DS will be interesting. A reviewer found equally excellent results from all digital inputs where with PWD MKII, bridge was the best. So with DS, maybe don't need OffRamp for best results?
From the review:
www.audiophilia.com/wp/?p=13620
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Because I was perplexed by my observations that the DS (unlike the PWD) was insensitive to USB versus ethernet (for sound quality), I asked him about such things.
Smith: ‘I’ve tried to make the DirectStream as input agnostic as I can: the FPGA knows no difference between the HDMI socket I2S inputs, USB or the Bridge (all are I2S to the FPGA). Any differences that are left are things like ground loops and radiation from high speed signals that might interfere with the rest of an audio system.
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If I was in the market for a new DAC, I would investigating something like Bryston BDP-2 to stream the data. It buffers data before play so SQ will be same from all storage device types, don't need a computer ...
From the review:
www.audiophilia.com/wp/?p=13620
/**********************************/
Because I was perplexed by my observations that the DS (unlike the PWD) was insensitive to USB versus ethernet (for sound quality), I asked him about such things.
Smith: ‘I’ve tried to make the DirectStream as input agnostic as I can: the FPGA knows no difference between the HDMI socket I2S inputs, USB or the Bridge (all are I2S to the FPGA). Any differences that are left are things like ground loops and radiation from high speed signals that might interfere with the rest of an audio system.
/**********************************/
If I was in the market for a new DAC, I would investigating something like Bryston BDP-2 to stream the data. It buffers data before play so SQ will be same from all storage device types, don't need a computer ...