Hi, I have a BP50 and I’m very happy with it so far, I’m using it with my TV through hdmi arc. I also use the parametric EQ to tune the sound to my liking. The rca output is connected to a pair of active speakers and the sound is already great.
I’m willing to make it sound even better and I’m thinking to connect the optical or coax output to a dac with a better dac chip (with more recent sabre or akm chip).
I understand that the bp50 outputs 48khz/16bits through optical/coax (based on website product specs).
Before buying a dac, I wanted your help to clarify few points:
1/ will the bp50 optical or coax output volume be adjustable with the hdmi arc cec? (as it is with the rca output)
2/ is the optical/coax output signal impacted by the bp50 dsp (EQ) adjustments? In other words can I benefit from EQ adjustments with the optical output?
3/ is the optical/coax output a pure digital signal (meaning that it remains digital from hdmi input all the way to optical/coax output and does not go through the bp50 ess9023 dac chip conversion)?
Would appreciate a reply from Arylic team or someone who knows/tried the same.
Sorry for the late reply, I’m just busy on project. And regarding your questions:
1, Yes, the BP50 digital output will also have the volume control
2, Yes, it will have the DSP effects, including EQ, TONE, etc.
3, I’m not sure what you mean, but the digital output signal over Optical or Coax, will be the same signal fed into the ES9023 chipset inside BP50. And compared with the HDMI audio input, it’s sure not the same, the internal DSP effects and volume will be applied onto it.
I ended up buying a SMSL PS200 which has a ess9039q2m chip and sounds fabulous (costs around $70 on sale, sounds better than the smsl su-1 that I own as well).
My setup is Samsung tv → bp50 (through hdmi arc) → ps200 (optical) → b&o beolab 6000 active speakers.
Optical output of the bp50 is super clean (no crackling or pops), output bitrate is 16bits/48khz which is (almost) aligned with the max bitrate of the Apple TV (and Samsung tv) I use for music and movie streaming.
And you get volume adjustment and all the dsp/eq adjustments.
As the bp50 internal dac (ess9023) is not on the high end, this kind of setup gives you all the hdmi arc / dsp capability of the bp50, while benefiting from a much better external dac which hugely improves the sound quality.
Suggestion to Arylic development team for a future killer product:
Keep the same features you have in the bp50, but use higher quality components (with higher bitrate processing and output), usb output, and most importantly include a top notch dac chip (ess9039q2m) and even ideally 2 dac chips to handle each channel separately (as in the topping d50 iii for example). You have all the foundations for such product (dsp, smartphone app…).
You can even have two variations of this product (one with a basic screen or no screen and one fancier with touch screen like what the wiim ultra has).
Such product priced at $200-250 for the « simple » version and at $300-350 for the « fancy » touchscreen version would be a massive hit.
Hope this suggestion will reach someone from Arylic team.