wtfplay

[bodiebill]

@pm325 thanks, interesting, and there seems to have been some progress recently on the 2003 versions of the Amanero firmware, see topic Amanero card now supporting DSD native

I just returned home from vacation and hope to try the firmware upgrade one of these days and test it with wtplay. Results will follow here.

[bodiebill]

Today I managed to do the Amanero firmware upgrade and it was partly successful. I erased the existing firmware, then used oemtool117 to flash the CPLD with 1080, and flash the CPU with 2003be_71a. Finally, I ticked the F0-1,2,3 box on the last tab in the oemtool.

 

Result: I can now play raw DSD256 with wtfplay.

 

The sound is somewhat disappointing: a little more fatiguing and less open than I was used to. So I tried some different wtfplay settings and arrived at #wtfcui -d hw:1 -f 2048 -n 3 -p 60 -x wtfplay-dsd (-f 8192 was clearly less natural and also I prefer kernel 26 to kernel 25).

 

I may try different firmwares later to see whether I can improve the sound, but also to make it work with Linux and Windows, as with the 2003be_71a firmware I no longer am able to play (any) DSD files under Windows.

 

@frd__ Is this expected behavior?

 

To be continued...

[pm325]

Hello, Dennis!

I can not play raw DSD256 with wtfplay + XMOS XU208, only via DoP. So your preffered settings should be different.

 

[frd__]

@bodiebill: Thanks for trying in the new firmware. I am happy to hear that it raw DSD256 can be played. 

 

When you say the sound is disappointing do you mean all files that you tried (PCM and DSD),  or you talking about DSD256 specifically?

 

In terms of Windows, it may happen that the new Amanero firmware breaks the compatibility with the existing Windows driver. As far as I know, the driver under Windows matches USB vendor and device ids, but also the USB device name and possibly some other attributes in the Amanero's USB descriptor. If new firmware changes those things than it is possible that the driver does not see it. Keep in mind, that I am not a Windows expert - this may wrong about it.

 

 

[bodiebill]

Apologies, I was was a bit thick, and have to correct my verdict on SQ. While doing the firmware upgrade I had to open the DAC and attach and detach the usb cable a couple of times. When playing music after the upgrade, I forgot to connect my Uptone Regen, which probably explains my initial disappointment. With the Regen back in, the sound is very good indeed. I only tried DSD256 so far but will experiment further with different formats and offline converters.

 

By the way, I further lowered my -f value, and for now prefer (very system dependent I guess):

#wtfcui -d hw:1 -f 1024 -n 3 -p 60 -x wtfplay-dsd

[bodiebill]

12 hours ago, pm325 said:

Hello, Dennis!

I can not play raw DSD256 with wtfplay + XMOS XU208, only via DoP. So your preffered settings should be different.

 

 

Hi German,

I did play original DSD256 files, but the question is: did I actually play raw DSD, or was it DoP after all? I was using wtfplay-dsd, but that can do both, right? Is there a way to check?

@frd__ Mayby Fryderyk can comment?

[frd__]

DoP at rate of 352.8kHz is equivalent of DSD128. To play DSD256 in DoP you would require rate of 705.6kHz.

You can always try to play your DSD256 file using wtfplay instead of wtfplay-dsd. The former player uses DoP only.

[bodiebill]

I did some further comparisons:

• Playing DSD256 as DoP with wtfplay, surprisingly, sounds a bit more natural / less fatiguing to my ears than with wtfplay-dsd. Does that make sense?
• I compared several DSD files converted from WAV files using JRiver, XiSRC, AuI and PCMDSD. The outcome: JRiver and XiSRC converted files sound noticeably less natural than AuI and PCMDSD converted files. 
• Less surprisingly, DSD256 sounds more natural and relaxed than DSD128.

So now my preferred way is to (1) convert WAV to DFF256 using the Japanese PCMDSD tool (which only converts to that format), and (2) have dff2dsf convert this to DSF256.

Of course it would be great if the dff2dsf step could be omitted!

@frd__ Would it be difficult to add DFF to the supported file formats?

[bodiebill]

Fryderyk, I now see you are already working on DFF support, great!

[luismc]

This is, for me, the best audio player I ever seen at the moment. I came from BHE, now the second best.

It runs on all my dacs (diyinhk, ifi, Xonar) and get the best sounding system i have.

I would like to manage track lists with playlists. 

frd__ would considering to includes playlists management for next versions of wtfplay.

To me, is the most desirable upgrade I can imagine.

Thanks to frd__ !

 

[doors.sl]

Hi folks,

I intend to test wtfplay for the first time.

However my computer is connected to my STEREO system and I dont have a monitor connected to it.

