Old school vs Streaming

[Gabehcuod]

4 minutes ago, PCOWandre said:

That doesn't make them particularly special, it just means they have resource constraints that need to be engineered around. I found it quite enlightening to take a look at the design of PS Audio's Bridge. Quite an expensive part at retail price, and it's just a tiny embedded Linux machine. It even leaves an open telnet daemon running and you can log in as root and poke around.

 

So, let's take a look at how it works -- it uses a set of basic open source bits and bobs to implement DLNA streaming. Oh, and if we look at "/etc/version", we can see that the whole thing is based on: "Ubicom/DLNA_Speaker Version 1.0". That looks like a build for the IP7500-series embedded processors, which I think were selling for under $10 when I first looked into it. I've been tempted to look at porting some more modern software to the platform at some point to see if I could get it to run mpd.

 

But I digress - my point was there's not much in the way of excitement when it comes to the embedded Linux machines used for this sort of job. To be honest, I'm surprised there hasn't been a little more chest-thumping about building a platform on QNX, with the flash real-time scheduling that might actually make a difference to getting the job done. That said, I don't think I've witnessed the Bridge actually fail to keep the audio buffer full, so it probably doesn't matter a jot.

I really don't doubt that. PS Audio pretend to know what they're doing but really have no clue. Their DACs have been disappointing to many and if you look at their latest attempt at making a speaker, you'll probably laugh.
Not all streamers are like that though.

[PCOWandre]

10 minutes ago, Gabehcuod said:

I really don't doubt that. PS Audio pretend to know what they're doing but really have no clue. Their DACs have been disappointing to many and if you look at their latest attempt at making a speaker, you'll probably laugh.
Not all streamers are like that though.

 

See, I actually like the Perfectwave DAC. Maybe it has colour that just works for me, but I've been happy with it. I must say I haven't seen much inspiration in their more recent products, though -- between their noisy "gain cell" idea and joining everyone else in putting B&O class-Ds in a fancy box, I'm not sure what their direction is. They do know how to sell, though. The bridge? Well, I'm pretty sure I could make it a lot more interesting within the constraints of 400Mhz and 128MB of RAM. 

 

Back to the topic, I wouldn't be surprised to see a similar setup in most streamers -- embedded Linux host and fancy bits around it. Loading a digital-only streamer with linear power supplies, a kilogram of capacitors and all the rest is just put Gucci lipstick on the pig. The platforms all impose limitations that are completely unnecessary at the price-point. A ten year old desktop with a USB connection to a decent DAC is going to be far more flexible and capable with the only downside being fan noise. A host that can handle all the tasks on 1% of CPU leaves plenty of headroom for other things and there's enough memory for the kernel to keep the entire file being played in memory. The last time I really recall anything interrupting audio handling was on a K6 class machine in the 90s which would grizzle about playing music while eating big compile jobs, but it was running Solaris so I just put mpg123 into the realtime class. Yeah, mp3, didn't have room for lossless back then, flac wasn't invented yet.

 

 

 

 

[pwstereo]

2 hours ago, Gabehcuod said:

1. So a streamer can be thought of as an application specific computer, not the kind you can just pick up at jbhifi.

2. Quality streamers, like the rockna wavedream net offer quality torroidal power supplies

1. I reckon that's backwards. From what I've seen, streamers use a generic computer and hide it in a box with a fancy label.

Volumio Primo = Asus Tinker Board (they don't hide that)

Roon Nucleus = Intel NUC

 

2. When someone on these forums made themselves a linear power supply they were told never to use a torroidal transformer for an audio PSU, apparently a E I core would be better, and an R core best.

 

[Rob McHugh]

Okay, now you guys are speaking Latin and all I know is 'Semper Ubi Sub Ubi'. Not great I know, but the Romans were not famous for their humorous puns.

 

So, I  downloaded XLD from Sourceforge which seems to be the most trusted place according to my searches, BUT of course the closed garden that is Apple is telling me it cannot verify the site and thus won't open it.

