Linux for Audiophiles

[kuanyn]

Please advise where can I obtain a driver for AYER QB9 to run on AP-Linux

 

Thanks

[Krisbee]

Please advise where can I obtain a driver for AYER QB9 to run on AP-Linux

 

Thanks

 

AFAIK you don't need a special driver for the AYRE QB9. The device should automatically be recognised in Linux. See here:

 

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f6-dac-digital-analog-conversion/ayre-qb-9-w-usb-audio-v2-0-here-w-linux-update-it-works-4709/#post4709

[kuanyn]

Thanks for the link

[JJJ]

To my mind, reading this thread shows very clearly why a prepared package such as AP-Linux is so appealing. How many people really want to be messing about with terminal, kernels and such? This is exactly the area holding this whole computer audiophile gig back. I say to the AP-Linux crew or other would-be offerings: "bring it on! Make it seamless. Make it utterly user-friendly and don't require me to mess about in the engine room."

[Jud]

To my mind, reading this thread shows very clearly why a prepared package such as AP-Linux is so appealing. How many people really want to be messing about with terminal, kernels and such? This is exactly the area holding this whole computer audiophile gig back. I say to the AP-Linux crew or other would-be offerings: "bring it on! Make it seamless. Make it utterly user-friendly and don't require me to mess about in the engine room."

 

I think that's right, although I'm one of those folks who actually occasionally *likes* "messing about with terminal, kernels and such." It can be fun! (OK, I'll stop right there, as I see your eyes glazing over.)

[phofman]

Make it seamless. Make it utterly user-friendly and don't require me to mess about in the engine room."

 

That is by far the most complicated = expensive part. Everyone has different HW, requirements, expectations. OSS is about customization, flexibility, freedom, not about absolute simplicity for anyone. Sorry to say that but it is how OSS works.

[Kilauea50]

I have learned more about a computer using Linux than all the years I ran Windows put together. My Mac is my primary computer but I will always have a linux machine. It really is fun to play around with

[wushuliu]

To my mind, reading this thread shows very clearly why a prepared package such as AP-Linux is so appealing. How many people really want to be messing about with terminal, kernels and such? This is exactly the area holding this whole computer audiophile gig back. I say to the AP-Linux crew or other would-be offerings: "bring it on! Make it seamless. Make it utterly user-friendly and don't require me to mess about in the engine room."

 

Absolutely. Every time one brings up Linux you've got folks who say all you have to do is this and this, it's easy etc etc. Hell no. Linux is a PITA unless you're fluent w/ the terminal. Something ALWAYS comes up. ESPECIALLY when it comes to getting 'audiophile' audio. So if someone wants to make a version that is more plug and play for audiophiles good for them. I gave up on Linix a long time ago. Life's too short. Even Windows has evolved faster.

[kuanyn]

That is by far the most complicated = expensive part. Everyone has different HW, requirements, expectations. OSS is about customization, flexibility, freedom, not about absolute simplicity for anyone. Sorry to say that but it is how OSS works.

 

Sorry, may I ask what is "HW" abd "OSS"

 

Thanks

[Krisbee]

"HW" - hardware

"OSS" - Open source software - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Sik_Lescinovid]

"HW" - hardware

"OSS" - Open source software - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Though I must admit that even I was confused by "OSS", considering we're talking about Linux audio

[Krisbee]

To my mind, reading this thread shows very clearly why a prepared package such as AP-Linux is so appealing. How many people really want to be messing about with terminal, kernels and such? This is exactly the area holding this whole computer audiophile gig back. I say to the AP-Linux crew or other would-be offerings: "bring it on! Make it seamless. Make it utterly user-friendly and don't require me to mess about in the engine room."

 

I wonder if it would have been so appealing if it had a a name like "Fred's Linux" or Vortexbox or pupMDP? Or, was it simply the "audiophile" hook that attracted your attention? AP-Linux is no more "user-friendly" than any standard distro, in fact it over complicates things.

 

The message of this thread is that setting up something like Lubuntu IS just a matter of "point and click", even in the case of changing the kernel, which is not essential. There's no need to "mess about in the engine room".

[Krisbee]

Absolutely. Every time one brings up Linux you've got folks who say all you have to do is this and this, it's easy etc etc. Hell no. Linux is a PITA unless you're fluent w/ the terminal. Something ALWAYS comes up. ESPECIALLY when it comes to getting 'audiophile' audio. So if someone wants to make a version that is more plug and play for audiophiles good for them. I gave up on Linix a long time ago. Life's too short. Even Windows has evolved faster.

 

Yes, Linux is such a PITA that it is at the heart of the new Weiss Engineering MAN301 Music Archive Network Player , Bryston's digital players, Auralti's audio players and the very popular Squeezebox Touch. Modern Linux distros can be used without recourse to the terminal. Of course there are many who are happy to learn and be more in control of their system.

