I've been looking at my laptops the last week thinking something will probably need to change. I'll need to get a handle on some other source. This is very helpful in directing me towards some options. In checking out both distros (what's a distro) I'm wondering where the display fits in so I know what I am playing?
I've got a tiny little Intel NUC with a Skylake i3 processor in it running Windows 10 off a 1TB SSD installed in it. As a bonus it has built in gigabit NIC, Bluetooth 4.0 and wireless ac. I've got all my music on the SSD as FLAC files running through JRiver. It's connected to my other computers via gigabit wired home network. USB to my Wyrd, Modi2U (soon to be Yggy), and Ember, and Bluetooth to my wireless speaker (sitting on my workbench) when I don't feel like headphones. Zero issues. Runs great, sounds great. As a bonus this little NUC handles 4k output to my monitor and plays Netflix perfectly. So, don't be afraid to build a tiny Windows box for music. It's more expensive, but it does more.
...oh and it has an IR receiver built into it for remote controls...
Here's even more stuff to ponder. I've good with the NIC, but what's an NUC? and Ember? I think of Ember as a language for building web-based apps. Did you build an app in Ember that enabled features or is there a device called Ember? Very intrigued with getting a remote into the chain.
Here's even more stuff to ponder. I've good with the NIC, but what's an NUC? and Ember? I think of Ember as a language for building web-based apps. Did you build an app in Ember that enabled features or is there a device called Ember? Very intrigued with getting a remote into the chain.
NUC is just Intel's line of tiny PCs (Next Unit of Computing) Kind of a lame marketing name. You can pick them up online or at places like Fry's Electronics and Microcenter. Anyway, they come as an all-in-one box, minus RAM, storage, and OS. So, I mean, you could put a Linux distro on it as well, if desired.
Ember is my amp. Garage 1217 Ember. It'll likely become a tube-buffer preamp at some point, when my wallet recovers from the Yggy.
I've got a tiny little Intel NUC with a Skylake i3 processor in it running Windows 10 off a 1TB SSD installed in it. As a bonus it has built in gigabit NIC, Bluetooth 4.0 and wireless ac. I've got all my music on the SSD as FLAC files running through JRiver. It's connected to my other computers via gigabit wired home network. USB to my Wyrd, Modi2U (soon to be Yggy), and Ember, and Bluetooth to my wireless speaker (sitting on my workbench) when I don't feel like headphones. Zero issues. Runs great, sounds great. As a bonus this little NUC handles 4k output to my monitor and plays Netflix perfectly. So, don't be afraid to build a tiny Windows box for music. It's more expensive, but it does more.
Sounds like a good solution, but we are a Windows-free home
I store FLAC on a Synology NAS, stream it via UPnP/DLNA to a Sonicorbiter SE (living room) or a microRendu (study), and control the streamers with BubbleUPnP (Android app on my various Android mobile devices). One difference between the microRendu and everything else in this discussion is that it is based on a custom-designed board and slimmed down Linux distribution that minimize all activity except reading Ethernet and writing USB, while the NUC and the Sonicorbiter are based on general-purpose boards with commodity power and signal distribution that is probably a bit noisier electrically and a bit less accurate in USB sample timing (jitter) than a custom-designed one. But you pay extra for that, and the NUC seems indeed a nice all-in-one solution.
I've been looking at my laptops the last week thinking something will probably need to change. I'll need to get a handle on some other source. This is very helpful in directing me towards some options. In checking out both distros (what's a distro) I'm wondering where the display fits in so I know what I am playing?
Distro == Linux distribution. There are several audio-specialized Linux distributions, including Volumio, Rune for ARM or Intel board, as well as the ones packaged with proprietary software for their streamers by companies like Sonore. The cheapest entry point I know is getting a CuBox-i2eX from SolidRun and run Volumio on it. If you want to avoid messing around with command line and complicated config menus, you can pay ~$300 for the same hardware with a bullet-proof, super-easy to configure Linux configuration ready to go from Sonore, branded as Sonicorbiter SE, which also supports Roon, Tidal and a lot of other streaming options. You can stream from music stored elsewhere on your network, or from an USB drive plugged into the second USB port on the CuBox.
