AUDIO over IP - REDNET 3 & 16 Review. AES67 Sets A New Standard for Computer Audio

[rb2013]

Found this, may help to show another opinion:
http://bitperfectsound.blogspot.com.es/2013/11/upsample.html

Give it up dude...we've moved on...

 

[astrostar59]

Give it up dude...we've moved on...

Ok. But last thing, it seems to be split the amount of difference it makes, depends on the DAC and the implementation (apparently).
 
I tried the EQ filters by DMG audio this week. They were written by a guy who worked at Focusright. They seem to be very good, no apparent quality loss as long as the effects are subtle. Would recommend folks try them out.

 

[Modified]

   
It costs almost $2200 for a pair ($1070 ea.) and would certainly need to sound very good as it locks you into it's built in DAC/amp/ and speaker.
 
Might be nice for some applications and is a good start however.

Certainly, just good start, up to 96kHz sample rates. But shows the direction for active speakers to go. Hope standards (AES67 and RAVENNA in this case) will make combinations possible.

 

[Golfnutz]

 
Quote:

Question... I want to try out the audio from my oppo bluray player through rednet. My d16 has a spdif input. How can i configure it to switch between my audio server pc/roon and the bluray audio signal.
Also wondering if I can plug the spdif into my audio server and pump it through hqplayer? Any ideas?
Is any of this worth trying?

I have both HQPlayer and Oppo BDP-95 configured to my D16.
 
I do think it's worth trying if you have any DVD or BluRay music discs. Just downmix to Stereo in your Oppo player.
 
The only way I was able to use both, was to connect AES from D16 to my DAC AES, and SPDIF from D16 to SPDIF on my DAC. Then just select which input on your DAC.
 
Computer channels 1&2 are routed to Rednet D16 1&2. Rednet channels 3&4 are routed to Rednet channels 3&4 in Dante Controller.
 
I also made RCA Output Source = Channels 3-4 in Rednet Control options (tool bar icon).
 
Edit: Added Screen Shot, and Oppo needs to be set to LPCM in Audio Format and choose your sample rate.

 

[Iving]

 
... trial-and-error settings with emphasis on Network Adapters ... Without fiddling with Advanced Network Adapter Properties, I210-AT latency is some 10-20 μs lower than I219-LM - possibly because the latter is " Dual interconnect between MAC & PHY ". I thought perhaps the latter more "analogue" and the former more "refined". Latency swung it and I am using the I210-AT for the RedNet LAN and the I219-LM for the internet ... The final set of settings I thought generated noticeable mojo and, since that is everything to me, I left it there (for now).

Update re I219-LM vs. I210-AT (dual LAN on ASUS Z170-WS):
- I210-AT has lower average latency circa 790μs vs. I219's circa 804μs, but after a little experience of both, I think I219-LM sounds better - blacker, thicker, clearer.
- PROWin64.exe integrates with Advanced Network Adapter Properties in Device Manager
opening new tabs and a small number of extra settings. All power saving settings can be turned off etc.
- I210-AT has a curious "Use Low Latency Interrupts" facility not otherwise visible. I experimented - ports have to be stipulated and I am not sure I achieved that successfully - but anyway could not achieve any enhancements of latency or SQ.
- I219-LM has "Adaptive Inter-Frame Spacing" whereas I210-AT does not. I don't know whether this Enabled contributes to SQ.
- I219-LM settings as below:

Adaptive Inter-Frame Spacing	Enabled​
ARP Offload	N/A​
Enable PME	Disabled​
Energy Efficient Ethernet	Off​
Flow Control	Rx & Tx Enabled​
Gigabit Master Slave Mode	Auto Detect​
Interrupt Moderation	Disabled​
Interrupt Moderation Rate	Off​
IPv4 Checksum Offload	Rx & Tx Enabled​
Jumbo Packet	Disabled​
Large Send Offload V2 (IPv4)	Enabled​
Large Send Offload V2 (IPv6)	Enabled​
Legacy Switch Compatibility Mode	Disabled​
Locally Administered Address	– Not Present​
Log Link State Event	Disabled​
Maximum Number of RSS Queues	2 Queues​
NS Offload	N/A​
Packet Priority & VLAN	Packet Priority Enabled​
Protocol ARP Offload	Disabled​
Protocol NS Offload	Disabled​
Receive Buffers	2048​
Receive Side Scaling	Enabled​
Reduce Speed On Power Down	Disabled​
Speed & Duplex	1.0 Gbps Full Duplex​
System Idle Power Saver	Disabled​
TCP Checksum Offload (IPv4)	Rx & Tx Enabled​
TCP Checksum Offload (IPv6)	Rx & Tx Enabled​
Transmit Buffers	2048​
UDP Checksum Offload (IPv4)	Rx & Tx Enabled​
UDP Checksum Offload (IPv6)	Rx & Tx Enabled​
Wait for Link	Auto Detect​
Wait on Link Settings	Disabled​
Wake on Magic Packet	Disabled​
Wake on Pattern Match	Disabled​

All said and done - best SQ yet.

 

[mourip]

Boy. You can hear a pin drop here! Hopefully everyone is busy listening to great music courtesy of AOIP?
 
Thanks for the ethernet settings. I employed them but to be honest I have some cables breaking in and new speakers so I probably cannot attribute changes properly. The system is sounding great though.
 
