Streaming para insatisfeitos

TD124 escreveu:

Goansipife escreveu:

Hi Guys
What a mess of stuff

It seems too many boxes to me. I'm a plug-and-play guy.

Me too!... i have an old Pop Corn Box with HDD inside linked in coaxial (spdif) with an Enigma Dac and no streaming, the simpliest way to listen my files and there's even a radio remote control ... simple as heaven

But it doesn't sound like Pat's complex setup of course ... that's the sad point, a bit of hell

Simplicity isn't the only way ... infortunately  

Hi Paulo,

The Cocktail Audio works also standalone without network and remote control. But it has a display and needs no external monitor which is kind of no-go for me personally.

Biz!

mannitheear escreveu:

Hi Gonçalo,

my setup is not very complex, I described it in Ricardo Onkagu's thread:

Cocktail Audio X50D with internal SSD
|
USB (or AES/EBU)
|
Mutec MC3+ USB reclocker (the original format is preserved)
|
S/PDIF (BNC)
|
anTiTon Enigma hybrid DAC

Optional is the Roon Rock, it has also an internal SSD which is manually synced with the Cocktail Audio SSD. When using Roon, the Cocktail Audio acts as Roon bridge which means it's is receiving the data stream via Ethernet.

Thx Manfred

Now I'm happier. I even thought the complication was much bigger than it really is with so many boxes like Pat's set has. I wasn't realizing what was the advantage of that and I was doubtful if there was something more to figure out in the digital world to improve the music reproduction that I hadn't known yet.

So, in different paths, we have more or less the same solution, despite the Mutec MC3+ reclocker I haven't yet and ... Something to think about later.

I'm seriously investing in Digital so my questions

Thanks once more.

Hi Gonçalo,

purpose of so many boxes is to separate the different tasks in the digital chain and put it on different machines to keep the CPU load low and maintain a steady data flow.
The tasks are for example in Pat's system

Storage -> NAS
Reading and rendering -> NUC 2
Control -> NUC 1

You could even go further and put the reading and rendering on separate machines, especially if you want to manipulate the data stream which could be a simple upsampling, or DSD conversion (some swear on that, especially when the DAC is optimized for DSD) and convolving for speaker and/or room correction or even headphone correction. Separating playback and manipulation from the rendering is what Room suggests with their topology of Server and endpoint aka bridge.

There are endless topics about that, and it's only the beginning and can get much worse...

Hi Manfred,

Thanks once more.   I almost might understand Pat's Digital set, but let me ask you a few questions:

• If Pat has a NUC 2 to run the renderer and media player, whatever it is, why does he is using a NUC (NUC 1) to control? What kind of control is this? And what kind of software does he use in that control NUC 1?
  
• If Roon Nucleus does the detachment of playback and manipulation from the rendering their topology of Server what can I get more with a solution like this one?
  

I can realize there is a range of improvements to do in this field like switchers, bridges, and so on, but I do stay confused to set in two computers (the NUCs) inducing noise. Probably (!?) I don't know!

Sorry, I know it is so many questions, but I'm trying to learn a little bit more about

Thank you very much
Gonçalo

mannitheear escreveu:

...The Cocktail Audio works also standalone without network and remote control. But it has a display and needs no external monitor which is kind of no-go for me personally...

For me too... that's why i've choose the PCH many years ago, he looks like a CD player and doesn't give the impression of having a computer in the system. But, i must admit that computer based streamers works very well when they're perfectly tuned as in Pat's system but also Pierre and Pierrot...

For the future i'll go for a Rasp or Tinker board ... the streamers i've made for Patrick and Yvan are Asus based and work terrific with Volumio. Personally one of the streamers i've liked the most was the Bryston (Rasp inside) and i like the idea of a versatile platform where i can change software and wardware at demand ... i've always been a Pc adept, not Mac

The running softwares (player and drivers) are as important as the hardware and with Pierrot we're working in a Linux base to stabilize some tasks (he's a specialist) during the playback! I've heard before the holidays the Volumio streamer and was impressed by the sound ... he is Tinker board based i guess

There is a long way for me to understand all the subtleties of the digital files playback but i'm on the road and the heart and ears still work as expected so, time will do his job...

Biz!

Hi Manfred,

Thank you very much. I really appreciated all your kindness and patience to explain me all these things too and contribute to my learning journey in the digital world.

All the best
Gonçalo

Goansipife escreveu:

Hi Manfred,

Thank you very much. I really appreciated all your kindness and patience to explain me all these things too and contribute to my learning journey in the digital world.

All the best
Gonçalo

Poor Manfred

To explain digital to Gonçalo its gonna take many, many years

Boa tarde a todos.

