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Post by Boomzilla on Feb 8, 2014 15:15:49 GMT -5
Since I've been called out for igniting too many threads, I thought I'd consolidate all my junk into this single thread. That way, for those who don't enjoy reading my (often stream-of-consciousness) reflections on audio will only have to avoid ONE thread - not multiples. You're welcome!
Currently, as my system stands in February of the year of our Lord 2014, I use a Toshiba laptop as a music server running JRiver Media Center 19 for Windows. The audio library (currently consisting of all CD rips in AIFF format) resides on an external HDD attached to the Toshiba via USB. JRiver streams the music via DLNA over an ethernet connection to my Oppo BDP-105 which is used as a DAC and a preamp. The stereo outputs of the Oppo feed my Emotiva XPR-2 power amp via XLR connectors. The power amp either single or bi wires (depending on day of the week & prevalent wind direction) whatever speakers happen to be around. The main speakers (starting Tuesday 2/11/14) will be run in "small" mode and crossed over at 80 Hz. to a PSA HV15 subwoofer. Speakers currently in house include Paradigm Eclipse BP, DCM KX-10, Definitive Technology SM65, and Klipsch Heresy II. Of the four speakers, it is almost a toss up between the DefTechs and the Klipsches as to which rules the roost. The DefTechs excel at imaging, the Klipsches at dynamics.
Since my music files have been repeatedly i-mauled by iTunes, I may begin a re-rip effort on those songs and/or albums already compromised. When re-ripping, I plan to use WAV format rather than AIFF. This should require less clock cycles from JRiver to decode?
I also utilized the online ATS Acoustics calculator to see what additional acoustic treatment my room might require. The result, according to their algorithm, is that I need an additional 20 two by four foot panels (in addition to the four already installed). When I emailed them saying that there is insufficient wall space in my room for that many panels, they responded that yes, their online calculator sometimes goes "Hal 9000" on them. They have asked for photos of the room so that they may evaluate manually. When I get their assessment back, I'll post again.
Boomzilla
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Post by Topend on Feb 8, 2014 15:34:26 GMT -5
Hi Boomzilla,
Has anyone else here had similar issues with iTunes? It seems like your the only one that mentions these issues so I'm wondering what could be the cause.
I use iTunes and have never had a problem. In fact it saved me from loosing my music collection when my hard-drive failed. I could download them again including my ripped music from the iCloud.
Cheers,
Dave.
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Post by Boomzilla on Feb 8, 2014 15:57:52 GMT -5
Hi Dave -
The VAST majority of iTunes users never have an issue with it. I'm one of the very, very few who (through absolutely NO fault of my own) get a (repeatedly) scrambled database file. I have worked on the problem with some of the best iTunes experts around including one gentleman of the Lounge who used to work at the Apple Genius Bar. No solutions ever surfaced. I've already wasted far, far too much of my time, effort, and money trying to make iTunes work for me. I've finally resigned myself to the conclusion that (despite the fact that I like and continue to use Apple products in my business and home), iTunes will never be an option again.
Please understand that I'm NOT knocking iTunes for others. It works swimmingly for most. It just hates me. It's personal.
I've cast my fortunes with JRiver and so far, it's a happy courtship. No data loss, no further scrambling, no disappearing or erased files.
Will the affair last? Time will tell.
