How do I play hi-rez music from HD Tracks via XMC-2?

[Ricco]

If I purchase high resolution music from HD Tracks, how do I play them using my XMC-2? 

I can download the files into my Mac, but how do I play them and retain the high resolution format?

Any pointers would be appreciated.

Thx 

Ricco 

[marcl]

Feb 13, 2023 17:47:24 GMT -5 Ricco said:

If I purchase high resolution music from HD Tracks, how do I play them using my XMC-2? 

I can download the files into my Mac, but how do I play them and retain the high resolution format?

Any pointers would be appreciated.

Thx 

Ricco 

There are some options, but I have found the best way is to use HDMI.  Send an HDMI output from your Mac to the XMC-2.  Be sure the Mac is configured to output the proper sample/bit rate.  Works for multichannel 5.1 also.

p.s.  I do this using JRiver Media Center and play high res FLAC as well as DSD, 2 channel as well as 5.1 music.

[creimes]

I also use JRiver on my mac Mini, though i use USB from my Mac Mini to my XMC-1, JRiver will play the files and it sounds superb IMO, the software isn't too much to buy, I purchased the Master License so i can use it on my Mac mini and my PC where my headphone setup resides.

Chad

[fbczar]

Feb 13, 2023 17:53:20 GMT -5 marcl said:

Feb 13, 2023 17:47:24 GMT -5 Ricco said:

If I purchase high resolution music from HD Tracks, how do I play them using my XMC-2? 

I can download the files into my Mac, but how do I play them and retain the high resolution format?

Any pointers would be appreciated.

Thx 

Ricco 

There are some options, but I have found the best way is to use HDMI.  Send an HDMI output from your Mac to the XMC-2.  Be sure the Mac is configured to output the proper sample/bit rate.  Works for multichannel 5.1 also.

p.s.  I do this using JRiver Media Center and play high res FLAC as well as DSD, 2 channel as well as 5.1 music.

Audivarna, Roon and HQPlayer are also good choices. HQPlayer is fantastic, but the learning curve is pretty serious. Audirvana sounds great and is inexpensive. 

[geebo]

Do you have a Blu-Ray player with a USB input?

[Sayer]

Another option is the Nvidia Shield using a USB thumb drive. I use a 256gb drive on mine sent to the XMC-2. There is a free player app called Kodi that is great for playing music via the Nvidia.

[Ricco]

Thanks fellas. I'll check out these options.

[geebo]

Just for kicks I posed the question to ChatGPT and here is the response:

To play hi-res music from HD Tracks via XMC-2, you can follow these steps:

Connect your XMC-2 to your computer or network. You can connect the XMC-2 to your computer via USB or Ethernet cable, or you can connect it to your network via Ethernet.

Download the hi-res music files from HD Tracks onto your computer.

Open the music playback software on your computer, such as foobar2000 or JRiver Media Center.

In the software, select the XMC-2 as the output device. This will ensure that the music is played through the XMC-2 and its high-quality DAC (digital-to-analog converter).

Navigate to the folder where you downloaded the hi-res music files from HD Tracks.

Select the hi-res music files you want to play, and drag them into the music playback software.

Start playback of the music files. The XMC-2 should automatically detect the high resolution of the music files and play them at their full resolution.

Enjoy the high-quality sound of your hi-res music files through your XMC-2!

[foggy1956]

Feb 17, 2023 12:18:59 GMT -5 geebo said:

Just for kicks I posed the question to ChatGPT and here is the response:

To play hi-res music from HD Tracks via XMC-2, you can follow these steps:

Connect your XMC-2 to your computer or network. You can connect the XMC-2 to your computer via USB or Ethernet cable, or you can connect it to your network via Ethernet.

Download the hi-res music files from HD Tracks onto your computer.

Open the music playback software on your computer, such as foobar2000 or JRiver Media Center.

In the software, select the XMC-2 as the output device. This will ensure that the music is played through the XMC-2 and its high-quality DAC (digital-to-analog converter).

Navigate to the folder where you downloaded the hi-res music files from HD Tracks.

Select the hi-res music files you want to play, and drag them into the music playback software.

Start playback of the music files. The XMC-2 should automatically detect the high resolution of the music files and play them at their full resolution.

Enjoy the high-quality sound of your hi-res music files through your XMC-2!

Changing data rate on all files to 48k within jriver lessens the workload on the smc-2 processor.

[Topend]

Below is my setup.

My HiRes music is stored on my NAS. I select “watch bluray” on my remote to switch on my TV, Panasonic Bluray Player and XMC-2.

Using the Bluray I can navigated to my music on the NAS and play an album of my choice. This plays in the correct resolution depending on what I originally downloaded.

Cheers,
Dave.