 

Any work around that I can use?

 

Again, thanks for all the help!!

 

Rob

[PCOWandre]

1 minute ago, Rob McHugh said:

Okay, now you guys are speaking Latin and all I know is 'Semper Ubi Sub Ubi'. Not great I know, but the Romans were not famous for their humorous puns.

 

So, I  downloaded XLD from Sourceforge which seems to be the most trusted place according to my searches, BUT of course the closed garden that is Apple is telling me it cannot verify the site and thus won't open it.

 

Any work around that I can use?

 

Again, thanks for all the help!!

 

Rob

 

My first impulse is to suggest listing all your Apple products on ebay and being done with them, but that's probably not very helpful. I really don't like walled gardens.

 

Anyway: https://support.novationmusic.com/hc/en-gb/articles/207561205-My-Software-is-from-an-Unidentified-Developer-and-won-t-Install-on-my-Mac

 

 

 

[Rob McHugh]

16 minutes ago, PCOWandre said:

 

My first impulse is to suggest listing all your Apple products on ebay and being done with them, but that's probably not very helpful. I really don't like walled gardens.

 

Anyway: https://support.novationmusic.com/hc/en-gb/articles/207561205-My-Software-is-from-an-Unidentified-Developer-and-won-t-Install-on-my-Mac

 

 

 

Okay, I got it open - not as simple as the link, but there is a reason I lecture at 2 colleges ha ha.

 

However, I am now faced with a variety of formats - which is my best option please?

 

I promise not to annoy you guys after this.

 

Rob

 

Edit: here is the dialogue box. Just go ahead or tick and choose anything - thanks.

Edited August 11, 2020 by Rob McHugh

[PCOWandre]

 

If you followed the setup guide I posted before, you can move onto the ripping guide!

 

https://support.auralic.com/hc/en-us/articles/206082768-Ripping-CD-by-XLD

[Rob McHugh]

I 'm all good up until it says use the drop down box for importing mode??

 

Guess I'm on my own now. Ha ha - bloody Apple - everything is always a song and a dance!

 

Rob

Edited August 11, 2020 by Rob McHugh

[PCOWandre]

You might have to post a screenshot so we can understand what you're seeing.

[Rob McHugh]

Okay, as you can see, I have set the compression to high and unticked and left the padding alone - but them it says use a drop down menu to LAME MP3 - I don't see a drop down menu - does this mean I change the it back from FLAC to this new Lame MP3 or am I just not getting the drop down menu for some reason? Thanks.

[Rob McHugh]

Don't worry, I see duh. It is if I want to use the other format - what one do you suggest?

[PCOWandre]

Just use plain FLAC and that should be all you need.

[Rob McHugh]

Thanks mate, I think I'm good now.

 

I REALLY appreciate your help and patience! 

 

Rob

[PCOWandre]

If a discussion can include hooting one's trap off with opinions *and* helping someone in the same place, that might be the definition of an ideal topic! Hope you have great success with your ripping endeavours.

[Gabehcuod]

The Apple "It just works" philosophy begins to fail as soon as you try doing anything remotely technical. Then you get the opposite affect.

[Rob McHugh]

^^^^^^^^ Agreed!

 

We get back from Europe, my misses plugs her phone and camera into her Windows laptop and just saves the photos wherever she wants.

 

Apple? The internet is full of people writing in caps “they’re my f***ing photos, I can save them anywhere I like!!!!”.

[mjs]

19 hours ago, PCOWandre said:

 

Just in case, I had a quick look for MacOS and found this guide: https://support.auralic.com/hc/en-us/articles/206082768-Ripping-CD-by-XLD

 

It looks quite reasonable and is written for Mac users rather than Windows (EAC). 

A couple of days ago, I installed dBpoweramp for OSX on my Mac Pro. Didn't seem to be half the fuss of the setup with XLD. I tend to rip to AIFF or WAV. I'm ripping the occasional CD to my NAS for streaming into other parts of the house and am reasonably impressed with dBpoweramp.

