It will be interesting if there is a sound change with servers.
CX, EX, K, S, Oladra, Antipodes, Owners Unite
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seeteeyou
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https://forums.slimdevices.com/foru...d-mysqueezebox-com-servers/page10#post1668882
Maybe something like upmpdcli could be a replacement if TIDAL were still required?
https://www.lesbonscomptes.com/upmpdcli/pages/upmpdcli-manual.html#UPMPDCLI-MS-STR
Thankfully it's so easy to gargleblast FLAC files with PGGB after grabbing a copy off TIDAL.
Maybe something like upmpdcli could be a replacement if TIDAL were still required?
https://www.lesbonscomptes.com/upmpdcli/pages/upmpdcli-manual.html#UPMPDCLI-MS-STR
Thankfully it's so easy to gargleblast FLAC files with PGGB after grabbing a copy off TIDAL.
SJ would charge £10,000 for his mod.
Hi naynay,
Happy New Year to you.
If you lived within driving distance I'd do the power mod for your G3 CX for you. But it'd cost you though...
You bring the iPower Elite and I'd charge you maybe <$100 for incidentals and you'd owe me a pizza out afterwards over hi-fi talk.
The CX power mod would take me three hours or so.
Technically it's very straight forward but all the little details add up and require some level of improvisation.
The Elites in my modded units are not tightly secured so the units are hand-carry only.
The old set up can be put back in a jiffy if it ever needed a future repair.
If you have a buddy that knows his way around a basic LPS I'd be happy to provide assistance.
Integrating the USB isolator under the hood of the EX took a lot of improvising to mod the chassis and create clearance.
A CX/EX "G3++" power mod without the G3 upgrade is likely doable but would require some uncharted improvising to fit/mount the 15% larger converter Eval board.
The EX Power Mod from G3 provided a much smaller benefit compared to the CX's 50%+ SQ gain. I can't speak to the SQ gap between the EXs original LPS to "G3++".
My first thought to the provider of the £10,000 price quote goes back to the original Star Trek series - "Spock! Are you out of your Vulcan mind![?]
Happy New Year to you.
If you lived within driving distance I'd do the power mod for your G3 CX for you. But it'd cost you though...
You bring the iPower Elite and I'd charge you maybe <$100 for incidentals and you'd owe me a pizza out afterwards over hi-fi talk.
The CX power mod would take me three hours or so.
Technically it's very straight forward but all the little details add up and require some level of improvisation.
The Elites in my modded units are not tightly secured so the units are hand-carry only.
The old set up can be put back in a jiffy if it ever needed a future repair.
If you have a buddy that knows his way around a basic LPS I'd be happy to provide assistance.
Integrating the USB isolator under the hood of the EX took a lot of improvising to mod the chassis and create clearance.
A CX/EX "G3++" power mod without the G3 upgrade is likely doable but would require some uncharted improvising to fit/mount the 15% larger converter Eval board.
The EX Power Mod from G3 provided a much smaller benefit compared to the CX's 50%+ SQ gain. I can't speak to the SQ gap between the EXs original LPS to "G3++".
My first thought to the provider of the £10,000 price quote goes back to the original Star Trek series - "Spock! Are you out of your Vulcan mind![?]
Hi Presence,Hi naynay,
Happy New Year to you.
If you lived within driving distance I'd do the power mod for your G3 CX for you. But it'd cost you though...
You bring the iPower Elite and I'd charge you maybe <$100 for incidentals and you'd owe me a pizza out afterwards over hi-fi talk.
The CX power mod would take me three hours or so.
Technically it's very straight forward but all the little details add up and require some level of improvisation.
The Elites in my modded units are not tightly secured so the units are hand-carry only.
The old set up can be put back in a jiffy if it ever needed a future repair.
If you have a buddy that knows his way around a basic LPS I'd be happy to provide assistance.
Integrating the USB isolator under the hood of the EX took a lot of improvising to mod the chassis and create clearance.
