HEOS, BluOS, Mosaic Control

[AnotherJohnson]

The Marantz/Denon streaming is controlled by HEOS. HEOS is pretty limited. Very simple. Simplicity leads to ease of use. He iOS version is pretty intuitive. But also limited.

Bluesound streaming is controlled by BluOS. BluOS has more capability than HEOS. The version that is supposed to run on the MacBook Air does not. You can download it from Bluesound, but last I checked the App Store had nixxed it as unreliable. The iOS version runs flawlessly with the current version of the iPhone OS.

The dCS streaming is controlled by Mosaic Control.

The iOS version genuinely sucks with the current iPhone OS. I’m going to check out how well it works on an iPad, but for now I’ve made the Bluesound Node the streamer to feed the dCS Rossini via a 75 Ohm AQ Diamond coaxial cable. Seamless, smooth, no unexplained lags or delays after instructions are entered.

As for the Rossini, the DAC is definitely more solid in lower registers. Using the Node as the streamer, the only system change is the replacement of the Levinson 5101 by the Rossini Ring DAC. Some might call the 5101 more neutral and the Rossini warmer with extended bass. To my ears they’re both musical. Both sound real. Great tone and timbre. Excellent pace. High resolving power. But the Rossini has the edge.

If I can sort out the lag between instructions and actions with Mosaic, I could compare the Node to the streaming section of the Rossini.

Admin would probably like to know if it’s “worth upgrading the Node.” I think all I’ve convinced myself of is that the iOS version of Mosaic Control is not as nice as BluOS. And the Rossini Ring DAC can be distinguished from the Levinson 5101 DAC. I’ve never used the Node’s DAC.

I am liking the Rossini as a DAC. It would be interesting to compare it to the Hola May KTE. Or the Rose 150 B.

I’m also now wondering if it’s finally time to check out Roon.

I’m going to set up that MCT 500 Transport and see how the Rossini sounds as a red book cd player.

[admin]

Good rundown and comparison of these control apps.

The only other additions I can add is that the wiim player has similar functionality and ease of use as the BluOS app.

The wiim streamer pales in quality compared to the Node, and thus not even in the same range as higher 4 or 5 figure audiophile streamers, but one thing that it can do with Amazon Music is to use the cast function of the amazon music app. So this will retain the native functions of the music app vs such simple song/album selection and playlists that plague the native streamer apps. In case you wanted to try using a wiim as the source with the amazon app. Again, not sure if it worth the effort, but it is a sub $100 buy in.

I think the Roon is going to give better function as the platform is much better integrated with quboz than any other 3rd party solution. The downside to roon is that you are limited to Quboz, tidal, and your local digital collection.

I too would love to hear a direct comparison of all these DACs. It unfortunately would be an expensive endeavor to get them all into the same room.

[AnotherJohnson]

I did hook up the MCT500 and running it with Toslink for 16/44.1 CDs into the Rossini. It sounds wonderful.

A comment about the control apps for streaming.

BluOS seems to be the most flexible. It has the most compatible service options, including Qobuz, Tidal, and Amazon hi rez.

HEOS is incompatible with Qobuz.

Mosaic is incompatible with Amazon and presently also has known problems with Qobuz.

Every one of these has a full set of phone/tablet/laptop LAN compatibility issues superimposed on the issues of the streamer and the streaming service. If you’re going to stream your music, you’ve got to be ready to cope with a large number of nontraditional sonic obstacles.

The payoff still seems to be “try before you buy” music access, instant gratification on some level, and facilitation of lazy behavior once things work acceptably well. Long playlist may equal long nap.

[AnotherJohnson]

Roon is worth the cost. All those data about the music are not always easy to come by. I’m pretty impressed with it.

With the Rossini internal streamer fully functional, I can move the Node to the headphone stack where it can also be controlled by Roon if I want. I also get to get rid of the TOSlink connection between the Rossini and the McIntosh transport. Instead I can use the AQ Diamond coaxial cable between these devices.

