Guys... Sorry, I'm a newbie to this field so please forgive any daft questions! I am considering buying a B&O media player but the media player does not have a digital output (duh!!)
Whilst one option is to try and physically tap into the i2s stream, I can't help but notice the two USB ports on the player, both at present designed to feed the system with music files via hard drive or USB stick.
Would it be impossibly complicated to reprogram the device to output audio on one of the USB ports?
I'd very much appreciate it if someone could point me in the direction of a man who maybe could... or at least who could tell me why not...
Very much obliged...
Whilst one option is to try and physically tap into the i2s stream, I can't help but notice the two USB ports on the player, both at present designed to feed the system with music files via hard drive or USB stick.
Would it be impossibly complicated to reprogram the device to output audio on one of the USB ports?
I'd very much appreciate it if someone could point me in the direction of a man who maybe could... or at least who could tell me why not...
Very much obliged...
(Both Linux and Windows are an option)
I understand your concern, but an outboard USB asychronous dac or digital interface like the Stello U3 should take care of those concerns pretty efficiently. (I'm using a Stello U3 and find it works very well, and provides galvanic isolation between the USB device and the DAC.)
I'm not sure that you can assume that the B&O media player is any better WRT to these issues without studying its electrical design and implementation very closely.
I have a Sony SCD-777ES and a Shigaclone.. I find the media server driving the Stello U3 connected via spdif to my diy DAC sounds far better than the other sources.
Just my experience, it is also very versatile and will play DSD, FLAC, AIFF, and just about any other format you could think of.
I'm not sure that you can assume that the B&O media player is any better WRT to these issues without studying its electrical design and implementation very closely.
I have a Sony SCD-777ES and a Shigaclone.. I find the media server driving the Stello U3 connected via spdif to my diy DAC sounds far better than the other sources.
Just my experience, it is also very versatile and will play DSD, FLAC, AIFF, and just about any other format you could think of.
Yes, it's certainly not an obvious choice... (although it does support flac to 24/96).
The reason for the interest is the MOTS random playlist / jukebox facility as I already have the Transporter which is excellent for listening to specific tracks... (Wow, wasn't that player years ahead of its time, well done Sean Adams!)
I concede the digital out is a challenge... as is the insistence on using 5GHz wireless - someone at B&O needs to step out into the real world to understand what the consumer really wants!
The reason for the interest is the MOTS random playlist / jukebox facility as I already have the Transporter which is excellent for listening to specific tracks... (Wow, wasn't that player years ahead of its time, well done Sean Adams!)
I concede the digital out is a challenge... as is the insistence on using 5GHz wireless - someone at B&O needs to step out into the real world to understand what the consumer really wants!
Try and have a look at what is on the market today. It's easy to overcome the above and, at a reasonable price too.
Cheap asus eeebox, better and more expensive HFX media center
I have also owned the Sooloos Control 15, I have a Mac Mini, a Transporter, a Touch etc so I'm not short of options (the Aurender is another) - but there are no other players that have the MOTS track selection.
For serious listening I'm happy with the Transporter - I'm seeking a casual listening option that is very family / guest friendly so styling aesthetics play a part too...
For serious listening I'm happy with the Transporter - I'm seeking a casual listening option that is very family / guest friendly so styling aesthetics play a part too...
Last edited:
I think this is similar, or at least somewhat the same idea. I don't use this sort of plugins so I haven't tried it.
From Winamp to Foobar2000: Winamp Playlist Generator / Play tracks similar to
I admit that the above is not userfriendly, and that's why B&O have done something right.
From Winamp to Foobar2000: Winamp Playlist Generator / Play tracks similar to
I admit that the above is not userfriendly, and that's why B&O have done something right.
The B&O media player is basicly a PC in a box, you are still going to have digital noise in any digital system, that is the nature of digital circuitry, if the SMPS's are well designed they are not that noisy, but the digital cuircitry switching is. Galvonic Isolation as near to the DAC as possible is the only way to isolate most of the digital noise if it worries you.
The BS5 Encore fortunately is much less than a PC, it has no cooling fans and no hard disk, both very poor for injecting noise onto the DC supply. It's this noise which unstabilises the power supply and is reflected in clock variation, which in turn manifests itself as jitter on the output. There seem to be two ways to tackle the issue - clean the power supply inside the player or, if I could obtain a USB output then this problem is negated as the clocking is asynchronous, ie is applied outside of the players environment.
The Stello U3 is limited to 24bit/192 kHz. You may want to research DIY devices that can do better - exaU2I USB to I2S interface and a Buffalo or AckoDAC.
www.exadevices.com > Home
https://sites.google.com/site/ackodac/home
The Buffalo III Digital-to-Analog Converter
Regards,
George
www.exadevices.com > Home
https://sites.google.com/site/ackodac/home
The Buffalo III Digital-to-Analog Converter
Regards,
George
You may need to do some further research regarding PCs for audio use. Fanless is trivial as is the use of a system SSD. One can easily make a PC with much lower electrical noise than the B&O. Unless you specifically like the styling or badge there is simply no technical reason to go for it.
Well, I politely disagree about the fans, (having witnessed the 'scope, see SoTM), SSD helps but still requires thorough PSU filtration to remove the damage caused.
The dilema with the B&O kit is exactly as you mentioned though, technically I can better it from almost every aspect with other kit that's on the market...
HOWEVER, B&O have the MOTS playlist feature which, in my experience, having owned a variety of systems including the Sooloos, is the most desirable button to have for a music collection. The Sooloos Focus/Swim combo is very good - but relies extensively on accurate metadata which may or may not be in place depending from where you have sourced your music... The MOTS ignores this and refers to the individual track itself.
To highlight the difference... I have a Poison album on the system. I would classify Poison as "Rock" genre, maybe even put it into the "Uplifting" category - so, if I wanted to listen to Rock or if I wanted uplifting music then the album would be included in my playlist. However, on the same album there are a couple of fantastic ballads which would really be better listed under "Ballads" or "Romantic" categories.
So, one would need to go through every one of the 7000+ tracks and categories each song appropriately before my playlist facility would work correctly... or, I could use MOTS which does all that for me whilst I drink tea and chill out...
The challenge now is to combine the MOTS facility into a media player that sounds excellent with reference levels of minimised jitter etc...
Last edited:
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.