Ouço música do telefone, dos serviços de streaming, de cds e do meu meu Ipod original (2005). Há muito tempo que desisti das cassetes e dos vinis. Tenho tentado manter o máximo de qualidade nos ficheiros digitais (nem sempre com sucesso, confesso), nos cabos e formas de transmissão (Bluetooth e Wi-Fi).

Tenho um dac externo, amplificador para auscultadores e receptor bluetooth (qudelix 5k), um leitor de cds (Tivoli Audio), 2 amplificadores Bang and Olufsen (lindíssimos, dos anos 70) e dois pares de colunas também B&O. O Qdelix permite-me tocar directamente do telefone para o amplificador, usando o Bluetooth.

Procuro agora um receptor e transmissor wifi que use a rede de internet caseira e me permita ter a mesma música a tocar nos dois amplificadores, usando qualquer uma das fontes (telefone, ipod ou cd). Se usar a rede de internet também posso ter músicas diferentes em locais diferentes e com melhor qualidade, uma vez que a transmissão wi-fi permite melhor som do que a transmissão Bluetooth.

Alguma sugestão para um destes aparelhos? Estava a pensar no Arylic s50pro. Alguém conhece?

Desde já agradeço a ajuda e o acolhimento neste Forum!

Melhores cumprimentos,

José Armindo

armindoarmindo escreveu:

Boa tarde a todos.

Ouço música do telefone, dos serviços de streaming, de cds e do meu meu Ipod original (2005). Há muito tempo que desisti das cassetes e dos vinis. Tenho tentado manter o máximo de qualidade nos ficheiros digitais (nem sempre com sucesso, confesso), nos cabos e formas de transmissão (Bluetooth e Wi-Fi).

Tenho um dac externo, amplificador para auscultadores e receptor bluetooth (qudelix 5k), um leitor de cds (Tivoli Audio), 2 amplificadores Bang and Olufsen (lindíssimos, dos anos 70) e dois pares de colunas também B&O. O Qdelix permite-me tocar directamente do telefone para o amplificador, usando o Bluetooth.

Procuro agora um receptor e transmissor wifi que use a rede de internet caseira e me permita ter a mesma música a tocar nos dois amplificadores, usando qualquer uma das fontes (telefone, ipod ou cd). Se usar a rede de internet também posso ter músicas diferentes em locais diferentes e com melhor qualidade, uma vez que a transmissão wi-fi permite melhor som do que a transmissão Bluetooth.  

Alguma sugestão para um destes aparelhos? Estava a pensar no Arylic s50pro. Alguém conhece?

Desde já agradeço a ajuda e o acolhimento neste Forum!

Melhores cumprimentos,

José Armindo

Para o uso que pretende, esse Arylic parece ser uma boa solução chave na mão. Tem tudo o que precisa, mas para streaming usa uma aplicação própria, que não sei quão boa é.

Muito obrigado!

Assim rápidamente a ver o aparelho, só tem uma saída de cada vez. Mencionou que queria usar dois sistemas, parece-me que teria que ser um destes para cada. A imagem do site é enganadora. Pode usar a mesma app para controlar vários ao mesmo tempo é o que parece querer dizer.

Boa tarde. Sim, teria de ter 2, um para cada amplificador. Ou mais, se quisesse ligar mais colunas activas para outras zonas da casa. Parece-me que a APP controla todos os aparelhos e distribui todas as fontes. Seria muito prático. A minha dúvida é a qualidade do som. Pelo que vi, os chips referidos são bons "ESS 9023 DAC, Cirrus Logic ADC for audio performance and Aptx HD". Talvez compre 1 e depois, se gostar, comprarei o segundo. Obrigado pela resposta!

Já ando nestas vidas do streaming com RPi há mais de dois anos, e tinha dado muito jeito que esta thread saísse nessa altura! O que eu tive que aprender sozinho a ver muito site...
Parabéns pelos conteúdos tão informativos.

Neste momento tenho 2 sistemas baseados em Moode Audio:
- um Pi4 ligado por USB a um SMSL M500 (que depois liga a um Loxjie P20 por XLR, ou ao PrimaLuna por single ended). Este Pi4 faz streaming do Spotify connect, ou do Tidal via mConnect e fornece MQA e DSD nativo que o M500 agradece. Também faz streaming do NAS que está ligado a...
- um Pi3b ligado por USB a um DAC DIY que alimenta um amplificador de auscultadores DIY, e a um disco rígido com uns 300 e muitos GB de música. Este Pi3 está configurado para servir de NAS ao outro. Este sistema está na secretaria e uso principalmente quando estou a trabalhar em casa.

