Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] squeezebox setup for audiophiles
Phil Leigh;622059 Wrote: SOX is already installed when SBS is installed. SOX is used to playback 192 or 176.4 files by resampling them to 96 or 88.2. SOX does VERY high quality resampling and can convert between non-multiples with no quality problems. When I play 96-24 files on the touch theres no problem. But when I try to play these on the duet, it does not play them and says unsupported sample rate or something to that effect. If sox was working shouldn't it play at 48 hz? -- dhinesh Squeezebox Touch, Duet and Classic, Ayre C 5 XE MP CD Player, Audio Research Ref 5 Preamp, Audio Research Dac 8, Mark Levinson No 436 Monoblocks, Shunyata Hydra, Cables: Shunyata Anaconda, Kimber Palladian, Stereovox Ultra digital cable, NHT 3.3 Speakers dhinesh's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=12813 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=86419 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] squeezebox setup for audiophiles
adamdea;621745 Wrote: Only playing. Mind you the record now states that you have always had them. Seriously though- bearing in mind the enormous amount of money you have apparently spent on your system, if you do want to go down the music server /squeezebox route you might as well do it properly. Now taking your reports about your preferences at face value (I do hope everyone read that bit)my half baked views are as follows- 1 why not use the mac mini streaming over wireless from a NAS but connected directly by spdif or usb to your dac (but see 3). 2 why not try a transporter? They probably cost less than your power cables at the moment. Assuming the mac mini sounds better than the touch, who is to say that the transporter won't sound better either via spDIF or even using its own dacs. 3 why not buy a linn klimax or akurat or something 4 why not consider replacing or supplementing your dac with an ayre usb dac which can either be connected to the mac mini or to the touch using john swenson's special tweak. OR maybe a fabulous DCS dac 5 why not try implementing DRC which doesn't need to cost much but might make a huge difference. [6 by all means why not try the wireless bridge connected by ethernet option. That would leave you free to try all soundchecks mods. But you may be able to use part of his tool box (eg the digital out only mod) alone. after all there's probably no harm trying] Any of these options [well 6hmmm. ]seems likely to be more effective than buying an expensive power cable for your router. My point is simply that if you are wanting to use server based music as a your main source you might as well build your system around that assumption rather than fitting it into a setup designed for another purpose. Speakers: yup! have always had them and seem to have erased it from the signature when updating :) Thanks for all the input. Let me share my thoughts with you: 1) Prefer Squeezebox over Mac mini as to play on mac mini, will need itunes, if not mistaken. Want to stay away from itunes as I understand that it can not handle large libraries. My music collection is 2 TB and constantly expanding. Just bought the Ready Nas Pro 6 bay to speed up things: library scan, etc and get more space. Eventually want to stream movies as well from the Nas to some Gizmo: still looking (Ac Ryan, Dune, etc) Like the squeezebox controller, of course can use the Mac Mini with a ipod touch but I have seen this at my friends house and am not happy with the response time from the ipod touch. May be his router was slow but my controller is much faster. The Dac 8 has a USB input and the mac mini plugged into the Dac 8 via the USB port using the drivers audio research provides sounds good but prefer the convenience of the squeezebox system. 2) Transporter: Will not use the DAC on the transporter as the Audio Research Dac 8 is far superior. It has two oscillators: one for multiples of 44.1 KHZ and one for multiples of 48 KHZ so we avoid fractional sampling and the music is played at the native frequency. Have some 88.2 khz material (vinyl rips) that I would like to play in the native frequency via my laptop. The audio research Dac 8 does this. As of now, no other dac does this, same thing goes for 176 khz. Ayre and others will upsample it to 192 and not play at the native frequency. Native frequency sounds much better. There is not too much material at these frequencies but have some audiophile stuff that is at these frequencies. Hence, transporter not an option as I have invested a lot (recently) into the Dac 8. Also with transporter, I will be addressing the WLAN problem like the squeezebox touch. Also if I am not using the DAC, seems a bit of over kill as the touch with a linear power supply and some mods should outperform it. Correct me if I am wrong 3) Linn Klimax: studying. Another option is the