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islandman

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  1. Ok, thanks Superdad. Yes, I read that after I already posted that question.
  2. I tried to post this question in the For Sale thread, but I could not as there is not an icon to click to allow me to post. I am wanting to sell a DAC, but can't figure out how to start the thread. Is this because you have to have a minimum number of posts before you can do this? Thanks, Devlon
  3. (In post #2 above inside "Interesting Developents from Qobuz in 2015" someone mentioned the French language issue. It is addressed below). I just wanted to chime in on my impressions of using both Qobuz and Tidal. Qobuz vs Tidal While being subscribed to Qobuz, I took advantage of Tidal's free one month promotion that they had going about 3 months ago. This is mostly my comparison from back then: For starters, there are several things about Qobuz that are important to me that I do not think that Tidal has. Do not take this comparison as absolute fact as I may have missed some things on Tidal. But here goes: 1) Qobuz has gapless playback control whereas Tidal does not seem to. On Qobuz I set the gap at two seconds between songs. You can set the gap at 0 seconds and have no gap between songs. Really cool! 2) Qobuz works a lot like YouTube in that you automatically build a history of where you have been. I do not see this on Tidal. For me, this is a really nice feature because as I explore new music , and want to go back to some of what I had listened to, I do not have to worry about writing down those groups that most interested me because the historical file of my listening sessions is there until I decide what to do with it (save, delete, add to favorites, etc.) 3) On both Qobuz, and Tidal you see the album art as a small part of the overall page, but on Qobuz when you click the “expand icon” (the one with the 4 arrows bottom right of screen) your entire screen becomes the album you are listening to. My laptop dedicated to hi-fi has an HDMI out that I run to my TV. When the entire 60” screen looks like Elton’s “Yellow Brick Road” i.e., it’s like a giant neon album art of his album cover which I think is a really neat alternative to just having the album art, song list, similar artist, etc. like most streaming services do. 4) With Qobuz, the very last song/artist that you listened to stays in “queue” no matter how long you go before returning to the site. If the last artist is someone that you want to spend some more time listening to you don’t need to try to remember who they were, or write them down because the next time you go to Qobuz they will be there. Tidal seems to start all over again with a “blank slate” each time erasing all of your previous listening history. 5) Sound quality seems the same between the two to me, but lately there are some that think Quboz has done something that slightly improves the sound over Tidal. 6) Tidal does boasts HD Music Videos, and Qobuz does not have this. But I don’t find that necessarily enticing as YouTube, Mullet, Qello, Vevo, and many others, etc., all have free good HD music videos (except Qello). Personally, I would rather have the download discounts that Qobuz offers over having videos. b) Qobuz Sublime: In case you are not aware Qobuz has launched a new subcription service. By paying Qobuz a year in advance the monthly subscription cost drops down, and averages out to about $1.50 per month more than Tidal here in the U.S. Additionally, with Qobuz, that prepayment for streaming now allows you to get downloads at 35-55% off which will make them less expensive any download service. Recently, Qobuz had a sale of over 300 really good albums (not the unheard of stuff). These HD albums/downloads were 50% off which when I checked were less expensive than any other site like HDTracks, Hi-REZ, Acoustic Sounds. I am not certain on this, but I think this sale may have been just for the existing Qobuz subscribers which is a very nice bonus to having the Qobuz subscription. 7) Tidal is less responsive than Qobuz. With Qobuz I will get a response usually the same day about a concern or question. Things may have gotten better with Tidal, but back when I was using Tidal and had questions it took a long time to get a response, if any. At one point I had been waiting for days for Tidal to respond to whether they support 32bit Windows OS as I get a “tidalmedia.exe” error when trying to download their app to that computer. My 64bit Windows OS went without a hitch however. I have come to the conclusion that at this point in time to stay with Qobuz. Lately, I see positive changes happening quickly with Qobuz, and additionally, I see many reasons NOT to jump ship with Qobuz and go with Tidal. Feel free to correct me on anything here, or on something I have missed.