A CX/EX "G3++" power mod without the G3 upgrade is likely doable but would require some uncharted improvising to fit/mount the 15% larger converter Eval board.
The EX Power Mod from G3 provided a much smaller benefit compared to the CX's 50%+ SQ gain. I can't speak to the SQ gap between the EXs original LPS to "G3++".
My first thought to the provider of the £10,000 price quote goes back to the original Star Trek series - "Spock! Are you out of your Vulcan mind![?]
Thank you for the offer but it would be one a hell of a drive as I'm based in the UK.
If I decide to go ahead with the power mod I'm confident in my ability to have ago myself I'm pretty good with the old soldering iron I've done plenty soldering in my time.
As for that quote what I should have said was SJ would probably have charged £10,000 for his mod. I would not even consider approaching any of these lps makers for the CX and EX power mod not worth it. I would just buy a better server which I'm looking into now.
Thanks
Naynay
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As everyone on the Antipodes forum is posting concerning getting the new AMS5 running I thought I would post regarding a sound finding here. When hqplayer 5 was released I made the decision to upgrade to the desktop version and move it from my K30. At the time I posted that I noticed an uptick in sound from v4. I use it in bit perfect mode (I know). After trying the new AMS5 with roon server and roon player, then roon server with squeeze player I moved to roon server with hqplayer. All were played through my mscaler to my tt2. The hqplayer server 5 is set up on a mbpro 2014 running ubuntu and of course the player is on the K30 with the new naa. I was shocked at how much better this sounded than AMS4 and hqplayer4 embedded.
I really don’t like the new material skin on my ipad. Perhaps I have it configured wrong but I will use IPeng. If I use the info button the biographies overwrite the screen. Squeeze and squeeze sound the same but I have given in and will be using it for pggb playback with my EX as squeeze player direct to the tt2.
I tried mpd/squeeze and although jplay recognized both server and player there was no sound. I’ll revisit it another day.
Anyway, roon/hqplayer/mscaler sounds so good I may not play the pggb files as often. All likely to change tomorrow.
. Prog on!
I really don’t like the new material skin on my ipad. Perhaps I have it configured wrong but I will use IPeng. If I use the info button the biographies overwrite the screen. Squeeze and squeeze sound the same but I have given in and will be using it for pggb playback with my EX as squeeze player direct to the tt2.
I tried mpd/squeeze and although jplay recognized both server and player there was no sound. I’ll revisit it another day.
Anyway, roon/hqplayer/mscaler sounds so good I may not play the pggb files as often. All likely to change tomorrow.
. Prog on!
Whazzzup
Headphoneus Supremus
Wow amsv5 is a big update, roon works well, just go to server if you need to change from squeeze, took me a minute to figure out
kennyb123
1000+ Head-Fier
The PGGB improvements that Mark had alluded to in his AMS 5 announcement are that C-3PO is no longer needed to enable 8FS or 16FS playback from Squeeze. Squeezelite handles this now on its own. It also handles up to DSD512. I confirmed that both play nicely in a test build but haven't yet tried this with the production release as the server install has been hanging for me, but I suspect it will work just as flawlessly.
Can we disable C-3PO?
kennyb123
1000+ Head-Fier
Those on AMS 5 should disable it unless they want it to do sample rate conversions. I believe the upgrade might have disabled it on the player, but haven’t been able to confirm yet.
Disabled it on the player and removed from the server. All good. Thanks for the tip.
AMS 5.0
Despite any birthing pains with AMS 5.0 I'm pretty excited about the future of the platform.
I didn't expect the sound quality jump using Roon Server / Player. I'm actually inspired by it.
