[chesebert]

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

 

[gregeas]

Interesting. I have a Modwright TP at home and will have to try 7.4. Can FLAC and Apple Lossless files be set to decode as PCM on the server?

 

[chesebert]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregeas /img/forum/go_quote.gif Interesting. I have a Modwright TP at home and will have to try 7.4. Can FLAC and Apple Lossless files be set to decode as PCM on the server?

yes; make sure you disable any other streams including the 'native'. One caveat, if you have any hi-def files, you have to first convert them to wavpack as the FLAC to PCM converter doesn't work with anything over 16/44.

 

[BigTony]

Erm.. i don't understand...do you mean there is a firmware upgrade for the players, as i don't see how a software change can/or should change the digital output?

 

[chesebert]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigTony /img/forum/go_quote.gif Erm.. i don't understand...do you mean there is a firmware upgrade for the players, as i don't see how a software change can/or should change the digital output?

algorithm converting from FLAC/Wave/others to PCM (previous called wave encoding) is improved. NOTE: PCM is the actual bit stream on your digital out, and wav != PCM

Yes, there are also corresponding firmware upgrades for your SB/Duet/Transporter.

 

[ecruz]

I'm a little confused too. Is Squeezecenter the software that my Mac uses to control my SB3 & Duet? Or is it the net interface?

chesebert-
I see you live in Ann Arbor. I work for The Ann Arbor News.

 

[iriverdude]

Squeezecenter is a background service. Your SB are controlled by this service. The net interface is not the service, just a means to setup and interact with the service.

 

[ecruz]

That's what I thought. I'm surprised this can make a difference in sound quality.

 

[rederanged]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chesebert /img/forum/go_quote.gif algorithm converting from FLAC/Wave/others to PCM (previous called wave encoding) is improved. NOTE: PCM is the actual bit stream on your digital out, and wav != PCM

Count me as another that's a little confused. WAV is just PCM data with some header information prepended to it. Decoding FLAC is obviously more complicated, but it's a well known algorithm, and I doubt it took them 7.4 revisions of the software to get it implemented right.

 

[Klaas]

probably the sound is changed because the PC has a better, more accurate algorithm to decode to PCM. I tested the PCM sound and would at least admit that it is different. My guess it that my SB3 is not as good in decoding flac to raw PCM data as the PC is.
I don't think that they algorithm is different, maybe it is just the processing shift from the SB3/Transporter to the PC.

 

[Ben Diss]

I can't see how this could make a change. SB decodes FLAC on the box. FLAC and WAV should sound the same.

 

[chesebert]

the release note states wav != PCM so I am assuming that wave is not encoded as bit stream PCM but another codec; I could be wrong though. The software is free, just try it and report back.

 

[iriverdude]

I'll leave it till final release.

 

[linuxworks]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Klaas /img/forum/go_quote.gif probably the sound is changed because the PC has a better, more accurate algorithm to decode to PCM..

this makes no sense.

flac to 'pcm' is trivial, even a sansa clip can do that!

my old old squeezebox2 (first wireless model) does not do flac natively. it expands the flac to wav on the pc side then sends the wav directly to the hardware slimdevices thing and since I'm wire-connected, it can 'fit' the wave in there without having to downsample (again, mine is a very old slimdevices box).

but even then, they were doing it 'right' - there were no issues in expanding flac (on the host) to wave for playback on the slimdevices box.

there is no 'tweaks' for lossless decoding. you simply decode the only way there is!

I'm confused why this is a 'sound quality' upgrade.

 

[rederanged]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chesebert /img/forum/go_quote.gif the release note states wav != PCM. The software is free, just try it and report back.

Take a look at the bug report that this actually refers to:

Bug 10026 - PCM != WAV

If I interpret this correctly, there were instances where people were sending WAV files to the SqueezeBox, and SqueezeCenter was failing to chop off the WAV header. This resulted in a click or pop at the beginning of the file because the SB is expecting raw PCM data, and so was interpreting the WAV header as audio data.

It looks like there's not much reason to try this beta for those of us who do not have this problem. Specifically, if you stream FLAC directly to your SB or transcode to PCM on the server, there will be no improvement in sound.