Virtual Pub

[Larry]

As most customers know our experience with computer based audio has so far not been an unqualified success when compared to top CD transports. The Halle event could have been ruined if we had been reliant on the Mac Book as our source.

Well, now it's time to get serious about investigating just how good server based audio can be. To this end we now have a Cool Tech mCubed music server on order from the 'States. This has been designed in collaboration with the highly respected US dealer Goodwins High End, and by all accounts is as good as it gets.

Watch this space for news as events unfold.

For more information on the server itself:
http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/std/sku=mcubed_music_server.html

[Larry]

Well, it's arrived but....


...it says 110V on it, so I can't switch it on!

[phil ryan]

Do you really need that?
Get an Apple TV put some good quality files on it, optical out into a decent DAC into an amp.

If you don't want to spend any money you can listen to mine. I've spent enough time listening to stuff in the shop with Ed.

[Larry]

Nice one!

If you're serious, and correct you are really on to something.

See write up on Halle musical evening for what happens when a highly optimised Mac book (belonging to dCS) was used with an upsampler into a world class DAC from studio files. Not very inspiring. Ordinary downloads not good, ripped CDs likewise on a wide variety of laptops.

Hence the need to look at state of the art.

Larry

[phil ryan]

Larry

I'm busy for the next week or two, but when I get chance I'll drop it in and you can loan it for a while.

I'll try and put a CD on in various formats, Eric Clapton unplugged seems a good choice.
Sorry i don't have any classical music unless you want to send me a disc to transfer on itunes.

Cheers Phil

[kelvin]

I had the chance to show Larry what a software tweaked iMac was capable of, playing some hi-res downloads. No miracles here, it still couldn't outperform my 20 year old CD transport! Still, this mCubed server has the potential, and will wait patiently.

[Larry]

Using Media Monkey on Silent Music Server, outputting via USB (Coolpc mini) with no fans and solid state drives.

Track: Kate Bush - A Sky of Honey; Prelude Prologue. Ripped to WAV file at lowest compression (Lossless).

Tonally richer than CD, however losses of low level detail are such that the birdsong at the beginning sounds like it is outdoors on the CD while no hint of place on server. Piano tunefulness better on CD, as (not unexpectedly given birdsong differences) are dynamics, resulting in less expressive playing and vocals on the server.

The reference CD player is Creek Evolution using digital output. Both are playing into dCS Scarlatti upsampler, Paganini DAC.

Anyone wishing to hear the results that we are getting is welcome to come into the shop and listen (let us know first).


Still, early days.

[Cloth Ears]

So, Larry, Rick, Iain, and I spent an interesting couple of hours recently, experimenting. Actually, it was Rick who was experimenting (the quickness of the mouse deceives the eye), we were just 'helping'.

By the end of the session, we were getting some fairly respectable results, most notably by using the computer's own CD drive as a transport. Done like that, it compared fairly well with the budget CD player we also had set up as a transport. Not better, you understand, but definitely in the same league (and now out of the relegation zone). Not, perhaps, the best use of the technology though...

We also discovered that significant improvements to the server-audio side of things could be made (ie the files ripped to the server memory), by using different settings (Rick will have to explain these as I forget the details, but essentially, bypassing as much of the computer as possible).

Significantly, Rick also found that comparing ripped WAV files with the originals showed that they were NOT identical (different checksum) but that a WAV file reconstructed from a FLAC file compressed from the WAV was identical to the original WAV. When played, the decompressed WAV and the original WAV sounded the same, but the FLAC file sounded different (and much less musical). This would appear, on the face of it, to be due to the extra processing needed to play the FLAC file and/or the different CODEC being used.

More work needed, but not as umpromising as it had seemed at first. With some effort, it now appears possible that a carefully set-up music server playing WAV files might resemble the quality of a good, budget CD player.

The tricky bit is the set-up. It's not simply a matter of supports, mains and cabling, but serious attention needs to be devoted to system settings deep inside the OS and other gubbins in the server. I wonder how many of the server-peddlers out there possess the sort of expertise Rick showed us the other night?

We have yet to experiment with connections other than USB or, indeed, with better quality USB cables. Perhaps this will also yield some significant benefits in performance. No word yet on the results using high-res formats either, though results using WAV -v- CD might suggest that a high-res download will need to be pretty darn good, if it is to compare to a SACD pressing through a decent SACD transport & DAC.
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[Larry]

With the help of dCS have achieved 'bit perfect' output stream. Results are significantly better, but still behind good CD player as transport.

I guess next step is sound card - but which one?

[phil ryan]

What are you feeding the USB output into?

What happens if you use optical out into a DAC with a WAV file so the hard drive become the transport?