> 1. More reliable WiFi transmission (not a signal strength or channel > interference issue - see above).
Recent firmware changes have addressed many issues. Not sure what problems you are having, but you might consider going to the latest 802.11n technology or switching to HomePower or wired Ethernet. SD may still have some work to do in this department, but can only take so much responsibility for local conditions beyond their control. > Slimserver 6.3 firmware 55 - stuttering correlated with freezing of the scrolling squeezebox display even with 100% buffer full and 93% wireless strength. Second issue - low buffer fullness leading to audio stuttering, still eith 93% wireless strength. All using 802.11g. Server is a 3Ghz Pentium P4 Windows XP SP2 1GB RAM, running nothing else of consequence at the same time - processor utilization modest. Server is also wirelessly connected but reports 36 Mbps connection. Not easy at all to run ethernet. > 3. a low jitter digital only version (SPDIF only no BNC/XLR, no DAC) Not sure that the cost savings from leaving out these components would outweigh the expenses of keeping separate models in the channel. Also there are definite benefits in keeping the DAC close to the source clock. To my mind the upgraded DAC in the Transporter, and the removal of SPDIF and the interconnect from the signal path, is the most worthwhile feature of that box. We just need to hear with our own ears how it sounds in order to judge it's value. I'm hopeful. > I'd wager that the "Miracle DACS", the high end analog connectors, the memory and the processor are the most expensive components. Just don't want to pay for this unneeded "Miracle". As far as channel costs - sell it off the Slim Devices website only. No channel inventory, only manufacturers inventory. > In my and many modern audiophile systems the DAC is indeed close to the source clock - inside my Meridian G91. It rebuffers everything and retimes everything with its own clock, resamples to 192Khz/24 bit and has its own high end DAC. I use a high quality short length Audioquest SPDIF - still only $60. Note that coax can be better than optical connection since the optical rise times are not necessarily faster, allowing more opportunity for jitter. So says my buddy who is a Texas Instruments Fellow specializing in ultra high end ADCs and DACs silicon design. Analog output would have to be converted back to digital to take advantage of digital mode bass management, surround processing etc. Analog output ignores that many high end systems especially those that do double duty as home theaters are digital as long as possible. Conventional analog preamps no longer exist in many systems and systems need to be flexible with many sources so XLR direct to the power amps is too limiting. > 4. 96Khz/24 bit output option - upsampling from 44.1khz/16 bit Makes sense for native 24/96 sources. I doubt upsampling will sound better, but some may want to try it. Not important to me. Got to hear it well implemented. Noise shaping and higher frequency low pass filtering shifts quantization noise well out of the audio band. Definitely makes a very significant difference to naturalness and air of higher frequencies, loss of sibilance in female vocals, etc. Actually not needed in my current system since the Meridian does it. But a number of high end CD players do this which Transporter seems to be competing with. > 5. a legal way to rip DVD-Audio in 5.1 96kHz/24bit or even just a two > channel mixes at up to 192 kHz/24 bit onto Slimserver for personal use > and stream it to Squeezebox - consider using MLP to reduce data rate. > E.g. Figure a way to pay a license fee to decrypt the data, re-encode > with DRM to permit only streaming to Squeezebox not file copying, and > charge the small DVD-Audio market $100 extra for a Slimserver plug-in > that does this. Interesting, but I suspect only a fringe might find this useful. Are any of these formats seeing significant numbers of releases? Could be useful for pulling audio off of DVD concert and music video compilations. The whole audiophile market at this price level is a fringe, lets face it. So to be successful in this audiophile market one must cater to the fringes to sell these kinds of products. Multichannel 96kHz 24 bit music is a feature of both HD-DVD and Blu Ray as well as of DVD Audio. There are several hundred DVDA titles and many more SACD titles. I have 350CDs and 25 DVDAs and now need to retain a disc spinner in my system only to enjoy the higher quality of these discs. Ripping them would allow dispensing with a disc player altogether. Having SB convenience with the very best audio serves the needs of the fringe prepared to pay $2000. As stated, "fringe" audiophiles are prepared to pay extra for this software, which an enterprising third party developer could produce to complete the "whole product" around the Transporter. Future music formats will make illegal ripping much harder. Legal DRM managed ripping may be the only way to use the future disc formats. What features should a high end networked digital music player support? High end digital music formats - not only CDs seems entirely logical, even necessary. The very people who both are passionate enough about sound quality to pay these prices and technically savvy enough to configure a home wireless network, install Slimserver plugins, spend weeks ripping CDs and download new software on a regular basis are the same ones who were early adopters of SACD or DVD Audio, or have digitally bass managed surround processors and/or existing outboard DACs. This group of people spend a lot and want to protect against early obsolescence. They expect standardized audio formats for products already in market (DVDA, HDDVD, BluRay) to be supported in what seems to be intended to be the world's best networked audio player. Features of the Transporter do not match the price asked, and seem to be based on a pretty limited analysis of the actual current day audiophile market needs in the modern digital audio world. I speak as a senior executive in a technology company that operates in the converged communications arena, with 15 years of managing product management/planning and marketing functions for new technology electronics and software products. The Transporter seems to fits only a niche of a niche and will likely be much less successful than the excellent SB3, even though I'm more than prepared to believe that it has excellent sound quality. Perhaps it will grow the necessary features through software upgrades over time. That would be a fine product strategy if well managed. Take a page out of the highly successful high end digital audio company, Meridian for example. They offer versions of their surround processors with digital only outputs for their digital speakers (which have built in DACs and power amps) as well as versions with unbalanced analog outputs and versions with balanced outputs. This allows them to satisfy a good cross section of the needs of this niche audiophile category by at least covering several sub niches from a common engineered platform product with a few easily produced derivatives. rgds Sanjay -- SanjayJ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SanjayJ's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=6625 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=25835 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
