[frankensmurf]

I use the PhoenixUSB with my K50, and it does indeed help and sound better. It's just a great component!

Fascinating.
a) this is a bit unnerving given the price of the K50. : |
b) this is bit confusing given the implication (if I'm reading correctly between the lines) of Mr. Serinus that the K50 sounds better in his system than the Innuos Statement. Presumably the K50 is doing other things better than the Statement, and Innuos' USB reclocking adds further. (which is what it did in my system)

More important for me: have you compared K50 USB output to its other outputs? These are reported by Serinus (in the case of AES3) and others to sound better. I believe that with resolutions up to 24/192 you could do K50 > single BNC > M-Scaler > ...

Sadly no servers/renderers I'm aware of offer dual-BNC or dual-AES outputs (although we can perhaps expect it from the upcoming PS Audio Octave server as they are already offering dual XLR and dual BNC outputs on their latest SACD transport). EDIT: the DCS Bridge does.

 

[Ciggavelli]

Fascinating.
a) this is a bit unnerving given the price of the K50. : |
b) this is bit confusing given the implication (if I'm reading correctly between the lines) of Mr. Serinus that the K50 sounds better in his system than the Innuos Statement. Presumably the K50 is doing other things better than the Statement, and Innuos' USB reclocking adds further. (which is what it did in my system)

More important for me: have you compared K50 USB output to its other outputs? These are reported by Serinus (in the case of AES3) and others to sound better. I believe that with resolutions up to 24/192 you could do K50 > single BNC > M-Scaler > ...

Sadly no servers/renderers I'm aware of offer dual-BNC or dual-AES outputs (although we can perhaps expect it from the upcoming PS Audio Octave server as they are already offering dual XLR and dual BNC outputs on their latest SACD transport). EDIT: the DCS Bridge does.

I'm not really sure why the PhoenixUSB helps, but it does. It's not a huge difference, but it is noticeable. Also, I have not used any other output on the K50 except the USB one. I think some use AES or BNC, but I haven't tried either. I am happy with the USB output into the PhoneixUSB > M-scaler > DAVE

 

[Triode User]

More important for me: have you compared K50 USB output to its other outputs? These are reported by Serinus (in the case of AES3) and others to sound better. I believe that with resolutions up to 24/192 you could do K50 > single BNC > M-Scaler > ...

I have tried the BNC output from the K50 to the Mscaler but for the moment I prefer the K50 USB output > PhoenixUSB > SRC-DX > (via BNC) > MScaler. I will however revisit the K50 BNC output when the newer apps are available with AMS 3.1

 

[kennyb123]

I guess this is where I'm drawing the line. I have crazy acoustic treatments, kilobuck power cables, tape all over my floor, and a pretty high level of general insanity to facilitate the best music playback I can create. But I can not, and do not, and I guess will not, go back to any other UX than Roon for playing music. Squinting at text UIs and organizing file trees and finding which volume of the cantata cycle has the one you're looking for and and and ... not to mention the inclusion of Qobuz and TIDAL which has fundamentally enhanced my music discovery capability .. I can't live without it. So I will get Roon > HQPlayer (no upsampling) working. I salute those of you who are able to go back to the older playback experience in search of sonic perfection but I will not join you. : )

I love this! I have tried to maintain this line and others. I've promised myself, for example, that I will not outgrow my current rack. That limits the number of additional boxes that I can/will buy.

Roon can be enjoyable as long as you spend little time listening to the other options.

 

[Triode User]

Roon can be enjoyable as long as you spend little time listening to the other options.

My brain initially mis read what you posted as being ‘Roon can be enjoyable as long as you spend as little time as possible listening to it.’

 

[kennyb123]

PGGB: I'm very attracted to the idea but I think I've already said here that PGGB was a change absolutely but not a net benefit in my system, which always seems to employ DSD-based DACs with their own elaborate upsampling routine. It's one of the reasons I didn't look very hard at HQPlayer initially, but I definitely take the point of the posters above that perhaps the first good thing HQP is doing is effectively removing RAAT and its widely-reported inferoriority from the chain.

This is on the assumption that I keep the PS Audio DirectStream

If the DAC chooses to scale what has been provided to it, then all bets are off as far as the benefit of PGGB or HQPlayer. The DirectStream is one DAC where I'd expect these software solutions to provide little benefit.

