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Post by hifiaudio2 on Jul 17, 2014 8:17:16 GMT -5
Let's discuss the current and best options for music streaming with the XMC-1.
What does it currently support? What method yields the most user friendly setup? What method has the best sound quality?
Direct USB stick connected to a usb port? (apparently not currently supported)
Streaming over the ethernet connection with an upcoming app for cover art gui based control? (hopefully coming soon?)
HTPC connected with HDMI?
Seems like the HDMI option is the only one that can currently be used. What is the current state of the art in music jukebox control of the HTPC from an iPad? I want to be able to fire up an app and pick the songs with coverart from the theater with no display turned on.
So lets use this thread for discussing all of the above and best practices associated with these.
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Post by nathanzachary on Jul 17, 2014 8:35:00 GMT -5
I haven't tried it yet, (since I don't have my XMC-1), but I'm planning on connecting my home-built music server via Toslink (through the Asus Xonar DX sound card). I will then stream my FLAC collection via MPD and control it with my Android phone or tablet with MPDroid. To me, that seemed like the best way to feed my music into the XMC-1 without sacrificing any quality. I'm open to suggestions though.  |
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Post by hifiaudio2 on Jul 17, 2014 8:38:11 GMT -5
Solidstate was suggesting in another thread that PC Toslink and SPDIF leave a lot to be desired with HDMI being a big improvement. Hopefully he can chime in with some reasons and suggestions.
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Post by jlafrenz on Jul 17, 2014 9:04:40 GMT -5
I did successfully used the USB-B connection on the back of the unit as a DAC from my HTPC. I faced some issues using WASAPI and ASIO. With that said, I was using the generic driver that Windows found. It seems to be an issue on the HTPC side, not the XMC-1. I am going to try and load the C-Media driver that the DC-1 uses and see if that corrects the issue.
I also plan to test out multi-channel and high-rez tracks via USB.
For HDMI, I am having some issues as well, which I believe to be on the HTPC side. For some reason I can not select HDMI as my sound card (which I have done and used with the UMC-200). This is strange to me as the video from my HTPC is connected to the XMC-1 and clearly passing video. If any of you computer wiz's out there have any suggestions, I have open ears.
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Post by hifiaudio2 on Jul 17, 2014 9:09:18 GMT -5
Does the XMC-1 appear at all in your playback devices in windows? If not, try disconnecting the HDMI out from the XMC-1 (if you have it connected to a monitor/projector) and leave only the HDMI cable from the computer to the XMC connected.
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Post by jlafrenz on Jul 17, 2014 9:16:58 GMT -5
Does the XMC-1 appear at all in your playback devices in windows? If not, try disconnecting the HDMI out from the XMC-1 (if you have it connected to a monitor/projector) and leave only the HDMI cable from the computer to the XMC connected. I will double check this. It is only connected to the XMC-1 via HDMI. |
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Post by ÈlTwo on Jul 17, 2014 9:50:54 GMT -5
Thank you for this thread!
I'll be following this closely.
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Post by hifiaudio2 on Jul 17, 2014 9:59:13 GMT -5
Does the XMC-1 appear at all in your playback devices in windows? If not, try disconnecting the HDMI out from the XMC-1 (if you have it connected to a monitor/projector) and leave only the HDMI cable from the computer to the XMC connected. I will double check this. It is only connected to the XMC-1 via HDMI. I ask because I couldn't get my laptop to see the UMC200 at all at first until I disconnected the HDMI out to my projector from the UMC. Then all of a sudden it showed up in windows. I think the laptop was "seeing" the projector instead of the intermediary UMC as a sound device. Once the PJ was removed from the end of the chain, it saw the UMC. |
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Post by SticknStones on Jul 17, 2014 9:59:21 GMT -5
Thank you for this thread! I'll be following this closely. Can we use the bluetooth stick from the UMC on the XMC USB front? I stream all the time on my UMC 200. Given the type of Platform that the XMC is, I have no doubt that the streaming solution will be a software upgrade at some point if is not already available. |
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Post by Andrew Robinson on Jul 17, 2014 10:00:57 GMT -5
This may not be 100% on point with the spirit of this thread, but one could connect a Chromecast to the XMC-1, and through the Chrome browser, or 3rd party Chromecast App access their media servers and music collections that way. I've done this for the past few weeks and it works really well.
