2. digital
  3. 119603-33947

PS Audio DirectStream with Bridge II - FREAKIN' AWESOME!!!

I am new to this hi end game of sound and have been researching products for over a year and a half and I finally started buying up equipment last month.  I recently acquired a PS Audio DirectStream DAC and was really enjoying the sound with my cd collection.  I started looking at music servers for casual listening.  I love Tidal because there is so much music to discover.  I looked at the Sony, Aurender, Naim, on and on.  Then I did more reading and realized I could buy a Bridge II from PS Audio to stream Tidal and other services.  I received the Bridge yesterday from The Music Room in Colorado (another great company btw) and proceeded to install it in my DAC.  Once I installed the bridge I followed the directions on the PS Audio website about how to stream Tidal and within a minute I was up and running.  All I can say is this stuff is FREAKIN' AWESOME.  The album art appears on the front of the DAC, a little added bonus, but it was so easy to setup and control.  I am in not affiliated with either PS Audio or The Music Room, however, I wanted to share my excellent experiences with the rest of you A-goners.  You may all already know about this equipment but in case there are any other newbs out there like me I thought I would share my little adventure.  

128x128mmporsche

Showing 3 responses by cymbop

cymbop
254 posts
 
Great to hear that the functionality is there after so many hiccups with the Bridge I.  

What are you using to render (control and select music for) the bridge?  A laptop or tablet running JRiver or Roon?  When my beloved Squeezebox Touch eventually bites the dust, I may be looking at the Bridge II versus an Auralic Aries.
cymbop
254 posts
 
...and indeed he did!  Bridge II is on the way and I am all kinds of excited.
cymbop
254 posts
 

Received Bridge II yesterday to replace a Squeezebox Touch which was connected by ethernet to a Vortexbox Appliance (headless linux box running Logitech Media Server.)  Installation was easy as dropping bread into a toaster.

Because LMS has been rock-solid for me forever, I decided to use Holzohr’s experience in this thread to implement it with the BII.  Installed Philippe’s uPnP plugin in LMS (v. 1.2.5.0).  Had to futz with a couple of settings for an hour or so, but now I’m in business using LMS as server and iPeng app on iPhone as control point.

Success with flac in 16/44 (which is 99% of my collection) and gapless worked on a 24/96 version of Dark Side of the Moon!  Success with Pandora for background listening!  Success with TIDAL for redbook streaming of damn-near every recording in the world!  

Small niggles:  iPeng got completely hung up trying to switch from the 24/96 Dark Side to another album.  If iPeng gets flustered it will occasionally give 3 seconds of garbled music/static at the beginning of a track.  My laptop got kicked off my wifi network this morning and required a router reboot (maybe has to do with a dynamic IP?)

Funny bonus:  I listen at night once the wife goes to bed.  We installed iPeng on her phone so that if she’s ever awakened or annoyed by a track I’m playing, she can skip it herself from the bedroom.    

Sound Quality, on my PWD II and in comparison to the SBT through coax input into firmware 2.4.3, is the best I have ever experienced at home.  Winner winner, chicken dinner!  So much blacker, quieter background.  Imaging took a huge step forward with space delineated between instruments in the soundstage.  Pace and rhythm were miles better.  A couple of times I freaked out because I thought there was a person in my home, only to realize that it was a studio musician shifting on his stool, and he was present in the room with me.  Bass had significantly less overall weight than before, but it was tuneful and accurate for sure.  All listening was in NativeX mode with Auto filter.

SQ is my highest priority in this game, and the small hassles in setup and operation are easily worth it to gain the listening experience I enjoyed last night.   Chapeau to the whole PS Audio team.


More to discover