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Post by yomanze on Aug 17, 2014 14:31:04 GMT
Spotify Premium here too, used on the main system via my media centre and also use offline playlists on my phone. Also do in browser streaming for DAB radio e.g. 6 Music. I really don't mind the quality loss compared to lossless / hard media.
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katos
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Post by katos on Aug 17, 2014 14:38:12 GMT
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jrh101
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Post by jrh101 on Aug 17, 2014 17:18:08 GMT
Spotify premium for me, the selection of music is more than adequate and generally the sound quality is acceptable, I tried Qobuz hifi for a month, the sound quality was better than Spotify but the range of music was far too limited to make it a viable alternative.
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Post by Tweaker on Sept 12, 2014 20:19:29 GMT
WIMP Premium and YouMusic. Wimp is included in my phone bill. YouMusic is comparable to WIMP Premium, and run by my ISP, and is included in my broadband. Both run on Sonos.
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Post by speedysteve on Sept 18, 2014 15:49:28 GMT
Ditto above. Spotify for our phones / Kindle for mobile music. Recently I have converted from CD to Flac from 1.5TB drive, served by my laptop USB, converted to I2S by a WaveIO booed that has 4cm long wires to my dac / pre / DSP x/o setup. This feeds my amps with each freq band for the drivers (active). The latter two are Diyaudio projects.
Spotify always sounded rather poor compared to CD or Flac. Some of the 96 /192 productions I've downloaded from hi-res sites can sound stunning!
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Post by speedysteve on Sept 19, 2014 23:38:40 GMT
An update is the my recently acquired Windows tablet can control Jriver through a web interface version of Gizmo, as there is no app like you'd find on Google or Apple platforms... It worked fine as graphical interface to cue up / search etc. I will look into other options too. I read somewhere that you can load the full version of Jriver and get the two talking but that sounds a bit heavyweight. We'll see.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 20, 2014 9:59:19 GMT
Not a JRiver person as I am dedicated to maximum sound quality. That said it is a nice easy to use interface works well, you can have your dsd plugs and the J remote is superb
Just out of interest any of you use the Jplay plug in at all?
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Post by MartinT on Sept 20, 2014 10:05:48 GMT
I am playing Radio Paradise Naim Hi-Res stream (320k) more and more. Really excellent selection of music and good sound quality through the Raspberry Pi.
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Post by speedysteve on Sept 21, 2014 10:59:31 GMT
Not a JRiver person as I am dedicated to maximum sound quality. That said it is a nice easy to use interface works well, you can have your dsd plugs and the J remote is superb Just out of interest any of you use the Jplay plug in at all? Hmm, I'm fairly new to the idea of Serving music but have ALL my CD's converted to Flac and these sound as good if not better than transport into dac. I have some hi-res 96KHz, 192KHz and even a 384KHz album (I believe this is upsampled though). All play well through Jriver, USB -> I2S using WaveIO (ASIO) and then into my Najda dac DSP setp up. A further upgrade will be a dedicated linear 5V supply for WaveIO and one day a better linear +/-12V and +5V supply for Najda (the DSP / DACs end of things)... What is higher up the SQ tree than Jriver then? SQ would be my preference too but the Jriver interface and remote control / playback and export of MP3's for car / phone listening is easy to to use if something is not avail on Spotify premium. I've read Jplay adds another layer of processing and should be avoided but have not tried it to compare.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2014 7:43:28 GMT
I am playing Radio Paradise Naim Hi-Res stream (320k) more and more. Really excellent selection of music and good sound quality through the Raspberry Pi. Hi Martin Radio Paradise is very good plus no adverts a big bonus for me
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Paul
Rank: Trio
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Post by Paul on Sept 24, 2014 15:51:25 GMT
Spotify for discovering new bands/artists (free service).
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Post by John on Sept 24, 2014 16:13:36 GMT
Jplay certainly adds something to the mix but on a revealing system it certainly has it faults. I used to advocate it in the past I would now advise people not to use there are other alternatives
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Post by gazjam on Sept 25, 2014 8:42:41 GMT
Not a JRiver person as I am dedicated to maximum sound quality. That said it is a nice easy to use interface works well, you can have your dsd plugs and the J remote is superb Just out of interest any of you use the Jplay plug in at all? Hi Tony, Bit of a bold statement Sir? I'm dedicated to maximum sound quality too, and I use Jriver exclusively! Personal preference is one thing , but saying Jriver cant provide maximum sound quality is a bit, uhm...absolute? Mentioned this over in the other place, but worth mentioning here I think? I've used the Jplay plugin and it can give slightly better sound quality imo, but I've found it can be a bit temperamental and can affect system stability. Tried the 2 PC setup option and hibernation mode, don't use them anymore though. At one point I had a two PC Hibernation mode setup with the registry settings tweaked and whilst it sounded excellent, I found it not a big step up from a tweaked single PC setup. Spent quite a while exploring the "hardcore" options (2 PC Jplay setup, Hibernation mode, MQn and the like) and while they can sound very slightly better, its not a whole lot better. To me, in the real world, if your losing functionality, reliability and user experience for 5% improvement...the "benefit" is outweighed by what you lose. Hibernation mode...It is slightly better than not using it, but its not such a big jump in my system. Given the hassle of everything switching off in hibernation mode for not a massive jump in sound quality, I didn't find the return was worth the sacrifice. Optimised hardware, linear power, Server 2012 R2 with AudioOptimizer, highly tweaked Jriver/Jplay in Single PC mode works for me. Have things "just so" now and happy with that. I dont use Jplay any more btw, but Kernel Streaming as my preferred output method to my dac. Recently did a back to back comparison on JR20 and Kernel Streaming sounds better to me. And the server is 100% rock solid.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2014 12:00:21 GMT
Hi Gary Bold statement possibly, but easy to demonstrate Single PC I would agree with 100% (recently had a visit form a UK based uber Computer audiophile) running the 2 pc set up, all the toys Jcat, Paul pang bits, linear ATX etc. Nice and detailed but real hifi a solid two dimensional sound. Zero music. Jriver great front end, just lack of real high end sound, a nicely put together package for the masses that really works well, also the Jremote is a joy to use. Jplay just a sideways European hifi sound plug in. What sort of latency can you obtain using KS with set up?
