Now there is a method to play iTrax's Audience and Stage files in 5.1 from the PC to a HT system. Was it necessary to go to Cat6, or was the Cat 6 to hand anyway?

PC --> Router --> Ethernet --> HDX ----> AV receiver all at 24/96, yum!

Well done JR for giving us a report on your findings, and thank you!!

What did I say ?

once the computer playing the audio contains a WiFi transmitter/receiver.
Don't ask why ... accept it.

No less, but also no more. The WiFi transmitter/receiver degrades, like so many things do. But this is an extra bad one.

You guys seem to want to read things which aren't written ! I'll try it again :

The sole fact that WiFi is present in a machine, used for transmitting audio OR NOT or nothing at all, degrades sound. I am explicitly *not* talking about the data being molested or anything (which of course never will happen, or otherwise dump computing).

I hope it is clear now.

... And if you can't accept this, don't ask me to explain it, because I can't. That I can't explain doesn't mean it isn't so, and once you get the grasp of that anything happening within a PC matters (like spinning disks or not), it becomes obvious that WiFi sure does (investigate the crazy polling of it, and you'll at least know that it "consumes" to a high degree, even if nothing is transmitted/received.

ok ?

One and a half: Yes the hdmi 1.3 is very cool. In fact I have it hooked up to my rotel processor via hdmi and it works great. I can download one of the 5.1 sound tracks from iTrax's and check it out for you. Let me know if you want me to. The pcm should be ok, but you should know the unit does not like recordings with drm. You would need to rip them and remove the encryption.

I did connect a usb optical drive and play my audio buddies R.R. hrx disk in 24/176.4 direct...nice huh! I also have an app installed that also adds cover art pre views with links that really makes the unit a viable contender. To bad most people over look the hdx!

The cat6 was free and I just decided to kepp it all 6. I can't see why 5e would not be fine.

Team, the wireless worked as long as I had lots of bars. If I moved the setup closer to the router no problem. I would only get one bar in the back room and that was making a mess for playback. Make no mistake though it sounds better hard wired! How about radio frequency interference as one source?

Look, we spend tons of cash for marginal improvements and this was a WOW on the cheap. I have to take it and report like I see it. My audio buddy said, "I dont care what you due I am going copper" and this was right. The copper runs are better!

JR

Chris, they mean well for sure;) I could be crazy though and it sounds the same...not! But on the slight chance that I am crazy....I have to say its nice being crazy about something!

jr

ps the shop has the unit being upgraded....I have my fingures crossed! Ill keep you posted.

Sorry, I must side with Paul.

I agree this thread should get back on topic Chris - and we should enjoy our wonderful hobby .. but Peter happily accuses others of not knowing anything, instructing us to simply "accept" his views. In this case he is most likely incorrect.

Hi JR! I think you use the same name on networkedmediatank.com also. If so, I have corresponded with you over there about the digital output quality of the NMTs.

I use the ioBox 100HD device, and an internal 1TB hard disk (WD10EADS). It is pretty quiet, and when the music is playing, of course I cannot hear the drive. The ioBox is connected to my router using ethernet over the power line. I do not stream any actual music data via ethernet, only control the NMT from my laptop.

I used to have a Roku at one time. It was set up to stream data wirelessly from my NSLU2 (with an external drive), but I used to have a lot of drop outs with it. I never tested it to see if things would be different with a wired connection. Did not care much for the interface.

I am quite happy with the ioBox arrangement. I take the co-ax S/PDIF output to a Keces DA131.1 DAC, and then to my stereo. I have installed the Music Player Daemon (MPD) in my NMT. I can control MPD with Minion, a client that runs as an add-on for Firefox.

I would be most interested to hear about your modifications. One that has been talked about is replacing the switching power supply brick with a linear supply.

Yeah ethernet is the way to go in my house or to avoid the low bars as vortec said. Here at my place plaster walls = poor wireless strength even with Wireless N. I'm looking into purchasing an antenna that connects to the Apple Extreme router to boost the signal a good bit.

JR,

Yes, I do use the Music Jukebox application to classify my music and create the HTML. However, when you click Play All on an album, it passes control to the default playback mechanism of the NMT. Therefore, you cannot browse your library while something else is already playing. Real pain in the you-know-what. Further, the default playback mode of the NMT does not allow gapless playback, which is another problem.

