I have an X35 which uses the same everything except has a slighly lower grade ESS dac chip. It;’s far from bad. a agree with the people who disliked the old app, I find the new one just issued to be workable although not Roon like. What really makes the CA units sing is proper set up, and a good and knowledgeable dealer is worth their weight in gold. I wouldn’t call the SQ top drawer it’s far from bad and the ability to rip CDs at a very fast rate is superb. I’m thinking of swapping up to the X50 which will allow me to utilize a Brooklyn DAC.
Cocktail Audio's New and latest X50pro Audiophile Music Streamer/server...Any Love?
So, I have been searching for the holy grail of music streamers from some time now. I have had several oppo blu-rays being used as streamers, their Senica, the Mytek Manhattan II, Metrum Acoustics Ambre, and the Lyngdorf TDAI-3400. All sounded pretty good for their respected price range, the Ambre sounded best. But, I was never totally happy with the features, etc of all these. Then I came across the newly released Cocktail Audio X50Pro, their new flagship audiophile streamer. It’s so new that there aren’t any reviews out there. It was the 1st streamer to check all my boxes of what I wanted in a streamer (except for one). This has every digital output including three, yes three I2S outputs, 2 bays for hard drives, 7” screen and an HDMI output to also see on your big screen, CD ripper built in, works with Tidel, Roon, and just about every music streaming service, can be controlled with phone apps, even has digital inputs to rip your vinyl to the internal drives if installed. It uses dual 82 femto seconds Crystek CCHD-575 Ultra-low Phase Oscillators, completely encased in aluminum power supply, It has WIFI and Ethernet, build quality is great, and has great looks to boot. So, I guess my question is there anyone out there have any experience with this music streamer? I received mine about a week ago and so far, so good. The sound quality is excellent, but wonder how it would compare to the Auralic Aries G2, or the Aurender N10 that I have not yet tried? I would love to hear feedback from any other users out there. Oh, and as I mentioned, there is only one thing this did not check off my want list, I would have liked to see a HDMI input for SACD use and support.