RadBlue

Echo's - the live version from Gilmores Remember that Night Blueray Shine on you Crazy Diamond a lot of great versions Fat Old Sun, great live versions on Remember that Night and Live in Pompei (2016) Atom Heart Mother Time Comfortably Numb Animals..whole album …….sooooo many more, not even getting into Waters solo stuff...

Glad your up and running now :). I'm gonna go out on a limb and suggest Apple was the heart of your issues, I avoid Apple products like ..well... COV-19 ( too soon ? ). I suggest you should install Tidal ( the app not the BLUOS app) on your laptop or PC. While I do use a tablet and phone for BLUOS, I was born of the generation that pre-dates the one that was born with a smart phone genetically attached to their hand, so find good 'ol mouse n keyboard best for doing searches and making playlists.

Goto Apple store and get the BLUOS app for your phone. Install it then run and follow instructions Also, first off, make sure phone is connected to your home wifi. sent ya a PM in case you get stuck and cant get Blusound on the horn

Everything in Audio is a rabbit hole, if ya don't want to fall in ya gotta stick to yer phone and the earbuds that came with it 😜

Don't go by age to judge sound quality of a recording. Many old recordings are very good, and most modern are bad. Google " Loudness Wars" and read up on compression, what it does and why its used to get a better understanding of the whole issue.

I quite often see these systems on sale for around 120 bucks so I would just replace. I had the ProMedia 5.1 system which was great for about 6yrs and the sub went out. problem is its just not a sub,the amp and all other electronics are in there and not very serviceable. I just grabbed and old avr and cheap sub then used the 5 surrounds for a working system. If the 2.1 is the same as my 5.1 the inputs are all 3.5mm jacks to use with computers, but if tv has rca outputs then you can get rca to 3.5mm adaptors.

Getting back to the OP's original question, the highest resolution recording for your Oppo 203 would be the DSD64 version also known as DSD Single rate 2.8mhz. Keep in mind as stated elsewhere in this thread, if the original master the file is taken from was poor,well nothing will fix that no matter how hi-rez you go. If you goto Native DSD site your pretty safe as they are very picky about what they list, but don't expect to find artists you're familiar with as recording in very hi-rez is a very niche market and most the big name are recorded with a lot of compression to sound best on cheap earbuds for the masses. They do let ya listen to most every song so pick a genre and just find something you like. You can download the zipfile then just extract it to a USB drive to plug into the oppo. If buying an album make sure you have room...songs from 1 album I dl'd went from 250MB to 650MB per song. Check the "technical" tab on the album page to get info on the recording, sometime right down to the mic's they used Oh and this is where the DSF comes in, you'll notice on the oppo the file extension is .dsf

I'm not sure on how its all done but yes when its in the DSD/DSF form it cant be messed with. Thing is some of these recording are before the final master. I picked up an album from ther psycodelic section and the band had 2 versions (RAW) before mastering for CD and (smooth) after mastering. I grabbed the RAW version.

I have an Oppo 203. Also my Emotiva XMC-1 Processor can do DSD64. I just recently got some DSF albums from NativeDSD site. DSF is just the file version. DSD is always on a disc like an SACD, DSF is the same but like a computer file. SQ is the same. I can say that when you down-mix from DSF/DSD to PCM its like....someone put the veil back on is best I can do hehe. Get something from that site that was recorded in DSD and its just OMG!!!. Its not that the PCM is bad its realy good....but the pure DSD/DSF is just that bit more over the edge.. Afterthought... For that last year or so I been wanting to build some horn loaded subs for my LSII's. Thing is when playing DSD/DSF threw my processor I can't use subs,or tone controls, or trims lol it only passes it threw unmolested. Need to downmix to PCM to get controls back. Lets put it this way..I stared down this DSD/DSF road 3 weeks ago and my subs haven't been on since Oh and I just copied the album onto a USB stick and plugged it into the front of OPPO and play it from there.

Hmm.. I definitely noticed a difference between MQA and the standard CD quality. But that said I'd say 60% of the time I preferred the CD quality version .

The Node-2i is a streamer with a built in DAC while the D90 is a DAC with streaming capabilities via Bluetooth. First thing to note here is the general consensus is as far as sound quality is concerned, hardwired beats wifi which beats Bluetooth. This has to do with hardwired is best for limiting rf interference. Next Bluetooth 5.0 I think is limited to 990kb/s. CD quality is 1440kb/s. Wifi can do cd quality but open to more rf noise than hardwired. When you stream with the D90 your phone or tablet is the streamer sending the signal to the D90 via Bluetooth (and thus limited to Bluetooth specs). With the Node-2i your phone or tablet is not streaming the signal, its only acting as a remote control for the Node ( thus only limited to the spec on the node DAC or an external DAC connected to it). However you could connect a PC directly to the D90 and get full 24/192 with the PC streaming but you wont have remote control from phone or tablet.

