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SQ Comparison of 3 streamers

Do you concur these assessments if you were the owner?

SQ Comparison: Eversolo T8 vs Innuos Zen Mk3 vs Volumio Rivo Plus

Feature Eversolo T8 Innuos Zen Mk3 Volumio Rivo Plus
Tonal Balance Slightly warm, musical Neutral, reference Neutral-warm, slightly lush
Midrange Lush, expressive Transparent, accurate Smooth and natural, slightly forward
Bass Tight, controlled Tight, maybe leaner Solid, full-bodied, a bit warmer than Zen
Detail Retrieval High, smooth Very high, analytical High, clear
Dynamics Natural, engaging Precise, accurate Great, rhythmic and musical
Soundstage Imaging Spacious, slightly forward; enveloping Very wide and deep; highly precise Wide, deep, more relaxed
Overall Impression Engaging & musical Neutral & resolving Balanced, musical, and slightly “polished”
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mdalton's avatar
mdalton
810 posts
 

If dsp is applied, that is not bit perfect.  Upsampling and over sampling are not bit perfect. bit perfect means native sampling rate, no digital processing.  By definition, dsp is “digital signal processing.”  In Roon, if you do not engage dsp, there is no digital signal processing.  The default setting in Roon is no dsp.  

mdalton's avatar
mdalton
810 posts
 

oh, and you have to set your DAC to the fixed mode, so you’re not controlling volume digitally thru Roon, because that’s digital processing as well.

donquichotte
169 posts
 

@OP: Innuos Zen MK3 owner here. It's very nice! I have also tried at home, at length, an Innuos Pulse and an Innuos Zenith MK3 and both of these have better technicalities but not quite as great musicality and not quite as natural timbres as the Zen. 

mdalton's avatar
mdalton
810 posts
 

one more follow up: am not a Qobuz Connect user but it’s marketed as bit perfect, and I think I saw a youtuber who proved that it is bit perfect thru a side by side digital file transfer, fwiw.

orchardaudiollc's avatar
orchardaudiollc
12 posts
 

@machine7 

Right now I’m running everything through a tube pre known for its clinical character and into a Buckeye Hypex. It will be interesting to compare again once I connect an Orchard Audio Starkrimson as while I believe it’s still Hypex based the implementation with more caps lends itself to a warmer more lush and musical presentation.

My amplifier modules are completely my own proprietary design. Starkrimson is the name of the technology, and I also hold the Starkrimson trademark. Read more on that here:
https://orchardaudio.com/starkrimson-gan-technology-implementation/

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