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Post by dac0964 on Jun 17, 2013 14:34:41 GMT -5
Have you asked about this over on the JRiver forums? They seem to have lots of experience setting these things up. No I haven't. Thought I'd figure it out first myself but then I stumbled on this post this morning and hoped that maybe I can get a quick answer from Keith or anybody who may have a solution. I do intend to check the JRiver forum as well later today. |
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klinemj
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Post by klinemj on Jun 17, 2013 15:42:57 GMT -5
Also powxpa, make sure you use a software player that provides bit-perfect audio for the best sound quality. J-river and the free foobar will do it using a technique called WASAPI for windows. YOu have to manually tell these players to use WASAPI. For instance foobar, you need to download a free WASAPI plugin and configure the output to be wasapi. Way back on Page 1, garbulky made the above comment. I am brand new to feeding a DAC with either USB or TOSLINK, so pardon me being late to the thread with this question. But, I have my computer now set up and feeding tunes to my Oppo's input. I am going to hook up USB so I could do that w/o going through my computer's soundcard at all. I use JRiver. Assuming I tell JRiver to use WASAPI, will I need to do anything else to override Windows (I have Vista) from limiting to 44 hz? (This topic got mentioned a bit on Page 1 also but not fully addressed...) Thanks, Mark |
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Post by yves on Jun 17, 2013 16:31:41 GMT -5
Assuming I tell JRiver to use WASAPI, will I need to do anything else to override Windows (I have Vista) from limiting to 44 hz? In Windows playback devices, select the playback device that you're going to use and then click on the properties button. Next, go to the Advanced tab and make sure that applications are allowed to use the device in exclusive mode, as well as make sure that applications in exclusive mode will get priority (because WASAPI bypasses the Core Audio "Audio Engine" component of Windows only if it uses the playback device in exclusive mode rather than in shared mode, as shown in this diagram). P.S. - Also note those last two remarks about potential problems related to buffer size here : wiki.jriver.com/index.php/WASAPI |
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klinemj
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Post by klinemj on Jun 17, 2013 18:58:00 GMT -5
Thanks! I will give that a try!
Mark (PS...where do you guys learn all this stuff?)
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Post by yves on Jun 17, 2013 19:56:55 GMT -5
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klinemj
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Post by klinemj on Jun 17, 2013 20:52:02 GMT -5
Thanks! To the best of my knowledge, I have mine running the best it can now.
Mark
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Post by dac0964 on Jun 18, 2013 13:47:43 GMT -5
Have you asked about this over on the JRiver forums? They seem to have lots of experience setting these things up. No I haven't. Thought I'd figure it out first myself but then I stumbled on this post this morning and hoped that maybe I can get a quick answer from Keith or anybody who may have a solution. I do intend to check the JRiver forum as well later today. Got mine working now! Thanks to one member in the JRiver forum. |
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Post by GreenKiwi on Jun 18, 2013 14:05:02 GMT -5
They are quite good over there...
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KeithL
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Post by KeithL on Jun 21, 2013 11:50:43 GMT -5
First off, I am "a PC person", so I would go with a PC. I have quite a lot of background in computers, and, to me, the benefits of PCs are very simple: there is a lot more software available to run on a PC and, for a given price range, you get a lot more computer power for your money with a PC. I think PCs have gotten easier to use, while Macs have gotten more complicated - to the point that they are about equal (of course, if you've been using one or the other for years and are used to it, then that one will seem easier). Media software will depend on how you like to run things. If you want a "simple" program (like a car with a manual transmission), I very much like FooBar2000 (it's also free). That is what I use at home. If you want something that shows album covers, has all sorts of screens and remote controls and other cool stuff, I would recommend jRiver Media Center (there is a free version; the paid-for one is still only about $49 and is a lot better). Both have the important options and work well. Media Monkey is another one that gets excellent reviews. Those are all PC programs (although jRiver may have a Mac version.) Audirvana is a Mac program that gets very good reviews. Some folks like iTunes, but I find it bloated and not especially impressive.... (jRiver does the same stuff, only better - but iTunes is free). For ripping I much prefer dBPowerAmp (about $39, also PC). USB is the preferred interface for a PC - mostly because it is universal. If you use a PC laptop, it will have USB, and probably not anything else. Some desktop PCs (and many Macs) have optical outputs, they aren't going to sound any different, but might be slightly less prone to