Bsdmr2
Well-Known Member
The one in the Node.
The Dark Side; Digital audio equipment recommendations and setup.
- Thread starter Ed Selley
- Start date
Jbraswell
Well-Known Member
Bsdmr2
Well-Known Member
That one! 2021 Node, so N130. Fortunately, USB out into Qutest working very nicely.
Streaming will always be very much second fiddle to my vinyl set-up, but it’s great for background listening, for the kids and for Radio Paradise.
Joe Mac
Well-Known Member
I’ve dimmed the LEDs too now, so not as laser bright as out of the box.
And that certainly makes it more appealing, I wouldn’t want the Blackpool illuminations on my rack when I’m listening to CDs or streaming!
mindhead1
Well-Known Member
I'd be curious to know what if any improvement you experience going from Node/Qutest to another streamer/Qutest combo. My guess is any audible improvement will be very minimal if any, but I could be wrong.
Have you considered any power supply upgrades for the Node?
Angsty
Well-Known Member
I've always thought the Qutest was indeed super cute, but somewhat skeptical of the audible differences from other DACs. Would love to hear more about the user's impressions. I ended up choosing another DAC that also had Bluetooth and balanced outputs.
Splunders
Well-Known Member
Is Chord still on their first FPGA release for the Qutest? PS Audio DACs are also FPGA, and they updated and released their coding annually I think. (FPGA is where the sound profile can be changed/updated like firmware? Might be butchering that.) Just assumed Chord would do that too, or at least once.
Bsdmr2
Well-Known Member
I’m likely going for an Innuos Zen MKIII, so we shall see.
Outside of a better power cable I’ve not done anything to the Node. I did look at power supply upgrades but a bit more of a faff than I’d like.
MikeH
Well-Known Member
Hah that’s the link I posted which I think got the whole convo started
Angsty
Well-Known Member
The article below describes how the DAVE works using its FPGA, in broad terms. The Qutest has the same architecture but with fewer “taps” to define the steepness of the reconstruction filter. The reason you are unlikely to see a software update for this is simply because the filter function works very well. The Qutest has one of the steepest filters I’ve seen, but that in itself doesn’t imply a specific sound signature.
Many DACs use FPGAs, they just don’t all use them for the same function.
Chord DAVE Measurements (With MScaler) - GoldenSound
Technical measurements and analysis of the Chord DAVE DAC. This is a high end DAC with some great and not so great aspects
goldensound.audio
@MikeH and maybe others...no rush, but could you tell me what levels of software and especially firmware you're using on the Auralic Aries Mini? This thing has been a bear to set up to say the least. I cannot get Windows 11 to mount it as a network drive. I can import by USB, but then there are two copies of everything in the library with no way to remove it except for the remove the USB path. That means it can't be changed until I wipe the entire thing. I could just USB storage, but that defeats the purpose of buying it for me as I bought a 2TB SSD to use inside it. I wanted to be able to just toss files onto it over the network and let them copy in the background.
The manual says that you can map it as a network drive, but I keep getting 0x080070035 from Windows. It does pop up under my network. I am usually pretty decent with anything PC related and this has been maddening haha.
Edit: I just found this for Mac. Might be able to deduce something for Windows from it. After searching pretty much all weekend...lol
And maybe this:
The manual says that you can map it as a network drive, but I keep getting 0x080070035 from Windows. It does pop up under my network. I am usually pretty decent with anything PC related and this has been maddening haha.
Edit: I just found this for Mac. Might be able to deduce something for Windows from it. After searching pretty much all weekend...lol
And maybe this:
Last edited:
MikeH
Well-Known Member
damn. sorry it's been hard to set up! I'm on a mac and remember it being really easy to set it up as a network drive...i'll PM ya.
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Nee Lewman
बैस्टर्ड
Dumb question. Now that I have a computer again, may dabble some with files and what not. N0 F0rmat sent me the new Piers accini and Ballake Sissoko today. All things being equal with 16/44.1 files, does it matter whether I play the FLAC or WAV file?
Joe Mac
Well-Known Member
Not really. FLAC is compressed where WAV isn’t but it’s lossless compression so they should sound the same and FLAC has advantages in terms of metadata.
Nee Lewman
बैस्टर्ड
I may have some Roon questions. I'm assuming it makes using your library easier?
MikeH
Well-Known Member
It makes things extremely easy to manage and play. Does the BluSound OS not do that? I haven't used BluSound.
IMO, Roon is expensive but worth it if you have TONS of download files + Qobuz favorites. I also use the multi-room audio.
This should give you a 30 day free trial if you wanna mess around with it: ONE FREE MONTH!
Or if somebody else here has Roon and wants a 30 day extension on their sub, chime in. Mine is a lifetime sub so I don't get anything from the referral.
MikeH
Well-Known Member
Plex amp may be another cheaper alternative. I think @jamieanderson1968 might use that? Or maybe it was someone else here...