John of Peter Tyson (formerly John of B&O Manchester, I believe) says on this video that Beoconnect Core sounds better than Beosound Essence because of “its snappier, more powerful processor.”
Now, I of course understand that this latest Core with Mozart architecture is probably more responsive, more functional, more up-to-date, better integrated with the B&O app, and more future-proof. It could also very well be that it features superior power supply architecture, or, perhaps, other benefits.
But isn’t sound quality dependent largely on the DAC and power supply, and not on the main processor that controls the device? What can be said about the comparative sound quality of various B&O devices? Is the sound from Powerlinked speakers worse if it comes from a BS9000’s DAC than if it comes from, say, a BS Core’s DAC?
I find this interesting having just purchased a second hand Beosound Core. Up to now I’ve been running my BL18s with 3rd party subs and streaming amp, but over the weekend swapped out the subs for a BL19 and started running them off a Transmitter 1 (sounds great). My plan is to now swap the amp for a Beosound core which I’ll connect to the transmitter 1 via optical.
I’d already started thinking that if it works out with the Beosound Core, then it would be nice to go for the Beoconnect Core and get the more up to date functionality, but the only trouble is that I’d have to connect it to the Transmitter 1 via Powerlink, so the Beoconnect Core would be converting digital to analogue and then as soon as it hits the Transmitter 1 that will convert A to D, which all just seems frustratingly futile. Would any SQ improvement of the Beoconnect Core still be evident after that? Any way to make use of the USB-C digital out in this use case?
DT79’s question regarding the Core and T1 goes over a topic which, if it has been much discussed, I’ve missed: are B&Os DACs and ADCs transparent, or do they introduce peculiarities? Are they all the same on all B&O equipment or are there better ones in some B&O products?
I just wish it had an analogue input and an optical one rather than combining them both into a single socket. Oh and a proper digital (i.e. SPDIF) output.
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