For $35 you have a "smart" multi-purpose music/movie streaming solution with several IP/wireless-based control options with which to choose from.
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Post by SticknStones on Jul 17, 2014 10:03:12 GMT -5
This may not be 100% on point with the spirit of this thread, but one could connect a Chromecast to the XMC-1, and through the Chrome browser, or 3rd party Chromecast App access their media servers and music collections that way. I've done this for the past few weeks and it works really well. Andrew, I stream with Beats and Pandora versus saved files which i do not do. So is the Chromecast a solution for that form of streaming? |
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Post by Andrew Robinson on Jul 17, 2014 10:05:56 GMT -5
This may not be 100% on point with the spirit of this thread, but one could connect a Chromecast to the XMC-1, and through the Chrome browser, or 3rd party Chromecast App access their media servers and music collections that way. I've done this for the past few weeks and it works really well. Andrew, I stream with Beats and Pandora versus saved files which i do not do. So is the Chromecast a solution for that form of streaming? Chromecast currently supports these popular streaming music services; Google Music Pandora I'm sure Beats will be compatible soon. |
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Post by SticknStones on Jul 17, 2014 10:06:45 GMT -5
Andrew, I stream with Beats and Pandora versus saved files which i do not do. So is the Chromecast a solution for that form of streaming? Chromecast currently supports these popular streaming music services; Google Music Pandora I'm sure Beats will be compatible soon. Are you plugging this into the HDMI on the XMC? |
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Post by hifiaudio2 on Jul 17, 2014 10:10:18 GMT -5
This may not be 100% on point with the spirit of this thread, but one could connect a Chromecast to the XMC-1, and through the Chrome browser, or 3rd party Chromecast App access their media servers and music collections that way. I've done this for the past few weeks and it works really well. For $35 you have a "smart" multi-purpose music/movie streaming solution with several IP/wireless-based control options with which to choose from. That is very much in the spirit of the thread! So tell us more. How robust is the Chromcast app? Does it have full cover art access? Does it support "scrubbing" of a song so I can drag my finger to the point in a song I want to hear? Is the Chromcast itself accessing the music through an ethernet cable connected to the XMC or over wifi? Assuming its wifi, how is the quality of streaming our FLAC files over wifi with chromcast vs connected ethernet? Any difference either in theory OR audible in practice? |
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Post by Andrew Robinson on Jul 17, 2014 10:46:14 GMT -5
This may not be 100% on point with the spirit of this thread, but one could connect a Chromecast to the XMC-1, and through the Chrome browser, or 3rd party Chromecast App access their media servers and music collections that way. I've done this for the past few weeks and it works really well. For $35 you have a "smart" multi-purpose music/movie streaming solution with several IP/wireless-based control options with which to choose from. That is very much in the spirit of the thread! So tell us more. How robust is the Chromcast app? Does it have full cover art access? Does it support "scrubbing" of a song so I can drag my finger to the point in a song I want to hear? Is the Chromcast itself accessing the music through an ethernet cable connected to the XMC or over wifi? Assuming its wifi, how is the quality of streaming our FLAC files over wifi with chromcast vs connected ethernet? Any difference either in theory OR audible in practice? The Chromecast is WiFi only, so how it works is like this; it plugs into an open HDMI port and draws power from a USB port (sorry, no MHL). Once connected, you download the Chromecast App (Android or iOS) from the proper App store. Run the Chromecast App to setup the Chromecast dongle, essentially connect it to your home network (it's a 3 step process). Once connected, you simply download the Apps you wish to use; Apps like Netflix, Vudu, Hulu, YouTube, Pandora, Google Music etc. With all the Apps downloaded, open the one you want, for example Google Music. If you have a Google Music account then log into it through the App, select the band, album or track you want to listen to, hit play then hit the Chromecast icon and BOOM, you'll hear music. The interface, meaning cover flow, organization etc. depends on the service you're using, but most (I think all) are very iTunes or JRiver like in terms of their organization schemes. Here is a review I did a while back that shows the Chromecast in action a bit better. |
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Post by nathanzachary on Jul 17, 2014 10:56:56 GMT -5
Solidstate was suggesting in another thread that PC Toslink and SPDIF leave a lot to be desired with HDMI being a big improvement. Hopefully he can chime in with some reasons and suggestions. I may be wrong, but I thought that the point of using the Toslink was that it essentially just hands over (bit-for-bit) the digital file (FLAC in this case) to the preamp for processing. The XMC-1's DACs would then handle the conversion. As such, wouldn't it be lossless to go via Toslink, and thus, any degradation in sound would have to be the result of the DAC? I'm still relatively new to this process, but would love some enlightenment. My music server, as mentioned, is essentially just a Gentoo Linux box running MPD, and piping the FLAC files through the Asus Xonar DX via Toslink to the preamp. |
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Post by Andrew Robinson on Jul 17, 2014 11:03:57 GMT -5
One of the things I've quite enjoyed about the Chromecast/XMC-1 combo (or any Chromecast/product combo) is that I can set the input I have the Chromecast connected to, to start up at a certain volume -for me this is 0. Then via the Chromecast Apps I use, for example Netflix, Vudu, Google Music etc., control the volume of my system via the App itself on my smartphone or tablet. This allows me to control say the volume of my music from elsewhere in my home, outside etc. So long as my phone or tablet is connected to my home network and within range, I can control my media from most anywhere. When I pull into my driveway I often hit play on a track from my car so that I come home to music when I walk through the door.
