Quote:
Originally Posted by Crion
I will clarify my listening impressions a bit so you will understand where Vivaldi needs some work IMHO.
Vivaldi stack playing from it's own CD transport, YG speakers, boulder amps - awesome silver disc! Absolute state of the art.
861v8/ID41 Sooloos streaming through DSP8000 - awesome streaming! All the reference ingredients are all here.
Vivaldi playing USB from Macbook - Pretty good, but missing the expansive soundstage and with some distorsion compared to DCS silver disc transport. Not as quiet.
Vivaldi playing through ethernet from QNAP NAS - Pretty good, but now with more distorsion and listening fatigue than USB connection from Macbook.
This is my listening experience, YMMV. There was a VERY obvious difference between doing streaming/USB with Vivaldi vs. using it's own silver disc CD transport. And this is what sets Meridian apart IMHO, they are doing reference streaming quality now. DCS still have work to do with their USB/streaming SQ.
PS. Damn I swallowed the flamebait  |
The only way to make an accurate comparison here is to have the 861/id41 into the Boulder amps and YG speakers. Then take s/pdif out of your 861 into the dcS. I assure you the dac in the dcS is far superior to the 861 dac.
You are comparing Sooloos to USB/MacBook, not the dcS stuff. Then you have to consider the Sooloos limitation of up-sampling and the Apodizing filter and you and I both know the answer here...