Porschefan;571558 Wrote: > Gary, > > I'm on the same path. I have some basic understanding of all these > things, but obviously much to learn. I agree that the ideal situation > is to have a "media server" tucked away somewhere that is connected to > all media delivery devices. I listened to a podcast a few days ago > that had such a media server that also did HD video streaming via some > fancy new four-tuner "cable card" stuck into a Windows media server > box....beaucoup bux though. (I won't stray off into "how can you add > video to all this....:-)). > > Here's a recap of my current understanding of all this. I'll submit it > as kind of a review and am open to feedback on what I've gotten right > and wrong. > > 1. All the devices need to be attached to the network one way or > another. In my case, and probably most, via Wi-Fi as the house is not > wired for Ethernet. > > 2. Broadly speaking, SB devices could be classified as self-contained: > Radio and Boom; and those that need to interface to some kind of > existing playback system: Transporter, Duet receiver, and the > Touch--all of which don't have amplifiers and speakers. (I understand > the Duet has a controller also.) > > 3. All the devices need to pick up the content that they are either > going to PLAY (SBR, Boom) or TRANSFER to an external audio system from > the SB Server, which can be running on any computer anywhere, or even > on the Touch. > > 4. The hierarchy of the devices for audio quality for devices hooked > to external hardware: Transporter (big $$ but a very high-quality DAC > and whatever else is needed to transfer bit-perfect audio to whatever > it's connected to); Touch--very good quality internals; and the > receiver portion of the duet--older technology and lesser quality > audio. The SBR and Boom are what they are as far as audio quality > goes. > > Here's an update on my own personal beginner's experiments. > > I installed Squeezeplay on my main desktop which is also running SBS > and holds all the .WMA files in my music library. It operates just as > one would expect--a software emulation of an SB device. The audio > quality, however, really suffered. There was a noticeable degradation > of the audio quality AND there were gaps/glitches in the stream. I'm > thinking it just might be asking too much from this machine--a > run-of-the mill 3-year-old Dell XPS 410 with no special sound card to > be hosting the files, the server and the software emulator and expect > it to sound perfect. > > So running Squeezeplay doesn't gain me anything. > > I think my next move will be to get a Touch and try it with the two > systems I currently have. Short of having a Transporter, that seems > to be the best solution. > > Again, many thanks to all. I'll keep posting questions as long as > someone keeps answering them!
A quick learner! I give your report an "A". Some might quibble with the sound quality discussion. Yes, all would agree that the Transporter is an outstanding machine. The TOUCH seems to have very, very good quality DAC, etc. So it would probably be 2nd in most people's list. The Boom, SB3, and receiver, all use the older "slim" approach (well, so does the Transporter). All these can do BIT PERFECT output, it is just that the DAC, etc. is better in some than others. The bits do have to be converted from digital to analog at some point and this matters, even if the incoming bits are perfect. But you get the idea I think. Not sure why SqueezePlay doesn't work well. Correct that a lot is going on and it is dependent on your soundcard (which the hardware SB players are not). It may be partially a function of your WMA files. Are these lossless files? It may be that these require transcoding within Squeezeplay. Not sure. But this could explain the issue you see. If these are lossless, I encourage you to read up on FLAC, etc. SB handles FLAC natively so this is nice. If these are lossless, you can easily convert to FLAC with dbpoweramp (click a few buttons, let it run for X hours/days, depending on library size, and when done you'll have lossless FLAC with tags, album art, etc.). Good forum for dbpa as well. mp3tag will also be your friend in tagging. You can't go wrong with the TOUCH! -- garym ------------------------------------------------------------------------ garym's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=17325 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=81377 _______________________________________________ discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/discuss
