Network bridge vs vivaldi upsampler

Just fun stuff if you have a Rossini: Try Arnesen’s Magnificat, “Et Misericordia” in DSD128 or 352/24 (can download for free from 2L website). Toggle between map2 (old) and map1 (new). You will be blow away.

Andrew, a question about the Vivaldi Upsampler if I may?

Looking to a new Roon endpoint from the dCS stable, initially towards the Bridge but the stated improvements in quality between than and the Upsampler got my attention.
Considering the Upsampler now, but given the way my (non DCS) does it’s conversion I’m not sure if the upsampling will be as valid a feature for me?
Wondered if I could get your opinion please?

It’s a PS Audio Directstream dac, basically it upsamples anything digital fed to it to 20x DSD via it’s FPGA then low pass filters it through a output transformer to Get back to PCM for output.
Some blurb on what it does from owners manual:
Once the data from the selected digital audio source has been input to DirectStream
it is upsampled to twenty times the standard DSD rate of 2.8MHz before any processing takes place. After processing by DirectStream all input data is converted to double rate DSD (5.6MHz) and output through a passively filtered analog section consisting primarily of a high-quality audio output transformer. Elimination of the classic active analog output stage, with all its difficulties running at these high frequencies, have been implemented with a high quality passive audio transformer.

Given the upsampling and conversion on the Dac, would I really benefit from the Upsampler over the Network Bridge?

I’ve asked the same question of the Directstreams designer Ted Smith…
Thanks if you can reply.

Software upsampling never really got me excited, but this is DCS level.
That said, given the cost delta between Bridge and Upsampler it’s a thing worth getting right!

Thanks.

To be perfectly honest it’s not exactly clear what you are trying to accomplish here. If you are looking to improve the performance of your Roon streaming experience due to some perceived limitation in the PS Audio solution then you may be trading one set of limitations for another.

Our products support sample rates up to 192K via AES or S/PDIF and higher rates require the use of Dual AES (which is not supported by the PS Audio DAC). If you were to use the upsampler with your DAC then you would be limited to 192K output from the Upsampler which defeats its purpose.

The Bridge presents a similar scenario. Should you wish to play content that is DXD or DSD128 then the Bridge (or Roon) will need to downsample to 176.4K / 192K / DSD64 in order for your DAC to get useful data.

In my opinion, and without any commentary on the PS Audio DAC which you own, if you are considering the Vivaldi Upsampler as an add-on to your current setup then you would be wise to take a serious look at the Rossini 2.0 DAC. For a similar amount of money you’ll end up with a digital front-end which shares many of the same qualities of the Vivaldi while offering demonstrable improvement over your current DAC.

Honestly, the dCS Vivaldi Upsampler would be an odd thing to add… I would instead consider a streaming board for your PS Audio. Even the dCS Network Bridge is an odd choice as it does not support I2S or USB, so you’d be using a SPDIF/AES type connection slaving the PS Audio clock to the NB.

The only reason to get the Upsampler in my opinion is if you’re considering getting a Vivaldi DAC to replace your PS Audio. Otherwise I recommend staying away.

Thank you Andrew,

Basically at the moment I’m using a modded Oppo 203 into my Dac over i2s, sounds great but doesn’t pass DSD to my dac.

My aim is twofold:

  1. Get DSD from Roon to my dac untouched (I only have DSD 64)
  2. Generally move up the ladder streamer wise, PS Audio are working on their own but is over twice the price of the DCs Bridge and is still in development.
    So given great reviews of the dCS bridge, I looked to that.

Be using AES/XLR, so 24/192 and single rate DSD, and happy at that level…but looking for the best streamer to provide the best possible sound quality at these rates.
See the logic on the Upsampler not making sense in my use case, thanks.
Can you confirm Andrew that over XLR, the Bridge can pass 24/192 and single rate DSD to my Dac?

Thanks.

My current Oppo betters PS Audio’s own Network Bridge, which is a pity as it does DSD, MQA and all that good stuff, a one box solution.

Yes, it can.

Thanks for confirming that, I haven’t got any 2xDSD I’d choose to listen to regularly (obscure tinkly hifi show stuff) and 24/192 is high enough for these 50yr old ears. :slight_smile:

The Bridge may be the best method to get the music to my Dac untouched, so will give that some thought.
The Directstream discards the clock of any of its incoming inputs, so don’t forsee any issues.

Thanks for reaching out and helping, much obliged.