LOL yes, it’s hardly the end of the world. Good to see you’re not stressing too much about it. In fact if the A to D is done well, you (or me) probably wouldn’t hear a difference versus digital input.
I feed a iFi ZEN Dac for roundabout 120€ via USB from my M1 Mac mini which is able to render MQA and goes up to 192/24 and DSD 128 (or even 256, i’m not sure). From the ZEN Dac i go Analog out from ZEN-Dac to Aux-in of my LS50 WII. Sounds great with Roon and i have a useful Volume-Knob on the ZEN-Dac too!
It’s a shame that we have to spend hunderts of bucks extra to run circles around our speakers to get a feature which is included in our LS50WII Systems. It’s about Time for KEF to come out and explain what exactly coming soon means after some of us have there LSII’s for 3 month now…
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Soon is a really ■■■■■■ term open for interpretation, and on a marketing level it still seems to work, as we all fell for it.
I agree with what you say, but why isn’t it normal when in fact it gets digitalized. Hence my first assumption it was just analog and nothing more.
So I will test a Nobsound USB to spdif/i2s converter connected to my rpi4 with ropieee and see what result I get. This could be a €/$ 100-150 Roon solution for the (hopefully short) time being.
It can be powered directly from USB, so no extra psu necessary.
Specs:
Audio input: USB
Audio output: Toslink Optical / Coaxial / HDMI IIS
USB chip: XMOS XU208
Supported sampling rate:
PCM: 44.1KHz, 48KHz, 88.2KHz, 96KHz, 176.4KHz, 192KHz, 384KHz
DSD: 2.8MHz(DSD64)-DOP, native / 5.6 MHz (DSD128) -DOP, native / 11.2 MHz (DSD256) , native
Bit width(highest): 32 bit (I2S output) / 24 bit (S/PDIF), compatible with 16bit
Working current: 130mA
Dimensions(WDH): 748921mm / 2.913.500.83in
Net weight:112g/ 0.25lb
Package weight: 280g / 0.62lb
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I use the “analog” input for my LSX’s and always found it to sound really good. I was surprised to find out that it went through an ADC to get digitized and then fed back into the built in DAC. I guess this allows it to retain the DSP functions. Having said that, the coax input on my LS50 M2’s is much better.
John Darko has a good review on YouTube of the TOPPING D10s DAC which can also work as a USB-S/PDIF converter and is only $100,
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The LS50’s feature a digital (DSP) crossover.
Without A-to-D conversion, it’s DSP crossover can’t function. And no sound from speaker.
So it’s more than just allowing it to retain DSP functions. Conversion to digital is a key essential function.
For any and every speaker with a DSP crossover that features analogue inputs, you can bet your house the analogue input is converted to digital.
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You’re right about the Topping D10S, still double the price of the converter I tend to try, but for sure a lot better. If the one I ordered is crap, I’ll try that one.
So I have this Nobsound/Douk Audio USB to Coax converter. I guess it should now simply send the MQA data to the Kef WII’s for full unfold? Or am I missing something?
Edit: sounds like crap
Screenshot:
Why would you use coax for Tidal when you can simply use Tidal connect directly w/ the LS50W2?
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Ever heard of Roon and its capability of allowing you to discover music that you might like? Did you know it also works with your own collection? It’s amazing, you should check it out.
Does your KEF decode/render MQA on it’s digital coax input?
Does the speaker have a blue light or something else as an indicator of MQA decoding/rendering?
If not and you really really want to do the MQA thing, then Tidal Connect is what you’ll need to use till the KEFs become Roon Ready…
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5 posts were split to a new topic: LS50 MK II Does “Roon Ready” mean I could use 4 of them for forming a 4 channel setup
I just started testing the Topping D10s connected to a Rpi4 by usb and a coax to the W2’s. Sounds really nice. And I love the orange digits, but don’t love it enough to choose it over Roon implementation internally of the W2’s.
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Glad to hear that you have a workaround.
Do you think that anyone from Roon or KEF reads these forums? It certainly would be a good way to keep connected to their client base…
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I’m waiting for my HiFiBerry components and D10s to arrive. Thanks for the report!
That’s why I keep posting, if this falls dead it might not end up so noticeable anymore. We all want the same thing in this topic.
My guess is that KEF have other products in the pipeline coming out this year that will utilize the newer Wi-Fi and streaming boards and may be waiting for certification then?
I use Tidal connect all the time when I want to hear something specific that may or may not be in my library of ALAC, FLAC and Hi-Rez files as it is the best way to stream to the LS50 WII. Even KEF has stated such in their manual.
This is tiding me over until certification occurs.
So many wild stories. Some say February, you say this. Yet they did mention it often as an obvious selling point. Not much we can do otherwise than adapt to this situation until they actually do something.