Wolwgang

Hi Chris; I have the N50, a great product. I just have a problem with FLAC files, it doesn't play in specified order in most of the time, I don't what's the problem!!! With WAV this problem doesn't exist. Is there a solution for this?? It's annoying in classical music...

@Marcie; Hi Marcie; I got the pio which I bought for a friend, I have some questions for you please: 1- On using LAN, is there a way to control the pio other than the pioneerapp on Android or ipad?? It doesn't seem to work seamelessly, it doesn't always display all the files on the pc and if I used the buttons on the machine itself it then starts seeing it!! Besides the application is not available for us in Egypt, I got it on my ipad as I have a USA account, my friend doesn't have that. I can't find a desktop application for the N50!! 2- When I use the front USB, it disorganizes the tracks of every CD you play, it doesn't play in order of tracks and this is crucial in classical music as you know. Is it something that I did?? Thanks

It is exactly as you said it Marcie, l can never part with the Esoteric DAC, especially this K-03 with 4 DAC chips /channel and massive build quality, that's why as l told you l wanna replace the laptop with the streamer and use the pio as a digital out machine to better my streaming. Again exactly as you said the Esoteric downloads its own driver software and you choose it in sounds and devices, the volume control of windows becomes useless. I will try the Marantz which we will buy to a friend and experiment with different modes and see how much upgrade and then decide on the pioneer, if the streamer gives me much better upgrade over my netbook l will go ahead and get the pio despite the gapless issue.

@marcie, Thank you sir so much, and congratulations, the pio got the best streamer in whathifi test this month (May) over the marantz, the cambridge and the project. As for the first piont, the Esoteric uses asynchronous USB input with a very high precision clock. This explains, as you elaborated, the very high sound quality. I will check the foobar and see if the DAC bypasses the kernel mixer as you said. The dealer of the cambridge here in Egypt told me that they updated the software to remedy the gapless problem, l hope pioneer does this one day.

@Marcie, guys; Marcie you gave me too much info, I need one day to get into the NAS but now I need things to be simple. I want to give you an idea about how and what I have here cause I think you and the other guy can help me. Besides CDs and SACDs for which I have a mssive library I also have a huge one on PC as I told you, 90% classic of all eras and 10% Jazz and that's it I don't listen to any other type. I'm connecting my WD HDD passport to my Netbook laptop and am using the foobar2000 to play my music through the Esoteric USB input, the sound quality is really impeccable, I can't complain. I choose the file I want on the laptop and play the symphony or opera I need whether in high rez or regular FLAC or WMA lossless (I play only lossless material as the sound quality is very important for me). Now comes the story of the pio and marantz, a friend of mine who has the Linn streamer told me that sound quality through streamers is much better than using the PC USB--->DAC as I'm doing as the streamer has a higher quality player and less problems than any PC or the like and connecting the streamer's digital output to a DAC is way better than any pc. So that's when I started looking for streamers and I like the marantz or the pio cause they look like regular players unlike the logitech or so. I mainly want to connect the digital out to my DAC hoping that this will give much higher quality than already is. So that's the story in short and I still don't understand much about the NAS which you told me about even after I looked at the synology, it needs some time which I lack at the moment. Regarding sound quality I hate any clikcs or gliches or so and that's why I'm afraid about the gapless playback which in classical music it comes to be a problem, and I don't wanna use itunes because I don't want to drag every file I wanna listen to in itunes and all the hassle of that software, I like the foobar very much and I see the alternative as the streamer's own only. So what do you think? Thanks

@marcie: The problem for me is that my hard disc contains folders from sites like the classical shop, qobuz etc and a folder containing some 80g of high resolution files most of them not more than 96khz, l'm not into 192 so much so l don't care much about the 192 as long as the player will read it and down sample it to 96. The maranta deosn't handel gapless too. As you know it is really silly especially when it comes to many classical recordings and it is not in my hands as you purchase them as thus. We are ordering the marantz for a friend of mine so I will try it myself to listen to some gapless recordings and see if I can tolerate it and then order the pio for myself. I didn't understand much what you said about AirPlay, you meant I can play my music in their original folders without placing them in iTunes using Synology? What's that?

@Miska; I don't know the answer to that Miska as I didn't buy the player yet... My concern actually is the gapless playback which is a problem in both the marantz and the pio. The only player I know of handling this apart from the Linn is the Yamaha NP-S2000 but too expensive. Gapless playback is a problem with classical FLAC files and I won't be using AIrplay or the back USB host...

@marcie; If I play a gapless CD using the LAN (not with Airplay or USB host) or so what happens? I mean what do you hear??

@Marcie; Now to gapless: But to use Airplay, I'm then limited only to itunes right?? To use the digital out to my DAC I will have either to use the front USB or the LAN, so there will be aproblem in classical music files, I have over 700G of music on my hard drive!!! Listening to opera for instance would be problematic, right?? Thanks

@Marcie; I will wait for your feedback. My only problem now seems to be the gapless playback, I hope pio fixes that by firmware updates..

@Marcie; Yes sir you are right, but as I told Miska, the back USB host doesn't allow for digital out, right?? At least that's what's in the manual...

@Miska; Thanks Miska; I think it is written in the manual that the front USB can play only 24/96Khz and not 192. You say that PC to USB host is working well but I think I cannot use it to outpu digital coaxial to my Esoteric DAC, there is no digital out for the back USB in I think from what I read in the manual, I hope I am wrong... Thanks

@Marcie; Thanks Marcie, you are of great help. By the USB host you mean the front USB? This is might be a problem with classical music (I only listen to classics) many CDs contain gapless tracks...by PC USB host you mean connecting the HDD to the front USB... It seems that in every connection I win something and I lose something....right?? I will get the pio, try everything in it and get back to you if it won't bother you... Thank you so much..

@Marcie; Great Marcie, the foobar is my default player, the Esoteric bypasses windows control anyway. So to make sure I understand, you recommend connecting to USB and not LAN? If I want to use the digital out to the Esoteric the USB doesn't allow coaxial digital out! Right? So in my situation I'm left with two options: NAS HDD in the front USB and LAN? right? Tell me all your suggestions. Now what do you mean by gapless playback and what is "the hi-processing engaged", is this an option in the N-50?? Sorry for all these questions I'm not that good at these things. Thanks

@Marcie; I'm a dealer for Esoteric in Egypt and the K-03 has a wonderful USB host in itself, but I will try the Pio on its own as you said. Moreover I see the pio uses the same DAC as the Esoteric the AK (Asahi Kasai), it's a lovely sounding new DAC chip. I will wait for your discovery regarding the WMA and in the meantime I started converting my files to FLAC using Easy CD-DA Extractor software and I found no loss in quality which really thrilled me.