Weiss Man 2002 or something like that but very pricey at the moment. Indicative price: USD 10k 4) Audio research dac 8 has a very good USB input and it is better than ayre, in my opinion, reasons stated above: native frequency etc 5) DRC: not sure what you mean. Request clarification 6) Agreed. For the time being prefer the squeezebox set up and will try with a linear power supply and the mods. If not happy will have to figure out what to do. A friend actually built his own HTPC to work as a music server with Solid State Drives with a LCD touch interface: similar to SOLOOS. This may be an option. Still waiting for him to iron out the noise issues. Thanks for all the input. BTW if you are in the market for a USB DAC, check out the Audio Research DAC 8. GREAT SOUND!! Very impressive indeed! -- dhinesh Squeezebox Touch, Duet and Classic, Ayre C 5 XE MP CD Player, Audio Research Ref 5 Preamp, Audio Research Dac 8, Mark Levinson No 436 Monoblocks, Shunyata Hydra, Cables: Shunyata Anaconda, Kimber Palladian, Stereovox Ultra digital cable, NHT 3.3 Speakers
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] squeezebox setup for audiophiles
adamdea;622011 Wrote: Anyway maybe you can use the Touch usb out with the Audio Research DAC. Is there a MOD for this? Do you know the link? Noted all your points with thanks. Will see if I can demo the transporter and compare. -- dhinesh Squeezebox Touch, Duet and Classic, Ayre C 5 XE MP CD Player, Audio Research Ref 5 Preamp, Audio Research Dac 8, Mark Levinson No 436 Monoblocks, Shunyata Hydra, Cables: Shunyata Anaconda, Kimber Palladian, Stereovox Ultra digital cable, NHT 3.3 Speakers dhinesh's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=12813 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=86419 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] squeezebox setup for audiophiles
Phil Leigh;622025 Wrote: Most DAC's do not resample. The Touch does not resample. Some DAC's use an ASRC chip to resample. Native rate playback is irrelevant when using ASRC or SOX on the SBS. This is an enduring myth that needs busting :-) (NB do not confuse with oversampling which is whole different thing). Hi. Heard of SOX but not sure what it is? is it a plugin? Read about it somewhere but do not know how to install it? What does it do and how do you install it? benefits? Please advise. Thanks -- dhinesh Squeezebox Touch, Duet and Classic, Ayre C 5 XE MP CD Player, Audio Research Ref 5 Preamp, Audio Research Dac 8, Mark Levinson No 436 Monoblocks, Shunyata Hydra, Cables: Shunyata Anaconda, Kimber Palladian, Stereovox Ultra digital cable, NHT 3.3 Speakers dhinesh's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=12813 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=86419 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] squeezebox setup for audiophiles
garym;621267 Wrote: Dhinesh, You realize this post was a joke right? If not, you might be a customer for these products.;-) http://www.coconut-audio.com/ Ha Ha! I missed that! Just saw the shunyata misspelt and replied. ha Ha! I am cracking up! loved coconut audio as well. on the serious side, can any one of you give me input to help improve my set up? Am a very serious audiophile and need good sound. The convenience of the touch and the other squeezebox gizmos is amazing: better than picking up a CD everytime I want to listen to something. Nice Joke BTW -- dhinesh Squeezebox Touch, Duet and Classic, Ayre C 5 XE MP CD Player, Audio Research Ref 5 Preamp, Audio Research Dac 8, Mark Levinson No 436 Monoblocks, Shunyata Hydra, Cables: Shunyata Anaconda, Kimber Palladian, Stereovox Ultra digital cable dhinesh's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=12813 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=86419 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] squeezebox setup for audiophiles
adamdea;621719 Wrote: Having analysed out your system quite carefully, I reckon your problem is that you don't have any speakers. speakers are NHT 3.3 tks for the note. -- dhinesh Squeezebox Touch, Duet and Classic, Ayre C 5 XE MP CD Player, Audio Research Ref 5 Preamp, Audio Research Dac 8, Mark Levinson No 436 Monoblocks, Shunyata Hydra, Cables: Shunyata Anaconda, Kimber Palladian, Stereovox Ultra digital cable dhinesh's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=12813 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=86419 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] squeezebox setup for audiophiles