 

[frankensmurf]

I love this! I have tried to maintain this line and others. I've promised myself, for example, that I will not outgrow my current rack. That limits the number of additional boxes that I can/will buy.

Roon can be enjoyable as long as you spend little time listening to the other options.

Well don't give me too much credit, I've been using SB renderer for a long time (unambiguous benefit) and will eventually get to Roon > HQP, which if I read here correctly gives me very good sound while keeping the Roon control UI.

FWIW I just texted my rack guy yesterday to add a shelf to my rack... [sheepishly] I bought a transport.

 

[frankensmurf]

If the DAC chooses to scale what has been provided to it, then all bets are off as far as the benefit of PGGB or HQPlayer. The DirectStream is one DAC where I'd expect these software solutions to provide little benefit.

The Tambaqui, which I had in the system for some time, is another. I swear I don't have a DSD upsampling design bias, it just happened this way.

As above, I am hoping to use HQP NAA on the EX, (with Roon Core and HQPlayer running on the CX, if I understand things correctly) as a non-oversampling renderer/protocol into the DS.

Is it blasphemous to ask if HQP can serve as a bit-perfect renderer? I know this is counter to its primary use case.

 

[Progisus]

The Tambaqui, which I had in the system for some time, is another. I swear I don't have a DSD upsampling design bias, it just happened this way.

As above, I am hoping to use HQP NAA on the EX, (with Roon Core and HQPlayer running on the CX, if I understand things correctly) as a non-oversampling renderer/protocol into the DS.

Is it blasphemous to ask if HQP can serve as a bit-perfect renderer? I know this is counter to its primary use case.

Yes it can. I use it this way with Roon on my EX. Set filters to none, vol to 0db, dither (shaper) to none.

 

[Triode User]

Yes it can. I use it this way with Roon on my EX. Set filters to none, vol to 0db, dither (shaper) to none.

I have used HQP NAA like that and I want to try it again when we K50 and other K series users get access to the later versions of HQP available with AMS 3.1 (but but not available with 3.0). People say there was a SQ uplift with the more recent versions of HQP even when just using it in ‘pass through‘ mode.

 

[frankensmurf]

Yes it can. I use it this way with Roon on my EX. Set filters to none, vol to 0db, dither (shaper) to none.

Thank you! Very helpful.

I think PS Audio has a "bit perfect test" file somewhere that I might dig up.

 

[FlikFlac]

The Tambaqui, which I had in the system for some time, is another. I swear I don't have a DSD upsampling design bias, it just happened this way.

As above, I am hoping to use HQP NAA on the EX, (with Roon Core and HQPlayer running on the CX, if I understand things correctly) as a non-oversampling renderer/protocol into the DS.

Is it blasphemous to ask if HQP can serve as a bit-perfect renderer? I know this is counter to its primary use case.

Not as far as I’m concerned, this is how I am running it now into an Mscaler and it has totally transformed SQ, beyond what I imagined possible. Tonight was the greatest emotional engagement i have managed to achieve, a bold statement I know, but I am gobsmacked. I want to go back to use cases without HQplayer to confirm the improvement, but I’m nervous I may lose something in the process. Think I’ll just leave it as is for now…

 

[kennyb123]

I want to go back to use cases without HQplayer to confirm the improvement, but I’m nervous I may lose something in the process. Think I’ll just leave it as is for now…

If you pulled it out, you would not only immediately miss it, you’d be more impressed by how much it helped.

 

[frankensmurf]

.... Tonight was the greatest emotional engagement i have managed to achieve, a bold statement I know, but I am gobsmacked.

This is my absolute standard for upgrades and changes as well.

For instance my system "sounds" very very similar if I remove the BHK preamp. There is even perhaps, arguably (accounts vary), a slightly more clear and crystalline presentation. But soul, or other artifact of humans playing instruments, is lost. With the preamp in I am unable to get work done, I have more goosebumps, I stay up later.

I also find -- don't ask me why -- power cables (sadly it's always really expensive ones) can convey emotions really effectively when things are right.

To get this benefit 'for free' in sw is an extremely attractive proposition.

 

[Whazzzup]

antipodes s20 reclocker versus Phoenix USB reclocker? Any thoughts or too new.