[Triode User]

I have an itch to try MPD but procrastinate due to being a little intimidated about setting it up. I'll get to it eventually.
I tried Squeeze/SqueezeLite and felt it was rolled off compared to Roon and that it only served to mask the issues I hear with Roon.
Roon/SqueezeLite was less rolled off but I missed the shimmer of cymbals so for the moment, I am back to Roon Server/Roon Player

Maybe you need a decent DAC.

MPD is a doddle to set up on the K50 but cant speak about setting it up on the CX + EX. Squueze/squeezelite definitely sounds better for me though and no roll off audible with it either. I just have the feeling in the back of my mind that the ‘push’ method of playing files with the Squeeze server is inherently better than the ‘pull’ way of doing it with MPD that might involve extra processing on the Player board.

I will try Roon again but all my previous experiences have been much the worst sound quality Whether with Roon Server/Roon Player or whether using the Squeezelite player with Roon Server.

 

[kennyb123]

Nightly Cache Delete

Is my understanding correct that part of the [overnight] auto updates for 3.1 include clearing the server cache ?
If so, has anyone confirmed whether this is an up and running feature?
Yesterday I cleared what I recall was 732M and today I show 697M.
I noticed the buffer utilization went from 532M to 697M in a matter of minutes but it seems to hover around 530M.
The sound does appear to freshen up a bit when I manually clear the [Roon Server] cache.

Are you sure that it was that particular cache that they said they'd clear? A cache exists to help with performance but it can get stale or grow too large over time.

 

[Triode User]

Playing 768 without 3CPO.





My little EX running roon core, hqplayer ( no upsampling) and playing 768 file. I still can’t decide on my server upgrade. I would most likely go K40 if it hd not been taken out of production. Mark says a new version is coming soon.

After your post just to see what happened I disabled the C-3PO plugin on the Squeeze Server and the Antipodes K50 instantly couldn’t play 705 or 768 files through Squeeze + Squeezelite. The Dave was reporting receiving 44.1 instead of the correct frequency and there was just a grumbling low frequency sound through the speakers. Having now reinstalled the C-3PO plugin on the server all is again playing fine through through Squeeze + Squeezelite.

 

[kennyb123]

Seems to work and play tracks fine with Additional Effects unchecked.

Not for me. I will either get no sound or that really slow motion sound - and my DAC shows 44.1K.

 

[kennyb123]

I tried Squeeze/SqueezeLite and felt it was rolled off compared to Roon and that it only served to mask the issues I hear with Roon.

The issues I hear with Roon vanish with Squeeze/SqueezeLite. It makes it difficult to go back to listening to Roon.

 

[kennyb123]

Playing 768 without 3CPO.

I think things will change for you when you go two-tier with Squeeze… and I mean that positively. The very lightweight Squeezelite player strikes me as the lowest latency player. Stops and starts of transients are better portrayed. It‘s also quieter with a greater sense of ease.

I still can’t decide on my server upgrade. I would most likely go K40 if it hd not been taken out of production. Mark says a new version is coming soon.

Trade in your EX towards a K30. Interesting about the K40.

 

[Presence]

Are you sure that it was that particular cache that they said they'd clear? A cache exists to help with performance but it can get stale or grow too large over time.

Mark Cole clarified that an auto-nighttime system cache clearing will be in a subsequent release so the server doesn't have to be rebooted to accomplish this now.
The Roon Application cache can be manually cleared and I mistakenly conflated the two.

 

[Progisus]

I posted this over on Antipodes forum but I may get more traction here,

I have a 2tb ssd in my EX running 3.1. Can I simply power down the EX, remove drive and then place it in new K series without losing data?

 

[kennyb123]

I have a 2tb ssd in my EX running 3.1. Can I simply power down the EX, remove drive and then place it in new K series without losing data?

New K series, eh?

The answer should be yes as both are running the same OS. The drive had been formatted for Linux so it should pop right in.

 

[Progisus]

New K series, eh?

The answer should be yes as both are running the same OS. The drive had been formatted for Linux so it should pop right in.

You guessed it and thanks for your suggestions. I have ordered a K30 and would like to order and prep a 4tb or 8tb ssd with my roon and pggb library. I went with the K30 as I don’t feel I would use the reclocked outputs. Famous last words. I do like the one box solution but may still put it in my computer rack and direct stream to the EX. Hopefully it arrives in a week out here on the frozen prairie. (eh…haha).

 

[kennyb123]

You guessed it and thanks for your suggestions. I have ordered a K30 and would like to order and prep a 4tb or 8tb ssd with my roon and pggb library. I went with the K30 as I don’t feel I would use the reclocked outputs. Famous last words. I do like the one box solution but may still put it in my computer rack and direct stream to the EX. Hopefully it arrives in a week out here on the frozen prairie. (eh…haha).