[AnotherJohnson]

Plan B

What is clear is that Qobuz and Amazon are both compatible with BluOS, but Amazon is not compatible with Roon. The Venn diagram of my digital hard media, Qobuz, and Amazon libraries is not one circle. It’s three overlapping circles. In other words, I’ve got stuff neither of the others have, and Qobuz and Amazon also have some performances that are unique to each.

The Rossini is my best DAC without a doubt, and it has lots of input options, but only one coax input. I’ve got several audiophile coax digital cables. No suitable usb or bnc. No extra optical.

The MDA200 has lots of input options, including the proprietary McIntosh MCT (to allow SACD play wit the MCT500 transport), including a couple of digital coax inputs.

So … here’s the layout.

Want something on Amazon? The only choice is to fire up BluOS to control the Node. The Node feeds the MDA200.

Want something on Qobuz? The best choice is to go to Roon to contro the Nucleus. The Nucleus feeds the Rossini. An alternative is to use BluOS to the Node to the MDA200.

Want an SACD? Play it on the Levinson 5101. Or play it on the MCT500 to the MDA200.

Want a Red Book CD? Play it on the MCT500 to the Rossini. Or play it on the MCT500 to the MDA200. Or play it on the Levinson 5101.

Want vinyl? Skip the DACs. Play it on either LP12 to the REF Phono 3.

On the REF 6 SE Bal1 is the Rossini, Bal2 is the REF Phono 3, Bal3 is the MDA200, and Bal4 is the Levinson 5101.

You’ve got to also pay attention to the input choices on the DACs.

But it works quite well.

For the other streaming services, like Tidal, deezer, Spotify, assorted radio options, etc, there are multiple similar options through the BluOS or Roon. Roon is better than BluOS as a rule, but since it doesn’t collaborate with Amazon, if Amazon is necessary or desired, Roon is out.

I wish the Rossini had another coax input … a solution to this could be worked out by finding the correct usb or bnc spdif cable. For this set up I did not have to buy anything. It was all here on the shelf.

[admin]

Yeah, that is a lot of stuff. You could also output the digital coax from the node to the Rossini. Considering how much you like it, I would be trying to push every digital signal over to it for decoding.

[AnotherJohnson]

It’s true that Roon can run the node, but it sounds better running the Rossini. Roon is still incompatible with Amazon in any event. And Roon is my preference over BluOS. I’m using the Rossini’s coax input for the MCT500. Best Red Book CD performance.

I may look at other spdif cabling options to put the node into the Rossini.

For now it’s all sounding grand.

And I’m still using the ND8006 and HEOS to stream to the SA~KI Ruby as a headphone amp that plays SACDs, CDs, and Amazon.

[AnotherJohnson]

Yeah, that is a lot of stuff. You could also output the digital coax from the node to the Rossini. Considering how much you like it, I would be trying to push every digital signal over to it for decoding.

FWIW, the MDA200 is quite good. It’s just not as good as the Rossini most of the time.
The Node to MDA200 (AQ Coffee Coax) is better than it has any right to be.

[AnotherJohnson]

Last night after listening to some stuff on Amazon through the Node/MDA200, I listened to the same stuff (same resolution and release) on Qobuz through the Nucleus/Rossini.

As much as I’d enjoyed the Node/MDA200, there was no doubt that the Nucleus/Rossini is from another realm.

I do think I am a bad audiophile. I loved what I listened to on the Node/MDA200. I could tell the Nucleus/Rossini presentation was A LOT better. I loved it too.

I’m just too dang easy to please.

[admin]

Really glad to hear. Good problems to have!

[AnotherJohnson]

Really glad to hear. Good problems to have!

Most of the time my quests are driven more by curiosity than by dissatisfaction.

The single ground plane issue was dissatisfaction, but the Rossini Ring DAC was curiosity. Few fall into this he dissatisfaction category … mostly those that introduce failure or unwanted noise. At any given level of system, I’m generally happy if the musical program is of interest to me. Of course the better the system and the more engaging the program, the more I like it.