[JLM]

Wasn't sure where the moderators would choose to put this thread, but as it applies to the Buchardt active speakers it's here.

Primare is a Swedish company that makes quality gear.  The SC15 is a wireless streamer with room EQ and preamp functions and also uses WISA to send low voltage signals to speakers wirelessly, so it results in stereo systems with only 3 wires (the power cords).  It replaces the tiny/faulty hub that Buchardt shipped out with the A500, A500SE, A700, and A10 active speakers.

I just ordered one to go with my Buchardt A500SE active monitors, supposed to arrive sometime in December.  Buchardt normally ships out much faster but the product has yet to be released.

[artur9]

Is that the same WISA that some TV manufacturers are using for wireless surround?

[JLM]

Yes, it's a consortium that works with audio, video, and gaming producers.  Buchardt has been working with WISA for 4 years.  The SC15 has (2) analog inputs, (3) Toslink inputs, a coax input, a USB stick input, ethernet input, and wireless input.  It uses a remote control and has room EQ plus the low voltage WISA connection to WISA equipped active speakers.

The Buchardt A500SE contains 3 drivers, a 3/4 inch tweeter in a wave guide and (2) 6.5 inch Purifi mid/woofers, one facing rearward.  The Purifi drivers cost $430 each.  The A500SE also has (4) DAC's and (4) 150 watt mono-block amps plus a sophisticated low voltage crossover, XLR analog input, and USB stick input for company provided "Master tunings".  The sealed monitor sized cabinet (14"T x 7"W x 11.5"D) has an internal horizontal baffle to separate the Purifi drivers.  The monitor is capable of 25-40,000Hz +/- 1.5 dB.  Refer to Buchardtaudio.com.

[newzooreview]

It looks as if the MKII is gaining Roon support so that you could have one, wired (ethernet) connection streaming into the MKII and out to the A500 via WISA.

Will the MKII control volume in the digital domain via its DSP in this case? It has a DAC and pre-amp section, but I assume that would not be involved in the signal path when using DNLA or Roon via ethernet. Is that the case?

For files at higher resolution than the 96/24 supported by WISA, would the downsampling be done in Roon (as Roon does for other endpoints that need downsampling)?

It looks like a major improvement simply to have an ethernet connection to the network compared to the Platin Hub which can only work over WiFi. Disabling WiFi in or near a streaming box has always given me better sound.

[newzooreview]

Out of curiosity, I e-mailed Buchardt with my question. The remote uses the DSP in the SC15 MKII to control the volume for streaming (Roon or otherwise) via the Ethernet input out to WISA, so everything is kept in the digital domain until the DAC in the loudspeakers (or DAC/amp in the case of the Anniversary 10s).

Buchardt said that files above 96/24 will be downsampled in the SC15 MKII, but I wonder if that's the case with Roon. I suppose if Roon sees the SC15 MKII as supporting 192/24 (and DSD up to 128), then it will send those without doing any downsampling itself. However, Roon sometimes "sees" past the streaming box to the connected DAC (in this case, WISA), so Roon might handle the downsampling in that case. With DSD 256 and 512 files (I have a few albums in those formats), Roon would downsample to get to 192/24, and then the SC15 MKII would downsample again. One could set Roon to send only 96/24 to the SC15 MKII so Roon handles all downsampling where needed. I suppose it's something one could evaluate for possible effect on sound quality.