[FredA]

Emphasis added is mine around how I based my recommendation.

This is a bit OT for the thread, so I'll stop here, but feel free to PM.

Fred can make a recommendation perhaps on a card to work with your laptop. I don't have any I'd recommend, sorry. Either way, unless you're comfortable opening your laptop, installing the card, installing drivers and troubleshooting, I would not recommend that.

re: building your own Pi-based player. If you understood what Fred meant by nodes and packet loss etc. etc, then you could try building. If all of that was hard for you to understand, then stop here. DACLadder's post may give you an idea that even experts with the help of an expert have problems with these sometimes. If you are not into tech issues (your words) or don't understand his or Fred's post, then I don't recommend it. I also have no idea if any of these solutions work with Dirac.

I thought you were asking if you could install an "dedicated" OS on your existing laptop, if that would help, and for alternatives/recommendations based on your skills and use case. I also tried to explain a bit about OSs. Apologies if I got that wrong.

Summary:

• Can you / should you install a new "dedicated" OS on your notebook for audio? No. I'd very strongly advise against that.
• Is there anything you can do with your current notebook? You can try some other audio software that runs on Win10. Not ideal, but the cost is the lowest (free in a lot of cases to try). If MQA on Tidal is relevant or important to you, look for software that supports it. You already have a lot of things to go between your laptop and the R-8.

What else?

• If you want to buy a dedicated PC-type product (that works with Tidal and Dirac) to use instead of your notebook - there are many choices. Look up the NUC family of devices for a starter of what those look like.
• You can try a Mac Mini or some other devices.
• Don't try to build a pi-based device unless you're comfortable. The ones suggested above likely won't work for you unless you're willing to give up some of what you said was important to you and if you have some technical ability. If someone can tell you how to run Dirac on a pi - awesome. If you do try it and are willing to make some compromises... YouTube and forums are your friend.

Hope that clears up my recommendation based on what I thought you were asking and my perception around your level of skill and needs. Sorry if I've caused confusion.

Most importantly, enjoy the R-8!!!

If very lucky, someone can setup a standalone player with Volumio without any issue. Or a upnp node. But as you mentioned, there is some prerequisite knowledge to have to help minimizing the fuss. On the bright side, using just a pi and an ebay lps will cost around 200$, so there is not much risk financially. What you risk the most is loosing your tempter. But the reward is worth some pain coming from a mac mini. I get such great sound pretty much every night now.

 

[ItsAllInMyHead]

If very lucky, someone can setup a standalone player with Volumio without any issue. Or a upnp node. But as you mentioned, there is some prerequisite knowledge to have to help minimizing the fuss. On the bright side, using just a pi and an ebay lps will cost around 200$, so there is not much risk financially. What you risk the most is loosing your tempter. But the reward is worth some pain coming from a mac mini. I get such great sound pretty much every night now.

Thanks for that. Yes, agreed. With a bit of luck, a good temperament, and as the Fab 4 would say... a little help from my friends.

I didn't want to scare him off, but to make him aware of the potential challenges along with making sure that he knows that a Pi-based solution would not (as far as I know) work with his Dirac software. There are ready-to-buy solutions if the blood, sweat, and tears aren't worth it (and budget allows), but they still won't work with Dirac (as far as I know) which seemed to be important to him.

 

[DACLadder]

Good. As i mentimed, it’s better to keep the old input selection cable. My biggest mistake was trying to remove it from the digital board, assuming there were connectors, but i think there were none in retrospect, just a big spot of glue...

Thanks for the advice. And see what you mean. My R2R 7 control wires are soldered as well. Yet the supplied new cable has connectors. ?

I’ll just splice onto the old wires. Also have some small heat shrink tubing to make it decent looking and reliable. I’m sure I will have a few additional questions.

 

[Chopin75]

Hello Guys.
I own a new R8 and it sound wonderfull.

I also have to say that, eventhough the R8 isn't burned in yet (I think it will improve considerably in the next few hours), my former DAC, the R2R-2 provided me about 80 to 90% the sound of the R8 at half the cost! The R2R-2 is truly a bargain.

I listen to my music streaming Tidal with my Notebook, using a DH Labs USB cable going through a Wyred4sound USB Reclocker, my R8 has the USB board isolated and I also use the Audioquest Jitterbug as pasive filter (connected to another USB port of the computer). Is good to mention that (for me) the Jitterbug works fine. It's a subtle improvement, but noticeable.

Today I have a BEATIFUL sound, but as an "average" audiophile person, I'm always looking to improve the sound of my system and I've read that FredA says that having a dedicated OS in the computer could help and I would like to know how. Can anyone provide me more information about it? Which OS? Windows?

Today I use a Notebook with Intel i5 (not the fastest, but ok) with Windows 10 and I wouldn't want to change the way I listen to music because I like the simplicity of streaming Tidal with my PC and I use Dirac as Room Correction, wich I find to be a VERY GOOD tool to improve the sound response of your room. So, today I'm tied up to a Notebook for listening to music.
Any suggestions?

It's important to say that I am not into tech issues and sometimes I get lost in your tech threads.

Thank you!!

Pedro

By the way: my R8 has the V3 A firmware and I'm using OSx4 as suggested by some of you in this thread. I will compare it to the NOS modes and the other OS modes and I will post my opinion latter on.

