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I definitely agree with what has been written about the Deprecated option. Since I am one who favors warmth and body over the last nth degree of transparency, and who finds edginess let alone hardness or harshness in the upper frequencies very annoying, the Deprecated setting is my go-to setting for less favored digital transfers. I find Deprecated with an HF setting of Aggressive to be the antidote for those DSD rips that I find rather edgy. Deprecated also helps quite a bit for PCM rips and downloads from 1fs through 4fs and beyond. It's good to have choices since the overall objective for me is to be able to enjoy my favorite music. Just as we all have different systems and prefer different kinds of music, we also have different preferences about what matters most to us in presentation and sound quality. Deprecated is a nice arrow to have in the PGGB quiver to allow remedial action on recordings that need some help and to allow some tuning of sound quality. Steve Z

I don't know that I'd consider myself a key PGGB user but I participated in the PGGB beta testing with my Vivaldi and I find PGGB to be well worth the expenditure to own the full version. Even though dCS limits their sample rates to 8fs for PCM and to DSD128. And as some others have posted, converting DSD to PCM via PGGB (may I buy a vowel, please?) can be transformative. As ZB rightly said, some of this may be down to taste and familiarity with the DAVE. I had a DAVE once upon a time but it was without benefit of a Sean Jacobs power supply or bypassing the Amenero USB chipset, so I can't speak to what the current DAVE users are raving posting about. In my case when I compared the stock DAVE to the Bartok I much preferred the dCS. And when I compared the DAVE to the Rossini and then Vivaldi it was no contest -- to *my* ears. YMMV obviously. But yes, I find PGGB to be quite a nice way to improve the sound of ripped files and worth every penny of the license cost. Steve Z

Hi Rajiv, The dCS Vivaldi DAC offers ethernet, USB and dual AES/EBU inputs. However I am not at all sure that dCS implementation is the same as Chord. dCS dual AES/EBU top sample rates are 384/DSD128, same as their USB input. However utilizing AES/EBU also offers bi-directional control and indication functionality for the dCS "stack" of equipment (DAC, Upsampler) in addition to data transmission. Steve Z

@ASRMichael, my dCS Vivaldi DAC and Upsampler do a maximum of 384kHz and DSD128. 24-bit word length for PCM. Yet, there is a fair bit of content I've tried so far that definitely benefits from PGGB. And I have some DSD rips from SACD that were pretty hard to listen to as DSD but absolutely kick butt after having been PGGB'd at 24/352.8/384. Genesis' A Trick Of The Tail is prime among these latter DSDs. I'd say, give it a try and decide for yourself. The trial license doesn't cost anything. I'm sure you've invested much more time in computer audio experiments that have had less positive effect. At the least, you'll learn something. And I always count it as a good day when I learn something. Steve Z

If a Redbook file is 1fs (sample frequency) and its file size is S then running PGGB on that file to 8fs (24/352.8) its file size becomes roughly 8S. Roughly because I am neglecting the difference between 16 bit and 24 bit word size. But close enough for horseshoes or hand grenades. Steve Z

I am very agnostic about the whole DSD vs PCM debate, having heard examples of superb music reproduction from both. In my opinion, the most important factor is the provenance of the recording. That said, I can very confidently state that despite its origins among DAVE owners, PGGB can and does make a very noticeable improvement in the sound quality of many of my digital recordings, whether PCM or DSD, with my dCS equipment. Steve Z

Thanks very much, @MikeyFresh. That did the trick. I appreciate the assistance. One more SACD to go and I'll be caught up again (for now). Steve Z

I don't think I'm the first one this has happened to, but after an hour and a half of searching through 212 pages I'm stumped: Yesterday I spent part of the day ripping SACDs that I hadn't gotten around to. Everything worked fine. I probably extracted a good dozen SACDs. Toward the end of the process I'd just load a disc in the Oppo, close the door, go to the next room where one of my laptops is running ISO2DSD, click on Execute and go do other stuff, and later check back on the extraction. If it was done I'd eject the disc, replace it with another, go back to the laptop and hit Execute again. This worked flawlessly until the last disc -- when I hit Execute I got the message: Failed to connect. libsacdread: Can't open 192.168.1.41.:2002 for reading Nothing was changed in the setup. Absolutely nothing. My LAN was still up, the IP address of the Oppo was still the same (and there was evidently *some* communication between laptop and Oppo because when I changed the Oppo to manual IP and put in a free address, the copy of ISO2DSD recognized the changed address) I've powered down the Oppo multiple times, started it with the USB stick inserted, started then inserted the USB stick -- either way the drawer opens in about 5 seconds. Nothing has changed on the USB stick. Nothing has changed on in folder on my laptop where iso2dsd_gui.jar and sacd_extract reside. Any help gratefully appreciated. As I said, it was working great right up until it didn't anymore. Steve Z

