Bit perfect (stand alone) Streamer/Streaming-Bridge

[atothek]

Hello all,

I use serveral seperate DACs and would like to upgrade my Bridge/standalone Streamer to feed these DACs.
At the moment I use a WiiM Pro with upgraded power supply.

I would prefer going out of the Bridge via SPDIF into the DACs.

It would be ideal, if the level of output could be lowered without any reduction in sound quality (- since I cannot regulate volume with my DACs and my amp's gain is pretty high).

Would appreciate any recommendations.

Cheers

 

[staticV3]

The WiiM Pro does what you want as well as any other transport regardless of price.

There is no reason to spend any more.

 

[atothek]

only lacking losless volume control

 

[staticV3]

only lacking losless volume control

The WiiM Pro does volume control as losslessly as physically possible with SPDIF.

Turn down the volume and signal amplitude drops with zero added noise or distortion. It cannot get any better.

 

[atothek]

mh - ok.Thought this "physically" is measurable and more important hearable.

 

[staticV3]

mh - ok.Thought this "physically" is measurable and more important hearable.

Not sure I understand.

The WiiM's volume control is measurably and hearably flawless.

If you'd like, you can do your own tests to convince yourself of that with a HiFime UR23.

 

[atothek]

It is? English is not my mother-tongue. I did understand, that it is not flawless.
So it really is?

 

[Vincent Kars]

only lacking losless volume control

Really?
If you have a 16 bit DAC and you reduce the volume with 48 dB, one indeed loses information
MSB LSB
1111111111111111
000000001111111111111111
If you do the same on a DAC with 24 register
111111111111111100000000
000000001111111111111111

You don't lose any information.

Of course the signal disappear somewhere in the noise floor but that applies to analog volume control as well.

 

[staticV3]

It is? English is not my mother-tongue. I did understand, that it is not flawless.
So it really is?

Yes, I'll send measurements of my WiiM Mini in a few hours as I don't own a WiiM Pro.

But you can measure your WiiM Pro yourself if you'd like using the HiFime UR23.

 

[atothek]

Sorry, but I don't get it since I have no technical understanding.
Anyway - isn't it depending on the file? I play mostly 44,1kHz 16/24Bit streaming.
My DACs have different architectures.

So: do I loose sound quality with the WiiM Pro?

 

[staticV3]

So: do I loose sound quality with the WiiM Pro?

You do not.

 

[atothek]

Thanks a lot!

 

[antcollinet]

Hello all,

I use serveral seperate DACs and would like to upgrade my Bridge/standalone Streamer to feed these DACs.
At the moment I use a WiiM Pro with upgraded power supply.

I would prefer going out of the Bridge via SPDIF into the DACs.

It would be ideal, if the level of output could be lowered without any reduction in sound quality (- since I cannot regulate volume with my DACs and my amp's gain is pretty high).

Would appreciate any recommendations.

Cheers

Just to add to what has been said:

You seem to have the common misunderstanding that if you don't have "bit perfect" then. you have quality loss. But modern digital audio is so good, there are all sorts of changes you can make to the bits without having any audible impact that any human can hear. Volume is one of these.

There is no way to change volume in the digital domain without changing the data. And sure - it is possible to measure this as having lower signal to noise ratio. But it doesn't matter, because the digital noise level is already so far below what we can hear there is no way for us to hear it either even when we have reduced the volume.

We can measure things at far lower levels than we can hear. Just because we can measure a change doesn't mean there is any audible difference for the human ear.

 

[MaxwellsEq]

Sorry, but I don't get it since I have no technical understanding.
Anyway - isn't it depending on the file? I play mostly 44,1kHz 16/24Bit streaming.
My DACs have different architectures.

So: do I loose sound quality with the WiiM Pro?

For more than 10 years, volume control is usually not done at 16 bits integer but often 32 bit float, sometimes 24 bit integer, so the loss you are imagining does not happen.