Anyone try the Purist digital isolation adapter?

taking delivery of a PAD Digital adpator in the next couple of days. i am trying to elevate the performance of a Sonos zp90 player in order to use it in my 2 channel system.The Sonos player has incredible functionality and a short session with it allows you to listen to virtually any music out there, but sound quality is average.
So far have done the Underwood hifi mod which is awesome, replaced stock power cord with a Shunyata black mamba power cord that contains the FESI material via a Voodoo C7 iec to C14 2pin adpator, and instead of using it wirelessly i attached a high end Audioquest ethernet cable. Each of these tweaks has improved sound performance that I can easily objectively measure and subjectively recognize via the level of my musical involvement and enjoyment. Now in the final stages of experimenting with digital interconnects to my Audio Aero Prestige SACD player which will do the D/A conversion. Digital cables in rotation currently are Nirvana and Purist Audio Aqueous which is how I came across this neat little device from PAD. Will have an answer for you in the next week or so.

"and instead of using it wirelessly i attached a high end Audioquest ethernet cable. "

Hello,

Did you compare the sound between these two ?

Thank you

Simon

no have not compared wireless vs wired yet. Still cooking the Audioquest ethernet cable.

did first AB of wireless (3meter distance) vs 8meter ethernet wire on the sonos. I have to use an 8 m run of ethernet to cover the 3 meters between zp90 players due to the in wall path it takes in my room. Initial impression is that wireless has more air in the mids and highs and is therefore slightly more involving. Going from wired to wireless on the same song I felt the need turn the volume down 1 step on my CAT preamp. low registers on piano came through with more force wirelessly. All of these differences are subtle and i still need to AB. Id like to give the ethernet about 500 hrs of burn in due to its length and then do one final AB. Excessive length of ethernet cable may be a factor and will consider going shorter.

Thank you Natan 6355 for your initial report.

Interesting, you comment that "Going from wired to wireless on the same song I felt the need turn the volume down 1 step on my CAT preamp " says a lot because Ken Stevens steps are of few dB each - I always had difficulties to find a sweet spot in-between.

Thank you again

Simon
P.S. If you can do aslo A/B comparison using hi-rez downloads (e.g. 24/96) - whatever your equipment allows, it will be very useful to hear as well

Hello Natan6355,

I was interested in your feelings on the Purist digital isolation adapter. I've been thinking about trying one.

John

Hi. What was the conclusion about the PAD Digital isolation adaptor? I have read it is targeted more towards situations where the transport/server and DAC are not designed originally to work together (eg, blu-ray transport and separate DAC from different manufacturer). that is my situation. thanks for any guidance!

Hello,

The short answer is yes it works and I highly recommend buying one even though the cost (around$300) is more expensive or on par with than many DVD players, cd players and music servers in circulation. Also, since more expensive gear is not immune to jitter I think its a no brainer for the high end enthusiast.

The long answer is that jitter is real and affects the bass the most. Poorly defined bass then impairs all the other frequencies thereby affecting soundstage width, depth, height, rhythm and pace, transparency, ultimately enjoyment. I dont know how much jitter the PAD digital adpator actually removes but it's enough to make a dramatic difference.

As far as price relative to the unit your attempting to de-jitter, I have been able to juice a $350 Sonos piece to the point where streaming music is so very close, very enjoyable, very long term listenable but not better as compared to good cd or vinyl sources, and it aint cheap but very much worth it. I'm sure that the likes of Wadia and Linn are working on new streaming equipment (for this is the future) with multi thousand dollar price tags also checkout Bluesmokesystems, but all you really need now is an inexpensive streaming device with a digital output and put hard earned cash into a state of the art DAC and let the prices of better quality streaming devices come down to reality.

To juice this basic set up as I mentioned in an early post the underwood hifi mod for the sonos provides the best returns. I have a stock sonos as well and one AB listen is all you need to hear the improvement. The PAD Digital adaptor is also essential providing further jitter reduction. A wired ethernet connection turned out to be much better than wireless and I think long burn in time should be expected, however, the wired contribution is not as dramatic improvement as jitter reduction. Power cord is important but also just an incremental improvement. Digital interconnect was the final piece of the puzzle and brings it all together and for my set up is the most expensive contributor. If you can find an inexpensive digital interconnect that works in your system consider your self fortunate. I am still in the hunt but for now the best I have heard is MIT oracle 2c3d digital (MSRP 3000, preowned about 1650). It has an articulation selector which works as advertised. And yes I AB'ed this interconnect with and without the PAD adaptor and jitter is still very much problematic even with expensive interconnect, so I still consider the adaptor essential unless you have an I2S connectionwhich has the least jitter of all.

Hope this helps

Thanks for the detailed post!!! Very helpful!!!

I found a digital cable that works well in the above application of sonos to dac, one that I've had in my system between a DVD player and home theater processor for quite some time. Celtic silver digital from United Home Audio won't break the bank at about $300. It's better than links costing 10x more.

Natan6355- could you please email me more on the Celtic [email protected]

Just came back to report on a long awaited finding in a digital interconnect that absolutely blew me away in the above application. I have been using the Celtic silver digital cable happily as it has compared well to ones costing up to 10 x more, Until I met the kubala sosna elation digital interconnect. It became one of those purchases in audio that is so clearly audibly the right thing to do that i was happy to shell out several thousand for it. Instruments have the correct timbre and sound real rather than illusions. Details youve never heard will surface in music youve listened to hundreds of times and give you butterflies. If u can afford it at least try it, kubala has a very generous home trial, but if u can't I'm selling my Celtic silver interconnect which currently resides happily in my home theater.

Congrats! Enjoy! Will listen if i ever get the chance. using valhalla bnc at the moment.

Hi Natan6355 do you still use the PAD Digital Isolation Adaptor? Even with your new KS Elation digital cable? thanks!