True. But that doesn't matter. If you keep the input signal the same level, when you add a second driver and amp, the voltage across the driver voice coil remains the same, the power output for that second driver and amp is the same as the first driver and amp, so net acoustic power doubles. 3dB. When you add a second driver to the same amp, assuming you add that driver in parallel with the first driver, the total load resistance presented to the amplifier is 1/2 what it is with one driver. So the amp, for the same voltage output delivers twice the current (if it is capable of doing so). If we analyze the two paths current can take -- VC1 and VC2 -- the voltage across each voice coil remains the same as in the first instance, and 1/2 the total current flows through VC1 while the other half flows through VC2. So the net power consumed by each voice coil in instance 2 is the same as when we added a driver and amp. Net acoustic power doubles, just as it did in the first example. Steve

If you go from one driver to two, it's 3dB. If you want to double the effect again (+3dB) you have to double the number of drivers again, hence four. Stacking something with wavelengths as long as the range handled by subwoofers doesn't confer any additional cabinet or half-space gain as it might for smaller drivers handling higher frequencies as modern PA systems do with long line arrays. Steve Z

Well, I'm still waiting on the next SVS sale/outlet store inventory list that features the SB16 Ultras again before I add another pair. But hopefully before too long. Technically, doubling the number of drivers means a 3dB gain in acoustic power, which would otherwise have to be achieved by doubling the power output to double the cone excursion. Which isn't a problem, since these beasts are so powerful most of the time they're just loafing around. Practically, added two subs translates into being able to run the four of them at a lower level individually for the same SPL output, so each individual cone excursion is less, power required from each amp is less, meaning everything is just a little bit more precise and accurate. Transients are subjectively very "fast" and articulate (not that they weren't before), and the tactile, shuddery, feel-it-subliminally-as-much-as-hear-it sensation of live bass performance is really enhanced. Doubling the cone area means more air is moved more efficiently. Think large square footage membrane moving a little all over its surface rather than a relatively smaller canoe paddle in water trying to move the same volume of fluid by moving farther each stroke (and having the water run around the edges of the paddle, thus losing efficiency). It's very realistic and seductive, and when really loud bass transients come along, quite thrilling and sometimes scary. Not that that is the way I run the subs all the time -- but I do have the SVS presets labeled, "Music", "Theater" and "Insane" Steve Z

Thanks very much @kennyb123 for the kind words. I'm now up to four SB16 Ultras, two per channel and my ultimate goal is to end up with stacks of three per side, similar to REL's Reference Line Array. In my experience, the SB16 Ultra are all upside with no sonic drawbacks. I'd rank them right up there with REL's No.25, any of the JL Audio subs, and the Wilson Audio subs. The 16" driver with 8" edge-wound voice coil powered by the DSP-controlled 1500 watt RMS amplifier is very fast and articulate and blends seamlessly with full-range speakers. The SVS app allows tuning the subs from the listening chair and is super-flexible. Best of all, as the OP has pointed out, they are very reasonably priced and thousands less than anything in their class. SVS make daisy-chaining multiple subs easy by providing an XLR line level out as well as RCA and XLR inputs, so in the case where I have stacks of two subs, all that's required is a 24" XLR cable to go from one sub to the other. Adding a pair of subs has the benefit of not only providing a rock-solid, articulate bottom end -- they have the uncanny ability of making the stereo stage wider, deeper and and more immersive, even with material that seemingly doesn't contain much if any bass. Rather than summing two channels of low frequency information into one and in the process destroying much of the unique out-of-phase information in one channel relative to the other, a pair of subwoofers preserve this phase information, much of which is used by the brain to subconsciously determine the size of the venue. If you are patient, SVS periodically runs sales and their outlet store further marks down the price on slightly scuffed units. My second pair came from the outlet store and SVS staff were very helpful picking out two units where the dings were on the top or back, and thus hidden by the pair stacked on top. Finally, they have a help line and on-line chat to support set-up and they offer a money back trial period, so getting into a SVS sub or pair of subs is about as risk-free as it gets. If I can answer any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask. Best regards, and good luck! Steve Z

I second the Ridgeline -- our 2010 has been a real workhorse. As you say, lots of space, good performance and your 2020 should handily beat our 2010 in fuel economy. Ours tows our 17' Casita Independence Deluxe travel trailer like a charm (we're like you -- our sleeping on the ground days are behind us!) and the ride is what you would expect from an IRS SUV. The Ridgeline and the Honda Pilot share the same basic platform. Stay safe as you can, Alex. Hopefully there is a light at the end of this tunnel with the announcement of one vaccine and one or two others imminent. If we can just get through this winter. . . Steve Z

The changes were not to Roon. The changes were to the Extreme server's operating system. Dr. Bok logged in via TeamViewer and performed the changes, but he was so fast I didn't catch all of what he did. My impression is they were changes to allocation and priority of the operating system. Steve Z

Thanks for that information. Since I hear no difference between original and edited version, I'm not concerned that the conversion and back again is occurring. I understand that others may feel differently. Steve Z