If u are not confused yer may I add that there is a dedicated linux based OS for music only called Euphony AUdio OS. I am using it. It is a bootable OS & u can test out by making a USB boot drive. It can run via its software music player operating in the solid state drive or u can just use the OS as streamer via Roon or HQplayer. I don’t do tidal so not sure if that is supporte. U can try it out by booting your notebook via a USB drive. The website explains well. I ended up using an external 2.5 SATA drive to boot my macbook Air and I load the music into the SATA drive. (U can also put the SATA drive into a PC to have it booted into euphony directly) It works best with the music all loaded in the drive. And then it loads all music into RAM to play. Best thing, apart from sounding great, is that it plays DSD256 flawlessly (native DSD, not upampled). HQplayer can be embedded to do PCM—> DSD if u want.
For windows I would add u can also use fidelizer to help improve the sound if u run a software on windows. I heard the best OS is now linux for audio. There is even an OS called audiolinux or audiophilelinux? Can’t remember, but supposedly can be really great. Stay away from MAC 2018 including macmini 2018 as there is now high security with T2 chip and so audirvana can no longer work properly as it loses the direct mode function.

 

[nikko510]

I received the R7 faceplate/ display today. Have to wait until next week for installation on the R2R 7.

DACLadder please upload photos during exchange installation upgrade faceplate/ display R7.

 

[FredA]

Thanks for the advice. And see what you mean. My R2R 7 control wires are soldered as well. Yet the supplied new cable has connectors. ?

I’ll just splice onto the old wires. Also have some small heat shrink tubing to make it decent looking and reliable. I’m sure I will have a few additional questions.

That’s the simplest thing to do. We have old units. I think the newer ones have sockets. The digital board is so cramped, i regretted going near it.

 

[Toni-Mang]

After the update, I made some test with v3a on r8...N1 pushes background louder as N3...via usb...easy to check i.e. with piano footpedal noise on bonobos late night tales...sync 1, pll0...in case of O8, the imaging is less correct imho...N1 is my new Number one...on usb, via i2s, i have to make some additional tests.

 

[PLGA]

Hello Guys!
Thank you VERY MUCH for your comments!! All of you are very helpful.

There are indeed MANY choices to analize and think if I dare to try! I mean considering my skills and patience... LOL

By the way, last night I've tried NOS 3 and I liked it better than OSx4. For me OSx4 sounded smoother, may be a little more easy to listen to, but less real and less musical, if I can get my self clear. I will keep on trying the modes and posting my thoughts.

Thank you again!

 

[Toni-Mang]

So some more testing v3a /R8, now with i2s (ps audio pwt)...regarding back ground an room information, i prefer N1...BUT...N3 pushes Instruments and Vocals more upfront...
Too much options..

 

[DACLadder]

That’s the simplest thing to do. We have old units. I think the newer ones have sockets. The digital board is so cramped, i regretted going near it.

It's funny but both my Master 7 Singularity digital boards have connectors. Also I2S inputs on the R2R 7 are soldered as well while M7S have connectors.

I will add my thoughts when I actually do the faceplate/ display upgrade. @FredA did Kingwa supply you with any instructions like how to connect the DSP mode pins connector and wire the control cable?

 

[FredA]

It's funny but both my Master 7 Singularity digital boards have connectors. Also I2S inputs on the R2R 7 are soldered as well while M7S have connectors.

I will add my thoughts when I actually do the faceplate/ display upgrade. @FredA did Kingwa supply you with any instructions like how to connect the DSP mode pins connector and wire the control cable?

There is a guide, very brief, with pictures. I can email it to you if you pm me. The indent in the settings cable goes on the right side, looking from the front of the dac.

 

[DACLadder]

I installed the R7 faceplate. It was not so much a hard task but tedious. Had to loosen up the power supply transformer board to route cable below it. But got it all done in about 2 hours.

I used a scope to verify the DSP signals were actually working. The measured signals didn't make much sense until I realized the DSP firmware changes to accommodate the single header connector. Doh! I used S3 R7 version @FredA sent me and everything seems to be working.

There are now a lot different versions of firmware Kingwa has to maintain. Glad I ugraded the faceplate as he may not support R2R 7s on future releases. Oh, and OS 4x sounds really good. OX 8x is bit much after listening to the M7S for a few weeks

 

[FredA]

I installed the R7 faceplate. It was not so much a hard task but tedious. Had to loosen up the power supply transformer board to route cable below it. But got it all done in about 2 hours.

I used a scope to verify the DSP signals were actually working. The measured signals didn't make much sense until I realized the DSP firmware changes to accommodate the single header connector. Doh! I used S3 R7 version @FredA sent me and everything seems to be working.

There are now a lot different versions of firmware Kingwa has to maintain. Glad I ugraded the faceplate as he may not support R2R 7s on future releases. Oh, and OS 4x sounds really good. OX 8x is bit much after listening to the M7S for a few weeks

Congrats! You are quicker than me! Yep, NOS2 is great but i am happy with OS8. For now...

 

[DACLadder]

@FredA Thank you again. Is the R7V3IIS3.jic firmware file V3 Accurate ? I'll give NOS 2 a try later. OS 4x sounds so right on my system. More girth in the bass/ midrange and the trebles don't hit as hard versus OS 8x.

Operation of the R7 faceplate controls take some getting use to. I had to read the user manual several times to get the hang of it!

 

[FredA]

@FredA Thank you again. Is the R7V3IIS3.jic firmware file V3 Accurate ? I'll give NOS 2 a try later. OS 4x sounds so right on my system. More girth in the bass/ midrange and the trebles don't hit as hard versus OS 8x.

Operation of the R7 faceplate controls take some getting use to. I had to read the user manual several times to get the hang of it!

Yes indeed, operating the interface is a little bit tricky. The fw file you mention may not be the accurate. Could be the smooth. Kingwa sent me the whole set of flavors for the optical on IN4. PM me if you need them (i don't remember which config you have).