[Mr BubbaHyde]

Cheers, but I also asked in the Mytek Brooklyn forum and was told it couldn't be done.

You can go directly to your amp with the RCA outputs from the NEO, you just need to make sure the software volume is all the way down, and raise as needed to satisfy your amp.

It can be done!

Cheers!!

 

[srkbear]

I'm curious if an inefficient power supply - and I'm not saying this is the case - could affect the data being passed via USB. Could small fluctuations in the current distort something like the clock or cause data packets to be dropped? Or is the USB technology built with so much redundancy that this would never happen?

I would listen to @rlw6534 ! USB in this setting is asynchronous, and as such your DAC’s clock is acting as the master—and your DAC has buffers built into its input receiver that obviate timing errors.

Until you get to the analog stage in the chain, digital audio has no sound—it’s all ones and zeros, and any data errors or loss would not drop a veil on your music. It would just lead to processing errors, which wouldn’t sound like music—it would sound like skips, stutters or silence.

Just keep in mind that power supplies are for amps—transformers are for electronics (although we still call them power supplies). Amplifiers are dealing with analog audio, while the earlier steps in the chain are just processing numbers.

 

[gryffe]

You can go directly to your amp with the RCA outputs from the NEO, you just need to make sure the software volume is all the way down, and raise as needed to satisfy your amp.

It can be done!

Cheers!!

Tried that and it's not working, I get no sound. Is it not the fact that my DAC also doubles as my pre amp that makes this a problem - eg I don't have a separate outboard DAC and amp?

 

[Mr BubbaHyde]

Tried that and it's not working, I get no sound. Is it not the fact that my DAC also doubles as my pre amp that makes this a problem - eg I don't have a separate outboard DAC and amp?

It Shouldn't be...

Let me move some equipment around, and make sure I am not wrong here.

As an example, I can run the RCA out of the NEO to my Darkvoice 336SE headphone amp. I then use the dial on the front depending on what headphones I am using, thus controlling the volume of the RCA line out to the DV. I do this because the DV needs a little attenuation on some headphones.

While I am working on this. send me a PM on the chain you are using including the source so I can figure out what is wrong, I think it's just a setting, but as always I could be wrong. To simplify you would be hooking up the NEO no differently than say a CD player to your amp, but your volume level is going to be controlled at the NEO, unless you are using a "preamp" then it would be controlled there.

Cheers!!

This is using only the NEO as your Streamer/DAC

Edit: Give me a bit to check this setup, I thought I tested this, but I am having a moment!!

 

[iFi audio]

One thing I haven't attempted yet is to hear how the Neo DAC sounds. Mainly because I'm not sure I know which settings to use and which connections to use. My DAC (Mytek Brooklyn DAC) is also a pre amp and currently I go USB from Neo to USB on the preamp. Anybody using the DAC in the Neo can help me out, cheers?

To quote myself from the Mytek thread:

"Fron what I can tell, that Mytek features analog RCA inputs. You could go from NEO Stream via RCA to Mytek's RCA inputs and then Mytek would have its DAC bypassed."

Hope this helps, thanks!

 

[Mr BubbaHyde]

To quote myself from the Mytek thread:

"Fron what I can tell, that Mytek features analog RCA inputs. You could go from NEO Stream via RCA to Mytek's RCA inputs and then Mytek would have its DAC bypassed."

Hope this helps, thanks!

If the Mytek has inputs, does that then effectively make the Mytek his "preamp"?

Cheers!!

 

[Clemmaster]

Yes, our ears really do trick us—we’re all susceptible to it! Audio manufacturers that charge a fortune count on it. Our wallets suffer for it. And I mean no harm or disdain by trying to fight it. Peace

And our brain sometimes trick us into thinking we know something we don't and that the world is out to get us. It's a conspiracy I tell you!

 

[guyp2k]

Please post your full chain of equipment so we can troubleshoot for you, if you are only using the NEO let us know that too. If I missed this I am sorry, trying to do catchup, lol

Cheers!!

iFi NS attached via SC optical directly to a Mikrotik switch and no issues from a network connectivity perspective. The NS is on a dedicated subnet and VLAN w/ no restrictions from a FW/ACL perspective. NS is configured for Analog out to a PARASSOUND P6 and from there a Bryston 2-channel amp. Both Android and Windows 11 Tidal app is on the same subnet and VLAN. I have a couple of Raspberry Pis running Volumio and no issue w/ Tidal Connect.

Also, on a reboot of the NS I lose my Music Library, that is mapped via cifs to a NAS, even though the mappings are still there and mounted, ~1TB of data (maybe too large for the NS).

Thanks

 

[Mr BubbaHyde]

Tried that and it's not working, I get no sound. Is it not the fact that my DAC also doubles as my pre amp that makes this a problem - eg I don't have a separate outboard DAC and amp?

Ok so I just hooked up an amp to the RCA outs of my NEO, and it does in fact work correctly, it's a shame to get copyright restrictions on your own damn music (Thanks YouTube) so this video is unlisted and will be removed tomorrow,



Cheers!!

