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anybody replaced their Connect with a Port?

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Hi, begrudgingly having to replace my connect as the connect is the beginning of my mesh network & I will not be able to separate my system.

Any forum members picked up a Port to replace their connect?
I am running my current Connect through an Arcam Rdac into a classic NAD 3020.

Any one experienced a degradation in sound quality using the Port?

The recent ‘What Hifi’ review has made this potential purchase even more of a quandary.

Didn't fancy shelling out the £279 before. The fact that this might actually be an inferior product to the connect makes me doubt it even more.

i don’t want to get into a ‘bun fight’ about DACs & ‘subjectivity’ only want to hear from people who have actually upgraded please

Any input greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

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FinbowAnswer

Trending Lyricist III

Just to update this thread as promised.

Received the amp today & it wasn’t for me I’m afraid.

I found the sound to be way to bright & shrill.

played around with the EQ but couldn’t find the right balance unfortunately. Shame as otherwise a wonderfully engineered bit of kit.

I’m pairing with a pair of a Monitor Audio Rs1’s & a Kef sub. The Monitor Audios are a little on the bright side themselves so I’m just putting it down to bad pairing.

I had the Nad recapped & serviced last year so its functioning as new really & just sounds really warm & much more hifi than the Sonos amp.

interestingly the 20 watt Nad drove my speakers better than the 125w Sonos!

As an aside, absolutely no problem driving the Kef sub. So no idea why so many people are having issues with their 3rd party subs.

just ordered the port instead.

thanks again for all of your input.

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Kumar

My question was rhetorical.

I know; but my reply was for the benefit of others, who may not see that the word audiophile covers a wide range of behaviours, not all of which are extreme - extreme like some that will disdain EQ or Tone controls because these “corrupt” the purity of their signal, not realising that these are needed to compensate to some extent for the mess that their rooms make of the sound heard when poorly placed speakers interact with the room acoustics to make a hash of the sound delivered from these speakers even when fed their “uncorrupted” signals.

jgatie

My question was rhetorical.

I know; but my reply was for the benefit of others, who may not see that the word audiophile covers a wide range of behaviours, not all of which are extreme - extreme like some that will disdain EQ or Tone controls because these “corrupt” the purity of their signal, not realising that these are needed to compensate to some extent for the mess that their rooms make of the sound heard when poorly placed speakers interact with the room acoustics to make a hash of the sound delivered from these speakers even when fed their “uncorrupted” signals.

All well and good, except a subjective reviewer should specifically mention these factors, thus removing anything definitive about their review. But we all know pigs will fly before that happens.

ratty

Soft-knee limiting is common, in order to avoid hard clipping in signals which could otherwise be driven above Full Scale by EQ etc.

Will this limiting come into play where the EQ is set to flat, for digital outputs in variable volume mode?

That’s what appears to happen. The limiting gradually increases as the volume setting heads towards 100%.

And even if that is so, does it come into play only when the volume slider goes past 85% ish? If so, this will not be heard if the Port unit is at say 70% volume with the downstream amp delivering more gain to compensate?

The behaviour I witnessed -- albeit with single-frequency test tones -- suggested it started to cut in above about 85%. Whether it has the effect of compressing the dynamics lower down the volume scale I can’t confirm objectively, but that seems to be what some people are saying.

Is this limiting the same as was supposed to have been done in Connects some years ago?

Similar I guess. The fault in certain Connects was that the limiter was being applied in Fixed Volume too.

K

Kumar

Will this limiting come into play where the EQ is set to flat, for digital outputs in variable volume mode?

That’s what appears to happen. The limiting gradually increases as the volume setting increases towards 100%..

Why then is this not done for Fixed volume digital outputs? Is Variable volume at 100% with flat EQ not the exact equivalent of Fixed volume? Or is it done assuming that EQ will be used in the former case even when it is not actually being used?

ratty

Why then is this not done for Fixed volume digital outputs? Is Variable volume at 100% with flat EQ not the exact equivalent of Fixed volume? Or is it done assuming that EQ will be used in the former case even when it is not actually being used?

Fixed is a straight transfer from the decoder, bit-perfect. Variable runs the risk that EQ could push samples above Full Scale and hence into clipping.

In the old days of ZP80 it was assumed -- and proven if I recall -- that Variable/100%/flat-EQ was identical to Fixed, i.e. bit perfect. If EQ ran the risk of pushing the signal into clipping it must have been defeated in a progressive and gentle fashion.

Based on the Sonos comments in the TechHive review it sounds like they took a different design approach with Port, possibly driven in substantial part by the needs of the installer community. On the face of it Variable is geared more towards their needs and Fixed to audiophiles.

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FinbowAuthor

Trending Lyricist III

What audiophile uses an external DAC with the variable volume setting?

I have to say, your tone is very antagonistic. I am not & have never claimed to be an audiophile. I simply stated that the Port sounded more compressed & less dynamic than my old connect whilst using variable output. As I’d paid £280 to ‘upgrade’ this bit of kit I was suitably miffed! Now as it turns out I was completely correct & the sound is being ‘managed’ more aggressively via the digital out. Something that only a few posts ago you were saying was not possible.

K

Kumar

On the face of it Variable is geared more towards their needs and Fixed to audiophiles.

And to whose needs are the analog outputs geared to?:-)) I know they work fine for me...

ratty

Now as it turns out I was completely correct & the sound is being ‘managed’ more aggressively via the digital out. Something that only a few posts ago you were was not possible.

Have you tried using the analog out with Variable volume? According to that article the DSP limiting/compression only applies to the digital out, which in retrospect is logical.

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FinbowAuthor

Trending Lyricist III

Now as it turns out I was completely correct & the sound is being ‘managed’ more aggressively via the digital out. Something that only a few posts ago you were was not possible.

Have you tried using the analog out with Variable volume? According to that article the DSP limiting/compression only applies to the digital out, which in retrospect is logical.

I have Ratty, thanks for asking. I think I said ‘much’ earlier on in the thread that the differences between the analogue outs on both units were minimal. I’d definitely say the Port had a little more clarity than the connect in that respect. However it still doesn’t sound as good (to my ears) as the connect through the Rdac. As I’ve managed to achieve what I wanted to do at the beginning of this thread( which is continue to use my hifi as part of an S2 set up) & only having to splash out £199 in the end I’m quite happy! Sonos also allowed me to carry over my 30% discount after returning the port too. So all in all it’s been a loooong road but it had a happy ending!!

ratty

Yes, apologies. I just looked back over the thread and noticed your comments about the analog out.

I’m wary of confirmation bias, but having removed the DAC from the path between my Port and a Schiit head amp I suspect my Senny HD650s may be sounding a tad more ‘dynamic’. I’d had to use variable volume on the digital out on account of ergonomics and occasional EQ tweaks. Time will tell I guess...

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