[routlaw]

I use Audirvana Origin, sounds great not too expensive but use a USB connection into my DAC. But you can do the same with the XMC-2 USB input as well. I use a M1 Mac Mini and prefer the USB option to the HDMI connection. The nice thing about Audirvana and a few of the other juke boxes is they will automatically control the system so that you have bit perfect playback bypassing the MIDI software. 

Hope that helps 

[markc]

Feb 17, 2023 12:18:59 GMT -5 geebo said:

Just for kicks I posed the question to ChatGPT and here is the response:

To play hi-res music from HD Tracks via XMC-2, you can follow these steps:

Connect your XMC-2 to your computer or network. You can connect the XMC-2 to your computer via USB or Ethernet cable, or you can connect it to your network via Ethernet.  HDMI

Download the hi-res music files from HD Tracks onto your computer.

Open the music playback software on your computer, such as foobar2000 or JRiver Media Center.

In the software, select the XMC-2 as the output device. This will ensure that the music is played through the XMC-2 and its high-quality DAC (digital-to-analog converter).

Navigate to the folder where you downloaded the hi-res music files from HD Tracks.

Select the hi-res music files you want to play, and drag them into the music playback software.

Start playback of the music files. The XMC-2 should automatically detect the high resolution of the music files and play them at their full resolution.

Enjoy the high-quality sound of your hi-res music files through your XMC-2!

Geebo, I think you should add an addendum to this post to point out that it is mostly incorrect, else unknowledgeable forum users may actually believe it! The post likely misleads the OP
Personally I think the biggest danger of ChatGPT output is that it presents it's answers as didactic factual truth, just as it reads here. Human nature means we read it and tend to believe it.

1) Connecting by Ethernet or network via ethernet is 100% incorrect for Emotiva processors.
2) The audio playback software will need to be configured on the Mac / PC in order to play audio at the full resolution. Often a moderate level of knowledge is required to do this. Default settings may use Operating System audio drivers or resampling for example.
3) The XMC-2 / RMC will not necessarily play hi-resolution audio in native resolution digital to analogue conversion: If you have Dirac engaged, then ALL audio will be resampled to 48kHz internally in the XMC-2
4) The XMC-2 / RMC will not necessarily play audio at native full resolution: Using Dolby or DTS Neural upmixing will use interpolation and trickery to redistribute the sound across a different number of channels.
5) USB will only allow stereo hi-resolution audio transmission. HDMI is required for multichannel. Some (mostly older I believe) MAC's can also output DSD over HDMI. No Windows PC's can.

[geebo]

Feb 20, 2023 5:27:14 GMT -5 markc said:

Feb 17, 2023 12:18:59 GMT -5 geebo said:

Just for kicks I posed the question to ChatGPT and here is the response:

To play hi-res music from HD Tracks via XMC-2, you can follow these steps:

Connect your XMC-2 to your computer or network. You can connect the XMC-2 to your computer via USB or Ethernet cable, or you can connect it to your network via Ethernet.  HDMI

Download the hi-res music files from HD Tracks onto your computer.

Open the music playback software on your computer, such as foobar2000 or JRiver Media Center.

In the software, select the XMC-2 as the output device. This will ensure that the music is played through the XMC-2 and its high-quality DAC (digital-to-analog converter).

Navigate to the folder where you downloaded the hi-res music files from HD Tracks.

Select the hi-res music files you want to play, and drag them into the music playback software.

Start playback of the music files. The XMC-2 should automatically detect the high resolution of the music files and play them at their full resolution.

Enjoy the high-quality sound of your hi-res music files through your XMC-2!

Geebo, I think you should add an addendum to this post to point out that it is mostly incorrect, else unknowledgeable forum users may actually believe it! The post likely misleads the OP
Personally I think the biggest danger of ChatGPT output is that it presents it's answers as didactic factual truth, just as it reads here. Human nature means we read it and tend to believe it.

1) Connecting by Ethernet or network via ethernet is 100% incorrect for Emotiva processors.
2) The audio playback software will need to be configured on the Mac / PC in order to play audio at the full resolution. Often a moderate level of knowledge is required to do this. Default settings may use Operating System audio drivers or resampling for example.
3) The XMC-2 / RMC will not necessarily play hi-resolution audio in native resolution digital to analogue conversion: If you have Dirac engaged, then ALL audio will be resampled to 48kHz internally in the XMC-2
4) The XMC-2 / RMC will not necessarily play audio at native full resolution: Using Dolby or DTS Neural upmixing will use interpolation and trickery to redistribute the sound across a different number of channels.
5) USB will only allow stereo hi-resolution audio transmission. HDMI is required for multichannel. Some (mostly older I believe) MAC's can also output DSD over HDMI. No Windows PC's can.

I never made any claim that the info was correct. I've found lots of things wrong with ChatGPT. Try asking how to update firmware on a UMC-1 or what the difference is between an RMC-1 and an RMC-1L. I did start my post by saying I did it just for kicks.