Yes hardwiring the Node-2i will get better SQ but i'm not taking about that. You need to control the Node with a device with a screen, like a phone or tablet or laptop. You install the softwear on your selected device and it will connect to the node via wifi letting you surf and select what you want to play. I know it sounds complicated but it really isn't. When I got mine I got all mind set like "ok gonna sit down, concentrate so I do this right", 10 mins later I was like "what, that's it I'm up and runnin …."

I have a Node-2i and love it, I stream Tidal mostly. One thing to note is that even if you hardwire the Node you still need wifi to control it via BLUOS app on either smartphone /tablet/laptop. They have a version for whichever you want to run it on. If you don't have wifi just call your service provider and ask for a modem with wifi. I find the best setup is with a tablet due to the screen bigger than a phone but still compact enough to keep close by. If your thinking getting wifi set up is too much hassle its not. its really simple and you can have a Node set up and streaming in 10-15 mins out of the box.Once set up its just so simple to use you will wonder why anyone would do it any other way. The only time I listen to cd's now is for the better SQ from SACD's,very rarely bother with normal cd's as Tidal is just as good.

I've had my LSII's up to 115db at 3 meters(10ft). Considering the max spl rating is 121db@1m, 115db at 10ft must be pretty close to the limit.

Actually the new AL5' come in at 200lbs, they beefed up the cabinet in places. the older LSII's are 175lbs ea

I have 5 AW-400's outside using a Sony STR series AVR and they can play real loud..cop's have been called 🤫

Take a look at this https://emotiva.com/collections/amps/products/pa-1 a lot of good things written about these lil monoblock's. At 130wrms @8ohms they a nice match for a K-horn. I've been thinking on getting a pair for my LSII's as my XPA-2 @300wrms in 8ohms/chnl is just way to much power for my LSII's.

Thnx for the replies and info. My main concern is sometimes, well maby more than sometime I like to listen stupid loud. Like 100-110db at listening position (10.5ft from speakers), rare times measured 115-116db ( got a pic of spl meter and a blown tweeter to prove it lol ). Have Creites CT-120's installed now so feel safer I was just on Bills forums a few hrs ago and typed out a nice log post explaining my situation with the info I could think of and some pics. Took me so long to 2 finger type it when I hit post it said I was logged out,guess it time out lol. Just said ah fukit 😖. Thing is I don't want to build these then crank it up and be left wanting 😢. But for space savings I love the idea of dropping these down and stacking my LSII's on top of them.

I'm also interested in building a pair of these for my LSII's. My room is 3k cf but also open stairway ( basement rec-room) leading to front entrance and the upstairs, no doors. Still I would like to hear your impressions on how they hold up when the volume gets cranked. For me I would go with 10,s but I may ask on Bill's forums if its possible to modify these to use the same 12's as they use in the THTLP.

I live in St Catharines (15 mins from ya ). I have LaScala ll's. First thing to note is horn loaded bass is a lot different than direct radiating. Took me a while to get used to it. But now I prefer it much over the former. LS's only go down to 50htz so I have a pair of 15 inch subs. LS's have the same top end as the K-Horns(or very close) but don't go down as deep. Jub's are on a diff lvl all together from what I've read. My next project needs to be acquiring/building a pair of horn loaded subs. If you want to drop by for a listen to get a baseline starting point for a reference just send me a PM. Rest of my gear is below in my sig.

Take a look here: https://emotiva.com/collections/amps/products/a-300

sounds clear on Tidal...gonna get off my gamming pc and go listen on main system, thnx for the lead on some "new to me" music

My Node2i is connected to an Emotiva DC-1 dac via coaxial and rca's. Can listen to the DC-1 when coax is selected or Node2i dac when analog is selected. I stream Tidal mostly. I find the 2 dacs very close with the Node a lil warmer but a lil less detailed. I usually listen from DC-1 dac but if the source recording seems bright i'll switch to the Node. The rest of my gear is in my sig. Oddly, 9 times out of 10 I prefer the CD quality version over the MQA versions on Tidal.

A true master of his art, he will be missed.

I just listened to this vid on my main system ( LSII's ) and wow i'm really impressed, these things sound just like my LSII's ...but they look a lot better