Can you control wtfplay via mobile or tablet?

[jmmbarco]

1 hour ago, doors.sl said:

Hi folks,

I intend to test wtfplay for the first time.

However my computer is connected to my STEREO system and I dont have a monitor connected to it.

Can you control wtfplay via mobile or tablet?

Hi! Good to see you here!

It is only local access....no remote control. 

[doors.sl]

55 minutes ago, jmmbarco said:

Hi! Good to see you here!

It is only local access....no remote control. 

Hi my friend, good to see you here too!

After our conversation I decided to test wtfplay too.

Can you tell me if SSH works to control wtfplay or just local access?

Thanks for you help @jmmbarco.

 

[jmmbarco]

Only local access! You are very wellcome!

[doors.sl]

 

3 hours ago, jmmbarco said:

Only local access! You are very wellcome!

 

@jmmbarco, Thank you very much!

 

In the same way I will test wtfplay.

I'm very curious about this distribution.

[Ipoci]

2 hours ago, doors.sl said:

I'm very curious about this distribution.

 

Be prepared ... I'm addicted to this player.

In addition, with the recent introduction of an Intona usb galvanic isolator, sound is now really mature. I'm currently evaluating to acquire an Apple iMac just to have a dedicated (and nice to see) all-in-one system for wtfplayer.

 

Have a nice day, Massimiliano

[doors.sl]

1 hour ago, Ipoci said:

 

Be prepared ... I'm addicted to this player.

 

I`m getting ready. 

I hope my hardware is compatible. 

 

[bodiebill]

8 hours ago, jmmbarco said:

Only local access! You are very wellcome!

 

Strange, in another thread (see link below) someone says:

"you could run wtfplay in a minimal distribution with LAN support and control wtfplay remotely."

I just asked him how to go about that...

 

[AnotherSpin]

8 hours ago, bodiebill said:

 

Strange, in another thread (see link below) someone says:

"you could run wtfplay in a minimal distribution with LAN support and control wtfplay remotely."

I just asked him how to go about that...

 

 

I guess it was not wtf-play, but daphile.

[bodiebill]

indeed a mistake: see thread above.

[Ipoci]

I'm used to run wtfplay with quite powerful laptops (single thread CPU benchmark ~1,900-2,200). Audio results are really impressive, in particular with Mac apart the tiny fonts forced by the retina display. Laptops have the great benefit to be an integrated solution with monitor, keyboard and ports but fan noise is still there (Mac is almost silent).

 

So, I'm now in the good mood to give a chance to a small fanless NUC as Zotac CI323 Nano that has a decent design and a compact form factor.

 

My only concern is about the possibility to have a succesful playout of HR files (let's say up to PCM192/DSD128) with a less powerful CPU as the Intel Celeron N3150 that shows a single thread benchmark of ~470.

 

Any experience?

Do you think that the components of this small box will be managed by wtfplay? I saw Ubuntu runs on Zotac.

 

Have a nice day. Massimiliano

[Norton]

The Zotac is precisely what I've been using with WtFP for the past year.  No problems on 24/384 or DSD128, but neither would I expect any issues as it's simply playing a file "as is", not applying any DSP.

 

You may though find it takes longer to load a track in memory than your more powerful machine.  I find the Zotac is especially good using WtFP to play music from SD card.

[bodiebill]

Quiet here... Which perhaps is a positive thing as wtfplay just works, and without intricate tweaking that invites ongoing discussion (as with HQPlayer) :-)

 

But I do have a question:

Thus far I have been using my analog preamp (a very neutral Lightspeed Attenuator) assuming that wtfplay outputs at 100% volume. But is this really the case? When I look at alsamixer, the volume is at 50 % or -16.6dB. Does this SW volume also apply to wtfplay? Would I get better sound when I raise this to 100%? 

[pm325]

8 hours ago, bodiebill said:

When I look at alsamixer, the volume is at 50 % or -16.6dB. Does this SW volume also apply to wtfplay? Would I get better sound when I raise this to 100%? 

Hello, Dennis!

In the case of DSD (Native or DoP), any change of volume is not allowed because it will damage stream. So, volume setting of alsamixer should be bypassed (remember XXHighEnd player).

[bodiebill]

11 hours ago, pm325 said:

Hello, Dennis!

In the case of DSD (Native or DoP), any change of volume is not allowed because it will damage stream. So, volume setting of alsamixer should be bypassed (remember XXHighEnd player).

 

Thanks pm325. I experimented a bit: with PCM as well as DSD, and both my DAC's, the alsamixer volume setting (varying from 0 to 100%) seems to have no effect on the actual volume at all. Does this mean the alsamixer is bypassed by default? Nothing else for me to do?