[OldRoadToad]

No, I was referring to this Denon player, the player which can restore data lost in the recording process:

That is pretty cool looking! Excellent choice!

ORT

 

[JanMc]

Quote Denon "faithful playback with optimal accuracy, even restoring information that was lost during the original digital recording".

Now that I would have to see/hear with my own eyes/ears! Are they just pulling that 'lost' data out of their asses?!

 

[OldRoadToad]

Quote Denon "faithful playback with optimal accuracy, even restoring information that was lost during the original digital recording".

Now that I would have to see/hear with my own eyes/ears! Are they just pulling that 'lost' data out of their assesWell it does read like what I call "fAd Copy". It is pretty cool looking and in my ears and mind I have never been able to hear anything but music from a CD Player, so looks and price kinda determine what I buy and use.

Well it does read like what I call "fAd Copy".

Still, it is pretty cool looking but to my ears I have never been able to hear anything but music from any CD Player. Error correction is nice but you cannot "restore" that which is not there.

ORT

 

[earnmyturns]

I believe that this is why hooking the AURALiC to Yggy via non-Unison USB sounds inferior to S/PDIF (AES/EBU)

Which AURALiC? I once owned an Aries Femto, which was mediocre on USB but good on S/PDIF with the Yggdrasil I owned then. I sold the Aries before I upgraded the Y. to A2+Unison, after which any reasonable Linux-based USB source sounded very good, with maybe a slight benefit from linear power supplies. My last Y. source was a Pi2AES (S/PDIF), which according to my better 1/2 sounded a tad more incisive and resolving than USB (She has outstanding hearing and musical taste, and utter lack of interest in hardware details, perfect for A/B testing — she's the cause of our pricey Linn-based speaker systems, when after listening to known tracks at the dealer she declared "this one is so much better").

 

[earnmyturns]

…just went and checked what protocol(s) a Pi hat uses to communicate with its host device. It's essentially just a bog-standard COM port.

?? Pi HATs are connected to the Pi with a GPIO connector, which uses I2S for digital audio.

 

[earnmyturns]

I think the market of pi based audiophile grade streamers is fairly robust actually. But it seems that most higher end pi based streamers focus on coax, bnc, and AES.

I dont recall seeing a alot of hats focused on USB output.

With Holo Red, you get all of the above. Very well reviewed by folks I trust, and cheaper than one might expect from Holo. But to be real, a simple Pi 4 running one of the Linux-based software distributions into a Unison Schiit DAC is likely competitive at a small fraction of the price.

 

[earnmyturns]

I despair the rise of 'streamers'. It is the final digital embodiment of music as a commodity.

This is prejudice. I've bought more digital albums from Bandcamp and other full-price download sources since I went all-digital than in my previous 45 years of music purchases (just from Bandcamp, 649 albums at the last count). I stream some from Qobuz, but a lot more are digital copies on replicated servers that fit into our limited space, rather than boxes and boxes of records and CDs that were overflowing what storage we had.

 

[A Jedi]

Are they just pulling that 'lost' data out of their asses?!

They're using MQA's latest algorithm which adds back everything that the recording should have had but didn't. As a bonus, they lose about 20% of the bits.

 

[LobalWarming]

This is prejudice. I've bought more digital albums from Bandcamp and other full-price download sources since I went all-digital than in my previous 45 years of music purchases (just from Bandcamp, 649 albums at the last count). I stream some from Qobuz, but a lot more are digital copies on replicated servers that fit into our limited space, rather than boxes and boxes of records and CDs that were overflowing what storage we had.

You mistake preference for prejudice. I still prefer the ritual of putting a hard copy (vinyl/tape/CD) in play.

However, if you still feel I'm unfairly slagging on streaming platforms, as an independent artist and producer for a few decades, I've watched my income dwindle in the streaming era. As has many of my independent and record labeled friends. Streaming platforms have a horrible record of artist payments. Then the pandemic took the live revenue away. I'm not complaining. Too much. The music biz was a tough business before streaming - and a slightly tougher one after.

Good for you buying direct from BandCamp - while they are still artist-focused. We can only hope Epic doesn't get too greedy too soon.