 

[Mr BubbaHyde]

iFi NS attached via SC optical directly to a Mikrotik switch and no issues from a network connectivity perspective. The NS is on a dedicated subnet and VLAN w/ no restrictions from a FW/ACL perspective. NS is configured for Analog out to a PARASSOUND P6 and from there a Bryston 2-channel amp. Both Android and Windows 11 Tidal app is on the same subnet and VLAN. I have a couple of Raspberry Pis running Volumio and no issue w/ Tidal Connect.

Also, on a reboot of the NS I lose my Music Library, that is mapped via cifs to a NAS, even though the mappings are still there and mounted, ~1TB of data (maybe too large for the NS).

Thanks

You will definitely lose your library if you "Reboot"

You should not lose your library on a Power off/On scenario.

I have not seen anyone (I think) with a library that large on the USB of the Zen Stream or NEO, so you may want to give it a good while to populate!

Cheers!!

 

[gryffe]

If the Mytek has inputs, does that then effectively make the Mytek his "preamp"?

Cheers!!

It is my preamp. (It is a DAC/preamp)

To quote myself from the Mytek thread:

"Fron what I can tell, that Mytek features analog RCA inputs. You could go from NEO Stream via RCA to Mytek's RCA inputs and then Mytek would have its DAC bypassed."

Hope this helps, thanks!

@iFi audio -Yes thanks, but if you go back up the thread on here you can see that is not working for me

 

[Mr BubbaHyde]

@gryffe

I am going to have to get back to you, after I did that quick video the "gremlins" struck, not only is my NEO frozen but my iPhone and my computer monitor are going crazy!!

Cheers!!

 

[gryffe]

@gryffe

I am going to have to get back to you, after I did that quick video the "gremlins" struck, not only is my NEO frozen but my iPhone and my computer monitor are going crazy!!

Cheers!!

Sorry to hear that, hope you get it sorted.

 

[Mr BubbaHyde]

Sorry to hear that, hope you get it sorted.

Think everything is good!

I think what happened is last night I was giving my Burson Playmate 2 another try last night on USB off of the NS and I had left it connected because for some reason it was working, and I was going to do some listening today for a write-up on it. For some reason in changing things to test that for you the NS completely froze up, and I could do nothing with it, so a hard reset was in order. Whatever was going on with my phone and monitor, well, Gremlins is all I can say,

Ok so on to you...

I would suggest starting with the NS in AIO mode, from the front dial select Analog.
If you aren't hearing anything, select digital, and then go back to Analog and see if that produces sound.
In the settings of the Stream-iFi app make sure you have the "software" volume selected and the startup volume disabled.

This should produce sound from the Analog outputs of the NS using the internal DAC, and send the signal out of either the 4.4 or RCA connections on the back of the unit. Do not just rely on the app, or physical buttons on the front of the NS for correctness, use both to verify you are in Analog in the app and via the Physical selection with the front dial of the unit.

I seem to be finding that sometimes simply selecting one from the app or by the front of the unit does not ensure it changes. I believe that at times the app and the unit are sometimes functioning independently of one another, as I have found instances of changing one or the other is not enough. If we had a setting accessible via the dial on the menu of the NS itself for HW/SW Volume control, this would almost make using the app pointless and is the one thing I really wish had been included in the function of the NS dial.

As I said before if you want to get onto a direct one-to-one setup just shoot me a PM.

Cheers!!

 

[gryffe]

Think everything is good!

I think what happened is last night I was giving my Burson Playmate 2 another try last night on USB off of the NS and I had left it connected because for some reason it was working, and I was going to do some listening today for a write-up on it. For some reason in changing things to test that for you the NS completely froze up, and I could do nothing with it, so a hard reset was in order. Whatever was going on with my phone and monitor, well, Gremlins is all I can say,

Ok so on to you...

I would suggest starting with the NS in AIO mode, from the front dial select Analog.
If you aren't hearing anything, select digital, and then go back to Analog and see if that produces sound.
In the settings of the Stream-iFi app make sure you have the "software" volume selected and the startup volume disabled.

This should produce sound from the Analog outputs of the NS using the internal DAC, and send the signal out of either the 4.4 or RCA connections on the back of the unit. Do not just rely on the app, or physical buttons on the front of the NS for correctness, use both to verify you are in Analog in the app and via the Physical selection with the front dial of the unit.

I seem to be finding that sometimes simply selecting one from the app or by the front of the unit does not ensure it changes. I believe that at times the app and the unit are sometimes functioning independently of one another, as I have found instances of changing one or the other is not enough. If we had a setting accessible via the dial on the menu of the NS itself for HW/SW Volume control, this would almost make using the app pointless and is the one thing I really wish had been included in the function of the NS dial.

As I said before if you want to get onto a direct one-to-one setup just shoot me a PM.

Cheers!!

Still no success. I'm no expert but I keep coming back to the fact my DAC is also a pre amp. The only setting on the pre amp that would seem to be the one that should be selected - eg ANLG, as opposed to USB which is the one I normally use for the Brooklyn DAC - gives a horrible rumbling sound from the speakers.

Edit - It's also worth noting ANLG is the setting on my pre amp that I normally use for my turntable.