that is a good option. But it’s also lacking ARC, and locks you into Apple TV. I’m not saying it isn’t suitable, but it points out the shortage of options in this space more than anything.
Now, that's interesting. I wonder what it was in the Chord that was audible.
There is no such evidence. There are a million ways to get 0.004% THD+N so what you say can't possibly be correct.
Was looking at the Gustard X16 thinking it was the only with MQA over Coaxial then figured out that the D90ES does MQA on every input and it was available from Apos Audio.Sure, I can only say for sure that I can't hear these levels of distortions, not everybody, but there is nothing untrue in what is highlighted in yellow, the fact that people read into it read and assume transparency to CD has no direct link in supporting a file format or not.There is no such evidence. There are a million ways to get 0.004% THD+N so what you say can't possibly be correct.
Look, here is the problem from company's website:
View attachment 146353
People read this and assume not only is it transparent to CD but will reach even higher levels of objective performance. Yet it has second harmonic distortion that exceeds CD's noise floor:
View attachment 146354
By contrast, here is the performance of Apple's $9 dongle:
Its second harmonic is down to -100 dB, easily clearing the noise floor of CD. Indeed you can see that in the SINAD of 99 which is a whopping 12 dB better than Bluesound NODE. It also has almost no harmonic distortion past second unlike NODE.
So please dispense with making excuses for manufacturers. They don't do a better job because people like you do casual listening tests and rave about what they hear. That gives them no motivation to do better.
And no, doing better doesn't mean higher cost as the Apple dongle shows. And countless other budget DACs we have seen with much improved performance with zero impact to their retail cost.
You can wash your dishes once and do a good job and they come out clean. Or don't do a good job and with same effort, produce still dirty dished.
So you think a DAC that 40 years after invention of the CD can't still play that format transparently is "audiophile quality?" And going on to 24-bit as stated in the statement means nothing either?
There is no such evidence. There are a million ways to get 0.004% THD+N so what you say can't possibly be correct.
Look, here is the problem from company's website:
View attachment 146353
People read this and assume not only is it transparent to CD but will reach even higher levels of objective performance. Yet it has second harmonic distortion that exceeds CD's noise floor:
View attachment 146354
By contrast, here is the performance of Apple's $9 dongle:
Its second harmonic is down to -100 dB, easily clearing the noise floor of CD. Indeed you can see that in the SINAD of 99 which is a whopping 12 dB better than Bluesound NODE. It also has almost no harmonic distortion past second unlike NODE.
So please dispense with making excuses for manufacturers. They don't do a better job because people like you do casual listening tests and rave about what they hear. That gives them no motivation to do better.
And no, doing better doesn't mean higher cost as the Apple dongle shows. And countless other budget DACs we have seen with much improved performance with zero impact to their retail cost.
You can wash your dishes once and do a good job and they come out clean. Or don't do a good job and with same effort, produce still dirty dished.
How did you determine that it is transparent?
Why were you shocked? I really don't get this. The player is what I interact with all the time. It is the most important piece of technology in my audio system. Since buying a lifetime subscription, I have spent thousands of dollars on content. What I paid for Roon is nothing compared to that.
You are missing out on huge fidelity improvement.
What do you mean based on my measurements? You said it was audibly transparent. Once more, how did you determine it was audibly transparent?
Look, there was in these pages sound clips with all kind of distortion profiles added at level higher than this. I couldn't distinguish, so was the majority if not all participant.
You can look at these things any way you want really. I think Qobuz and Tidal folding are more likely than BluOS products becoming obsolete. My attitude is don't worry about it and use what you like and deal with whatever happens.Why were you shocked? I really don't get this. The player is what I interact with all the time. It is the most important piece of technology in my audio system. Since buying a lifetime subscription, I have spent thousands of dollars on content. What I paid for Roon is nothing compared to that.
I hear this about TVs all the time. "Should I pay so much for it?" Then they go and pay $200 a month for their cable TV which dwarfs the cost of just about any TV!
As I have noted, I can do in-player EQ with zero fidelity loss or screwing around with external software, etc. EQ is the #1 tool to improve the fidelity of your system. If you are not using that because your streaming app for your hardware doesn't have it, then you and I are not friends.
I now have profiles for dozens and dozens of speakers and headphones in Roon. With just a pull-down menu I can instantly select the right EQ for what I am listening with.
There is also the longevity question. Lenbrooks could decide to shut down Bluesound and with it, you could kiss your future App availability goodbye. They could also leave older hardware behind as SONOS did recently. I don't have that worry with when I just use the streamer as "push" bridge between Ethernet/Wifi and a DAC.
What literature? You are just guessing with waiving your hand there. Don't make a guess and then draw conclusions.