So, somebody on the NMT forum developed a skin for the Music Jukebox, so that when you click Play All or play one song or whatever, the playback is effected by the Music Player Daemon, instead of the default NMT playback mechanism. Maybe you are already doing this in your Music Jukebox application.

MPD offers gapless playback, ability to shuffle, create play lists, etc.

So, what I now have is the nice Music Jukebox interface, combined with all the features MPD offers, thanks to the neat Music Jukebox skin.

Plus I can control MPD from my laptop using Minion, or turn on the computer monitor connected to my NMT and use Music Jukebox (with special skin) to control MPD. Works great!

Some albums, like The Dark Side of the Moon, are recorded without any breaks in between songs. There are separate tracks listed, but no real breaks. In such cases, we want the playback to also sound the same, without any gaps.

The NMT's default playback cannot do this. There will be an audible break in between tracks, and it gets irritating to listen this way.

If you use MPD as the playback engine, you get gapless playback and the ability to easily shuffle a playlist.

Music Jukebox not being able to play a particular track might have to do with there being a special character in the song name that the application chokes on. For example, if you had an apostrophe, or a parenthesis, this might throw the application for a loop.

Looking forward to your HDX upgrades. Thanks for sharing.

All audio equipment will sound worse in the presence of RFI. When you put a Wi-Fi system in your house, you are putting a radio transmitter in that is broadcasting right from your living room. The RF energy is picked up on every single wire in your house -- the AC wiring in the walls, all of your power cords, your interconnect cables, your speaker cables, and on and on. So switching to wired Ethernet is not only more reliable and can cover longer distances, but it will also make your stereo sound better (assuming that your turn off *all* of your Wi-Fi devices completely).

Since Wi-Fi operates at the exact same frequency as a microwave oven, I am personally not all that excited about turning my house into a low-level cooker that is operating 24/7. My guess is that in 15 years there will be lots of evidence that shows long-term health problems from Wi-Fi. I was just talking to a world-class neurosurgeon and he was telling me that he saw some research that showed that using a cell-phone caused the blood-brain barrier (that normally keeps nasty stuff out of your noggin) to open up for a period of time. I bought a real nice old Western Electric telephone (you know the ones that could withstand hurricanes and earthquakes) for $15. Works great. I got a touch-tone model -- too impatient to use the rotary dials!

Paulb,

Are you certain that with wifi, the data either makes it, or it doesn't ?
Streaming audio the same as streaming data ? Type an e-mail, it gets to the destination as you intended it, no change ... Send an audio stream over wifi, the same ?

Matt.

Charles, at first when I read your post I thought you copied an article I read some time back. Then I realized you wrote the article....duhhh! Thanks for your post and your wonderful products! That article (cant find it now please link if you have it) is/was the foundation for this upgrade. When I found it, I sent it to my audio buddy (adrian who is howard’s customer) and he said that is what I am going to due and in fact that is what he did and then I followed somewhat. I have the hybrid with the wireless on for others (aka the wife hehehe) in the house to use as needed.

Are we discounting the affects of the wifi? Lets not forget that the unused terminals of our gear are like antennas!

I agree that we cant really escape rf, but that does not mean we have to leave the front door open.

JR

I should have put a smiley :-), but I note that I am locked out of going back and doing that. Strange, the only one of my comments that has been locked and the only one where I have written something questionable. Must be one of those wifi errors I read about :-)

However, didn't mythbusters try it with with a few hundred phones, which is what you'd need in theory. The problem is that the output is not coherent nor continuous and it's hard to get all the phones running at once, so pretty impossible to achieve. So it's technically possible, but in reality, not a chance.

Someone tried to claim for a tumour from using his phone, but it turned out that he was an engineer that had it strapped to his head with an elastic band and the early phones did put out a lot more energy.

PS, you can get the phones to push out a lot more power in low signal conditions, about 2W each. So whilst the viral was a myth, I can see why people believe it.

and ones after, but not that particular one.

Very odd. In any case, it isn't particularly relevant to the discussion, just a bit misleading to others of my intent.

