Your thinking seems about right, though I'm no expert at what a BV such as a Harmony sends down its Powerlink to the 50s

I'd also not worry much about 24/192 vs 24/96 etc - the amount of 24/192 music on Qobuz is very small (I use Qobuz myself).

I did get a separate streamer / DAC unit for direct connection to my 50s. In part that was because I wanted a Roon capable device into my 50s, in part I wanted some access to content above 16/44 (not that I'm obsessed by that), and in part because the analogue out from the DAC into the 50s (i.e not USB) sounds better than routing the Digital out from the streamer / DAC through my BV to the 50s. 

So it was driven by 3 aspects.

If you find casting Q from your phone to the Harmony a fiddle, then sure - I;d just get a streamer with native support and connect direct to the 50s.

To me though, the biggest improvement in quality in my setup comes from feeding the 50s from an external DAC via analogue.  The same streamer / DAC has a digital out - i.e not using the DAC part, and that digital out (through my BV) to the 50s sounds fine but appreciably worse using the DAC part.

But even when listening via this preferred method (analogue out from the DAC to 50s) - the difference between 24/96 and 24/192 content isn't appreciable.

So I would not sweat it, in my humble.

pastaj wrote:

ok, so could you confirm that my thought process is correct?  here is my goal: get the best sound out of the 50s for listening in stereo...

 

First: Source:  so far the only source i plan to use is streaming audio. So far, for my purposes, it seems Qobuz is the best option for loseless HIRES (24/192) streaming. Obviously this is accounting for the original source recording quality and im not talking about upconverting or anything. Qobuz seems to be the only loseless 24/192 out there, MQA is not loseless and has its own issues with the folding unfolding process, both with loss of data and added data. 

Second: Connection from "source" to the 50s: the best option with as little back and forth from D-A A-D would be have a streaming unit such as a core or another manufacturer that is hardwired to the ethernet and has Qobuz or another HIRES app that it natively runs and therefore my phone is just "controlling" the functions of said app. Therefore i am not throttled by the limitations of googlecast which is 24/96.  THEN, if i have a high quality streamer, connect that directly to the 50s via USB, which would support 24/192. (optical/TOSLINK is limited to 24/96 no? you mentioned 192 earlier but is that correct?)

Third: If i choose to just stick with casting my qobuz phone app to the harmony then i should be able to retain 24/96 to the harmony and then from there it converts to A via its own DAC and outputs that to the 50s over PL at 24/96. Then that signal reaches the 50s which converts it back to D via the DAC in the 50, does some fancy processing, and then outputs the sound.  Am i following correct? And am i correct in my understanding that the Cat 7 cables that are connected from the PL out on the harmony to the PL in on the primary 50 carries that 24/96 signal in analog form?  I just want to make sure i understand that the Cat 7 cable is carrying an analog signal of the original digital 24/96 source from Qobuz.

 

If this is all true then i may just save the money in my quest to achieve 24/192 given my current setup as it sounds like there is no way to output 192 to the 50s via the Harmony. I would have to have a digital streamer that can support that output and then directly wire it via USB or S/P DIF to the 50s to get that quality. 

 

Sorry if this seems scatterbrained, its a torrid landscape up there. lol thanks for any and ALL input on this. im really trying to make sure i have a good handle on this topic as it seems to answer a lot of later questions when troubleshooting connections and trying to get the most out of these awesome speakers.

thank you!  your first sentence is what i was just going to post. SO, i was unaware but by directly cast Qobuz to the harmony, the harmony immediately converts it to 24/48 so all of the above points i mentioned seem MOOT. lol

It sounds like, according to the kind gentleman at my audio shop, I would get a streamer with a DAC such as a bluesound or similar and then transmit the HIRES analog signal to the harmony via the analog input that it apparently has. That should then bypass the Harmony downsampling it to 48 and output the signal to the 50s in 24/192 (obviously only if the source is 24/192). Either way, apparently what ive been listening to that sounds great is 24/48. so 24/96 should be a noticeable improvement.  I was wondering if i set the 50s to connect via WISA to the harmony i could get 24/96 but apparently not bc any casted/airplay2 source to the harmony gets downsampled. Can someone out there confirm this? 

oye! lol

One can stream 24bit 192kHz Qobuz music direct to a Harmony using Audirvana. 

But then you have to PL connect the BL50 to the Harmony. If you choose WISA you will end with a 24bit 96kHz format in the BL50 or with traditional PL you will get the analoge format.

