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Advantage of PS Audio Bridge II over USB cable from PC?

I play digital content in my system, which includes a PS Audio Perfect Wave II DAC, into an Audio Research SP16-L tube pre, Bryston 4B-ST amp, and Aerial 10T MKIIs. Most of the time, I stream Tidal or Spotify via USB cable from a PC. I have high-speed internet (120 Mpbs down, 20 Mpbs up), piped through a Netgear Nighthawk X4S router wirelessly to the PC. It’s my first high-end audio system, which I built after finding the Aerials at an estate sale for a bargain price, along with some fat Kimber cables.

My question: What benefit if I upgrade the Perfect Wave DAC II with the Bridge II circuit card? Near as I can judge from PS Audio’s website, it would allow me to connect the DAC wirelessly to my home network, and control it from a smartphone or tablet. Aside from those conveniences, what difference in SQ should I expect for the $899 upgrade?   Thanks for any insights.

128x128rwroberts

Showing 2 responses by rwroberts

rwroberts's avatar
rwroberts OP
5 posts
 
Thank you for chiming in. I understand that Bridge2 is best fed by Ethernet. It can be wirelessly controlled with the right software (Roon, Jriver among others).

The Bridge 2 manual says “Connect an Ethernet cable from a network switch, router, or hub to the Ethernet port on the Bridge card back panel.” (http://www.psaudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Bridge-II-Owners-Manual-Rev-A-V1.pdf).

My router sits in another room, so I'd use a hub to bring Ethernet to the DAC. Does a hub compromise anything? I have fast 120 Mbps down from my wireless router, in case that factors in. The excerpt from the manual includes "hub" as a viable streaming source.

Also wondering if the DAC (PS Audio PerfectWave MKII) decodes MQA files without the Bridge 2 card. When I stream Tidal (USB to the DAC), some files stream as “Master's” which I think is their code for MQA, while most stream HiFi. Any insights appreciated.

I have a novice understanding of the difference between Roon and Jriver. Roon seems like the Apple equivalent (ease of use, design). Assuming I don't mind tinkering with Jriver on initial setup, does it also work well?

Finally, I'm adding a dedicated AC circuit for my system. Is it worth having independent breakers and lines to each end of the socket, or would that be overkill? Thanks again for sharing your insights. Grateful for this forum.
rwroberts's avatar
rwroberts OP
5 posts
 
Thanks todd. When I said hub, I should've said access point. Sounds like you're experience is that an internet access point to get ethernet to the Bridge 2 card presented no SQ issues.

I'm not getting an MQA readout on the DAC when playing Tidal Master's files. But the Tidal app screen shows "Masters" with those files and "HiFi" with all other files. I suspect I need a Bridge 2 card to decode MQA files. For whatever reason, Masters files sound better than HiFi files, even without the Bridge 2 card.

Your take on Roon and JRiver appears to be the majority position. Roon is obviously doing it right, but cost is not insignificant. 

Interesting point that using the same circuit for the audio system reduces the chance of hum.

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