cosmoliu

Thanks Murph! I had forgotten about setting the bit rate as I had set up Max about a year ago. I was glad to go back in and see that I had used 24 bit for the HDTracks downloads. Also, thanks for the link to Chris' video. Norman

Murph, I don't see "linear" AIFF in the Max drop down choices. I have been using AIFF(Apple/SGI), making that choice for no better reason than because Apple was in the name. Is there a better choice? I'm using kind of an outlier set-up: I convert my HDTracks FLACs to AIFF, which my T+A Music Player pulls directly by ethernet. I also store the original FLAC files for archival reasons because storage is cheap these days. Norman

I think Charles' advice for the above described situation is excellent!

Thanks, guys. I understand the subject much better now. Using the PK100's analog output is a definite consideration.

Thank you, Demian, for your very complete reply. I'm impressed that you actually went to T+A's web site for information on the DAC chip. <br /> <br /> I had gotten the impression, apparently mistaken, that once converted to PCM for S/PDIF output, the original sampling rate was either not an issue or irrelevant. So, I still do not know whether the PK100, or any other S/PDIF bridge, will allow me to use my T+A DAC to try out 24/192 files. My next step seems to be to try to contact T+A.

Let's see if I can clarify what I am trying to ask. The DAC in my T+A Music Player is capable of playing digital files up to 24 bit, 96 KHz via its ethernet input. So, I am currently not able to try out the 24/192 music files available for download from HDTracks, and they are beginning to offer some titles I might be interested in. It had been my understanding that any of the many USB to S/PDIF converters which convert a 24/192 (or any other) file to a PCM data stream could feed virtually any DAC, even if that DAC could not, in of itself, play the original hi rez file. As originally shipped several years ago, my T+A Music Player could not even play 24/96 files until it was upgraded with a firmware update: when presented with such a file prior to the update, I was greeted by silence. Said update cost a nominal amount of money, but was a hassle to implement. I do not believe that T+A has any further upgrade to higher sample rates planned for now. <br /> <br /> So, what I want to know is, though I cannot play 24/192 files through the ethernet input, would I be able to take the S/PDIF stream from the PK100 into the S/PDIF input on the Music Player and hear all that I am wanting to hear?<br /> <br /> Did I explain that adequately, or am I still lacking in some basic tidbit of knowledge? <br /> <br /> I hope this is not considered a thread hijack; I really am interested in the PK100 if it represents a solution to my problem, and I see no way to contact Auraliti from the information on their web site.

Just a very basic question: Once a file has been converted to S/PDIF, does the original sampling rate matter? I seem to remember being told that any basic DAC can play a S/PDIF data stream regardless of the original sampling rate. If so, this device may be the answer to my dream of eventually jumping into the 24/192 download arena.

I downloaded the "uncompressed" HD Tracks version last night and am listening to it right now. No problems. I have downloaded about 8 albums from HD Tracks with none of the problems described by others. Not sure what to say about that .zip file: the HD Tracks file is much larger, cut one alone is 181 MB.

That's just it: the music sounds just fine, just like what is output to the laptop's speakers, only better, of course. That's what makes me think that sample rate is not in the S/PDIF data stream or, like you mention above, the DAC doesn't care what the sample rate is. Oh well, I'm probably just trying to understand a detail that doesn't matter.

Thank you, wgscott, for your answer. Yes, I had previously gotten into the Audio MIDI settings, and set them as in your screenshot. I think that the Toslink output is independent of the speaker output. The way I see it, is that for the computer's speakers, the file is processed through the Macbook's DAC. Obviously, the idea of this web site is to do better than that, hence the in depth discussions of the virtues of various DACs and processing programs such as Amarra. The Toslink output obviously outputs a signal unprocessed by the Macbook's DAC. My question is: to what degree is it unprocessed? Again, is there still any sampling rate information in the data stream output by Toslink that the outboard DAC still deals with?

I have been lurking here for about a year, slowly trying to come up to speed before taking a major plunge into computer audio. Currently, my experience has been with my Macbook Pro (first Intel generation)feeding iTunes files via the optical out to the DAC section of my T+A Music Player. T+A is a German company, not well known in the USA, and the Music Player has a CD drawer with DAC accessible by S/PDIF(RCA), Toslink, Ethernet, and USB. However, the USB communication is not by what is generally thought of here, but by USB stick or hard drive, where the Music Player reads what files are on the drive and you navigate to the file of interest via the Music Players front panel readout screen. The Music Player can access files via Ethernet on a computer or NAS drive via UPnP, "pulling" the files rather than having the files "pushed" to it. Anyway, when it was released about 2 years ago, the Music Player was limited to 16/44.1 and recently there is a firmware update for 24/96 capability. However, there is a charge for the update and trying to get a taste of what I might expect, I have downloaded a couple of albums from HD Tracks and installed Songbird to play the FLAC files directly. I also have converted a few of the tracks to AIFF via Max to play through iTunes. These I have fed to the Music Player by Toslink. So, my question is this: What is exiting the Macbook Pro's optical out? I had understood that devices like Bel Canto's USB Link 24/96 USB-S/PDIF Converter exist to send a PCM stream to a DAC of any capability and that once converted to S/PDIF, sample rate and bit depth no longer matter. When either Songbird or iTunes send a 24/96 file via the optical out to the Music Player, the front panel readout reads "44.1 KHz". Is that really a specification that means anything in this context? Does the readout show that simply because there is nothing more interesting to say about the PCM stream that is coming in? Does a S/PDIF data stream have a sample rate specification anymore?

Hi Chris, I called Iomega again and they said that there is definitely no easy way for a user to get to the root directory of the NAS Drive. The good news is that they are happy to take it back as I do not otherwise currently have any good use for a network drive. Thanks for all your help and thanks for a great web site. Norman

Thanks again, Chris. My thought exactly. I spoke at some length with Iomega's support people this morning and they seemed pretty lukewarm about recommending any solutions that might come back to haunt them in some way. I only got a cryptic comment about "googling" Roku. Maybe I should look into something like the LaCie drive that has Twonky imbedded. Or, more likely, I may bypass the NAS route for now as I know that the Music Player can access files directly from a USB HDD. At this point in time, I just want to get a taste for what hi-rez files can do before jumping in to the deep end of your CASH recommendations. Norman

Hi Chris, Thank you very much for your reply. In fact, T+A recommends Twonky in the Music Player's manual. However, I emailed Twonky last night and got this reply: "Hi, we are sorry, but we no longer support the NAS versions of the server that need to be installed by the end-user. Our media server is however available pre-installed on a growing number of NAS devices. Thanks The TwonkyMedia Team PacketVideo Germany GmbH Kurfürstendamm 22, D-10719 Berlin phone: +49 (30) 88772300 fax: +49 (30) 88772301 internet: http://www.pv.com" Any other thoughts? Norman

I have an Iomega NAS HDD (360GB) and would like to be able to use it to feed audio files to the streaming client in my T+A Music Player. What I have just now come to realize is that such a NAS device needs to have UPnP software. The Music Player recognizes it on the home network, displaying its MAC address on the front panel. However, it can't "see" the music files on the disc. Is there a good add-on solution, cheap if not free, that I could use? If so, how do I install it? I can't quite picture how to install software on a NAS device, it being a bit short of a full operating system. I now realize that there are simple NAS devices out there with UPnP software preloaded; I just didn't happen to buy one, and I only just now found this web site. Norman