Bit Perfect Audio from Linux
Jan 26, 2022 at 10:05 PM Post #526 of 543
@gimmeheadroom and @tjw321 for sure are correct. An idea was presented of how to test bit-perfect audio reproduction by a computer, from the data coming in (be it a file on disk or a stream from the web or anything) to the output (be it USB or optical or anything else). An idea how to test the entire chain inside the computer, including the operating system (mind you, any OS, be that the big corporation stuff or free and open-source Linux), its audio stack (no matter how complicated or what it was developed for), and all apps used to process and control audio reproduction by the computer. That idea was simply based on two principles: Number 1, take certain audio data that contain special artificial bit sequences and check whether these special bits happen to arrive unaltered in a piece of hardware after the computer, i.e. the DAC. Such audio data were suggested to be MQA or HDCD. Number 2, an easy test was suggested, a test that would not require recording the digital out from the computer and compare it to the input file. Such test is a simple one, check whether those artificial bit sequences happen to light some light on the DAC, it can be done on the fly by everybody who happens to own a DAC with such a light (be it an MQA or HDCD capable DAC). Nothing more, and nothing less.

And it just happened that I was the - lucky or unlucky, whatever - person to perform this test here, since I happened to have an original MQA album (actually purchased it) and a DAC (actually DAP acting as USB-DAC) capable of MQA. It just happens that I have tons of Grateful Dead and other artists‘ albums which are HDCD albums, but unfortunately I don‘t have an HDCD-capable DAC (e.g. Berkeley Alpha boxes).

Nothing was ever implied about those audio data being used, nothing about audio quality, nothing about them being a technical advancement over original Redbook standards or just a scam, nothing about being a good effort to bring music into mankind‘s life or a cleverly designed scheme to just make money. Nothing was ever implied about the entire stack of computer software and hardware involved.

So, I‘m done with discussing all those side aspects, thoughts and feelings beyond the mere core of the test proposed and performed. Saying nothing about agreeing or disagreeing with anything mentioned beyond the core of the test. I‘m out.
 
Jan 27, 2022 at 7:41 PM Post #527 of 543
@gimmeheadroom and @tjw321 for sure are correct. An idea was presented of how to ...
...audio data that contain special artificial bit sequences and check whether these special bits happen to arrive unaltered....
Such test is a simple one, check whether those artificial bit sequences happen to light some light on the DAC
Look, I understood the idea and didn't agree that its a valid one. Playing a file that has "some artificial sequence" in it, and that only some light that comes out of some black box would confirm that it wasn't altered, that is not a test that it works, it's just something you or people believe in. And as it is with believers, you can't convince them of the opposite even if its in front of their eyes.

In the real world (or in physics/math, thats what i know at least) if you want to proof something, there is logic involved, the rules and the process are clear, all parts are known, there is a globaly accepted language. Once a theory was disproved with an experiment, the theory isn't valid anymore, no matter how much you liked the theory and wanted it to be real. MQA was proven not to be bit perfect and to degrade the sound, which of course doesn't mean that you can't enjoy listening to it.


Now back to Linux
From reading about roon on linux I discovered those two things that make linux support native dsd:

https://github.com/lintweaker/xmos-native-dsd
https://github.com/lintweaker/mpd-dsd-018

both haven't been updated for quite some time even years, but maybe still interesting for someone here

cheers
 
Jan 28, 2022 at 3:50 AM Post #528 of 543
Although I didn't want to take part in this discussion anymore and still stick to this refusal, I feel I should complete what has been said and provide links to contributions by "The Computer Audiophile" on his "Audiophile Style" forum website. Please regard this as an addendum to the original suggestion here by @gimmeheadroom to use MQA tracks for testing the bit-perfectness of audio transmission in any audio track > computer > DAC system. When I had read his suggestion a few days ago, I was reminded of what "The Computer Audiophile" had done recently. He used HDCD tracks for the exact same purpose (testing for bit-perfect throughput) in the exact same way (lighting a hardware light based on special artificial bit sequences). The only difference to the MQA test is that HDCD-capable DACs are really rare today. These are the links to his papers:
https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/bits-and-bytes/apple-musics-lossless-and-hi-res-mess-r1022/
https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/bits-and-bytes/apple-music-lossless-mess-part-2-airplay-r1026/
Enjoy!
Please also note - with a little smile on your face - that "The Computer Audiophile" uses such testing for bit-perfect throughput for his ultimate goal of "attacking" the company that currently has the highest market capitalization in the world ... and tries to conquer markets galore ...
 