[mjs]

8 hours ago, Gabehcuod said:

The Apple "It just works" philosophy begins to fail as soon as you try doing anything remotely technical. Then you get the opposite affect.

YMMV, but tbh, this is not my experience. I used to have an all Windows/PC environment, but switched solely to Mac some 7-8 years ago, have never regretted it. Seems much more attuned to what I want to do in the audio environment.

Edited August 11, 2020 by mjs

[Citroen]

On 10/08/2020 at 7:27 PM, Rob McHugh said:

Sorry, I am a little confused.

 

I have a DAC; a Bifrost 2 running to a Heed Canalot III Q-PSU using a Marantz CD6006  to a set of LCD-3's. 

 

But I am asking for when I make playlists to listen through wireless IEM's from my iPhone  (transferred from the iMac) to walk around. Are you saying that the iMac takes the files from ripped CD's at a lossless quality which can then be played back as such with a DAC through my iPhone? If so, I could get some wired portable IEM's with a portable DAC like a Dragonfly Cobalt and the music would be the same quality as the original CD?

 

Hope this makes sense - old guy at this end.

 

Thanks for the response.

 

Rob

If you are transferring the audio wirelessly via Bluetooth then there could well be audio quality loss. 

 

Depends on the audio codex that's being used.  Not really up with Mac's/Apple products but I thought that  they didn't use to use AptX (HD) 576kbps, only AAC? (250kbps max) which is arguably inferior.

 

Both source and receiver (the headphone) would need to be able to encode/decode using the same protocol. So even if the Mac/iphone did now do AptX (or any of its variants) then the wireless headphone would also need to be able to support that protocol. 

Edited August 12, 2020 by Citroen

[Rob McHugh]

6 hours ago, Citroen said:

If you are transferring the audio wirelessly via Bluetooth then there could well be audio quality loss. 

 

Depends on the audio codex that's being used.  Not really up with Mac's/Apple products but I thought that  they didn't use to use AptX (HD) 576kbps, only AAC? (250kbps max) which is arguably inferior.

 

Both source and receiver (the headphone) would need to be able to encode/decode using the same protocol. So even if the Mac/iphone did now do AptX (or any of its variants) then the wireless headphone would also need to be able to support that protocol. 

Thanks but I would be transferring via USB

 

Rob

[Citroen]

By transferring, maybe I should have said transmitting.

 

You said you're using wireless headphones, so are transmitting the audio from the iphone to the headphones via Bluetooth. So the above applies.

[Rob McHugh]

18 hours ago, Citroen said:

By transferring, maybe I should have said transmitting.

 

You said you're using wireless headphones, so are transmitting the audio from the iphone to the headphones via Bluetooth. So the above applies.

So sorry Citreon!!

 

Mea Culpa, you are 100% correct mate. I have also been tinkering with my home set-up and had a 60 year old moment confusing threads! Yes, I concur that you can expect some kind of affect on the fidelity of any signal when using wireless. Well, $500.00 Sennheiser wireless anyway.

 

On the bright side - the Schiit Bifrost 2 arrived today from California and I finished cabling everything up a few hours ago. I have as transport a Marantz CD6006, a Heed Canalot III Q-PSU (seperate box with regulated power)  Headphone Amp and the Bifrost DAC. I have Inakustik NF202's for the RCA's and Nordost Blue Heaven for the rest which offsets the cans I use which are more Rubber Soul than Sergeant Peppers if you know what I mean - HD650's and Audeze LCD-3's.

 

I have been using the DAC in the transport, which punches above it's weight but the Schiit was the finishing touch. I have been thrashing Rachmaninov and Pink Floyd all afternoon!

 

Thanks for your help!

 

Rob

[Ratbob]

Thought I should say thanks for  the many detailed and informative responses, even one offer of equipment to try! 

As @cazzesman suspected, I was hit with info overload and felt like hiding under the bed for a while. Outcome is I’ve decided to stick with CD and a USB for background. 

Thanks all.