satkinsn;621029 Wrote: The Linux server with Shinyota power cable is something else again; all the above is true, but a sense of *detail* joins the fray. It's as if I could drill down through endless layers of detail and there would always be more to find. Yet I don't feel as if any information is being kept from me; if anything, it's as if a veil has been lifted. Scott A. Do you mean Shunyata Power Cable? Which one? -- dhinesh Squeezebox Touch, Duet and Classic, Ayre C 5 XE MP CD Player, Audio Research Ref 5 Preamp, Audio Research Dac 8, Mark Levinson No 436 Monoblocks, Shunyata Hydra, Cables: Shunyata Anaconda, Kimber Palladian, Stereovox Ultra digital cable dhinesh's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=12813 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=86419 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] squeezebox setup for audiophiles
firedog;619570 Wrote: Of course the SBT is bit perfect, but that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with what you hear. From bit perfect to the analogue you hear lots of things happen: Jitter, RF interference, filtering etc. Noted. Taken care to ensure the rest of the equipment is good to minimise jitter, RF interference, filtering, etc. Everything is plugged into the shunyata hydra and all the inter connects are good: digital cable is the stereovox ultra, interconnects are kimber select, power cords are kimber palladian or kimber pk 10 gold. As is evident, the shielding on these cables is good Ayre C5XE MP is connected to the same equipment: same dac, same system and sounds far better than the touch. Will work on soundchecks mods and then compare and report back. If you take a look at hiface (m2 tech) and the modified hi face, Pure music, amarra, etc their whole selling point is to give you a bit perfect signal at the USB output and feed it to your dac via a digital cable. Even this setup sounds better than the touch in my system. However, nothing REPEAT nothing can beat the convenience of a NAS with all your music. Imagine using a hiface off your laptop. How much can you fit it? NOT MUCH as they recommend using Solid state drives. The bigger sizes are very expensive. I need 2 TB to fit my stuff. So have to keep working on the touch till I get where I want to go! -- dhinesh Squeezebox Touch, Duet and Classic, Ayre C 5 XE MP CD Player, Audio Research Ref 5 Preamp, Audio Research Dac 8, Mark Levinson No 436 Monoblocks, Shunyata Hydra, Cables: Shunyata Anaconda, Kimber Palladian, Stereovox Ultra digital cable dhinesh's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=12813 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=86419 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] squeezebox setup for audiophiles
michael123;619164 Wrote: Get the transporter, man. Your system deserves it. Transporter has completely different digital section are you using the transporter wired or wireless (WLAN). I want to stick with WLAN as I prefer it, and am wondering if the transporter sounds good using WLAN. There are two issues here that we are discussing: 1) Mods on the touch (2) getting good sound using wlan. Transporter obviously does not need any mods but the 2nd issue: WLAN: does the transporter resolve this as well? Please advise. Thanks -- dhinesh Squeezebox Touch, Duet and Classic, Ayre C 5 XE MP CD Player, Audio Research Ref 5 Preamp, Audio Research Dac 8, Mark Levinson No 436 Monoblocks, Shunyata Hydra, Cables: Shunyata Anaconda, Kimber Palladian, Stereovox Ultra digital cable dhinesh's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=12813 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=86419 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] squeezebox setup for audiophiles
darrenyeats;619207 Wrote: Well, here's my opinion. What about wired LAN? This is what I don't get. It seems to me overkill to worry about WLAN. But paradoxically, wired LAN introduces an electrical connection between the computer server and the player and it is precisely that which requires apparently all sorts of gizmos and tweaks to deal with. If you're paranoid in nature using wired LAN is opening a whole can of paranoia worms! There's a whole lot of cleverness being talked about based on this flawed bit of logic. Darren EXACTLY! This is what I do not get. When the SB was first reviewed in Stereophile, JA liked the fact that the server was in a different room and used WLAN to keep noise out of the audio signal. So I set up WLAN as well with the Benchmark DAC 1. Sound was good but the CD player was far superior. Changing the DAC improved the sound quite a bit but the BITE is still missing. And then, various forums: computer audiophile, etc, etc started raving about a wired connection: ETHERNET. This was a paradox to me as ETHERNET will open a new can of worms! Now it seems that to keep the worms to a minimum you need to use 2 routers. One at the NAS and one at the TOUCH and ensure the cables are CAT 5 or CAT 6 and that they are short as long cables introduce JITTER. Check out this article: http://www.ehow.com/how_2238303_deal-jitter-voip.html So it seems that the best solution would be to set up a WLAN backbone and then use a wired connection between the 2 routers and the NAS and touch. Now if I do this, I introduce switching