problems - but many optical outputs only go to 24/96. Some technical folks dislike USB because old (adaptive) USB interfaces had a lot of jitter; the XDA-2 has an asynch USB input - which eliminates this problem. (The XDA-2 also has an ASRC, which you can switch on to remove any jitter from all the inputs anyway). [Both also true for the Stealth DC-1  ] I'm not at all a fan of Windows 8, so I would much prefer a PC with Windows 7 IF YOU CAN STILL FIND ONE. I would even consider back-grading one to Windows 7. (Windows 8.1 will be out soon, which will supposedly make Windows 8 somewhat less annoying.) You will want AT LEAST a dual core 2 gHz machine with 4 gB of RAM if you want to avoid the machine "running out of steam" occasionally - and making funny noises or dropouts. I would probably spend the extra $200 or so and get a quad core machine if I had the budget. (It will run more smoothly, and be more "future proof".) Again, if you have the budget and the inclination, I would put an SSD (solid state drive) into it as well. They run more smoothly, more quietly, and cooler - and boot up three or five TIMES faster. Get a small SSD for your boot drive and keep your music files on a large regular drive (I use a 2 tB external USB drive for that). Keith, Thank you for all your inputs to this valuable thread! I'm building my digital audio system and have not chosen an OS, software, or even specific cable output. I'm planning on getting either the Emotiva XDA-2 or Stealth DC-1 (when released) thus I should be able to get 24/192 from all three DAC input choices. If you were starting from scratch what would you run? 1. OS 2. Media software 3. MOST IMPORTANT TO ME - which input from computer to DAC: usb, digital COAX, or optical TOSLINK? For instance would you buy a Mac (PowerBook), use what hi-resolution software player, connect via optical toslink? Or would you buy a PC Laptop, Windows version (?), windows software like jRiver Media Player, and connect via what? I assume for a laptop the only choice is USB to the DAC (am I correct?). My only criteria for the computer, is I would prefer it was a laptop/notebook (portable) and had the least amount of hassles as an audio source. I'm not asking for the you to go out on a limb and make an official recommendation (picking sides, etc.) just what you would build for your own personal enjoyment. I respect your knowledge and would be able to copy your personal choice to get started in a direction that should be stable, accurate and enjoyable. I just want to start off on the right foot, I promise to not blame anyone for their advice Thank you in advance for your response! Cheers, - Andre |
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Post by savjac on Jun 21, 2013 13:29:55 GMT -5
J.River has released a Mac version but it is still in its infancy. Works ok, most of the time.
In my PC I have regular spinning hard drives and in the Mac I have a SSD. The SSD is as Keith intimates, silent and much cooler, however due to the affordable sizes being somewhat limited on may need an external HD to store content. However, Gordon Rankin, well versed digital scientist, has indicated that one should not use 2 USB sockets at one time, it creates errors. So an external HD connected via USB on one side of the computer and a dac or similar device like the Oppo on the outboard side of the computer is said not to be a good match.
I just am not sure, I have tried it and ran into something of an issue but not sure it was caused by using 2 usb sockets as much as J River got overwhelmed on the Mac.
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Post by justthefacts on Jun 21, 2013 13:54:36 GMT -5
Keith,
Thank you for the thorough answers. I too am a life-long PC person and can't seem to feel comfortable using the Macs in my house. BUT for the sake of top quality audio I was willing to buy a MacBook Pro. It is a relief that you don't see that as a requirement and thus I can use a PC/MS 7/laptop solution. I will still look for one that has both optical and USB ouput, just in case. I like the idea of going to SSD, just noticed they are now making Hybrid SSD's for less cost and very fast access, I wonder if they will spin as noisy as standard disk drives.
I've tried the media players and I find jRiver is the most user friendly.
Thank you and thanks to all the rest of the forum, I really appreciate the community support!
- Andre
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Post by dac0964 on Jun 21, 2013 14:24:46 GMT -5
I too recently got into digital audio, using HP laptop with Windows 7. I am using JRiver, although new with it, and I like it a lot. It is easy to use and just like Emotiva's forum, they also have good active members in their forum that when I had problem setting it up I got help quickly. I think this is very important for people like us who are new to this.
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Post by GreenKiwi on Jun 21, 2013 14:27:19 GMT -5
Yeah. I don't think that there is any fundamental audio quality difference between macs and pcs, as long as you have a relatively modern system.
Using what you are comfortable is the most important thing so that it works well for you.
One note, if you are looking to get a machine and it will be in your listening environment, look really closely at its noise levels. You don't want to hear a fan or drives while you are listening to music. I'm a big fan of having spinning drives either in another room or well isolated.