Thank you again. I checked out the microRendu and the Sonicorbiter and found myself wishing I had several parallel lifetimes to dive into some of this stuff. The good news/bad news for me is that I can be tenacious to a fault when troubleshooting whatever and chew up a lot of time, so paying for someone else to sort out all the command lines is the way for me to go.
The good news/bad news for me is that I can be tenacious to a fault when troubleshooting whatever and chew up a lot of time, so paying for someone else to sort out all the command lines is the way for me to go.
Even though I've been hacking Unix/Linux since the 80s, it's way too easy to get lost in twisty little passages all alike so I ended up moving to prepackaged streamers.
Too lazy to sift through endless pages - would appreciate if someone could comment on Gumby's bass characteristics. Particularly if you own, or have previously owned, an ESS9018 based DAC.
Too lazy to sift through endless pages - would appreciate if someone could comment on Gumby's bass characteristics. Particularly if you own, or have previously owned, an ESS9018 based DAC.
I was comparing just this past weekend against my Ayre Codex. And I hope the suggestion isn't that every Sabre implementation sounds the same? But versus the Codex, which is probably more balanced from bass to treble (comes across more as additional treble information, not as lack of bass), there is just a touch more bass on the Gungnir.
I was comparing just this past weekend against my Ayre Codex. And I hope the suggestion isn't that every Sabre implementation sounds the same? But versus the Codex, which is probably more balanced from bass to treble (comes across more as additional treble information, not as lack of bass), there is just a touch more bass on the Gungnir.
I haven't tried all the ESS DACs out there but the few that I did try did have a similar bass signature. I would like to think that the implementation in a 5K Invicta DAC would better that of a 1K DAC.
I'm looking for tighter, more tuneful bass as opposed to more bass. Right now it's what's bothering me in my system. I could probably land a deal on a Codex but I'm looking for a different flavor than my current ESS based DAC (i.e. better bass)
It may something else in my system that's causing the problem but I figured I'd start by trying a DAC that's reputed to have quality bass and work from there.
I haven't tried all the ESS DACs out there but the few that I did try did have a similar bass signature. I would like to think that the implementation in a 5K Invicta DAC would better that of a 1K DAC.
I'm looking for tighter, more tuneful bass as opposed to more bass. Right now it's what's bothering me in my system. I could probably land a deal on a Codex but I'm looking for a different flavor than my current ESS based DAC (i.e. better bass)
It may something else in my system that's causing the problem but I figured I'd start by trying a DAC that's reputed to have quality bass and work from there.
Sorry - when you said characteristics, I did not quite gather what you were seeking.
The bass in the Gumby has a lot of expression. There is definite meaning to the sounds heard in the bass. One of my favorite tracks to listen for this is a Cello solo:
I once mentioned that it makes my body move and sway to the music in ways that I would only expect in modern Hip-Hop, not Classical. There is much depth and detail to the bass. Yet it is most certainly, an overall warmish presentation - the Gungnir Multibit. And if you were looking for the most neutral presentation possible, that would be the Yggdrasil.
Regarding Gungnir...
Tuneful - yes!
Tigher - perhaps, but likely depends on your personal perspective.
More - just a small amount in the Gungnir, relative to Codex.
Honestly, of the three DACs that I'm keeping as "bedroom" reference level, the Chord Hugo has the most tight bass. But it does miss other qualities that the Codex and Gungnir have plenty of. It lacks that last small bit of palpability, the texture, the thing that convinces me what I am listening to is real. Still very small deltas we're talking here.
I haven't tried all the ESS DACs out there but the few that I did try did have a similar bass signature. I would like to think that the implementation in a 5K Invicta DAC would better that of a 1K DAC.
I'm looking for tighter, more tuneful bass as opposed to more bass. Right now it's what's bothering me in my system. I could probably land a deal on a Codex but I'm looking for a different flavor than my current ESS based DAC (i.e. better bass)
It may something else in my system that's causing the problem but I figured I'd start by trying a DAC that's reputed to have quality bass and work from there.
There is a concept around here bandied around now and then, the "Moffat bass"...
As for ESS-based DACs, according to this user who has heard many DACs out there, there doesn't seem to be a tangible improvement in ESS-based DACs once you go above the $3K mark:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/804153/life-after-yggdrasil/90#post_12524423
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