Boom
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2014 16:04:12 GMT -5
Congrats on the xv15. Looking forward to your impressions!! I'm sure you'll love it
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Post by Topend on Feb 8, 2014 16:08:03 GMT -5
Congrats on the xv15. Looking forward to your impressions!! I'm sure you'll love it +1 |
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Post by Topend on Feb 8, 2014 16:08:40 GMT -5
Hi Dave - The VAST majority of iTunes users never have an issue with it. I'm one of the very, very few who (through absolutely NO fault of my own) get a (repeatedly) scrambled database file. I have worked on the problem with some of the best iTunes experts around including one gentleman of the Lounge who used to work at the Apple Genius Bar. No solutions ever surfaced. I've already wasted far, far too much of my time, effort, and money trying to make iTunes work for me. I've finally resigned myself to the conclusion that (despite the fact that I like and continue to use Apple products in my business and home), iTunes will never be an option again. Please understand that I'm NOT knocking iTunes for others. It works swimmingly for most. It just hates me. It's personal. I've cast my fortunes with JRiver and so far, it's a happy courtship. No data loss, no further scrambling, no disappearing or erased files. Will the affair last? Time will tell. Boom No worries. |
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Post by Boomzilla on Feb 8, 2014 16:40:40 GMT -5
The PSA HV15 WILL have some stiff competition. I've owned other subs including:
M&K MX350THX
Definitive Technology Supercube 1
B&W ASW75
Definitive Technology Trinity
I know what a good sub can do in my room. Will the PSA measure up? We'll find out later this coming week!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2014 17:17:46 GMT -5
Not to "dis" your other subs. But I'm quite confident the xv15 will blow the doors off the others  |
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Post by drtrey3 on Feb 8, 2014 17:46:03 GMT -5
I have had long term problems with iTunes as well. It makes phantom copies of my files so it looks like I have 4 copies of Honey Pie. But if I erase one of those copies, every "copy" of the file is gone.
Trey
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Post by pop on Feb 8, 2014 20:21:16 GMT -5
Not to "dis" your other subs. But I'm quite confident the xv15 will blow the doors off the others He knows it will be better. Boom is just working on a very dramatic start to a mind blowing review.  |
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Post by Boomzilla on Feb 8, 2014 21:06:29 GMT -5
Not to "dis" your other subs. But I'm quite confident the xv15 will blow the doors off the others Ah - The faith of the innocent... Time WILL tell. Are you even familiar with that Definitive Technology Trinity? It is no slouch by any standards... |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2014 21:46:03 GMT -5
I notice you've decided to rip to WAV and not convert to AIFF as you were thinking. Does that mean you're choosing music on the laptop vian JRiver from filenames only and not tags as WAV (as far as my experience goes) does not support tagging? I don't know if you own a Smartphone or a tablet of any description but if so then a nice, easy and so far glitch-proof experience I've been enjoying is to use the Splashtop app which is free to control your laptop from your chair. I currently use it on my HTC phone running the the app to link to the laptop via wi-fi. www.splashtop.com/ . Works very well so far - just a bit fingr-fiddly re my relatively HTC small screen size but I'm gewtting used tothat quickly - if one had an iPad for example it would be much clearer. Basicaly you download the free streamer to the laptop and install, open an account with Splashtop (free) and then down load the free app to the phone/tablet from either the App Store or Google Play whatever. If you have wi-fi running in your home then it will recognise your laptop automatically via that. If you don't have home wi-fi then all phones and tablets have abuilt in 'WI-Fi Hotspot' function that will do the same - just turn this on when you want to listen and the phone/tablet will find your laptop in a jiffy. (as long as you have automatic finding of wi-fi signals turned on on the laptop) What you get on your phone/tablet is a view of your laptop screen which you can completely control from your portable device - so you can just run JRiver completely off that as you sit in the sweet spot. Is it lazy? Sure thing! But it works an absolute treat and so far is very light on data usage. They offer an optional paid upgrade to enable you to do the same over the internet from anywhere in the world but I don't need those features to play music at home. |
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Post by Boomzilla on Feb 8, 2014 23:59:19 GMT -5
I've been running JRemote on my iPad to control the laptop - works great! I can't do anything but search, select, & play from the iPad, but that's really all I want. Thanks for the tip, though - other than more control, is there anything else I'm missing about Splashtop?
