diego wrote: > Hi there everybody! > > > LONG STORY SHORT: WHY DOES THE \"TOUCH\" WITH ENHANCED DIGITAL OUTPUT > OVER USB SOUND COMPRESSED AND NARROW COMPARED SIDE-BY-SIDE TO THE > USBRIDGE? BOTH PLAYING OBVIOUSLY AT 100% VOLUME ON THE SQUEEZEBOX SERVER > AND CLIENT - SIDE. IS THERE A SETTING I HAVE OVERSEEN...? > > The long version: > > I used the Touch with EDO for many years, with a (rather) nice > hifi-chain behind it. > > And I was believing that this was "as good as it gets". > > Then I was away from home for some months and had no access to my > beloved Touch and hifi-system. So, I searched a temporary solution: Not > too bad sounding but not too expensive. I got myself a "USBridge" from > Allo based on "Sparky" (and attached it to a nice hifi-setup, however > many levels cheaper than the previous one). I have no idea of this > Sparky-kind of gear, however, I guess this is some kind of experimental > minimalist computer, much like what's more well known as "Raspberry Pi", > combined with an additional board festering just one USB - Port that is > supposed to be uncoupled from "noisy" electronics, re-clocked and > "clean". Whatever that means. And it has Squeezelite on it and therefore > works as a squeezebox client. It was a true pain i. t. a. to get it > configured tough... hours of trial and error, rebooting etc. until I > found the right parameters to get my (temporary) DAC to work communicate > right with the USBridge over asynchronous USB audio 2.0. And > instructions that are understandable for a non-linux-coder as me are > obviously nothing that "Allo" would care much about. However, their > support over the forum was reactive and helpful, just to have this > mentioned, too. Anyway, at the end, it worked and sounded satisfying all > together. And it was my main music setup for a couple of months. > > Now I got my Touch back, together with my "big" hifi-chain. Just to play > around, I first attached the USBridge to it instead of the Touch. It > just sounded great, very dynamic, very well defined, airy, relaxed and > powerfull. No surprise though, I did not expect anything else from my > "big" setup. > > Anyway, I switched to the Touch. Mainly, because the Touch has a display > and particularly one feature I like, which is, that my DAC and the Touch > communicate in a way, that I can use the remote control of the DAC to > skip tracks forward, avoiding me to have lunch with my smartphone on the > table. > > So, I attached the Touch EDO over USB. And I actually expected it to > sound just the same as the USBridge. At the end, I thought, Bits are > Bits. And clock timing shortcomings (aka jitter) are no big problem > anymore, as long as the through-output (bandwidth) is fast and > responsive enough, since USB-Audio got asynchronous, and so the signal > is anyway buffered and clocked in the DAC and not anymore in the source. > Right? > > I first thought, that it was my mood making me feel that the sound was > compressed, narrow, with thinner bass, voices that were not in the > foreground, and just everything sounding less involving. > > However, I did the test and switched a couple of times between the > USBridge and the Touch. Of course, both of them over USB and with volume > settings on the squeezeboxes always at 100%. > > To my surprise (and disappointment...) I am convinced now that the > USBridge sounds significantly better than my Touch. Instruments and > voices are much better defined and separated, foreground voices are > actually foreground, soundstage is wider and more transparent, bass is > clearly more distinguishable, timbre of instruments is more natural. > > Strangely I get the impression, that the Touch sounds louder with the > same volume set at the amplifier... This makes me think that there is a > chance that the problem lies in a setting and not in the hardware. Is > there any chance, that the server or the Touch modify the digital > information before it gets fed into the DAC? > > Don't get me wrong: It sounds great already with the Touch. Anyway, > USBridge sounds really better here. > > Anyway, I still believe that (asynchronous) Bits should be just Bits if > the signal gets delivered without being altered, aka "bitperfect". And > that the difference resulting of a uncoupled USB-Port in comparison to a > "normal" PC-USB-port or the one on the Touch should, if ever, give only > a subtle difference in terms of end result in sound quality. > > And I'd like to use the convenience of the Touch... > > So maybe somebody can give me hint about what setting could be wrong on > my Touch in order to make it compress the music...?
First thought. Are they really at the same volume level? VB2.4[/B] STORAGE *QNAP TS419P (NFS) [B]Living Room* Joggler & Pi4/Khadas -> Onkyo TXNR686 -> Celestion F20s *Office* Joggler & Pi3 -> Denon RCD N8 -> Celestion F10s *Dining Room* SB Boom *Kitchen* UE Radio (upgraded to SB Radio) *Bedroom (Bedside)* Pi Zero+DAC ->ToppingTP21 ->AKG Headphones *Bedroom (TV) & Bathroom* SB Touch ->Denon AVR ->Mordaunt Short M10s + Kef ceiling speakers *Guest Room* Joggler > Topping Amp -> Wharfedale Modus Cubes Everything controlled by iPeng & Material on iOS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ d6jg's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=44051 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=114895 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