Will you hear the difference? I doubt it?

Yes,, I'd do the same i.e get either an external streamer unit, or an external streamer / DAC and connect direct to the 50s.

It has some nice flexibility as a setup - play some music and the unit will activate the 50s, leaving the Harmony asleep. After while if you want to watch the Harmony, the 50s will switch over to that. Switch off the Harmony, and the 50s will switch back to the music streamer output (as long as the 50s are setup priority wise that way).  I like this arrangement myself.

The DAC in the Bluesound may not (or may, though doubt it) give you an improvement over just feeding the digital out from the Bluesound to the 50s direct.  In my case, my streamer / DAC is from Linn, and its DAC is extremely nice, and much preferable to its digital out into the 50s.

Depends on how much you want to spend really.

As for switching between 24/48 into 24/higher, I'd adjust your expectations a bit - again, introducing a better / different DAC into the chain has done a lot more to improve the sound than any switching from 48 to 96 to 192. And there is far too little 192 even on Qobuz to let that drive your setup. 

pastaj wrote:

thank you!  your first sentence is what i was just going to post. SO, i was unaware but by directly cast Qobuz to the harmony, the harmony immediately converts it to 24/48 so all of the above points i mentioned seem MOOT. lol

 

It sounds like, according to the kind gentleman at my audio shop, I would get a streamer with a DAC such as a bluesound or similar and then transmit the HIRES analog signal to the harmony via the analog input that it apparently has. That should then bypass the Harmony downsampling it to 48 and output the signal to the 50s in 24/192 (obviously only if the source is 24/192). Either way, apparently what ive been listening to that sounds great is 24/48. so 24/96 should be a noticeable improvement.  I was wondering if i set the 50s to connect via WISA to the harmony i could get 24/96 but apparently not bc any casted/airplay2 source to the harmony gets downsampled. Can someone out there confirm this? 

,

oye! lol

i will look into this! i currently have my 50s plugged into the PL port on the back of the harmony

hot damn, ONLY $39,000, ILL TAKE TWO...

lol. what linn do you have. thats a LOT of cashola

Sandyb, 

so if i hear you correctly, i stand to notice some improvement by just appreciating a higher sampling rate and the D-A conversion on the cheaper units isnt exactly a benefit. Just use them as a way to get the higher res sound to the 50s. Where the streamer/DAC like the Linn comes in is that not only does it have the ability to stream HIRES audio but it also converts the digital source internal and outputs a far more refined analog output to the 50s. That analog output, after the Linn special sauce is applied, will sound far better than just outputting the native 24/96 or 24/192 from a blue sound via either is digital OR analag output as its internal DAC just isnt that "nice/good"?

Carolpa, 

how would this work, again, my understanding would be that you run this Audirvana on a computer and then output that to your Harmony. But how do you connect it? a high quality minijack? the issue, to my understanding, is that anything connected to the harmony via wires or googlecast/airplay2 is automatically downsampled by the harmony. So how does Audirvana bypass this and play at 192?

Well sort of.

An external DAC, especially a very good one, can introduce a qualitative difference to the sound - a different flavour or tonality if you like.  Chosen sensibly / well, this will sound "better".   This is what the DAC in my Linn unit achieves for me, and its quite apparent.

Much less apparent is the change between already decently high sample rates - and switching between 16/48 to 24/96 or 24/192 falls into the realm of having to listen carefully to see what differences there may be.  In other words, much less apparent. Some of the 96 or 192 albums I listen to sound really lovely, but some dont sound much better / different.

Taken together, a well chosen DAC to me is where I'd focus my efforts. 

There is no linear magic that happens when you suddenly select 96 or 192 albums as rule. Some sound a small amount fuller, some not. And there are so few I wouldn't let higher bit rates drive your setup.

pastaj wrote:

Sandyb, 

 

so if i hear you correctly, i stand to notice some improvement by just appreciating a higher sampling rate and the D-A conversion on the cheaper units isnt exactly a benefit. Just use them as a way to get the higher res sound to the 50s. Where the streamer/DAC like the Linn comes in is that not only does it have the ability to stream HIRES audio but it also converts the digital source internal and outputs a far more refined analog output to the 50s. That analog output, after the Linn special sauce is applied, will sound far better than just outputting the native 24/96 or 24/192 from a blue sound via either is digital OR analag output as its internal DAC just isnt that "nice/good"?

which Linn do you have?