power supplies in the audio signal via the power supplies of the routers. Switching power supplies = JITTER. So the next logical thing is to change the power supplies on the routers to linear and then plug these into a conditioner to get a clean audio signal. however, I am reluctant to try these solutions before getting feedback as it is no use spending the money if you do not get the expected results. perhaps I will check out the transporter as the cash outlay will be about the same and hopefully will get better sound! -- dhinesh Squeezebox Touch, Duet and Classic, Ayre C 5 XE MP CD Player, Audio Research Ref 5 Preamp, Audio Research Dac 8, Mark Levinson No 436 Monoblocks, Shunyata Hydra, Cables: Shunyata Anaconda, Kimber Palladian, Stereovox Ultra digital cable dhinesh's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=12813 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=86419 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] squeezebox setup for audiophiles
After researching a bit and reading up on the forum, I would like to set up my squeezebox touch as follows and any input, criticism, guidance, etc to help all of us get on the right path would help. I will post back my experience so others can learn as well: Current Setup: 1) Do not have an option to run wired ethernet as NAS is in another room and wiring is not convenient. Besides I would like to keep the fan noise out of my listening room 2) Running Squeezecenter on a Readynas NV+ and will upgrade to Netgear Pro very soon. Have a dedicated router that is only used for streaming using WLAN to the touch, duet and SB3 in 3 different rooms. Router is a Cisco Linksys 610N. Have around 2 TB of music and using a laptop with a hiface and a itunes / hard disk / Mac, just does not cut it for me due to my LARGE music library 3) Touch analog outputs are not used and the SPDIF out put goes into the Audio Research Dac 8. Sound is OK but not on par with my Ayre C5XE MP CD Player even using good cables: stereovox xv ultra coax digital cable, kimber palladian power cord and kimber 1120 balanced interconnects on the Audio Research dac 8 4) All the equipment including the Touch is plugged into a Shunyata Hydra 8 Planned Setup: 1) Perform Soundcheck mods as posted on his tutorial 2) Plug the NAS and the router into a conditioner / filter. Thinking of Shunyata Hydra 2. If I use a UPS, the hydra will go into the APC 1000 on line UPS. Use an audiophile cable from the outlet to the Hydra 2. Not decided on the UPS as yet as I usually put the NAS off when not using it. 3) Change the power cable on the NAS to a decent audiophile cable like the KIMBER PK 10 gold 4) Change the power supply on the router and the touch to a linear power supply 5) Buy a bridge like WET 610N or use another router as a bridge (use ddwrt) and change the power supply to linear as well. Connect the touch to the Ethernet port of the bridge 6) Stream using wlan from the router connected to the NAS to the router connected to the touch Audiophiles may like the setup as it theoretically should isolate all the noise and result in a good / hopefully bit perfect output on the SPDIF output of the touch. The NAS will be in another room and the fan noise will not interrupt with the sound but we need the technically adept members of the forum to give us their input to see if the above will result in a better / bit perfect signal on the touch SPDIF output. Computer Audiophile in its review of the touch claims that the SPDIF output of the touch is bit perfect but I have my doubts as my ears are not HAPPY! Do not want to be in a situation where I go and buy the power supplies, etc only to find out that its of no use as my ears will still not be happy. Request everyone that is interested in getting a good sound using WLAN to study the above and give input. Or is there no way to get good sound using WLAN? This is a mystery to me! Thanks -- dhinesh Squeezebox Touch, Duet and Classic, Ayre C 5 XE MP CD Player, Audio Research Ref 5 Preamp, Audio Research Dac 8, Mark Levinson No 436 Monoblocks, Shunyata Hydra, Cables: Shunyata Anaconda, Kimber Palladian, Stereovox Ultra digital cable dhinesh's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=12813 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=86419 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] squeezebox setup for audiophiles