You're right ... Some posts are editable some are not. I have a theory though. The ones thy you can't edit maybe where people have clicked the "reply" at re bottom. Though most people don't view the found this way, it does have a hyarachical (yes I know I can't spell) architechture so posts can be replied to individually, not just the first post in a thread. If any of that made sence then I'm surprised.

Eloise

No problems with DRM audio files, about 98% of my iTunes sings I bought are now DRM free. If I wish to play BD audio, i can just use the BD player, since ripping the music from BD is really, really messy.
The iTrax files are DRM free, if you wish to download a file from there, could you do so, if it's not to much trouble and advise how it sounds. The files for the surround options are in the 2GB+ so I would choose carefully, no real drama, you can preview.
Since the NMT is a device for transferring data from one location to the other and media changing, the sonic ability shouldn't come into it. It's good to see the HDX is HDMI 1.3 at least it will support all the protocols for that medium which is very extensive.
Cat 6, yes can see why you used Cat6, no real drama there at all.

Team, 5.1 DTS from iTrax works fine on the HDX with HDMI output to my processor. The dts light on processor even comes on. Also switched from two channel pcm to 5.1 dts automatically!

The sound is very interesting...not use to hearing music this way! Personally I like music in two channel, but its there if you want it.

JR

Were can I start to explain the HDX-1000?

First, let me plug my buddy Tim (actually I have never met him) who sold me my first HDX. Tim helped me with the setup and is very responsive. http://www.gizmodaddy.com/storefront/

Ok, I only know what thismachine does from testing it for many months. The instructions are minimal and that is why I think people dont know what it does! Ill due bullet points of what I know as its easier for me.

1. You can put a sata 2.5" or 3.5" harddrive inside. I did (1t) for may months. Plays fine, but heats up and still plays fine. At this point you can drop files via the network (slow) or direct connect via usb (better). When you connect via usb it goes into an external harddrive mode.
2. You can connect a usb harddrive via the back usb. I did a usb powered wb passport for a while and that works great. No issues.
3. You can connect a usb flash card reader via the back usb. I tried two different ones and one work with 24/192 and the other did not! Something to due with the speed of the card reader.
4. You can insert a card directly into the front of the machine. Pretty cool! Should play hi res. I think I tried it, but its not how I would use it.
5. You can connect a usb optical drive via the back usb. I did a usb cd/dvd drive. This is very cool! You can direct play the r.r. recording dvd wav files....nice huh? You can play a regular cd as well. FYI movies only if you ripped them and no drm. I tried dvd-audio and no deal....damm. I tried sacd and it played the cd layer if it finds it....oh well. PS it should play bluray via a usb bluray drive or harddrive, but I dont have one to test and drm may play a role.
6. With no harddrive inside or with one inside you can via the network share a internal or external drive on a remote machine. It easy. You share the drive and the hdx sees it. Yep that simple. At first I had an issue with norton antivirus and the network firewall, but that is it. I hate norton! I have my drobo this way and no drive in the hdx.
7. You can also set up a nas directly to the network and due that. I am hardwired for this, but dont have the drobo network adapter. Ill due that one of these days. Right now I am just trying to enjoy it and waiting for my upgrade to get back on my second machine.

All this right out of the box! And you can repeat the above for pictures and video. You can also control the hdx via a remote pc with an app. Apps are a topic for another day though.

mac mini blaaaaa that. The HDx is only around 250 bucks! I have a music app installed as you know for the coverart and thats it. You click a few things and off you go playing what ever.

I thought about maching a slot for a slot type optical drive, but what for. I opted instead to send the unit for an upgrade to make it the bomb.

JR

I read an aritcle from Charles Hansen at Ayre that inspired my project to hard wire my system. This is the link:
http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue41/ca_hansen.htm
You can skip down to #6 or read the hole thing. Actually all the links at the bottom are also very interesting to read. I acually run the wireless so the weeefe and I can get online with it from time to time. You know hot to keep the weeefe happy so I can buy more gear:)

I think I am going to try and turn the wireless off and see what happens. Not sure if I can and then I guess I would have to kill the wireless phone as well. Oh no how about the cell phone and the neighbors wireless (I can pick it up here as well). You can't win....it all designed to make us fail. That sounds like an idea for a post!