I just became aware of this neat little unit from Yamaha - the WXC-50:
This box basically does everything: It can stream over wifi, it has bluetooth and airplay (which means it can function as a roon endpoint), digital and analog output, AND the volume control is in the digital domain - 48 bits! Should make moot any concerns about digital attenuation. Has a remote also. Seems to me like this box can be the perfect compliment to active DSP-based speakers with digital input. 350 USD.
The Swedish "AES" - Ljudtekniska sällskapet - recently tested it thoroughly through their before/after approach to blindtesting. But using the analog outputs only. They were unable to detect it. Their blindtesting method is probably the most demanding and rigorous out there, and they have been able to detect sonically a lot of devices that frequently go undetected in blind tests (recently they could detect the Oppo Sonica dac for example, and the Sonos connect). That they were unable to detect the WXC-50 is quite a compliment to the engineering skills of Yamaha.
Unfortunately, it seems from the user reviews on Amazon that it can be very glitchy. Unlike Yamaha to release half-baked products. Hopefully Yamaha will release an improved version which doesn't have these glitches.
This box basically does everything: It can stream over wifi, it has bluetooth and airplay (which means it can function as a roon endpoint), digital and analog output, AND the volume control is in the digital domain - 48 bits! Should make moot any concerns about digital attenuation. Has a remote also. Seems to me like this box can be the perfect compliment to active DSP-based speakers with digital input. 350 USD.
The Swedish "AES" - Ljudtekniska sällskapet - recently tested it thoroughly through their before/after approach to blindtesting. But using the analog outputs only. They were unable to detect it. Their blindtesting method is probably the most demanding and rigorous out there, and they have been able to detect sonically a lot of devices that frequently go undetected in blind tests (recently they could detect the Oppo Sonica dac for example, and the Sonos connect). That they were unable to detect the WXC-50 is quite a compliment to the engineering skills of Yamaha.
Unfortunately, it seems from the user reviews on Amazon that it can be very glitchy. Unlike Yamaha to release half-baked products. Hopefully Yamaha will release an improved version which doesn't have these glitches.
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