I think there are posts here that are quite beneficial, to me at least - different opinions and different experiences. I find this to be a valuable source of information. I also do appreciate your inputs; they are scarce but I personally find them quite valuable.
You are absolutely right. There is some real gold in this place and I, like you, find it beneficial but there are times when .................
O, I spend some time researching this on the 'net, but all sources I found state that, for USB audio, dropped packets are not resend, due to the almost-real-time need for audio.
If you have a source saying that dropped packets are resend, I'd like to know. Just out of interest.
Jan
I have nuc8i3 as roon server with linear PSU and fanless aluminium chaiss.
I needed noise filter for USB and LAN.
It is pretty good sounding.
Now I am very interested in DDDAC.
A NOS 192/24 DAC with the PCM1794 (and WaveIO USB input)
I needed noise filter for USB and LAN.
It is pretty good sounding.
Now I am very interested in DDDAC.
A NOS 192/24 DAC with the PCM1794 (and WaveIO USB input)
That's why we are still here after 20 years!
We all need a little humour. 🙂
Is it really 20 years? I see my join date to be somewhere in 2015 but that’s wrong for sure. I recall still having sex when I joined so it must be a long time ago.
Greg maybe you can suggest RPi!? I was at the border of buying one again 😉
... that's the danger here, this hobby can turn in circles and onanism or drosophile outrage 😱!
The USB Audio class uses the isochronous transfer type to stream audio across an USB link. Therefore, packets are not re-transmitted in case of corruption, there isn't any error correction too.
One could easily see the parallel between USB transfers and TCP/UDP in networking. Obviously, some re-transmission feature must be implemented for data transfers in bulk, interrupt or control types, since you may not appreciate a program transfered over USB to get corrupted.
But, as much as in UDP, you may get along with a corrupted packet in an audio transmission. Also as in UDP, timing is critical, not data integrity. Implementing the re-trasmission feature is not as much a problem, but including the handling of out of order packets is. Also as much as in TCP, this feature eats much of the PHY transmission capacity.
BTW, the most common source of transmission errors in USB transfers are boutique USB cables.
yeah but beware to the Donkey 😀
I like both the Synology via USB outputt and the Rpi. With the age I like too less diy though. Tablets and smartphone are convenient remotes.
In J.Didden shoes I would choose a device that also allows usb stream not to be blocked with spidf only.
On my screen your join date is "Sep 2002".
jean-paul said:
😀
Just think, every month there is a million more Raspberry Pi things out there.
September 2002.. yes good times just like I remembered. Next year 20 years abrasiveness, it is a milestone somehow 🙂
Disclaimer: all the following information is subjective technical gossip not possible to verify.
OK, from what I can gather on intel regarding the iFi Zen Stream: it seems first production units had bad PSU's. For some reason both 9V and 15V iPower PSU's were delivered with the first batches but apparently not the most reliable ones. If an iPower is delivered with a unit this is indicated with a grey sticker on the box. Current production units come with bog standard wall warts. The question is with which one is better off 🙂
Also a hardware revision was done because of complaints (hearsay, I have no proof of this!). Some owners seem to have to update firmware several times one after another. The progress bar was unreliable and only the ones that simply were patient were rewarded with a non-bricked unit. Interrupting the update would cause a bricked unit but something was done in software to prevent that. The device becomes better in time when the firmware seems to become more stable. As usual early adopters took the flak. Also the policy to launch a product with promised but yet unavailable features is a decision frowned upon by many.
No one complaints about the sound quality, on the contrary. It seems to be a top notch transport. The dedicated iFi app to control the device was promised and it was indeed launched recently. It can be found in the App Store.
Please take all info with a grain of salt but from what I understand iFi is busy improving the device. I think one is coming my way.
OK, from what I can gather on intel regarding the iFi Zen Stream: it seems first production units had bad PSU's. For some reason both 9V and 15V iPower PSU's were delivered with the first batches but apparently not the most reliable ones. If an iPower is delivered with a unit this is indicated with a grey sticker on the box. Current production units come with bog standard wall warts. The question is with which one is better off 🙂
Also a hardware revision was done because of complaints (hearsay, I have no proof of this!). Some owners seem to have to update firmware several times one after another. The progress bar was unreliable and only the ones that simply were patient were rewarded with a non-bricked unit. Interrupting the update would cause a bricked unit but something was done in software to prevent that. The device becomes better in time when the firmware seems to become more stable. As usual early adopters took the flak. Also the policy to launch a product with promised but yet unavailable features is a decision frowned upon by many.
No one complaints about the sound quality, on the contrary. It seems to be a top notch transport. The dedicated iFi app to control the device was promised and it was indeed launched recently. It can be found in the App Store.
Please take all info with a grain of salt but from what I understand iFi is busy improving the device. I think one is coming my way.
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The hearsay matches (in pattern only) with many iFi devices I've purchased as an early adopter. As I said earlier, my advice to any friend has been "Be prepared for frustration".
Do I still recommend some of their products, sure. Would I buy one that required me to pay for shipping should something inevitably need to be sent back... NO. I purchased all of mine on-site at a store that was exceptionally good to work with. I know that's not practical for some.
