Does anyone have an opinion about the new P S Audio Bridge 2 ?

Call PS Audio to make sure that you have the system and set up to be able to use it. I went through all the gyrations of not being able to set the I.P. address on the Direct Stream DAC and sent it all back to PS Audio for repair.

Got it back, set up the I.P. address, got it into the network and no sound - nothing. Turns out that my Amarra music player does not work with the Bridge since it uses iTunes. iTunes has no streaming capabilities. I wish someone would have asked me a few questions before I laid down the long green for it.

I spoke with Alex Paananen at PS Audio this morning and he agreed there should be a questionnaire to qualify buyer's to see if they can even use the Bridge in the first place.

I have the impression that it won't do gapless playback. Would look into this before buying.

The Bridge 2 does gapless beautifully. More stable than the original Bridge and it sounds better too.

For the average audiophile user PS Audio is doing a lousy job on their web (and support site) in helping their customers setting up the Bridge. Install and forget per their little video? Don't think so! I have the Bridge I and apparently it has some issues with DHCP so I need to set it the IP address manually - no sweat - I am used to do that but that is nowhere mentioned in any documentation, wasted time in try and error as I take for granted that modern devices do DHCP w/o a hitch.

The Bridge is sourced from another company and networking is apparently new to PS Audio so they learn as we stumble along the way.

I have a virtually new Bridge II I don't need because I bought a dedicated music server that I'll sell for $500 if anyone's interested.
I have the box and paper work. I bought it new from a certified dealer. It's barely used and works perfectly. 

I don't need it because I gave a smaller company a fighting chance and turns out their server and DAC is every bit as good, probably better then the PS Audio DAC and certainly the Bridge II as good as it is. Probably because it's not mass marketed via marketing wizardry like PSA. 


If anything I found JRIVER and the BridgeII somewhat fidgety and JRIVER crashed and froze my computer way to much so I looked for something else and found it. 

I also found the PSA DS DAC to sound veiled. Like it's got a blanket lying over the top of music. Quite a discovery. No one with this DAC is hearing the music in it's full glory and no one can say they are because they are not. It's muffled probably on purpose because most peoples systems are far to bright and painful to listen to. That my take on it.

jwt,

I just had to respond to your finding that the PS Audio PW DS Dac sounded veiled.  I have three dacs including that one and have the exact opposite conclusion.  One thing I would suggest (not knowing if it applies to you) the DSD doesn't sound as good with the USB Regen and the AQ Jitterbug - I take them out when listening to this dac.  It is my favorite by far.  

I don't use the Bridge as I take all my feeds through a CAPS 3 server.

Hey aigenga and thanks for your response.

I should have qualified my findings by mentioning that I'm comparing the PSA DS DAC and Perfect Wave Player to a PC based Server and DAC made by MOJO AUDIO. It's called the CAT and Mystique 2.0 DAC. The CAT uses a dedicated power supply called the Joule .5. 
I would have never known the PSA duo sounded veiled until now honestly but I was brought up to speed by someone else who knew this. 
Trust me it's veiled. It's not a super bad thing but ton's of detail is obscured. My PSA gear is sitting unplugged, unused waiting to be sold. 
The cost differences between the two digital set ups retail is the Mojo gear cost $400 more but qualifies for being worth about 2X as much.
I should add when using the MOJO stuff I use my preamp whereas with the PSA a preamp isn't needed or can be used but the way they build it I think it may sound better without a pre in there no matter how good the pre is. The Mojo loves my pre and my sound with it and the MOJO is much more life like and real sounding. Also I play mostly all CD rips too at 44.1K but hi rez can be great depending on the recording but not necessarily. 

jwt, thanks for your experience with Mojo Audio. The dedicated PS must have made a big impact. I would have a go at Mojo but internal and good (digital) volume control in a DAC is a must for me. I am also sticking with PSA as I am sure software updates by the designer Ted will keep on improving the sound quality. 

PSA DSD with the bridge trumps IME the setup Logitech Touch with dedicated lin PS + USB Regen (def a step up vs no Regen). FWIW, I could not get BubbleUPnP on Android to work with Synology NAS out of the box for DSD files (no issues at all with Logitech Media Server but LMS didnt support DSD format) and have to install Java 8 SE + MinimServer on the NAS.

2016 is the defining moment. 700$ with ifi powered.

I personally think the SONORE microRendu will take on all these giants in the hifi industry. 

Time to migrate your music to a NAS and have a ethernet streamer dac with usb that does not have noise to begin with. And have the option to use multiple dacs in multiple rooms with ethernet.

REVIEWS
Chris Connaker of computeraudiophile.com recently reviewed the microRendu and said, "From the beautiful distortion of Hendrix to the simplistic vocals and whisper soft trumpet of Chet Baker, the microRendu enabled all the music to shine in its best light. I don't believe I've had a sonically better source connected to my system at any time."

Michael Lavorgna said this over at Audio Stream, "The first I did this morning, after making coffee, is connect the little microRendu to my hi-fi, set its output for Roon, and hit Play. First impressions: Wow!"

Hans Beekhuyzen said this on his YouTube channel, "The shockingly good Sonore microRendu networked audio adapter is versatile and extremely good sounding."

http://www.microrendu.sonore.us

I was one of the beta testers for both versions of the Bridge and now use Bridge II. Firstly, as just a point of information, it is not "sourced from another company" - it does use a chip from another company but the product as a  whole is PS audio's own design, along with the DAC firmware, and is manufactured in Boulder, CO. You do need a streamer that speaks DLNA to use it. The first version did not do gapless, but Bridge II does gapless to perfection. As a general observation, Bridge I was IMHO a little rough, but Bridge II is rock solid, it is absolutely stable with JRiver and I have been using that way for a long time now with zero issues. I would agree that both PS Audio and JRiver (especially the latter) need to get better with documentation, but otoh both have forums where you can get an answer to any problems/questions quickly. 

+1 for the microRendu. Superb gear. Works so flawlessly and reliably  with my Windows 10 ROON server and maybe dozen ROON clients.