Jan 28, 2022 at 7:52 AM Post #529 of 543
Although I didn't want to take part in this discussion anymore and still stick to this refusal, I feel I should complete what has been said and provide links to contributions by "The Computer Audiophile" on his "Audiophile Style" forum website. Please regard this as an addendum to the original suggestion here by @gimmeheadroom to use MQA tracks for testing the bit-perfectness of audio transmission in any audio track > computer > DAC system. When I had read his suggestion a few days ago, I was reminded of what "The Computer Audiophile" had done recently. He used HDCD tracks for the exact same purpose (testing for bit-perfect throughput) in the exact same way (lighting a hardware light based on special artificial bit sequences). The only difference to the MQA test is that HDCD-capable DACs are really rare today. These are the links to his papers:
https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/bits-and-bytes/apple-musics-lossless-and-hi-res-mess-r1022/
https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/bits-and-bytes/apple-music-lossless-mess-part-2-airplay-r1026/
Enjoy!
Please also note - with a little smile on your face - that "The Computer Audiophile" uses such testing for bit-perfect throughput for his ultimate goal of "attacking" the company that currently has the highest market capitalization in the world ... and tries to conquer markets galore ...
I really like that site thanks for the links certainly interesting reads :)
 
Jan 28, 2022 at 8:21 AM Post #530 of 543
...
In the real world (or in physics/math, thats what i know at least) if you want to proof something, there is logic involved, the rules and the process are clear, all parts are known, there is a globaly accepted language. Once a theory was disproved with an experiment, the theory isn't valid anymore, no matter how much you liked the theory and wanted it to be real. MQA was proven not to be bit perfect and to degrade the sound, which of course doesn't mean that you can't enjoy listening to it.
...
I also said that I wasn't going to engage any more but I should just say that I am a mathematician...
 
Jan 28, 2022 at 10:31 AM Post #532 of 543
I also said that I wasn't going to engage any more but I should just say that I am a mathematician...

Makes me smile, as that could precisely be my sentence, too - just replace ”mathematician“ by ”physicist“ (long time ago).
So we all have a science background and know, so let’s not forget :)
Physics here
 
Oct 30, 2022 at 12:44 AM Post #533 of 543
I didn't see any post in this thread that proves anybody is getting bit-perfect output. It seems like people think if they get some music app to use a specific device that's all it takes. But that isn't proof of anything.

The only proof I know of bit-perfect is to send an MQA bitstream to an MQA DAC. If your bitstream isn't bit-perfect, it won't play in MQA.

I have not found anything that can play SACD ISOs on Linux. Can anyone recommend a good player comparable to Foobar2000?
You've been shown multiple times how to see the stream being sent to your DAC but you've chose to ignore them. If you follow Disaster8tio post you'll get bit-perfect audio in seconds, it's not that complicated. MPD-SACD (you can find it in the AUR) plays SACD and DVD iso's and it's easy to use.

You asked in a post why this thread has some pages. The answer is, there's multiple ways of doing everything on Linux and that's the strength of the platform. It's up to you as the user to build the OS that works best for you.
 
Feb 24, 2023 at 5:04 PM Post #534 of 543
Guys any app other than DeadBeef player which plays bit perfect audio in Linux, got fed up with DeadBeef as it doesn't provide any library feature for browsing my music, tried Rhythmbox and Clementine both resamples the audio so can't use it.
 
Feb 24, 2023 at 5:12 PM Post #535 of 543
Guys any app other than DeadBeef player which plays bit perfect audio in Linux, got fed up with DeadBeef as it doesn't provide any library feature for browsing my music, tried Rhythmbox and Clementine both resamples the audio so can't use it.
Hello,

Guayadeque
gmusicbrowser
Strawberry music player (fork of Clementine)
Music player daemon (mpd)
 
Feb 24, 2023 at 5:24 PM Post #537 of 543
Guys any app other than DeadBeef player which plays bit perfect audio in Linux, got fed up with DeadBeef as it doesn't provide any library feature for browsing my music, tried Rhythmbox and Clementine both resamples the audio so can't use it.
Check out Guayadeque Music Player (my current favorite), Audacious (essentially Winamp for Linux), GMusicBrowser or Quod Libet. All are bit perfect players and have better library and playlist options than stock DeadBeef. There's also the the MPD front ends like ncmpcpp (console) that have great library options but are more involved to setup.
 

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