R-A-W

forgot to tell this .. if your database gets corrupted for some reason .. and some reasons are always the case with computers .. you can always refill a new clean database in a whimp because all tag info is saved in the filenames .. this makes this workflow just as robust as fileformats with tag-containers (AIFF, FLAC, MP3 ....) no reactions up till now but for me this robustness is essential before my MAC iTunes Amarra route I could do all this within Foobar which was great as anybody, who's building up a serious music library through the years, understands .. All the best, Roger

I can understand that when streaming directly from a disk. But how can all this possibly make any difference when playing back from memory??

I have been questioning this myself aswell because I would like to switch to NAS for convinience Besides the NAS could be put away into another room, no HDD/fan's sound pollution. Before it was reasonable that NAS would not have similar results as USB or Firwire. But now with memory buffering (I use Amarra memory play) I also don't understand how this can possibly make any difference. I asked Steve Nugent from Emperical Audio, he said it shouldn't make a difference. I asked Gordon Ranking from Wavelength he said "NAS drives really don't work very well with audio. Great for back up but not great for immediate storage" Leaves me wondering ..

Do you use some kind of "memory play"?

My iTunes library filled with WAV files is huge. I have been working with iTunify for some years now with a nice workaround for mass tagging WAV files. I also rip with EAC making WAV files with the following filename format; Then I add as many tracks/albums I want, to the iTunes library, at once. These added tracks will not have any tags in iTunes at this moment. Following I select all added tracks and go to iTunify. In iTunify I select import from text as following; Mind you; you need to use the exact same filename format or it won't work! No need to copy tags per album. Great workaround to save all your database work and do mass operations which can save you a lot of time. After editing your tags in iTunes you can also rewrite your filenames the other way around (filename from text) with iTunify. After this I backup my files so I have saved my precious database work all time. I also ad ratings in an added field at the end of the filename (mind to use the new filename format with added field). Good luck, Roger PS iTunify still works good for me with the latest OSX.

@ Gordon<br /> Do you experience any degradation of sound quality with a NAS when using memory play of Amarra or Pure Music.<br /> If "yes" do you have any clue why?<br /> <br /> Thanx,<br /> Roger

Barrows, Thanks for your outline, very clear. Can you describe an acceptable jitter spec for me? I also heard that there are different types of jitter with different audible effects. Roger

so I think there's 2 interesting questions; 1 what is the magnitude of performance improvement from I2S compared to spdif in a music reproduction system 2 what technical compromises can be chosen best to achieve the best results. In the real world most people have to build their system within a certain budget. Also a music reproduction system will mostly exists of components from different manufacturers. Barrows, you're using spdif at this moment am I right? If so I'm sure that you have good reasons for that besides the fact that that choice will not be forever .. I am looking forward to the further outcome of Bill .. interesting is that the Offramp 4 has spdif and I2S on it, so comparisons can be made. btw Steve Nugent thinks his Offramp 4 with dual turboclocks over spdif will perform better than the standard Offramp 4 over I2S http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=95464.new#new Roger

Barrows, That's absolutely clear and I agree. But besides the interface used, there are many more variables that make the final performance. A good usb to spdif implementation can outperform a worse usb to I2S implementation. Looking at the whole digital to analog process it would be interesting to know to what extend the I2S interface contributes to the final achievable performance. Just as it is interesting to know to what extend a listening room or a speaker contributes to the achievable performance of the complete audio reproduction system. All this to place things into perspective ..

Hi Barrows, You state; the I2S on the PW dac was hugly better than the SPDIF, on the other hand you mention that certain types of jitter on SPDIF could cause "pleasing" effects versus lower levels of jitter. Can you explain further more the positive effects of lower jitter such as in I2S PW dac) in relation to the positive effects of higher jitter such as in SPDIF? Are there contrary facts at play here? I believe SPDIF implementation is not the same always, so jitter performance could differ. The PW dac example might not be a representative for the general comparison between I2S and SPDIF. Roger

gjg, can you describe how this system was build up to get to the 7000$ price point? thanks, Roger

Steve why not put the interface inside the dac (one box) and supply it with a dedicated/separate power supply .. best of both worlds?