I have just received the DDP-2 and have a comment/question on it, and (in general) the new group of smaller form factor components coming to market.
I do not understand what the intended use is for the DDP-2. By that I mean, why send a remote when the screen is so small it cannot be read from more than 4 feet away? I was excited about this piece and I really like a lot of the features but it is almost no use if I have to get up just to see which input I am selecting. The whole purpose for streaming and having all the available inputs is to sit back and enjoy the tunes.
In a sad way, this seems like a major fail to me.
What am I missing here?
Not familiar with the DDP-2 but most of those type of devices the screen is more or less intended just for set-up and input selection (I have a Hegel H190 integrated amp/DAC/Streamer in a secondary system). It is not something for file or streaming playback that one would buy without using another software product. For example, Roon -
https://roonlabs.com/howroonworks.html The product brochure sheets for the DDP-2 do mention Roon. For my Hegel, I can use the Bubble UPNP app (as well as the DS Audio App that is complimentary to my Synology NAS, which I use to house my music files). The Hegel's ethernet is limited to 192kHz and the USB is limited to less than that (the model above mine is not but in my case it is for a secondary system). I can access my music files either via Bubble UPNP with an Android Tablet or DS Audio (tried it with my iPhone). Since I have a bunch of DSD files, I decided to use a Windows 10 PC running JRiver with a USB to coax converter (since the USB in the H190 is limited).
In my main system, I use a Lumin U1 music server (which reads files from my NAS) and while it has a screen I can sort of see, I control it via the Lumin App on on iPad. I also have another Windows 10 PC music server in another secondary system running JRiver but don't need the USB to coax converter since the DAC in that system can do up to double DSD. I have a Nuprime IDA-8 in the office system fed via my Windows 10 PC as well running JRiver (it can do quad DSD).