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Post by garbulky on Feb 9, 2014 0:41:53 GMT -5
Anybody knows of a program that has a VOICE search remote?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 9, 2014 5:28:18 GMT -5
I've been running JRemote on my iPad to control the laptop - works great! I can't do anything but search, select, & play from the iPad, but that's really all I want. Thanks for the tip, though - other than more control, is there anything else I'm missing about Splashtop? I don't think so - if that's all you need Jriver remote is perfect, I presume you can control volume via your Emo remote but JFYI Splashtop does that as well if need be I could never get it (JRiver itself) to work satisfactorily on my Samsung laptop (kinda like your iTunes experience) so never got to use the remote app. Splashtop just extends itself to be able to control anything on your pc or Mac if you want but I doubt I'll ever use that function myself, just the ability to control media player software. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 9, 2014 5:35:48 GMT -5
Anybody knows of a program that has a VOICE search remote? Ohhhh - that's a biggie, kinda like asking for a Minority Report interface coupled with a Remote Viewing Telekinetic Voice Activating Glossia Enabled discombobulator - quite hard to find IMHO. Have tried yelling at it, threatening it maybe?  |
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Post by garbulky on Feb 9, 2014 7:24:29 GMT -5
Anybody knows of a program that has a VOICE search remote? Ohhhh - that's a biggie, kinda like asking for a Minority Report interface coupled with a Remote Viewing Telekinetic Voice Activating Glossia Enabled discombobulator - quite hard to find IMHO. Have tried yelling at it, threatening it maybe? If google would license out their excellent voice recognition tool used on the google app and youtube app (via cloud) you would have a pretty solid app if you could mix it with something like j-river. |
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Post by Boomzilla on Feb 9, 2014 7:45:50 GMT -5
May I second what Garbulky has said about the Google (YouTube) voice recognition software! I downloaded the latest YouTube app for iPad, and to search for a video, you merely say the name of the video or artist. The software is not thrown by accents, and you may speak in your "normal" voice without over-enunciation. I've had very few errors using the voice recognition. It's amazing technology! Thanks to Gar for showing this to me!
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Post by Boomzilla on Feb 9, 2014 8:20:05 GMT -5
As to my next main issue on the event horizon (speakers), I'm considering the following:
Emotiva's upcoming passive speakers (If these use the same ribbon drivers as the Airmotiv/Stealth then they may not be dynamic enough for me)
Revel F206 (I will probably not go here because of Revel's wide dispersion - my room is better for narrow dispersion speakers)
Avalon Symbol (These are no longer in production so if they break - they're throw-aways. No parts available)
Thiel 1.5, 1.6, or 1.7 (I LIKE the sound of these, and they work well in my room. They're just hard to find)
Axiom Audio M80 or M100 (These are inexpensive, and sound much like the Thiels, but without phase coherence)
KEF LS50 (Should image well in my room)
Everything else
Since all of the above will be used with a subwoofer, I don't need deep bass. Also, if ATS Acoustics is able to solve the right-left imbalance problem in my room, then the Revels and other wider-dispersion speakers become better options.
I don't think I want to buy any speaker ever again without having heard it myself first. I've GOT to get to a large store or audio show somewhere to hear a wider variety of speakers. I may not know what I want by auditioning in an unfamiliar environment, but I can probably quickly decide what I DON'T want.
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Post by Boomzilla on Feb 9, 2014 12:59:27 GMT -5
The STRANGEST thing!
I converted an album of AIFF files this morning to WAV using "MediaHuman" converter for PC. When I played the AIFF files, one track was almost unlistenable. There was a baritone who sang loudly and the breakup on his voice was irritating and painfully obvious. When I played the WAV file, ripped from the AIFF, however, the breakup and distortion was gone!
WTF???
Either the distortion was inherent in the data, or it wasn't. If it WAS, then the converter threw away data during the conversion. If it WASN'T, however, then the AIFF format itself was CAUSING the distortion! The track had sounded distorted when played via iTunes (Mac) and when played via JRiver Media Center (Mac AND PC versions). The distortion was NOT an artifact of overloading the speakers or the amp. It was consistent through multiple amps, speakers, computers, DACs, and hard drives.
So WHERE DID THE DISTORTION COME FROM AND WHERE DID IT GO??
If AIFF was causing the distortion, then I have a complete two terabyte drive full of distorted music that I can clean up by converting to WAV format? This defies EVERYTHING that I've ever read about audio formats. Why should the format matter on playback? I've got to assume that the data itself was NOT distorted, because now the voice is NOT sounding distorted. The current WAV file is playing through JRiver for PC.
Ladies, enlighten me here. I'm at a loss to explain this (MAJOR) change in sound. In fact, I'm going to fish the AIFF file back out of the trash & restore it to the source directory for direct A:B comparisons. But this is NOT a minor, slight, or "I might be mistaken" change. It's a night and day difference in the clarity of the sound.
Boom-fuddled
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