Ambos os streamers estão ligados por Wi-Fi.

Já experimentei volumio, rune, roon etc, e acabo sempre por voltar para o Moode. É, simplesmente, mais rápido a fazer tudo e parece-me que soa melhor e integra mais facilmente com tudo. Além de ser gratuito.

E sim, uso MQA; porque o DAC SMSL por acaso é MQA, apesar de eu não o ter escolhido por esse factor mas sim porque tinha outputs balanceados e single ended e eu queria especificamente um DAC para ligar a ambos amplificador de auscultadores e amplificador de colunas. Gostei do MQA, pelo menos parece-me tocar tão bem como um FLAC, mas notei que muitas das misturas que são usadas em MQA são diferentes das dos álbuns noutros formatos.

Bom dia a todos,

(Antes de mais aproveito para desejar a todos um bom ano)
A minha assiduidade no fórum tem sido intermitente por vários motivos, que para este tópico (tão bom) seriam apenas poluição.
Ultimamente tenho colocado a minha leitura em dia, para me inteirar do que se tem passado.


Este é um assunto que me interessa e o tópico está fantástico, obrigado ao Ricardo pela iniciativa.
Espero conseguir manter-me online a partir de agora e partilhar com todos este espaço que muito me tem ensinado.

Cumprimentos,
Rafael Silva

Since a couple of days I have a new favourite Software for the Pi (which I use in the living room) and USBridge (for the can system, it has a Sparky board instead of PI).

Until now I used Volumio and they wanted to renew the subscription for 60 Euros/year which I would need only to be able to control 2 devices with one App and mainly for Qobuz support. Anyway, the Qobuz functionality of Volumio isn't that great imho, favourite albums are displayed in the order they were added, so it's difficult to find the searched album among over 500 albums meanwhile.

So I cancelled the subscription and installed Moode but could not find a comfortable way for Qobuz Access.
On the USBridge the software choice is anyway limited to Volumio and DietPi, which offers some options like the Roon Bridge and LMS (Logitech Media Server) and the correspondent Squeezelite Player. Years ago I already had tried LMS and wasn’t totally convinced.
But now I decided to give it another try and installed LMS on the USBridge. Ok, the installation takes considerable longer and isn’t as straightforward as with Volumio or Moode.
But when finally all worked I was surprised that the import of 2400 local albums took only 15 minutes or so which is remarkable for such a small machine.
The Qobuz integration is free and quite convenient, as the order of the albums can ba changed to alphabetical, booklets can be downloaded (if available in Qobuz) and the Qobuz favourites are automatically embedded in the lokal albums list, with full text search among artists, albums and titles which I found a great advantage. Similar I have only seen in Roon and Audirvana.

Also available are descriptions for many albums, artist and composer biographies and similar artists search.

The whole thing is quire responsive, also very remarkable for the small device.

The sound is great too, I did not make any side to side comparison but liked very much what I heard on the can system.

I was so impressed that I installed the LMS on the Pi in the living room (in this case not with DietPi but PiCore) and because it’s anyway always on, I transferred the server part and the hard drive to this Pi.
So the USBridge gets the music from there and despite both devices are only connected with Wifi access, I could stream a Hi Res Qobuz album to the USBridge/can system without any problems, dropouts, clicks ore something like this.

One of the reasons I didn’t like the LMS software in the first place was the GUI which looks a bit outdated, But II discovered that there is a skin available with a very clean and modern look and this skin even offers an optimised layout for smartphone use.

Hi Man,

very curious you find the lms alternative up to task!

In my testing phase I discarded lms because the interface was atrocious and there are a few kinks with it, but if the idea is to use it direct (no roon), indeed lms would be in my shortlist because of the direct integration with qobuz.

Hi Ricardo,

some years ago I once already tested LMS and had a similar impression. But this time I looked deeper into it and was surprised which features LMS had, especially with the Qobuz integration and decided to accept the not so beautiful GUI.

And then I discovered the "material skin" plugin which provides a clean, modern looking and thoughtful user interface, optimised for computer monitor and smartphone: Material Skin Screenshots

One small but clever thing is for example that the alphanumeric index for fast scrolling is on the left side of the smartphone screen. Most apps have it on the right side which often leads to accidental misoperation (if you are right-handed) because it often will be touched unintentionally with the right thumb.

I use Roon too, but it doesn't run 24/7 here because it's a computer and some things in Roon are very strange, too, for example the fact that it can't browse the folder structure which is still the fastest access imho, especially if the tags are not perfect (which they are almost never with classical music). The automatical Roon tagging of classical is often quirky, too - and the Roon search isn't optimal either....