I upsampled music files to 192 to bda-2 dac and I not yet connect Regen to the usb output of streamer, which may be further improve or may not so. So I would say the result is already very satisfactory. And also I didn't do offline upsample to 192 to put file to bdp-2 to compare. But I don't want go through that trouble to create huge file just to find out which one is better. Having said that, bdp-2 is still a very good music server and very competent one.
Streamer to kill the big boys for under $250
- Thread starter Blizzard
- Start date
So Mike, if Tidal dies, will Roon follow as some are claiming on this forum? That is an issue for your paradigm....
They are completely different companies. Tidal isn't going to die, they are getting more popular by the hour. Their music catalog has doubled to over 40 million songs in the last 6 months. They have signed deals with Meridian for MQA streaming. It's only going to get more popular and better. Besides did you know you can download the actual albums to store to hard disk from tidal for free if you're a member? Even if you wanted to go offline, in the car, out at the cabin with no internet anything, you can download all the albums in lossless redbook all you want for free. It's $10-20 for a single CD or download, or $20 a month for 40 million songs and growing with Tidal. Do you really think it's practical for anything but DSD to not have a subscription to a music service like Tidal moving forward?
you have to play the downloads via tidal , you cant download them to a PC right now , just to a device .. On my phone the downloaded file was not a flac or wav , it was something else.. I couldnt play them with another media player. Maybe I was wrong tho.. maybe there is a way to play the downloads with another program
It says here it works with the desktop app too. I haven't even tried because I'm always online. If I go travelling with no internet connection I have enough music selection anyways on my hard drive. I have a 2TB wireless drive loaded with tunes I can wirelessly connect to my phone to connect to any car stereo. Great for when I rent cars in Germany.
https://support.tidal.com/hc/en-us/articles/201603732-What-is-Offline-Mode-
Awww....I am glad you guys kissed and made up.....
Ahh, You are just late to the party...
Hey, I have malice towards none...just a regular old Archangel. LoL
Hmmm seems like something sneaky is going on.......
Did you get the streamer going yet?
Bought what exactly? Why would you do that when Lucas can simply build you a Komputer? Why slum it? Furthermore, you and Blizzman are not exactly buddies, and I am surprised you would become a patron.
I did not know you were part of the Golden goose club. Congrats
Another Pal is hooking me up on the Server front. I will also do Aries, retire the MM to regular office duties for my wife and even try to Luk's Linux approach (his hardware is pretty standard, ie CAPs+, with quality power supply inlaid.). I will try many options without spending a fortune....spent enuff in this hobby already.
I will thus be in a good position to compare and contrast...and pass my own judgement. One thing is clear though, the approach in this thread has a cost advantage in general, provided you already have a powerful generic PC hanging around (i7, quad core class). If not, a lot of the advantage goes away. It will be attractive for most people though, and I do like how he made it turnkey and straightforward (after I badgered him to truly dumb it down---which he did).
Did you see Lateboomer's impression a few posts back? He's just using it to resample to 24/192 PCM and it still sounds better than the $3000 Bryston BDP-2. And to do that requires nothing for CPU in the server. You could use an atom processor for that. Of course still not as good as DSD resampling, but the Bryston BDA-2 DAC he's using maxes out at 24/192 PCM.
On CA someone compared the Bryston BDP-2 to a tricked out audiophile server and found it to sound better, and this streamer sounds better than it. So that tells you something there.
No doubt it will sound good. I was talking DSD256 only for the i7 as you probably guessed.
I do have access to a BDP-2 as well. should try that. i have done NOTHING in audio since the New Year started and have not been here much. Chasing another rabbitt down another hole. LoL
On the contrary...NOTHING going on at all. Completely distracted with other non-audio related matters.
I think Mike's solution is sensible and beats the tomfoolery of spending $$$ on some an "audiophile" computer. I also think the software upsampling angle is reasonable as Peter from Phasure has been preaching for years. It appears to be an effective way to make crappy PCM dacs better. That being said, a local guy tried HQplayer upsampling to DSD and was underwhelmed (your buddy Jason W norman.....). He like Mike is a tubeless, purely digital guy who tweaks everything to the nth degree with DSP, etc.
I sold my Aries (which was good). i would have kept it if they had allowed HQplayer integration. They are now an endpoint for Roon....
I sold my Aries (which was good). i would have kept it if they had allowed HQplayer integration. They are now an endpoint for Roon....
Stormin' Norman, since you are a Swiss Miss and have access to so many audio companies there, why don't you try Mergings NADAC for your DSD only universe. Might take down the GG....
I thought Brownian motion ceased at Absolute Zero? If so, it will cease with the Absolute Sound attained.
No contact with them...though in Genf. I hear it sucks at PCM, so not much chance of touching the new Ladder PCM. DSD may be excellent though...but so is the GG.
Jason like the Vega...nuff said, LoL.
PCM up sampling and DSD up sampling are very different principle. Pick your own poison.
Yes, EuroDriver and Geoff of Sound Galleries were all over this NAA/FMC approach last year and showed with a B& and AGuarde speakers last year in Munich with such an approach. EuroDriver is a buddy and kept me in the lop all the way. What Blizz has done is packaged the approach neatly and made the rabbit hole very shallow. For all that EuroDriver is convinced that the upcoming SG $$$ Server will blow away the NAA/FMC approach, but at the cost of $$$$.
Why does it matter if it sucks at PCM if you use HQplayer to resample everything to DSD? Everything sucks at PCM, compared to DSD. I hear the GG sucks at PCM compared to the DSD section as well.
I've been hearing the hot air about that server for a while. But with Ravenna, the server quality is null and void. So it's really just designed for soon to be obsolete DAC's
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The Ladder PCM in the Lampi mos def doesnt suck. Whoever told you otherwise is ignorant.
I dont always want to upsample. Sometimes I just want to use a spinner and playback with a better PCM decoder...that kinda thing.
Ravenna may be all that, though nothing really ever is, is it?. Just saying that the SG Server guys were pioneers in the HQP NAA/FMC craze and know what they are up against.
I dont always want to upsample. Sometimes I just want to use a spinner and playback with a better PCM decoder...that kinda thing.
Ravenna may be all that, though nothing really ever is, is it?. Just saying that the SG Server guys were pioneers in the HQP NAA/FMC craze and know what they are up against.
I have not used it but I am confident what you say is right. They have to encrypt the files so that if you stop paying your subscription fee, they stop playing. Otherwise people could join, download a million files and quit next month. This means you must use their apps to decrypt and play the content. No open unprotected formats like wav or flac.
