[BigTony]

Ok, that makes sense! Since it has always been working with flac they'll be no change, which is what i thought.

Actually, the more common thread at SlimDevices is 'Firmware Release has ruined SQ'!

 

[chesebert]

You can try it or you don't have to, your choice. I am only pointing out that I hear a significant positive improvement. I can't guarantee if you will hear it.

Never really worked with encoders so I have no clue how wave works internally beyond the basics.

 

[linuxworks]

ah! with that bug mentioned, this makes sense - but its only a click at the start of the track - why would that be called 'sound quality' increase?

its a bugfix for not sending garbage or not interpreting garbage as sound data. that does not qualify as a SQ fix to me!

 

[chesebert]

Quote:

Originally Posted by linuxworks /img/forum/go_quote.gif ah! with that bug mentioned, this makes sense - but its only a click at the start of the track - why would that be called 'sound quality' increase? its a bugfix for not sending garbage or not interpreting garbage as sound data. that does not qualify as a SQ fix to me!

Officially, according to slimdevices all their firmwares/squeezecenter versions ever released sound the same; so there you have it.

 

[ecruz]

Since installing 7.4 on my Mac yesterday, iTunes opens by itself? Weird I know. At first I thought I just closed the window and didn't shut iTunes down, but it's since done it two more times. Last night I quit iTunes and it was open this morning when I came to the computer. Again today, I quit iTunes before going to work and it was open when I came home.

Does anyone have any possible explanation for this?

 

[multibit16]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chesebert /img/forum/go_quote.gif Grab the latest squeeze center 7.4 beta now and experience a free upgrade (especially in this economy): better instrument separation, deeper soundstage, more analog-like sound. SD is using a new PCM algorithm, which is significantly different from their former wave implementation. I have forced all my file to decode to PCM first at the server side when I have that option. The improvement in sound is very noticeable, and is comparable to that shiny $500 power cable (oh..very rough estimation) One caveat, I have been having some problems getting all my folders to show, still missing a couple folders (showing up as blank space in SB3/Transporter); YMMV though

What firmware version do you use with SC beta 7.4?

For the Advanced, file settings how is flac and WAV set?

If you let me know the settings I'll try it out

Ta

 

[iriverdude]

Firmware is included in the slim center install, it'll ask you to flash- hold down brightness.

 

[multibit16]

Ok ta, I've downloaded it ready but not installed yet.
I'll see how it sounds with the Duet receiver feeding modded Buffalo dac

 

[ecruz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ecruz /img/forum/go_quote.gif Since installing 7.4 on my Mac yesterday, iTunes opens by itself? Weird I know. At first I thought I just closed the window and didn't shut iTunes down, but it's since done it two more times. Last night I quit iTunes and it was open this morning when I came to the computer. Again today, I quit iTunes before going to work and it was open when I came home. Does anyone have any possible explanation for this?

Just did it again. This is getting weird. Maybe I'll go back to an earlier version and see what happens.

 

[chesebert]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ecruz /img/forum/go_quote.gif Since installing 7.4 on my Mac yesterday, iTunes opens by itself? Weird I know. At first I thought I just closed the window and didn't shut iTunes down, but it's since done it two more times. Last night I quit iTunes and it was open this morning when I came to the computer. Again today, I quit iTunes before going to work and it was open when I came home. Does anyone have any possible explanation for this?

I have itune installed and it's not reopening by itself.

 

[chesebert]

I am revising my original impression: I have noticed that going with straight 'native flac' I get more organic sound with lesser initial attack of the notes. However I believe that the PCM decoding gives a bit more perceived detail (more Hi-Fi sounding, which is probably why I preferred it in my initial listening).

I have also noticed that even doing the FLAC as native, the SC decodes the FLAC and re-encode the FLAC as ABR instead of the VBR FLAC file as I have them now; no clue why SC is doing that

 

[ecruz]

I went back to 7.3.2 and was still having the issue with iTunes. So I went back to 7.2 and everything was fine. Waited a few days and retried 7.4, again iTunes opens by itself. Not sure what's going on.

 

[chesebert]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ecruz /img/forum/go_quote.gif I went back to 7.3.2 and was still having the issue with iTunes. So I went back to 7.2 and everything was fine. Waited a few days and retried 7.4, again iTunes opens by itself. Not sure what's going on.

I think you have to uncheck some boxes in the itune tab.

 

[ecruz]

The only thing I see in there is the "reload interval". It looks like it's set for every hour. Maybe that's what's doing it. I'll let you know what happens.

Thanks

 

[rederanged]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chesebert /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have also noticed that even doing the FLAC as native, the SC decodes the FLAC and re-encode the FLAC as ABR instead of the VBR FLAC file as I have them now; no clue why SC is doing that

What makes you think this is happening? As far as I know, there is not even any such thing as ABR FLAC encoding. (For MP3 and other types of compression, "ABR" means you're targeting an average bitrate in your final file. The FLAC encoder didn't offer this option last time I checked, and because of the nature of lossless encoding it would be difficult to implement in a meaninful way.) Also, if Squeezecenter is doing any transcoding, you should see the flac.exe process running on your server. I do not see this happening when I run native flac.

Maybe you're looking at the file information and seeing something like "856 kbps ABR"? This just means that the average bitrate is 856 kbps, the number obtained from dividing the file size by its length. It does not indicate anything about the method used to encode the file.