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galtthedestroyer

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  1. just to confirm, Carlo, you piped 24/96 and 24/192 directly into this DAC? into which input? iirc, unbalanced coax can transfer 24/192.
  2. hdcd.exe and dbpoweramp might be using different implementations. my assumption is that if Microsoft won't allow hdcd.exe to be ported to any other OS without paying royalties then it's doing it the right way. reverse engineering should allow them to port it. I'd be interested to hear a test using it instead of dbpoweramp.
  3. I can't even claim to have mixed it up after reading about hdcd.exe because I didn't read it yet. everything nowadays is 24 24 24 so it sticks. incidentally, hdcd.exe does output 24, which makes sense because so many DAC's expect it.
  4. That hdcd.exe is really cool! I'm going to contact the author and see if we can't get some kind of unix binary somehow. aparently microsoft wants to charge for a non WIN OS. I'll also look into using wine or something in Linux. so we don't have to remember which discs are hdcd, it would be nice to be able to either detect it and use his code, or just run every rip through his code. although he says non-hdcd discs get ripped at half volume when run through his code. this I will also look into more.
  5. nothing has ever held a candle to DCS. of course I can't recall ever just hearing the DAC. I usually heard their transport connected to their upsampler converting CD's to DSD, then sending that to their DSD DAC, or SACD's sent directly to their DSD DAC. each component was about $10,000.
  6. the encoding is in the bits so bit perfect will keep your hdcd. now if only some genius could come up with a way to turn hdcd's quasi 24 bit precision into actual 24 bit files i.e. in a way that is better than just regular upsampling, that would be fantastic.
  7. I've heard from some DAC manufacturers that drivers can be very hardware dependent. They've had trouble with 24/192 due to driver issues. So am I to understand that 384 just worked between the Sonore and the MSB? or did some tweaking have to occur? It's been my experience that 16/44 just works on many unixes with the few USB DAC's I've tried. This gave me the impression that all is well. But I think I neglected to test higher bitrates. What I want to know is, can I get 24/384 using linux without any hassle... with most DAC's?
  8. I searched for, but didn't find any results. This question came up from the discrepancy between my assumption and a conversation with the manufacturer of fine USB DACs I had earlier today. It is my understanding that we're currently "crossing the chasm" between early adopters and early majority when it comes to music servers. e.g. Bryston BDP-1 was featured on the cover of Stereophile. It is heralded as the "perfect" solution because it is neither a PC nor a server. It's a player of digital files and audiophiles can wrap their heads around that. (My feeling is that you have to deal with all the computer ripping, etc. anyway... and then you have the additional task of copying your music to a USB drive and carrying it over to your $2000 player????? ) all that aside, the opinion of this certain DAC company was that most audiophiles out there are using their computers. I think this discrepancy makes sense. as a DAC company they've been fielding support calls from early adopters up until now. also, they probably don't get many support calls from the people who buy servers because they primarily just work. whereas the DIY guys can have tons of questions. so what do you use, why did you choose it, and how do you like it. what do your peers use? also, have any of you had a USB DAC that didn't "just work" when connected to your server? if so, what were the brands and what was the solution? I hope a lot of CA readers can glean helpful insight from your answers. I know I will. thanks in advance.
  9. lots of these posts had great ideas, but I feel like you were looking for more. someone mentioned copying all 4000 CD's over your network to another storage facility. THIS is the way to go! that would allow you to get rid of the ripnas. I hope you can return it. it runs windows. to make a sweeping assumption, that is why it's crapping out on you. but regardless, no one deserves that kind of customer support. as for the hard drive, you mentioned that it's mirrored, someone mentioned you can just replace and re-mirror it. He is right. I'm surprised to hear you have mirrored drives as their homepage clearly states that nothing is mirrored. anyway, if you're going to keep your ripnas, and fix that drive issue, then keep in mind that it's UPNP. so your best solution with a combination of ease of use and fidelity is Linn as so many have suggested. Otherwise you'd have to put an additional computer at your stereo and run a USB DAC to it. At that point LINUX LINUX LINUX! you're one Ubuntu install disc and half an hour away from UPNP nirvana. As for the interface you asked for... use an android or iDevice with an app that's UPNP. The app list is long now so ask if you want it. (You'll need it for the Linn too of course. ) I feel your pain. In fact I feel everyone's pain. I've been perfecting a music server since escient was the only player on the block. I've now decided to launch it as a product because I feel that current offerings are each missing things. but alas I can't self promote yet as it's still in an ugly beige box. Soon, but probably too late for you, I'll be selling it. anyway, I've skinned this cat of yours all 100 different ways over the years so feel free to hit me up for step by step info... or check out my blog. for a reward, please tell me all the things that are missing or half-assed. I mean that. I want it to be useful and so forth.
  10. I hope you don't mind, but I'm just going to link to your post from now on, as I'm tired of repeating myself to so many people. You put it more clearly and succinctly than I generally do.
  11. This is one of the things I read. It's from 2007. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:f6rXGUVppCgJ:www.stereophile.com/news/120307samplerateconversion/+iTunes+sample+rate+conversion+quality&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a&source=www.google.com I admit that I've never touched the subject again to see if anything is better now. This, and having to manually change the rate, have led me to mistrust Apple products from then on. Now, what is your reference to support your claim that there is no longer an issue on Apple systems? I really hope that it truly is no longer an issue.
  12. the V link is a converter... that converts from USB to SPDIF. the optical cable also uses SPDIF. so you're comparing the spdif output from your MAC with an optical cable to the SPDIF output from your V link with a coax cable. i.e. you're comparing fruit cocktail made from apples and grapes to fruit cocktail made from oranges and cherries. moving on. Things could have changed, but last I heard you do NOT want your MAC to do sample rate conversion. It screws up the music pretty bad. although it might not be as bad at bit depth changes. can anyone help me out here? it's one of the reasons why so many people on C.A. are using other programs besides iTunes. So what I'm saying is that you might have sabotaged your V link in the test.
  13. I'm trying to get an idea of what drive sizes everyone is using. by that I mean how much of your total space are you currently using. or, if you haven't ripped your entire collection yet, how many distinct albums do you own? I'd like to get an idea of a default minimum disk size for a general music server. a lot of the servers for sale out there offer 1 TB as a minimum but I assume that most of us will not fill that space up within the 3 years it will take for the drives to die anyway. so I'm trying to save money / be more efficient. preemptive thanks for all responses. EDIT: I'm currently looking at 2 2.5" drives mirrored instead of one 3.5" drive. later I'll switch to 2 ssd mirrored, hence the 2.5" size now. so I'm trying to save cost now and get ssd later to eliminate some moving parts and get better reliability. (write once read often!)
  14. I for one don't like a transport medium that offers the option of "being able to" upgrade my sound with an expensive master clock. I also disagree with his statement about DIY linux music server: "The problem with MPD and linux is that it is one giant PITA to mess with" yes, MPD is an old school beast to mess with. Linux is not, and there are other easier and more feature rich solutions besides MPD.
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