Rob. How is the Burl progressing?

 

[astrostar59]

On the setting, they are for the Ethernet controller in Windows. Does anyone have any settings to try on a Mac?
 
Right now I have it set as automatic configuration for Ethernet connection (to the RedNet).

 

[Skogkatt]

Focusrite posted on its software download page the new version of RedNet Control 2.0
 
This version sports a new graphical interface where it is possible to place all the RedNet devices (if have more than one) on a grid.
 
The good point is that, once properly set and after saving the configuration, it retains the automatic sample rate setting
every time you start the software.
 
For my convenience, I placed a shortcut in the Windows startup folder so that it starts automatically with the O.S.
 
With this version of RedNet Control the application does not shutdown when opening a remote control instance like it did with 1.10.
 

 
To set sample rate follow select the name of your PC in "Tab follow device"
 
The only doubt is due the fact it requests to update a firmware (even if according to instructions I should
have the latest one): pressing update it reports an not better specified error.
 
In conclusion it is a nice upgrade.

 

[mourip]

  Focusrite posted on its software download page the new version of RedNet Control 2.0
 
This version sports a new graphical interface where it is possible to place all the RedNet devices (if have more than one) on a grid.
 
The good point is that, once properly set and after saving the configuration, it retains the automatic sample rate setting
every time you start the software.
 
For my convenience, I placed a shortcut in the Windows startup folder so that it starts automatically with the O.S.
 
With this version of RedNet Control the application does not shutdown when opening a remote control instance like it did with 1.10.
 

 
To set sample rate follow select the name of your PC in "Tab follow device"
 
The only doubt is due the fact it requests to update a firmware (even if according to instructions I should
have the latest one): pressing update it reports an not better specified error.
 
In conclusion it is a nice upgrade.

 
This is great. I actually called Focusrite and reported those issues months ago when the last version came out.

 

[mourip]

So I upgraded my D16 based headphone system to Rednet Control v2 last night. It does stay open after exiting RDP and it does retain it's settings when closed and reopened. So far so good there.
 
Sample Rate Follow works...mostly.
 
I use JRMC 22 with SoX enabled. I also tend to jump between tracks on different albums a lot. Last night I found that SRF worked most of the time but occasionally JRMC would cough up an error saying that the chosen rate would not work. If I restarted RC v2 and then chose that same track again it would play fine at my chosen rate. I am playing 44.1k at 176.4k and 192k at 192k.
 
I will test more and report back.

 

[johnjen]

Using RedNet Control v.2 SRF still doesn't work on Mac, at least while using jriver.
 
JJ

 

[joelha]

As I'm out of town right now, I'm wondering whether I can install 2.0 remotely without requiring any local/manual steps.

Thanks in advance.

Joel

 

[Golfnutz]

Here's some useless information about the D16...
 
After installing DVS, Rednet Controller, Dante Controller and routing a CD Player (SPDIF-In -> SPDIF-Out or AES).
 
You can turn off your computer and it will still work (need the primary Ethernet connected to Lan). You should be able to unplug your Ethernet connection at this point if you wanted to, and music will still play.
 
Added bonus - from cold start and w/o computer (D16 waking itself up): If you don't want to have any Ethernet connections. Disconnect cables from Primary and Secondary ports from D16. Take an Ethernet cable, plug one end into the primary port and the other end into the secondary port on your D16. You should see the lights flashing for both ports. Now remove the cable, and you should start hearing music after about 2-3 seconds. Not sure why I tried this because I didn't expect anything to happen.
 
You are still using the JetPLL clocks when not connected via AOIP. Basically same sound.
 
So, if your computer is down, and you have an external CD Player (or similar device with SPDIF-Out), you can still listen to music via your Rednet D16.

 

[rb2013]

  Here's some useless information about the D16...
 
After installing DVS, Rednet Controller, Dante Controller and routing a CD Player (SPDIF-In -> SPDIF-Out or AES).
 
You can turn off your computer and it will still work (need the primary Ethernet connected to Lan). You should be able to unplug your Ethernet connection at this point if you wanted to, and music will still play.
 
Added bonus - from cold start and w/o computer (D16 waking itself up): If you don't want to have any Ethernet connections. Disconnect cables from Primary and Secondary ports from D16. Take an Ethernet cable, plug one end into the primary port and the other end into the secondary port on your D16. You should see the lights flashing for both ports. Now remove the cable, and you should start hearing music after about 2-3 seconds. Not sure why I tried this because I didn't expect anything to happen.
 
You are still using the JetPLL clocks when not connected via AOIP. Basically same sound.
 
So, if your computer is down, and you have an external CD Player (or similar device with SPDIF-Out), you can still listen to music via your Rednet D16.

That is interesting - how does the CD player sound vs the PC?

 

[rb2013]

Interesting review of the Merging Tech NADAC in the November issue of HiFi News.
 
Not much said about AOIP AES67 or Ravenna- other then is was easy to set-up and they didn't know much about it.
 
The reviewer seemed to comment that the SQ was the same from the Ravenna PC and SPDIF input.  And the SPDIF is limited to 96K!
 
They very much did like the SQ - but really nothing exceptional there as a stand alone DAC:
SMPS, ESS DAC chips:

 

 

 

Worth $11000?