SuperQ;619050 Wrote: 1) not sure what these are 2) Worthless from an audio perspective. Good idea to plug into an APC SmartUPS or Liebert PSA UPS. 3) Worthless, not how bits work 4) Worthless, not how bits work 5) Worthless You seem to be introducing a ton of completely useless and worthless tweaks into a system that you do not understand. If these things could cause any effect to audio quality, your computer would not work. The only place you could see any improvement is in the DAC section. If you don't like the sound of the DAC you're using, get a different one. In all likelyhood, the difference is likely how hot the output of the DAC is compared to your CD player. Burn a 50% pink noise audio file to the CD and do a proper volume calibration between your SB+DAC and the CD player. I made some pink noise tracks and posted them here: http://ben.nerp.net/noise/ Get a SPL meter and make sure you get the same audio from both of your sources. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/CM140/ 1) Check out: http://soundcheck-audio.blogspot.com/p/squeezebox-touch-great-base-for-network.html Dac is very good. Was using a benchmark dac1 and changed it for the audio research dac 8. It sounds great when the digital out from the CD player is plugged into it. Unfortunately, with the touch I am not happy. The Dac is very high end. Quite a few members on the diyaudio forum reported better sound using a wired setup and 1 reported that using a bridge like ddwrt and using two identical routers resulted in an improvement in sound. Lets get more responses from audiophiles! -- dhinesh Squeezebox Touch, Duet and Classic, Ayre C 5 XE MP CD Player, Audio Research Ref 5 Preamp, Audio Research Dac 8, Mark Levinson No 436 Monoblocks, Shunyata Hydra, Cables: Shunyata Anaconda, Kimber Palladian, Stereovox Ultra digital cable dhinesh's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=12813 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=86419 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] squeezebox setup for audiophiles
magiccarpetride;619099 Wrote: This is wrong. Touch was designed to attract mainstream market, not audiophiles. Hence they threw in a cheap-ass touch screen, as candy coating on a product. But, from the audio quality perspective, that touch screen is criminally bad, as it degrades the sound quality. Hence, we tweak the original product and disable the noisy screen, because we care about the sound, not about the ability to touch a shiny colorful screen (most of us are grown up men, who have reached the age of maturity;) Or maybe not? absolutely! in fact this is one of the mods on soundchecks blog: http://soundcheck-audio.blogspot.com/p/squeezebox-touch-great-base-for-network.html -- dhinesh Squeezebox Touch, Duet and Classic, Ayre C 5 XE MP CD Player, Audio Research Ref 5 Preamp, Audio Research Dac 8, Mark Levinson No 436 Monoblocks, Shunyata Hydra, Cables: Shunyata Anaconda, Kimber Palladian, Stereovox Ultra digital cable dhinesh's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=12813 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=86419 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Anyone tried a 96k 24 bit download
Phil Leigh;436421 Wrote: you need 24/96 FLAC files and 7.3.2 minimum SC version - then SC will use SOX to downsample automatically... running sc 7.3.7 but it does not down sample automatically. running it on the ready nas nv+. any ideas? -- dhinesh dhinesh's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=12813 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=63908 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Anyone tried a 96k 24 bit download
iPhone;436402 Wrote: Could we get some additional information? What revision of SC are you using? For an SB3 to play 24/96, the version of SC that one is using has to have SOX as the SB3 will not play 24/96 native. What format are the 24/96 files that you are trying to play in? Have you checked your Player options in SC? Lastly, what equipment are you running SC on? There is minimum required equipment to run SOX, which is higher then just running SC. As an example, some low end NAS can run SC, but would not be powerful enough to also use SOX. If its a setting or SC version issue that is prevent SOX from working, then I would not down convert the files. If its equipment then I believe converting is your only choice other then buying a Transporter which can play 24/96 native. SC version is 7.3.3 on the readynas nv+ format of files is flac 24/96 the squeezebox digital out goes into the benchmark which goes into my ARC REf3 preamp and then the ML 436. Sounds great, if I could only get the 24 / 96 to work. Can buy a transporter but will not be able to play the stuff on the squeezebox. Need help! tks -- dhinesh dhinesh's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=12813 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=63908 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Anyone tried a 96k 24 bit download
was wondering as to how to get the squeezebox 3 to play 96/24 material. it is supposed to down sample but when I try to play it, it says sample rate not supported. Any ideas? also how can i convert this to 48/24? any ideas. tks -- dhinesh dhinesh's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=12813 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=63908 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