  4. Geoff, there are two things that immediately come to mind about improving, not only these services, but streaming in general: 1) Fidelizer 2) Re-mastering The "free ware version" of Fidelizer is a product that shuts down all unnecessary system processes inside your laptop that are not needed for audio reproduction. This allows for more of your laptops processing power to be dedicated to audio. I have used this program for about a year now and still conclude that is quite amazing in how audio is improved. Additionally, I go into TASK MASTER and shut down additional programs that I know are not needed for audio, but there are usually not many left after running Fidelizer. I would say that on my Windows 7 OS that Fidelizer shuts down somewhere between 60-70% of the processes that ordinarily run when listening to computer audio. This is easily seen by taking a visual of the processes running before and after in TASK MANAGER, before/after running Fidelizer. There are reviews all over the net, but you can go directly to it here: Fidelizer - Instantly computer audiophile workstationWindows X's Live 2) I have a feature called "Re-mastering" on my pre/pro. Engaged, it makes a subtle, but noticeable difference on any streaming......and is the only way that I notice any difference using this feature. Happy Listening! Devlon
  5. Téléchargement de musique en haute qualité. Ecoute en streaming. Qobuz is offering a special. If you you pay for one year in advance the price will drop 50.00. Currently, Qobuz HD streaming averages 27.25 p/month. Paying 267.00 (199.00 euro) in advance for the whole year the average drops to 22.50. As an added bonus, you will be able to download 24bit hi-rez music at 50% off for 3 months! I see this as a good strategy for Qobuz to fund their launch into the U.S. Since I am already paying the 27.25 per month I am going to do this. Michael, I might have missed it somewhere, but is there any feedback on their 24bit downloads?
  6. I just acquired a DC 2.0. I am connecting it to my laptop by USB. I know this thread is about analog in, but I thought this might be a good place to get some help. I wanted to try using the DC as a DAC. In foobar, where you select playback options in the preferences drop down menu it allows me to select “anti-mode wasapi or anti-mode event”. However, when you actually start a song, an error window appears that says “Unrecoverable playback error: Unsupported Stream Format: 441000 16bit". Only by selecting the option: “DS: Speaker (Anti-Mode 2.0)” will it allow music to play. Is there a fix for this?
  7. Qobuz Hi-Fi Versus Spotify Premium
  8. There is no streaming service that compares on audio quality. I really don't see the point of buying CDs anymore. Qobuz Hi-Fi Versus Spotify Premium
  9. Hey Guido, I listen to those genres as well, and good recordings of Jazz, and Classical should reveal any loss in transparency I would think. The unit is being sold by the original owner for less than $600 with free Paypal and shipping, and will not be refundable (unless there is a problem). Less than a year old with all original materials included. Seems like it will be worth the gamble even though I can't demo it first.
  10. I have an opportunity to buy a Dual Core at a reasonable price. Keeping the signal path in my equipment clean, and short is a priority for me, however I have heard nothing but mostly good things about the Dual Core. I do have one concern though. Have any of you experienced a slight flattening of the sound when using the Dual Core? I am concerned about the A/D/A conversion and what effect it will have on the purity of the sound. A couple of others in another forum returned their units because of this. One guy and his wife listened only to classical, and another guy listened mostly to jazz, and acoustic music. They mentioned that although the bass, and mid-bass was improved, the sound suffered in other areas. What are you guys experience on this?
  11. Thanks Guidof! Yeah, the Duo Core 2.0 will definitely not do multi-channel. It's more about how the "ARM" feature works on the MAP-1. It's the only multi-channel analog preamp that can do this trick as far as I know. Ok, calling the dude for a demo. Wish me luck!
  12. i believe their service already streams at 320kbps Music Unlimited | Sony Entertainment Network I will try to find the article that states Sony has their sights on entering HD or 16/44.1 streaming as well
  13. His response to the above email is in post #21 above. I am going to talk to the owner of the MAP and see if I can talk him into a demo with a return option based on how the DC 2.0 works with it.
  14. Yes, but I was very specific in asking Toni only about EQing 5.0, 5.1 below <500hz. I am not sure how Toni would have confused my angle and confused it with 2.0>2.2? Here is a copy of that email to him: "Hey Toni, Devlon again. I know that in a previous email you stated affirmatively that the Duo Core would work in the 5.0, 5.1 scenario that I had described, but on one of the forum sites, I am getting opinions to the contrary that basically state that the Duo Core will most likely "not" work this way even if the processor can turn a stereo signal into 5.0, 5.1. Again, if you would, affirm again to me (before I spend 1350.00 on a non-refundable MAP) that if the processor is cable of dividing 2.0 into 5.0 that all 5 speakers will benefit from the Duo Core as it will be "hearing" or correcting <500hz signals in all the speakers as a sum. Is that right? Can it do that? Again, I'm only asking about the Duo Core working in a 5.0, 5.1 system by way of a unique processor that can divide 2.0 in up to 5.1 from just a stereo signal. Regards, Devlon Bignault"
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