Woo hoo! I think you will be delighted with it. Looking forward to hearing what you think. Silver or black?

 

[Progisus]

Woo hoo! I think you will be delighted with it. Looking forward to hearing what you think. Silver or black?

I saw your silver one in your rack and really liked it but I went with black. I see you also moved from Chord to Gustard. How do you find that?

 

[kennyb123]

I saw your silver one in your rack and really liked it but I went with black. I see you also moved from Chord to Gustard. How do you find that?

The K30 looks stunning in black as well. Good move.

The Gustard was a significant step up from the TT2, which is astonishing given the price difference. PGGB is a factor in this as I run the Gustard in NOS mode. It‘s not truly non-oversampling but it lets the magic come through. Likewise for scaling with HQPlayer for everything else.

As a friend described it, the real brilliance of Chord‘s DACs is what happens in the FPGA. But if you take that away you’re left with nothing too special. The power supplies Chord uses are cheap off the shelf SMPSs whereas the Gustard has a built-in over-specified pair of linear supplies with one driving the analog stage and the other driving the digital stage. The Chord DACs also use an older Amenaro USB input that many are now bypassing with the SRC-DX because it has lower latency. The Gustard has the XMOS USB that is regarded by some as one of the best. And lastly, the output stage on Chord DACs is a opamp. High end products often eschew these in favor of discrete circuits as these are said to sound better. I get why Rob wants to keep things simple as he feels transparency suffers the more components a circuit has to pass through. The Gustard may give up a very slight amount of transparency but the gains are worth it. Music gains fuller weight, bloom, and color. Dynamics are greatly improved as well. After inserting the Gustard, I never went back to the TT2 for another listen. The improvements were too profound.

But it gets better. I added a REF10 clock as the Gustard can accept a 10 MHz reference clock. This brought a holy crap level of improvement. There’s an excellent review of the REF10 on Audio Bacon. Jay perfectly described the improvement the clock brought. And since I was able to also apply a clock to my EtherRegen, things got even better.

The best part of it was that selling the TT2 covered the cost of a new Gustard X26pro plus a used REF10. The only out of pocket additional cost was for a Shunyata clock cable. This was probably the most significant upgrade yet and I only spent about $700 to get it.

 

[cczero17]

I have an itch to try MPD but procrastinate due to being a little intimidated about setting it up. I'll get to it eventually.
I tried Squeeze/SqueezeLite and felt it was rolled off compared to Roon and that it only served to mask the issues I hear with Roon.
Roon/SqueezeLite was less rolled off but I missed the shimmer of cymbals so for the moment, I am back to Roon Server/Roon Player

Same here. Much of anything beyond Hqplayer seems over my head. There seems to be so many options and wouldn't know where to start.

I feel there needs to be sticky of all the different options, what's required to use those options and an idiot's guide on how to set them up

 

[Progisus]

The K30 looks stunning in black as well. Good move.

The Gustard was a significant step up from the TT2, which is astonishing given the price difference. PGGB is a factor in this as I run the Gustard in NOS mode. It‘s not truly non-oversampling but it lets the magic come through. Likewise for scaling with HQPlayer for everything else.

As a friend described it, the real brilliance of Chord‘s DACs is what happens in the FPGA. But if you take that away you’re left with nothing too special. The power supplies Chord uses are cheap off the shelf SMPSs whereas the Gustard has a built-in over-specified pair of linear supplies with one driving the analog stage and the other driving the digital stage. The Chord DACs also use an older Amenaro USB input that many are now bypassing with the SRC-DX because it has lower latency. The Gustard has the XMOS USB that is regarded by some as one of the best. And lastly, the output stage on Chord DACs is a opamp. High end products often eschew these in favor of discrete circuits as these are said to sound better. I get why Rob wants to keep things simple as he feels transparency suffers the more components a circuit has to pass through. The Gustard may give up a very slight amount of transparency but the gains are worth it. Music gains fuller weight, bloom, and color. Dynamics are greatly improved as well. After inserting the Gustard, I never went back to the TT2 for another listen. The improvements were too profound.

But it gets better. I added a REF10 clock as the Gustard can accept a 10 MHz reference clock. This brought a holy crap level of improvement. There’s an excellent review of the REF10 on Audio Bacon. Jay perfectly described the improvement the clock brought. And since I was able to also apply a clock to my EtherRegen, things got even better.

The best part of it was that selling the TT2 covered the cost of a new Gustard X26pro plus a used REF10. The only out of pocket additional cost was for a Shunyata clock cable. This was probably the most significant upgrade yet and I only spent about $700 to get it.

You’ve given me food for thought. Gutsy move!