 

The post-install configuration of something like Lubuntu can be entriely "point and click", and compared to Windows there is no need to install and confgure ASIO, Kernel Streaming or 3rd party drivers for USB audio Class 2 devices. No need to use jplay or fideliser to optimise, no need to think about virus checkers and trojans etc, no need for disk-defragmentation and no registry to corrupt.

 

Of course, Linux is not perfect, but I don't see Windows or OSX being clearly superior for audio playback use. Many are obviously attracted to particularly software applictions, e.g. iTunes, which settles the matter of OS choice for them. Many want a totally "pug and play" system, just turn it on and play music in a TV-like fashion. That places choice and control mainly in the hands of the system provider.

 

I happen to prefer the "flexibility and freedom" phofman spoke of.

[Jud]

Absolutely. Every time one brings up Linux you've got folks who say all you have to do is this and this, it's easy etc etc. Hell no. Linux is a PITA unless you're fluent w/ the terminal. Something ALWAYS comes up. ESPECIALLY when it comes to getting 'audiophile' audio. So if someone wants to make a version that is more plug and play for audiophiles good for them. I gave up on Linix a long time ago. Life's too short. Even Windows has evolved faster.

 

I run audio apps at home on OS X, Windows, Lubuntu, and FreeBSD-STABLE, so I've got no particular ax to grind here. I would say, wushuliu, that yes, you have a point in terms of what most people are familiar with. And not that this is going to persuade you or anyone else to run out and learn Linux (nor is that my intention), but we should recognize a couple of things:

 

- We tend to ignore the problems that "always come up" in systems we're familiar with, like Windows or OS X. Certainly iTunes and Windows Media Player, as well as OS X and Windows in general, have their aggravating qualities, but unlike Linux, we don't think about those as barriers to entry because we already have entered.

 

- We're accustomed to thinking of point-and-click as easier than typing text in a terminal, but I've done both, and I can tell you that in many circumstances typing in a terminal can be far quicker and easier. For example, let's say you need to turn a few hundred songs in different folders under your Music directory from flac to wav or aiff. Type a couple of lines in a terminal and you're good. While the conversion goes along in the background you can work on something else or go have a cup of coffee. OK, what's the equivalently short and convenient way to do this via point-and-click? So Linux (or FreeBSD, or the terminal in OS X, or the shell in Windows) have a lot of advantages, it's just that far fewer people are familiar with those advantages than they are with how to use point-and-click tools in Windows and OS X.

[Richard Dale]

For example, let's say you need to turn a few hundred songs in different folders under your Music directory from flac to wav or aiff. Type a couple of lines in a terminal and you're good.

 

I'm happy using command line tools, but they don't seem to work very well for me. Maybe I'm missing something, but I would like to be able to convert my songs from AIFF to FLAC. I've tried several command line programs and all of them have converted to FLACs that play, but without any metadata. That makes the conversion useless. If I use Max or XLD to do the same conversion it works fine.

[Krisbee]

As AIFF is a MAC-centric format, you'd expect XLD to work. I don't what you've tried in Linux, but I agree it's not always obvious which switch, or combination of switches, to use in CLI programs. ffmpeg is the first that springs to mind and the command "ffmpeg -formats" shows it support AIFF. Whether it retains any metadata, I don't know.

[Sik_Lescinovid]

AP-Linux is no more "user-friendly" than any standard distro, in fact it over complicates things.

 

The message of this thread is that setting up something like Lubuntu IS just a matter of "point and click", even in the case of changing the kernel, which is not essential. There's no need to "mess about in the engine room".

 

This, a million times. There's a whole thread on people messing around and wasting hours with a huge supposedly modified Windows 8 download; problems range from not being able to log on all the way to drivers not working. Lubuntu is indeed straightforward to install and set up and satisfies many of the attributes that audiophiles expect from an OS dedicated to music. With something like this given, I can't begin to fathom why someone would even think about messing about with a modified Windows 8 installation. Considering that there's much less to be done to prepare Lubuntu for audio use than Windows 8, I'm starting to think that people actually like to mess about...

[Richard Dale]

This, a million times. There's a whole thread on people messing around and wasting hours with a huge supposedly modified Windows 8 download; problems range from not being able to log on all the way to drivers not working. Lubuntu is indeed straightforward to install and set up and satisfies many of the attributes that audiophiles expect from an OS dedicated to music. With something like this given, I can't begin to fathom why someone would even think about messing about with a modified Windows 8 installation. Considering that there's much less to be done to prepare Lubuntu for audio use than Windows 8, I'm starting to think that people actually like to mess about...

 

Juliocat started this thread by introducing a 'Linux For Audiophiles' distribution. So why are you talking about some Windows 8 download thing? Juliocat had a working Linux For Audiophiles installation which worked great, he was really pleased with it and wanted to tell us all about it. Then juliocat installed Lubuntu following instructions given on this thread and when he tried the deadbeat audio player and it crashed. Nobody was able to help him debug what the problem was. Maybe Lubuntu is better than the 'Linux For Audiophiles' distribution in some way, but I've seen no evidence for that from reading this thread.