As a speculation - years ago Larry Owens, the US Repair Rep for AA mentioned that there was a new Fedora update that AA was integrating that would improve sound quality due to in part "code clean up efficiencies" but it had to be performed at the factory or his support facility after AA certified it. I never got to experience this on my LMS-only based DX2 platform in his possession as I abandoned upgrading to DX3 and instead traded it in for the CX/EX. But it has me wondering if the Roon SQ improvement is related to the AMS 5 Fedora update as there are substantial holographic, detail and precision improvements. There was a commensurate Roon update that occurred separately, immediately after I [finally] got AMS 5 up and running but the Roon release notes basically highlight support for Tidal and listed only minor functionality bug fixes.
I stream Qobuz.
Take it with a grain of salt but that's my speculation on Fedora contributing to SQ improvements.
I have received several forum comments pertaining to the superior SQ from Squeeze playback over Roon. And that's fine.
But in my system I hear the same contrast post AMS 5 as I did v4.4 [and prior] where Squeeze darkens the sound on my playback and to me has the effect of masking playback deficiencies. For that I prefer to continue with the more open Roon presentation at least for now. Take it with a grain of salt - that's just the way it occurs for me...
On mod updates, I was able to integrate the two SMPS/DC-DC Converter 9V power supply sources to under the hood of the CX that previously, were experimentally in open air powering the EtherRegen between CX and EX as well as the fiber repeater feeding internet to the CX. The effect of putting them within the CX was a calmer delivery.
Also, in addition to the TI USB isolator under the hood of the EX feeding the Innuous Phoenix USB regenerator, I added a second TI USB isolator between output of the Phoenix and input to the SingXer SU-2 DDI. The USB Isolator board is experimentally hanging in free air but there was a step up in precision though a much smaller magnitude experienced from the output of the EX. Also, a measure of calmness was lost - I suspect from the board being exposed unshielded in open air. The next step is to isolate the USB isolator board in an enclosure and feed it its own galvanic power. More black boxes but I expect a worthwhile jump in SQ. The hobby goes on...
Happy Listening!
Despite any birthing pains with AMS 5.0 I'm pretty excited about the future of the platform.
I didn't expect the sound quality jump using Roon Server / Player. I'm actually inspired by it.
As a speculation - years ago Larry Owens, the US Repair Rep for AA mentioned that there was a new Fedora update that AA was integrating that would improve sound quality due to in part "code clean up efficiencies" but it had to be performed at the factory or his support facility after AA certified it. I never got to experience this on my LMS-only based DX2 platform in his possession as I abandoned upgrading to DX3 and instead traded it in for the CX/EX. But it has me wondering if the Roon SQ improvement is related to the AMS 5 Fedora update as there are substantial holographic, detail and precision improvements. There was a commensurate Roon update that occurred separately, immediately after I [finally] got AMS 5 up and running but the Roon release notes basically highlight support for Tidal and listed only minor functionality bug fixes.
I stream Qobuz.
Take it with a grain of salt but that's my speculation on Fedora contributing to SQ improvements.
I have received several forum comments pertaining to the superior SQ from Squeeze playback over Roon. And that's fine.
But in my system I hear the same contrast post AMS 5 as I did v4.4 [and prior] where Squeeze darkens the sound on my playback and to me has the effect of masking playback deficiencies. For that I prefer to continue with the more open Roon presentation at least for now. Take it with a grain of salt - that's just the way it occurs for me...
On mod updates, I was able to integrate the two SMPS/DC-DC Converter 9V power supply sources to under the hood of the CX that previously, were experimentally in open air powering the EtherRegen between CX and EX as well as the fiber repeater feeding internet to the CX. The effect of putting them within the CX was a calmer delivery.
Also, in addition to the TI USB isolator under the hood of the EX feeding the Innuous Phoenix USB regenerator, I added a second TI USB isolator between output of the Phoenix and input to the SingXer SU-2 DDI. The USB Isolator board is experimentally hanging in free air but there was a step up in precision though a much smaller magnitude experienced from the output of the EX. Also, a measure of calmness was lost - I suspect from the board being exposed unshielded in open air. The next step is to isolate the USB isolator board in an enclosure and feed it its own galvanic power. More black boxes but I expect a worthwhile jump in SQ. The hobby goes on...
