the ADC as well but given the performance here there seems little point.
Specs only say THD is 0.03% which is indicative perhaps of things to come, but SNR noise 110dB odd.
For a -1dBFS tone via any WAV, FLAC or MP3 I got the same results. Wifi or a USB file also made no difference.
-1dBFS 48KHz, 24 bit USB FLAC FILE IN, ANALOG OUT (2VRMS measured at S50 for 0dBFS, rme set to 13dBu full scale so you expect -5.8dB for -1dBFS in): Not great.
For comparison, the AVR (Yamaha RX-A2A==RX-V6A pretty much) analog out for the same test was:
THD is the preouts saturating (see Amir's review of the V6A). Doesn't like the 9kohm load of the RME much either as results worse than Amir's (i've been through this in another thread). Much cleaner and less jitter though than the S50 PRO.
Lets see if digital out helps at all.
USB file, dig out to RME dig in, then analog loopback, with no resampling: can barely lock to it. Also, the S50 also appears to resample everything to 44.1kHz, the RME status reports.
With the RME SRC set to 96kHz: Cleaned up but still poor.
Compared to the AVR through the TV, optical to RME, with SRC (same without pretty much): Much nicer!
So the S50 pro fails its use case as it is worse than the AVR that I was hoping it to better. Not that the AVR is fantastic.
Best results for the S50 were actually via bluetooth.
Kewlsoft android siggen app, -1dBFS bluetooth APTX-HD to the S50, digital out to RME: However, the S50 drops audio level in BT by 20dB!! Yes android was set to max volume.
Compare this to LDAC bluetooth via my iFI Zen Blue bluetooth rx, again via my DPA1 and RME:
I actually found a 1kHz test tone track on Spotify, so also used that to test Spotify direct and Spotify via bluetooth:
S50 1kHz tone via Spotify direct: (Note the AVR using Spotify direct has same tones)
S50 Spotify tone via Bluetooth: Better than via Spotify Direct (also remember the low BT audio level with the S50):
The Zen Blue Spotify via LDAC bluetooth still better THD but more jitter:
Conclusions. The S50 pro performance is less than my AVR for the same method. Even using a good bluetooth codec via my Zen Blue may give better results.
Looks like I should really have saved my money and put it towards a Matrix Audio Element I or the like.
I need to use digital out generally as it goes into my DPA-1 digital preamp to use the RoomPerfect room correction, then to RME ADI-2 final DAC.
The S50 PRO is the just superceded Arylic streamer, with two analog inputs. The new S50 pro+ has a digital input. Both seem to retail for US$200.
As no direct digital in, testing was limited to recorded REW tones etc played back via wifi (via Foobar2000 UPNP), usb stick and also bluetooth.
Analog or digital, depending on the test went to an RME ADI-2 PRO analog in or SPDIF in->main out->analog in loopback.
TLDR: it's not great, with poor THD and worse jitter. A sample rate converter or two helps to clean it up a bit but it is still worse than the AVR (Yamaha RX-A2A==RX-V6A). I was going to test the ADC as well but given the performance here there seems little point.
Specs only say THD is 0.03% which is indicative perhaps of things to come, but SNR noise 110dB odd.
For a -1dBFS tone via any WAV, FLAC or MP3 I got the same results. Wifi or a USB file also made no difference.
-1dBFS 48KHz, 24 bit USB FLAC FILE IN, ANALOG OUT (2VRMS measured at S50 for 0dBFS, rme set to 13dBu full scale so you expect -5.8dB for -1dBFS in): Not great.
For comparison, the AVR (Yamaha RX-A2A==RX-V6A pretty much) analog out for the same test was:
THD is the preouts saturating (see Amir's review of the V6A). Doesn't like the 9kohm load of the RME much either as results worse than Amir's (i've been through this in another thread). Much cleaner and less jitter though than the S50 PRO.
Lets see if digital out helps at all.
USB file, dig out to RME dig in, then analog loopback, with no resampling: can barely lock to it. Also, the S50 also appears to resample everything to 44.1kHz, the RME status reports.
With the RME SRC set to 96kHz: Cleaned up but still poor.
Compared to the AVR through the TV, optical to RME, with SRC (same without pretty much): Much nicer!
So the S50 pro fails its use case as it is worse than the AVR that I was hoping it to better. Not that the AVR is fantastic.
Best results for the S50 were actually via bluetooth.
Kewlsoft android siggen app, -1dBFS bluetooth APTX-HD to the S50, digital out to RME: However, the S50 drops audio level in BT by 20dB!! Yes android was set to max volume.
Compare this to LDAC bluetooth via my iFI Zen Blue bluetooth rx, again via my DPA1 and RME:
I actually found a 1kHz test tone track on Spotify, so also used that to test Spotify direct and Spotify via bluetooth:
S50 1kHz tone via Spotify direct: (Note the AVR using Spotify direct has same tones)
S50 Spotify tone via Bluetooth: Better than via Spotify Direct (also remember the low BT audio level with the S50):
The Zen Blue Spotify via LDAC bluetooth still better THD but more jitter:
Conclusions. The S50 pro performance is less than my AVR for the same method. Even using a good bluetooth codec via my Zen Blue may give better results.
Looks like I should really have saved my money and put it towards a Matrix Audio Element I or the like.