[Krisbee]

Juliocat started this thread by introducing a 'Linux For Audiophiles' distribution. So why are you talking about some Windows 8 download thing? Juliocat had a working Linux For Audiophiles installation which worked great, he was really pleased with it and wanted to tell us all about it. Then juliocat installed Lubuntu following instructions given on this thread and when he tried the deadbeat audio player and it crashed. Nobody was able to help him debug what the problem was. Maybe Lubuntu is better than the 'Linux For Audiophiles' distribution in some way, but I've seen no evidence for that from reading this thread.

 

You are forgetting that Juliocat was perfectly happy to use "audacious" instead. My experience with trying to debug intermittent software crashes on a forum, when individuals are on opposite sides of the world, is not wholly successful. Nor would it be advisable to fill up a thread with many lines of debugging output. So I declined to try on this occasion. Actually, for all you know Juliocat's problem may have been answered by PM, or outside this forum.

[juliocat]

Juliocat started this thread by introducing a 'Linux For Audiophiles' distribution. So why are you talking about some Windows 8 download thing? Juliocat had a working Linux For Audiophiles installation which worked great, he was really pleased with it and wanted to tell us all about it. Then juliocat installed Lubuntu following instructions given on this thread and when he tried the deadbeat audio player and it crashed. Nobody was able to help him debug what the problem was. Maybe Lubuntu is better than the 'Linux For Audiophiles' distribution in some way, but I've seen no evidence for that from reading this thread.

 

I think i find the reason of the Deadbeef crash, when i play the same song causing problems in deadbeef in audacious in some point of the song i heard some kind of pink noise but the song keeps playing, so i think the file have some problem, but audirvana+ on the mac plays without any problems, maybe is an encoder problem or something else.

[Richard Dale]

I think i find the reason of the Deadbeef crash, when i play the same song causing problems in deadbeef in audacious in some point of the song i heard some kind of pink noise but the song keeps playing, so i think the file have some problem, but audirvana+ on the mac plays without any problems, maybe is an encoder problem or something else.

 

OK, interesting, but I thought that you didn't have a similar problem when using the Linux For Audiophiles distro.

[juliocat]

OK, interesting, but I thought that you didn't have a similar problem when using the Linux For Audiophiles distro.

 

No, any problems in AP Linux with the same file.

[Ipoci]

All the discussions here are pointing to jitter reducing, anybody compared the linux solution with cPlay and cMP?

 

 

I just did some comparison between two identical laptops.

 

Lenovo T61 Win XPsp2 nLite optimized vs. Ap-Linux ... usb-spdif key is M2Tech EVO power by an Agilent Lab DC Power Supply.

 

First of all my compliments to ap-linux guy for the idea, and very good packaging ... it's basically a brainless installation and at the end you have a fully functional audio-video ready computer. Well done ! I still struggling to have ap-linux working with my exFAT formatted HD but hope to win the battle soon.

 

In relation to sound, ap-linux ( as most of the computer based systems ) tend to be slightly more "aggressive" in the high part of the spectrum, in particular you can catch the behavior with female voices. In any case it's a subtle difference. Second difference stage, cMP system has more depth and the overall scene is more "palpable" ambient.

 

I will continue the comparison, for the moment:

 

ap-linux: Graphic environment / ergonomic = 10, Sound 8.5 or 9

cMP2: Graphic environment / ergonomic = 5.5 or 6, Sound 10

 

Have a nice day. Max

[Krisbee]

First of all my compliments to ap-linux guy for the idea, and very good packaging ... it's basically a brainless installation and at the end you have a fully functional audio-video ready computer. Well done ! I still struggling to have ap-linux working with my exFAT formatted HD but hope to win the battle soon.

 

What packaging? This is just "Linux Mint Debian" with a few programs removed and a few added. Of course it's brainless to install, because it's Linux Mint. It's as brainless to install as any other modern Linux distro you care to use.

 

Believe me, there's nothing special here. It is not a proper distro, just a remaster/re-spin. It has no repositories of its own.

 

For exFAT you need to install and configure two packages: exfat-utils, exfat-fuse. Just search for them in the "synaptic package amanger". Oh, by the way you have updated your system? It's only another 600MB to download.

 

Do us all a favour and compare Lubuntu to cMP2.

[Kilauea50]

What packaging? This is just "Linux Mint Debian" with a few programs removed and a few added. Of course it's brainless to install, because it's Linux Mint. It's as brainless to install as any other modern Linux distro you care to use.

 

Believe me, there's nothing special here. It is not a proper distro, just a remaster/re-spin. It has no repositories of its own.

 

For exFAT you need to install and configure two packages: exfat-utils, exfat-fuse. Just search for them in the "synaptic package amanger". Oh, by the way you have updated your system? It's only another 600MB to download.

 

Do us all a favour and compare Lubuntu to cMP2.

 

 

 

I agree with this. I cannot stand LMDE's update packages mess.