 

[Derrick Swart]

Which AURALiC? I once owned an Aries Femto, which was mediocre on USB but good on S/PDIF with the Yggdrasil I owned then. I sold the Aries before I upgraded the Y. to A2+Unison, after which any reasonable Linux-based USB source sounded very good, with maybe a slight benefit from linear power supplies. My last Y. source was a Pi2AES (S/PDIF), which according to my better 1/2 sounded a tad more incisive and resolving than USB (She has outstanding hearing and musical taste, and utter lack of interest in hardware details, perfect for A/B testing — she's the cause of our pricey Linn-based speaker systems, when after listening to known tracks at the dealer she declared "this one is so much better").

Now I am jealous.

 

[Derrick Swart]

This is prejudice. I've bought more digital albums from Bandcamp and other full-price download sources since I went all-digital than in my previous 45 years of music purchases (just from Bandcamp, 649 albums at the last count). I stream some from Qobuz, but a lot more are digital copies on replicated servers that fit into our limited space, rather than boxes and boxes of records and CDs that were overflowing what storage we had.

For me my music purchases work the same. Discovery is on spotify/youtube and if I really like it, then I buy a download on bandcamp (or else if not available on bandcamp).

 

[sam6550a]

Question for the thermionic valve experts: are these still available: 35W4, 12BE6, 12BA6, 50C5, 12AT6?

If not, are there "modern" equivalents currently available?

Sounds like you have an "all American five" radio! Yes, they are still available, I have a friend that rebuilds old radios, and he has done some of the fives. I will ask him where he got the tubes.

 

[golfbravobravo]

I'm not a Pi guy myself, so "let it be known" that I don't know my ass from my elbow when it comes to designing Pi hats.
That said—and because absolutely no one asked—here are my thoughts on the idea:
- Sounds like a neat idea on paper.
- Probably super niche, though. Not sure that enough people use Pis as audiophile-grade streamers (read: a large enough market of potential Unison-hat buyers) for the r'n'd that'd be required to get this to the usual Schiit-level of quality to pay off, especially not considering the price point I assume the average inhabitant of that particular niche would be willing to pay for a Pi hat that's in essence "just" a super-limited-in-scope-but-exceptionally-capable-in-that-one-single-thing-it-does USB controller.

Edit:
…just went and checked what protocol(s) a Pi hat uses to communicate with its host device. It's essentially just a bog-standard COM port. Ah, the good ol' times!
So it should be easy enough to implement a Unison Pi hat based on some low-to-mid-ish-tier off-the-shelve shelf (I'll never get that one right on the first try. ) microcontroller or FPGA.
Maybe some day Schiit would be willing to share the implementation details of Unison with a third party for something like this. Like a Unison Pi hat version of the Magni Piety colab they did with Nitsch.
Thank the gods that it's near-impossible to get your hands on a Pi right now, and that I'm already stuck up to my ever-thinning scalp deep in a pile of other projects — or I'd be itching to give this the old college try.

Oh, and @xTrIpX—and with all due respect—you do realize that Unison is 90% software (or better; firmware), plus a few bits and bobs of processed sand strewn in for good measure, right? So when Schiit says that they're not a software company, they don't just mean touch screens and Roon replacements*, that kida sorta also includes stuff like Unison Pi hats.

* Oh please, Jason, for the love of all that's sacred, let me talk you into providing me with funding to develop one!

The worst of the Pi shortage seems to be over, supplies are available now and forecast to get better fairly quickly.

 

[golfbravobravo]

I would buy Unison Pi hats in a heartbeat, along with appropriate Multibit Dacs for the 4 zones in my home / shop. I'm currently running a Pi2AES hat into my Yggy; I prefer it to a direct USB connection.....

I'm a total Pi nerd - with 3 additional Pi 4's running Home Assistant, a combination DNS server / VPN firewall for remote office access, including IP Phone, a controller for a DIY 3 axis mill

We are a Pi household. As well as seven Roon endpoints, we have BirdPi for tracking birds in the yard, one for tracking the ISS, one for tracking aircraft a couple of desktops and a pi400. If I can ever get SMB to work reliably to the NAS I'll have an ebook library that shares to readers.

Cheers

 

[adydula]

I despair the rise of 'streamers'. It is the final digital embodiment of music as a commodity. I know, it has been commodified by the labels for over 80 years. But, streaming just makes it worse - for artists and music lovers.

While I don't prefer vinyl as a music recording/playback medium - I embrace the process. It's a PITA to use - which makes one a semi-participant in a specific personal musical event, not a passive consumer of data-mined audio streams.

Might seem absurd, but I wish Schiit could make a CD spinner box with Unison output... that is something that could get me off my butt to change discs.*

*Note: edited for failed sarcasm purposes

Isnt that what URD will do...spin cds and output via USB?