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Post by hifiaudio2 on Jul 17, 2014 11:13:00 GMT -5
Cool thanks Andrew. I may have to give a Chromecast a try. I just bought a Sonos but would like to get the $350 back if something else can provide that capability. Hopefully the XMC will eventually just natively support ethernet streaming from my Synology and an app. I still have a nagging feeling that sending the music to the XMC over wifi would be degrading in some way. Anyone have comments on that?
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Post by pop on Jul 17, 2014 11:20:02 GMT -5
I did successfully used the USB-B connection on the back of the unit as a DAC from my HTPC. I faced some issues using WASAPI and ASIO. With that said, I was using the generic driver that Windows found. It seems to be an issue on the HTPC side, not the XMC-1. I am going to try and load the C-Media driver that the DC-1 uses and see if that corrects the issue. I also plan to test out multi-channel and high-rez tracks via USB. For HDMI, I am having some issues as well, which I believe to be on the HTPC side. For some reason I can not select HDMI as my sound card (which I have done and used with the UMC-200). This is strange to me as the video from my HTPC is connected to the XMC-1 and clearly passing video. If any of you computer wiz's out there have any suggestions, I have open ears. Is the HDMI option simply not showing up, or will it not let you connect audio through the option? If the HDMI option is there for the XMC, highlight the option and click "Set default" instead of "ok" If this still doesn't work Make sure you have the XMC as "Set default" and restart your computer. Check your audio device manager and confirm that the XMC is still selected as default. At that point now try and see if you get music. Edit: I have 4 home built HTPCs and there is one that my UMC-1 just won't play with well. Video works, but there is no audio. The steps I gave you work for me 100% of the time on the particular build. Hope it helps |
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Post by SticknStones on Jul 17, 2014 12:07:22 GMT -5
That is very much in the spirit of the thread! So tell us more. How robust is the Chromcast app? Does it have full cover art access? Does it support "scrubbing" of a song so I can drag my finger to the point in a song I want to hear? Is the Chromcast itself accessing the music through an ethernet cable connected to the XMC or over wifi? Assuming its wifi, how is the quality of streaming our FLAC files over wifi with chromcast vs connected ethernet? Any difference either in theory OR audible in practice? The Chromecast is WiFi only, so how it works is like this; it plugs into an open HDMI port and draws power from a USB port (sorry, no MHL). Once connected, you download the Chromecast App (Android or iOS) from the proper App store. Run the Chromecast App to setup the Chromecast dongle, essentially connect it to your home network (it's a 3 step process). Once connected, you simply download the Apps you wish to use; Apps like Netflix, Vudu, Hulu, YouTube, Pandora, Google Music etc. With all the Apps downloaded, open the one you want, for example Google Music. If you have a Google Music account then log into it through the App, select the band, album or track you want to listen to, hit play then hit the Chromecast icon and BOOM, you'll hear music. The interface, meaning cover flow, organization etc. depends on the service you're using, but most (I think all) are very iTunes or JRiver like in terms of their organization schemes. Here is a review I did a while back that shows the Chromecast in action a bit better. Well done Andrew you got me going on this.  |
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