Happy Listening!
kennyb123
1000+ Head-Fier
I hear the same kinds of improvements with Squeeze. I hear greater clarity and greater purity in addition to what you mentioned. I have not tried Roon yet.
HQPlayer 5 embedded still has the same antiquated UI, so not clear yet what one gets from upgrading. I will listen to it at some point.
Triode User
Member of the Trade: WAVE High Fidelity
On the Antipodes owners forum I have been reporting my thoughts on the Server and Player app combinations available through the recently released AMS 5.0 and I copy my musings here as I am pretty blown away with what I have been hearing.
I set aside an hour and methodically worked my way through all the Server and Player app combinations including purchasing a HQP 5 upgrade license. For this I listened to a track called Toccata and Fugue in D Minor from the Jacques Loussier Trio album (see picture below) and after this session I was left in no doubt that all the other combinations of Server and Player apps are some way behind Squeeze + Squeeze in terms of sound quality.
The piano at the start of the track is a fantastic test. It is easy to forget that piano is a percussion instrument and when heard live it can have quite an attack to the notes. Squeeze + Squeeze makes the track sound like a real piano. None of the other app combinations do that.
Then there is the double bass. With Squeeze + Squeeze there is so much detail and shape to the notes. Unfortunately with the other apps the double bass notes can easily become just a shapeless thump.
With AMS 5.0 it is very easy to switch between Server and Player app combinations and I strongly suggest that it is worth setting aside and hour to do that. The first two or three minutes of the track played with each combination should be enough to make up ones mind.
Roon is obviously mentioned quite often in the context of sound quality. Roon Server and Squeeze Player in my opinion is in the ‘not bad’ category. But the obvious smearing of mid range notes is a disappointment after Squeeze + Squeeze.
All my listening for this was using the BNC output from the Oladra2 to a Chord Mscaler connected to a DAVE Dac (with SJ ARC6 power supply) and that is connected directly to ATC 150 Active speakers. I don’t own any headphones. Also I am listening to locally stored files on the Oladra SSD because I marginally prefer the sound compared to streaming the same files from Qobuz. My Oladra2 is connected to my local network using an Innuos PhoenixNET switch. Everything is powered through a Puritan 156 and everything is earthed with the Puritan Ground Master system with external earth rods.
I set aside an hour and methodically worked my way through all the Server and Player app combinations including purchasing a HQP 5 upgrade license. For this I listened to a track called Toccata and Fugue in D Minor from the Jacques Loussier Trio album (see picture below) and after this session I was left in no doubt that all the other combinations of Server and Player apps are some way behind Squeeze + Squeeze in terms of sound quality.
The piano at the start of the track is a fantastic test. It is easy to forget that piano is a percussion instrument and when heard live it can have quite an attack to the notes. Squeeze + Squeeze makes the track sound like a real piano. None of the other app combinations do that.
Then there is the double bass. With Squeeze + Squeeze there is so much detail and shape to the notes. Unfortunately with the other apps the double bass notes can easily become just a shapeless thump.
With AMS 5.0 it is very easy to switch between Server and Player app combinations and I strongly suggest that it is worth setting aside and hour to do that. The first two or three minutes of the track played with each combination should be enough to make up ones mind.
Roon is obviously mentioned quite often in the context of sound quality. Roon Server and Squeeze Player in my opinion is in the ‘not bad’ category. But the obvious smearing of mid range notes is a disappointment after Squeeze + Squeeze.
All my listening for this was using the BNC output from the Oladra2 to a Chord Mscaler connected to a DAVE Dac (with SJ ARC6 power supply) and that is connected directly to ATC 150 Active speakers. I don’t own any headphones. Also I am listening to locally stored files on the Oladra SSD because I marginally prefer the sound compared to streaming the same files from Qobuz. My Oladra2 is connected to my local network using an Innuos PhoenixNET switch. Everything is powered through a Puritan 156 and everything is earthed with the Puritan Ground Master system with external earth rods.
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