Legacy Naim streamer vs Tibo Bond 3 + DAC

@alan33
Thanks for the heads up on power supply.

I rememebered that the qutest had 5v supply - and

the qutest wall 5v supply works without noise. The ones i tried previously, both powering chinese BT devices had the noise, as did the PC 5v.

It seems the Tibo needs a better power supply.

Now a new problem I can’t get the Tibo to see my music files on Win 10 Media server. I’ve enabled sharing etc. Tibo sees the Media directory but when clicking on Music it just hangs. Does it need a while to index the music?

Tibo plays my cloud storage music easily but not the Win 10 Media.

Edit: Update. All working sort of.

Sbx touch and Duet is now outputting 48 khz from a 24/192 file. The Tibo will only output 44.1 khz.

Glad you got it sorted and interesting about the power supply. You would think that if it was that fussy, the manufacturer would include a power supply decent enough to avoid these problems…

Regarding output, does this mean that the a Tibo is not as ‘high resolution’ as ideal? I must admit that though I understand 24bit 192 khz, I tend to lose it a bit when comparing 48 to 44.1.

If you have got that far, how does it sound going into the Chord?

It actually sounds pretty good compared to the sqbx. No different and you are right about the perception of the 44.1 vs 48. That wasn’t the test I wanted so am disappointed that the Tibo doesn’t output above that, whether on the Qutest or the CA Azur. I cant see any advantage at all of having the input of 24/192 ‘handled’ if the handling is only to down sample it to 16/44.

Re the Qutest I can’t tell the difference between the sqbx and the Tibo, but I can tell the difference when switching back to the Azur. The Qutest handles everything well.

The downside of the Tibo against the sqbx is the android interface. So slow and no choice of listing or searching by different fields. It is also very slow to index my fairly small collection- 600 albums. To find and then play something I’ve almost forgotten what I was looking for. :slight_smile:
If Tibo will accept it back it’s going, otherwise it’ll be on an auction site near you, very soon.

I think I’m just going to have to bite the bullet and go straight in to an nd5 xs2 and trust that my old ears can tell the difference between 16/48 and 24/192. It seems to give a certain amount of future use and I might then get a couple of unitiqute 2 s over time for multiroom synchronicity.

Thanks for the feedback ref your experiences with the TIBO. It sounds like it might be worth me investing in a DAC to make the most of another Bond 3 if I get one for the main system. For my current purposes I think the Tibo will do what I need ref streaming. In the long term an ND5 XS2 will be the way to go but not yet - at least while our youngest is in nursery for more than the cost of our mortgage every month!

As for a DAC to get the best from it, budget options seems to be Chinese offerings or a Schiit Modi 3. Up the ante and Mojo (new or used) or a used Rega DAC-R seem good options. As mentioned above, going higher seems pointless.

Good to see a Lotus Evora in your profile picture. I had an Elise S2 12 years ago but issues with the k-series engine + paying for our wedding saw it sold. Keep being tempted by another but this time with Toyota power - perhaps an Exige Roadster? One day perhaps​:crossed_fingers::pray:

Yes, priorities are important. I’m in the fortunate position of being old enough to have kids making their own way in life. Just the Mrs, me and the dogs to worry about.
Re the Dac, a previously used Cambridge Azur comes highly recommended. It really outperforms its price when it was launched. Now at less than 100 notes second hand it’s an absolute bargain.

If Richard allows and you are interested, I have both the Bond 3 and an Azur surplus to requirements, if he can put you in contact with me. That may be outside forum rules though and I understand that.

Thanks for the offer of the equipment. Nothing against it but I’m not sure the Cambridge is for me. I wouldn’t want to contravene forum rules but the Tibo could be, provided postage from your location doesn’t negate any difference in price here - new they are currently £50 on line with free postage.

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Ok - an update.
In the week I purchased a used Arcam D33 DAC and it arrived on Wednesday. Plugged in the Tibo Bond 3 via its optical output and listened to some tunes via Spotify connect/premium. It sounded better then before but, disappointingly, lacked body compared with a good CD player in the main system.
So last night I signed up to the free trial of the higher Tidal version. Have had the first chance to listen this afternoon. Put simply, much more body and depth to the music + don’t have the volume control as high as I did with the same equipment set playing Spotify. I know which subscription I will be keeping.

As for the D33 - to my ears a great bit of kit. It also shows what the Tibo bond 3 can do - yes it’s a mismatch price-wise - an £80 streamer matched with, originally, a £2k DAC but it works.

I’m a happy bunny, which is just as well as got this ‘seasons’ shielding letter in the week - roll on the Vacine🙏

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