As always YMMV. Good luck in the search.
Do I still recommend some of their products, sure. Would I buy one that required me to pay for shipping should something inevitably need to be sent back... NO. I purchased all of mine on-site at a store that was exceptionally good to work with. I know that's not practical for some.
As always YMMV. Good luck in the search.
In case anyone will find helpful;
I was too curious and bought the Zen on trial. I've had no problems with it functionalitywise whatsoever. It came with a 12v iPower.
I've also had the pi2aes for a year. I only use AES input on my dac/amp, so to compare them I made a coax -> AES cable by shorting pins 2 and 3 (thats how to do it). I used this cable with both streamers.
I used various very good power supplys and voltages - Ferrum Hypsos and diy lt3045@30v.
I've been in doubt during testing, but in the end: if you value analog natural sound and soundstage depth the pi2aes is a pretty clear winner - it is simply amazing. The Zen was also very good though - very dynamic, but a little bit 2d compared to pi2aes. And much fewer "magical moments". Zen is like very very good hifi, but pi2aes takes it to the next level and fools you into believing you're listening to the real thing.
Just my opinion of these 2 for spdif out, in a thread about usb streamers..
I was too curious and bought the Zen on trial. I've had no problems with it functionalitywise whatsoever. It came with a 12v iPower.
I've also had the pi2aes for a year. I only use AES input on my dac/amp, so to compare them I made a coax -> AES cable by shorting pins 2 and 3 (thats how to do it). I used this cable with both streamers.
I used various very good power supplys and voltages - Ferrum Hypsos and diy lt3045@30v.
I've been in doubt during testing, but in the end: if you value analog natural sound and soundstage depth the pi2aes is a pretty clear winner - it is simply amazing. The Zen was also very good though - very dynamic, but a little bit 2d compared to pi2aes. And much fewer "magical moments". Zen is like very very good hifi, but pi2aes takes it to the next level and fools you into believing you're listening to the real thing.
Just my opinion of these 2 for spdif out, in a thread about usb streamers..
My choice wd be pi2aes, with one small caveat, the system needs to balance a bit of extra brightness from this streamer
FWIW, I'm running quite possibly the slowest Intel proc - so slow, that it can barely run W10 (due to graphic performance). It's in an old aspire 1 ASUS laptop and am unsure why they even made the product. But it works with Daphile. Song selection is slow - much slower than the rPi system I was using with either PiCore or Moode.
All my media is ripped CDs and it play this stuff well, once it get going...
Bonus is I can pull the laptop psu and run battery. I can also run battery for the amp (2 X 12V pack, wired in series). I honestly cant tell the difference, so I just leave it all plugged in; linear for the amp. I may get around to wiring the laptop input power to the linear, but I dont think that'll make a perceptible difference to me. Maybe worse FAIK.
I sometimes wonder if the ASUS is just physically built a little better than the rPi, in that's it's a retail product, versus an experimenters platform. And, if that has anything to do with the sound coming out the speakers?
I see the electronic efforts to get rPi based hardware sounding better as Herculean. I dont FIFO reclock from my USB connection, but I do XMOS with better oscillators - and galvanic isolation on the other IA based system - if I can swing the needed power supply to do that. So we all do something, right?
Regarding the race to the bottom price wise, I did pay $50 for one IA, $10 for the ASUS. Those prices arent "all day long", more like intermittent scores. Anyway, the pi is on the shelf for the time being; listening mostly through Daphile bit-perfect to XMOS USB.
If it werent for average modulation variation between listening material, I wouldnt have to occasionally rise to adjust the volume control - on the other side of the room.
Last weekend I was very busy but in between I got the chance to try out a one week old Cambridge CXN V2 at a friend. For some reason I am not a Cambridge Audio buyer (also counts for Linn) therefor I took the opportunity to try it out extensively. It looks nice, has knobs and a display, has a jog shuttle, has an internal PSU (SMPS), has both front and back USB ports, sounds quite ok. It gives the feeling of a being a true audio device instead of a computer/bunch of stacked PCBs. The finish and details of the device add value IMO. The app and the device are stable and app looks similar to what I know from Roon. The owner is conservative and dislikes anything that smells like a computer. He bought it specifically for the display and the knobs but admitted he likes the app most even when compared to other available streamers. The knobs and display are not used.
Nice device certainly to those that want modern audio devices to be familiar to older audio devices. Drawback: no local storage possible despite the large casing. That SATA or M2 connector would have made the device more versatile.
Nice device certainly to those that want modern audio devices to be familiar to older audio devices. Drawback: no local storage possible despite the large casing. That SATA or M2 connector would have made the device more versatile.
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I haven't heard that before, and I don't hear it in my system. What output are you using, and what ps? I've tried a couple ps and the best for me is lt3045-based 30v. It uses very little power when not powering the pi, 0.5w or 0.1A at 5v. A Ferrum Hypsos just shows 0A 0W at 30v. If the +-15v on the SilentSwitcher can be used for 30v I'd guess it would be great.
Random guy on internet's judgement of Zen vs Cambridge:
iFi audio ZEN Stream - Streaming elevated to a higher plane | Page 122 | Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org
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