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Post by Pinch on Sept 25, 2014 12:56:06 GMT
Hi Tony, I've no reason to doubt what you say - you clearly have significant expertise in this field. But I wonder what you'd recommend as an alternative player to JRiver? Telling us that it's not up to high-end sound isn't especially helpful if you're not also willing to elaborate and tell us what's better.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2014 13:17:49 GMT
Pinch With all of these products they are designed around various parameters, initial R & D, any copyright / Patent and the perceived expectation of performance (along with the case of JRiver a health dose of serious promotion on CA) There are a couple of other alternatives that if correctly implemented and used in a transparent system will deliver quantifiable and repeatable improved results. This is produced by a switched on cookie Nice piece of workI have a bias here Pinch simply as I have the ability to improve / change / redesign these things and get paid for it Personally I am looking for total maximum SQ over functionality (which is where Jriver / Pure music etc are plain good at) Currently working with a software engineer to produce a total package that will satisfy the masses. Those that are truly looking for real SQ will be concentrating in other areas of the PC arena. It is a combination of software, hard coring, power supplies, board designing, totally passive, data transmission both internally and externally, reduction of internally generated contaminates, etc. My current digital transport uses very little of what you would call a PC as such, I have drawn from Studio, home audio, communications technology and some newly designed master clock ideas. Have you any idea how average a cpu clock is? or how much an effect the north bridge has in data transfer, how noisy is sata3 or usb 3? At the moment the latest design is using around 12 watts of power even when using my own player (which performs some nifty memory and upsampling techniques and draws more power) maximum CPU usage is 8% core temperature runs around 45C peeking at 49C during a hot day All grist for mill Pinch
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Post by gazjam on Sept 25, 2014 13:48:22 GMT
Tony, sorry but I'm calling shenanigans on this one. "Currently working with a software engineer to produce a total package that will satisfy the masses. Those that are truly looking for real SQ will be concentrating in other areas of the PC arena." Like the areas your stating in your new WIP product? Hmnn... Not doubting your knowledge and experience Tony, but I feel a sales pitch coming on. That said, if a product is genuinely better then great.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2014 14:21:16 GMT
Tony, sorry but I'm calling shenanigans on this one. "Currently working with a software engineer to produce a total package that will satisfy the masses. Those that are truly looking for real SQ will be concentrating in other areas of the PC arena." Like the areas your stating in your new WIP product? Hmnn... Not doubting your knowledge and experience Tony, but I feel a sales pitch coming on. Hi Gary You are entitled to your view as much as anyone if Jriver works for you and you feel it delivers then that's great. Will happily say it sports a great user interface and catalogs with the best of them and sounds fine end of. Certainly not the best sounding commercial available player (imho), however it is purely what the buying public wish to pursue and ease of use and simplicity is the top of 95%+ end users list of preferences which is what Jriver is very popular unquestionably. It also works robustly which is another pre requisite of the buying public choice. No sales pitch for me at all, just merely observations A GUI is essential for everyone, they key is getting the performance to work with an acceptable GUI, tagger, internet data capture etc. This is particular project for me is trying to marry up the raw performance without compromising the SQ that having to use any part of internal cpu graphics section to a degree you encroach on SQ. Just for the record I wrote a particular player some four years ago Gary, its clunky to use, not particular easy to adjust and most people would hate to work it however it does produce music rather well. At the the NAS show a couple of rooms were using JR19/20 with thunderbolt (battery powered and without), trick usb leads etc, and every room they were used in had a distinctive 'produced sound' despite all of them using different amplifiers and speakers. Maybe it is a Jriver house sound possibly? The question is an easy one to answer if you like the sound then no problems, if you don't then you have few alternatives. If you have time try this one, I have nothing to do with this company at all, however his theory is sound and the inventor has more than a smattering of intelligence. Though he can be somewhat forthright in his views Signalyst HQ playerAs always a difference of opinion is very human and we all wish to improve ourselves so on occasions we challenge the norm.
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Post by John on Sept 25, 2014 14:24:15 GMT
I think Computer Audio is area that is constantly involving I heard Tony's Computer set up about a month ago and it was living up with his high end Transport we had a good talk about the various ways to improve computer Audio it was an educational experience Gaz would you mind sharing how you get the best out J River I am sure a lot of people would benefit from that knowledge I went down 2pc set up with Jplay glad I no longer bother with the hassle of that anymore I still have a preference for MQn myself its open source and keeps on developing but would love to know how to get the best out of Jriver as its a lot more friendly format
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Post by Pinch on Sept 25, 2014 15:30:28 GMT
Thanks Tony! Nice to have more info on your set up, and good to have another player to trial On topic: Since JRiver can be configured to allow devices outside the network to connect to, and stream content from the library, this is the only streaming that I do - great when I'm away from home, especially if I'm at friends' places and I want to play them something new.
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