New Bartok owner - best input?

dCS Products
1

Hi, apologies if this has been asked and answered before - I did a search and didn’t see an immediate thread that covered it…

I’m about to take delivery of a Bartok to replace my PSAudio Directstream. My main source is a Melco N1Z mark 1 and I also stream from Qobuz.

With my DS, the best input ended up being USB from Melco to Matrix X-SPDIF2 to hdmi/i2S into the DS, with upgraded power supply to the matrix, and decent USB and HDMI cables. The Matrix and associated tweaks made a really nice improvement to the sound generally.

I’ve sold my HDMI as that won’t be any use with the Bartok and I’m now wondering what is generally thought to be the best input on the Bartok. I could keep my Matrix and use one of the AES inputs or I could use the Ethernet input and perhaps replace the Matrix with an Etherregen to get the best out of it.

Is there any generally accepted view as to the best input to use?

Many thanks, Mike.

1 Like
2

From what I’ve seen, dCS consistently recommend the Ethernet input over all others.

1 Like
3

I actually use a Melco N1ZH/2 myself as my NAS albeit into Vivaldi. I doubt if anyone here will say other than that the ethernet connection will provide an unambiguous improvement over other connections. Melco’s own cable is rather good IMO BTW ( not the free white ribbon cable that is free in the box with Melco streamers) .

You will also need the network connection in order to properly utilise the Mosaic control app ( which is also where you will navigate and stream Qobuz from).

Finally and essentially you need to install MinimServer on the Melco. The Bartok cannot be guaranteed to work correctly with other UPnP servers. Melco have now moved to MinimServer as their default server software and MinimServer produces a dedicated Melco version:

https://minimserver.com/minimserver2/melco/

Also ensure that you have a supply of fresh socks as I expect the ones that you have to be blown off :smiley:

1 Like
4

Thanks both. That’s what I was kind of hoping to hear.

I already have one aftermarket Melco cable so it looks like I’ll need one or 2 more, assuming I go for the etherregen. And I do have minimserver installed already, thanks, although I need to upgrade to the full functionality fairly soon.

So I think I’ll put my Matrix and USB cable up for sale and use the funds to pay for the etherregen!

Thanks again, Mike.

5

Yes. You will find that when you do Mosaic via MinimServer 2/MinimWatch 2 can offer several alternative ways of displaying metadata. For example you can select a view showing only albums with titles or artist name or composer beginning with letter “B” etc.

Reminds me - time for me to upgrade to MinimServer 2.

6

Pete’s cogent explanation is really all you need, but I’ll add my additional :+1: for Ethernet.

2 Likes