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Review and Measurements of BSS BLU-BIB & BLU-BOB1 DAC/ADC

hugodlc

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I have a BSS BLU-160 as well as a BOB at home and I did a quick test and the results are similar to what is in this post.
The BOB seems to have a noise problem.
I guess the BOB does not have the same stuff as the BLU-160.

(For the tests I used the output of my RME UFX into the BLU-160, and then back to the UFX from both units)

BOB
BSS BOB-DAC.png



BLU-160
BSS-BLU160-20dBFS.png



Reference Out from UFX
RME UFX-20dBFS.png
 

jhaider

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So it's extremely unlikely that this device would affect someone's music listening experience in some detrimental way.
It would be nice if What-hi-fi-isms/Steve Guttenbergisms were avoided in your conclusions...

As the owner of the DUTs, I disagree. The biggest sonic objection I had when trying to use them is that they are a little too noisy. I bought it to try to remotely locate an amp without running 7 XLR cables. Cat6 was already available at both locations. Maybe my Marantz SSP just couldn't supply enough input voltage to the BIB, or I didn't set it up correctly. Also, the amplifier in use (ATI AT4007) does not have attenuators. Regardless, in my use there was noise coming from all 7 speakers and I abandoned the idea in favor of designing and commissioning a new media cabinet. After Rajapruk's thread I was curious if this showed up in objective testing by someone smarter than me, and if so, how.
 

rajapruk

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@amirm, would you say the distortion in this device is hearable, and to what degree?
I am contemplating to replace my BSS BLU-BOB2 with an Okto dac8 pro, but I wonder how large of an improvement that would give. More peace of mind than a significant improvement, I guess.
 
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amirm

amirm

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If they are audible, they would be quite subtle. I certainly would not bother for movie sound. But yes, the main reason would be peace of mind and the beauty of the Okto front panel. :)
 

rajapruk

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If they are audible, they would be quite subtle. I certainly would not bother for movie sound.

Is it only me finding movie sound to be of better quality that music most of the time? Less dynamic compression, in general.
Hence, I'd rather have a HIFI-cinema system than a HIFI-music system, so to speak.
 

kevinzzz

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Hi there I ran across this and I use BSS London products A LOT in commercial applications, and I'm 99% sure I am going to use it in my new home theater audio system. I was a little surprised with the harmonics in the BIB-BOB chain. Someone mentioned that the DSP itself may perform better. If I sent you a processing chassis configured for straight pass through, and configured for 96k, would you be willing to test it to compare it to the intput/output boxes?
 

73hadd

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It would be interesting to see if the BLU-100, or the BLU-160 with analog in/out cards performs differently than these outboard modules. I wonder if the topology is that much different?
 

Medul

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It would be interesting to see if the BLU-100, or the BLU-160 with analog in/out cards performs differently than these outboard modules. I wonder if the topology is that much different?
Hi!

Please have a look on my message on the previous page, and you will probably find some interesting answers :)
 

73hadd

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Hello @Medul ! And happy new year. After re-reading your post, it is making more sense to me after I have done some research. So that this is all in the same terminology, your finding of BLU cards 98.2 THD+N at 4v, is in comparison to what Amir tested BIB/BOB at 83 db (SINAD) 3.9v? In using a SINAD ENOB converter, 83db SINAD=13.5 bits, 98.2=16.02 bits? That seems good enough resoulution for what I want to do (multichannel home theater.)

If I may ask, for what application are you using the BLU devices?

More interesting, is that no one commented on THIS GEM OF A QUOTE:
"Then I modified some components on channel one of the analog input card, and I obtained these results"

Care to disclose what you did? Sounds interesting!!!

The measurements from @hugodlc looked better too % wise (.001% vs. BIB/BOB .007%) but I was not able to see how to convert to db for SINAD/Bits conversion.

I like the power, flexibility, features, and integration of the BSS equipment. It seems we could get better SINAD with PC software solutions and SOTA ADC and DAC hardware, at the cost of simplicity/integration/and perhaps $$$.

Thanks!
 
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