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livconcepts

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  1. I don't have the Pavane but I work a lot with the Hiface2. Check if there's any firmware upgrades available as the Hiface2 had a similar problem that was solved by a firmware upgrade. Hope this helps.
  2. Hi Conor, Yes, the Wave works fine with the Arcam rDAC (as well as the more recent irDAC) and connecting to a NAS.
  3. Hi Eloise, Interesting. Then perhaps the processing could be done in something like our Zen Music Server whilst the Wave would play the music. The Plex Server isn't there yet in terms of the user experience we want to offer, nor does the player part either. There are still lots of usability issues to solve it in order for us to consider it "consumer-grade". For now, our opinion is that it is for enthusiasts only. We have units (the Zen+ Blu-Ray, Spinner and Core) which are based on WHS2011, MyMovies and paired with Dune Media Streamers that do provide a great experience, though at a higher price. However, we are exploring that avenue but we'll need to size the amount of work required to make it consumer-friendly. Happy to discuss options/partnerships via PM. With regards to Open Source, most of the software installed is Open Source done by third parties. Our own code is basically the Web User Interface and we can provide the source as Open Source under GPL3 to anyone who asks. Most of our work is on configuring the kernel, applying patches and configuring the solution. Just like Vortexbox, we provide the glue to make it all a simple solution. Unlike Vortexbox, however, we don't plan to create a generic distro that you can install on multiple devices, it's just too much effort to be worthwhile (particularly for ARM architectures). We'd rather couple the hardware with the software and provide something reliable and ready to use for anyone with the most basic technology skills. No one need to use a command line to use the Wave. We also provide remote support service to our customers to ensure everything is working fine and provide a custom repository for updates which are previously tested in our lab before releasing. Given a standard Cubox is £90 in the UK, we believe that the Wave is reasonably priced at £149 (including free shipping in the UK). As mentioned, if you have the time and the technical skills, you can setup one of these players yourself. It's a great project and we thoroughly recommend it. But some of us just want to enjoy the music rather than sorting out kernel panics or music stuttering. We are considering however producing an image and making that available for free to load on a Cubox. It would likely be a Beta version for community testing and no remote support would be given. However, we'll need to put the infrastructure in place to support this, such as website, forums, beta repositories, building a community, etc. We're a small company, it will take time. Nuno
  4. We might have a go at it, despite being a completely different platform. There's a Debian version for NAA so should be fairly straighforward to adapt to our OS, which is based on Debian. I'm not sure if something like a cubox can handle upsampling to DSD in real-time though I can see the benefit here for having CDs playing in DSD with DSD Dacs (Schiit Loki comes to mind). Not really convinced about upsampling PCM though. As for DRC, Cubox will probably be underpowered. But there are other platforms we could potentially. I'm not too convinced as well for using a TV interface for music. First, we deactivate all video processing so not to interfere with the audio on Cubox. Second, most of the interest has been for audio only controlled via smartphone/tablet. Would there be interest in having a more expensive system (for let's say £500), fanless, with HQPlayer, upsampling and DRC with a TV interface?
  5. Hi, I represent LIV who produces the LIV Wave. Let me provide a bit more information about the Wave. The Wave is based indeed on LMS 7.8.1 and Squeezelite 1.6. This means not only you can play your stored music but also Internet Radio and online services such as Spotify and Qobuz (requires premium subscription). It now supports playing back DSD as well as PCM up to 24/384KHz. We've built a web user interface which is touch friendly and with minimal options so it's very easy to use. We've added the ability to either connect automatically to another LMS already running in the network (such as our own LIV server or other Vortexbox systems) but also to be able to connect directly to a NAS or to an USB drive. This is done directly from the Web UI and it's quite easy to do. You can also choose easily between the optical and USB outputs. But the real work has been done on the background, which sometimes people don't appreciate. We're not using the Ubuntu distribution that comes with Cubox. We've done a complete Debian-based OS, very lean, with a custom kernel optimised for USB latency. We've solved a number of problems with the Cubox platform such as Squeezelite stopping to play music after a couple of hours. It already includes additional drivers for DACs that don't work with Cubox by default, such as DACs based on the M2Tech Hiface 1 design. You can access the Wave directly by name on the browse, Mac or smartphone/tablet. You don't have this by default and provides a much better user experience. The ultimate goal of the Wave is to be an extremely easy to use streamer for those who don't have the technical skills or time to fiddle with getting it all to work. If you have a Vortexbox based server, you can simply connect an USB DAC, plug to the network and start it up. It's ready to play. If you'd like to use with a NAS or USB drive, the setup is dead easy. It just works. We'll be adding more features in the feature as we added the ability for the system to upgrade via the Web UI. Nuno
  6. I agree that it doesn't make sense to buy an external DAC for a higher-end music streamer, though it's not uncommon to find Linn Sneaky DS users connecting to external DACs and even Naim now points its own external DAC as an upgrade path for the Naim Uniti... My point is simply that a music server will provide you the option to choose the DAC you like as there's a wider variety of DAC models than music streamers. I have no idea about what budget and what equipment you have, but a music server like the Zuma coupled with a high-end DAC has a high probability of being very superior to a Naim streamer (or any other streamer in the market), though more expensive as well. As in most things audio, superior depends entirely on your ears. It's probably difficult for you to try out a Zuma without having to build/buy one, but you can easily get from a hi-fi shop something like a Naim Uniti and a couple high-end DACs and try them at home. Play the Naim and then play the Naim connected to the external DAC. If you prefer the latter, then go for a music server + DAC - it will be even better than the Naim + DAC. On the other hand if you love the Naim or other streamer as-is with your system and you're happy to live with that for a reasonable amount of time, then the music streamer is a great choice.
  7. Hi, Don't know if this model has been considered before but the Sandisk Ultra Plus SSD 60Gb seems like a great alternative to the Samsung Pro 840 128Gb as the 64Gb version isn't available yet. The Sandisk uses marginally less power than the Samsung Pro 128Gb (0.12W vs 0.15W), has better MTBF figures (2M hours vs 1.5M hours) and it's half the price of the Samsung. The Samsung is faster but for the purpose of CAPS there should be no real impact in either overall performance or sound quality. Sandisk is a well regarded OEM provider with a very good reliability track record and it's widely available in Europe. The Samsung 64Gb does have lower power consumption figures than the Sandisk 60Gb though it's only a difference of 0.06W, so for all purposes it's irrelevant really. Seems like a great choice at least until the Samsung Pro 840 64Gb is available. Full specs on the Ultra Plus here. Nuno
  8. The music server approach gives you a lot more flexibility in choosing a DAC you enjoy or can afford at the moment. The DAC influences a lot on the character of the sound produced so it's a good thing to listen to several DACs on your own system to decide which one you like best. DACs are probably one of the elements that you will want to upgrade at some point and rather than connecting an external DAC via SPDIF to a music streamer, it will be better to connect to a music server via asynchronous USB (eventually using something like iFi iUSB or SoTM to reduce USB noise) than using SPDIF to the external DAC.
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