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KeithL
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Post by KeithL on Jun 21, 2013 16:21:10 GMT -5
The short answer to your question is that they will be just as noisy as any other drive when they are spinning, but the idea is that won't be spinning as much. Of course, regular drives vary quite widely in how noisy they are - from brand to brand and model to model. How well that works out will also depend on how well the algorithms work, and how well their optimization choices agree with music. I would hope they're smart enough to get all the boot files on the SSD portion... and maybe even a few of your favorite songs. I've never had a hybrid drive, but it seems to me that you get more benefit from using separate drives. The O/S uses a lot of files, and so thrashes a lot when it boots - which is why an SSD helps that situation a lot. Music, on the other hand, does only occasional reads (music doesn't take much data bandwidth compared to video). What this means is that, even with a hybrid drive, you're going to end up with the boot being run from the SSD portion and most music playing from the spinning part. I don't see a great benefit in combining them. Personally, I prefer to manually control the two halves, and to keep them separate. That way, when and if Windows crashes or needs to be reinstalled, I can reformat the SSD, or even replace it, without disturbing my music library; all I'll have to do is reinstall Windows and my player app. Likewise, I can back up my music library drive, switch between multiple drives, or even take it with me somewhere, without having to fuss with the O/S. Drives do fail, and I prefer to keep the two separate for when that does happen. I usually use an external USB-powered USB drive for my music library. The USB-powered ones are smaller, don't use an external power cord, and are pretty quiet. You can also have multiple drives which you can connect and disconnect at will - or carry to another machine to back-up or add to. With the bigger drive outside the computer, and the computer running on an SSD, it should hardly need to run its fan (it will run sometimes because modern processors do use some power). Also, external USB drives are usually shock mounted, which makes them not only somewhat resistant to being dropped, but also quieter. Since the internal SSD doesn't have to be very large, it won't cost much (a really fast 64 gig SSD can be gotten for well below $100 nowadays). Keith, Thank you for the thorough answers. I too am a life-long PC person and can't seem to feel comfortable using the Macs in my house. BUT for the sake of top quality audio I was willing to buy a MacBook Pro. It is a relief that you don't see that as a requirement and thus I can use a PC/MS 7/laptop solution. I will still look for one that has both optical and USB ouput, just in case. I like the idea of going to SSD, just noticed they are now making Hybrid SSD's for less cost and very fast access, I wonder if they will spin as noisy as standard disk drives. I've tried the media players and I find jRiver is the most user friendly. Thank you and thanks to all the rest of the forum, I really appreciate the community support! - Andre |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2013 0:52:18 GMT -5
About album art mentioned above by Keith by dbpoweramp 39.00: EAC (Exact Audio Copy) has good metadata retrieval and is free. I use it to rip CD's to flac. It retrieves album art very well. Recently EAC, in their add-ons section, have made available even more metadata providers. So, when one doesn't find the album art another one will. Foobar2000 plays back these flac files and album art without a hitch.
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Post by GreenKiwi on Jun 22, 2013 10:01:05 GMT -5
And if you have jriver it does ripping equally well and fetches album art too.
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Post by chibana on Jun 22, 2013 22:56:14 GMT -5
I love the SSD OS drive in my computer. Fast and quiet! Personally, I'm a UNIX/Linux geek, running Ubuntu 13.04. I've been running some form of UNIX at home since my Commodore Amiga 1200 days back in the mid-90s. I have the SSD drive for the OS, a conventional disk for /home, and a bunch of external USB storage for other stuff. I use Audex ripping.
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Post by eclypse on Jun 29, 2013 12:32:43 GMT -5
I have a question I need an answer to.. If I currently have a PC hooked up to my receiver by HDMI and can get 24/192 from that and can use direct mode which would bypass all the sound settings crap from the receiver would I still benefit from going with a XDA-2 over that? Thinking about it as the usual unknown has me curious as to what if.
Obviously I know up front that with the PC I can get multi channel music to play and only 2 channel with the USB DAC and am fine with that since the multi channel "SACD" music I could just play from the oppo 103 straight into the receiver using the HDMI connection and use DSD direct.
Also I cant get SACD/DSD music to play from the jriver/foobar2000 players no matter what I've tried. Its either theres no sound at all or its static.
Would the XDA-2 be able to play ripped 2 channel SACD (.dsf Files within 24/192) music from the PC?
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Post by ausman on Jul 6, 2013 10:16:57 GMT -5
more likely to need audio codec packs external to the actual players in question, check user manuals to program paid vs free options..
Certain utility options may only work under paid versions of the program free versions may not have specific options active by default..
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Post by eclypse on Jul 6, 2013 11:24:55 GMT -5
Was thinking about that but I've read this about JRiver:
Please purchase from the Help menu inside the program when you're ready. You have 30 days to decide. The trial version has the full feature set.
Still using the free trial.
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