Opinions on Pure Music 1.8?

It's not as good as a Upnp stream but it is good.

Seems that with 1.8 it's possible to add entire folders of FLAC's to PM. This alone is a good reason to upgrade IMO.

Can you clarify, I'm confused? Isn't Upnp a process, and PM a player? realhifi, what am I missing here?

Dave

Adding flac folders would be nice. Unfortunately keep receiving the message "decompression failed" when I try to download the update to my MacBook; surprising cos all previous updates have loaded fine.

*s* Not really.  I have both, actually more than both, I have a number of solutions that involve both direct wiring and streaming.  Naim is certainly one of them yes, and it is a good one but the point was merely that the sound quality (to me) of the Pure Audio direct wired solution is not as good as a streaming one.

LOT'S of my customers use Macs and playback software so no bias there, just what I hear.

PM 1.8 can play internet radio. I tried it - works fine.

realhifi - for one thing, your handle was part of my former friend/Naim Dealer's business name, so it's haunting when I come across 'realhifi'. That aside, it's complicated navigating the stereo world these days. I'm slowly making my way. I'm thrilled to pieces with my new Rega dac. It's been almost a week since my Naim Dealer dropped it off for a dem, and today I called him up and paid him over the phone. His last unit. Until the end of July. I know Naim has their reasons for not producing an entry level dac, but I'm not prepared to drop $4000 on an nDac at this time. VFM wins the day.

It's taken me a week, but I can't stop listening to this system, even with a CDX2 in the 'big' room. The Rega keeps getting better. Listening to George Harrison 'Live In Japan', and I'm addicted to the album and the sound. I'm still playing around with Fidelia, and Audirvana, and Pure Music. So I appreciate that there's a number of solutions, but this combination of Mac and Rega is making beautiful music, and I can't stop listening, I'm really being drawn into the music, and that's all that matters. Rega has made a real winner here, a truly handmade British piece, and I couldn't be happier. 

Dave

I can't agree more with you on the value for money on the Rega.  It is a flat out bargain and I really think they hit a home run with it.  I didn't mean to disparage Pure Music at all and hope it didn't come across that way in my post.  What is great is the enthusiasm and interest in listening to music that the computer / dac shift seems to be generating. 

Any way you look at it; streaming, direct, iTunes, Pure, etc., it's all good and from my perspective, if more folks are listening to more music because of it, then it's great!

PS. You should resist all temptations to make what you are now hearing "better" and settle back for a bit and keep doing what you are now, "I can't stop listening, I'm really being drawn into the music, and that's all that matters."  Nuff said.

DHT, I found a store that retails the MF V-Link in my area, and plan to buy it in the future.

In the meantimes, I had a heck of a time getting a mini Toslink to Toslink cable in the largest city in Canada. So I ordered one on the internet, 10', for $5.99. So it may not be the best quality, but it arrived by 10:30 am the next day and allowed me to check out hi-res. The Rega sounds superb with it, but I'm dying to see how much better it will sound with a V-Link (or Hi-Face).

Dave

realhifi-you in no way disparaged PM, it didn't come across that way. I think you were offering up the fact that there are many alternatives and options one has at their disposal when looking at digital music. It's tough to navigate stereo these days for this digital newbie. I didn't want an all in one (Qute), and the fact is that I play on a MacBook all day, so there's a simplicity to just plugging in the Rega and playing music. Plus my dealer will allow me to trade in the Rega for full value in a year towards an nDac, should I decide to go that route. The Rega struck me as a safe, 'sound' investment in a dac without breaking the bank, and will still retain decent value down the road, being a Rega.

The only thing about Pure Music, is, there doesn't seem to be a way to shut off upsampling, or do I have that wrong? Under music server settings/advanced, it offers choices like power of two upsampling and a checkbox to upsample only 44.1 or 48, but otherwise, it seems upsampling is a given. Is there a way to not have upsampling?

Dave

That is a personal opinion. It might even be true, but the ease of use of Pure Music riding on top of iTunes is pure joy compared with the Naim Dos style app supplied on the CD for the N-Serve. True, they do offer a free app from the iTunes store, but that is too unreliable to be useful, it never seems to connect to my UQ, which was why I returned to iTunes  I find it easier to use the handset remote to change volume or inputs.  Just my opinion, of course.

Back to Pure Music.  I had given up on it with the earlier version because of niggles I had with silly things like unwanted noises between tracks. There were a few other little glitches too.  But the new version 1.8 seems to have cleaned all that up and it now plays without incident.  It might be my imagination, but I think it sounds better.  Cleaner, is the word that comes to mind.  Again, just my opinion.

Richard

I happen to find using the N-stream app with Upnp easier than using Pure Audio w/ iTunes.  This is with something as simple as Assett on a pc.  Maybe I'm just lucky in the fact that I really have not had any issues using the Qute with an iPad and Upnp.  Album artwork is not great but neither is it great with plain (or Pured) iTunes.  My biggest complaint about the Naim streaming solutions is the non availability of Pandora or Rhapsody, if it had those I would think it's a slam dunk.

Oops.  You are right.  I usually always qualify my statements with "in my opinion".  Didn't mean it to sound like the definitive end all to end to all!  There are plenty of terrific options available today for everyone to dig into and as in all of hifi there is no "right" answer for everyone, that's what makes this all so much fun.

Looks like a question for the Pure Audio forum or their tech hotline.

Uncheck the Music Server->Upsampling menu item (I think it is unchecked by default).

newbostonian, thanks! Didn't think of looking there!

Dave

Can't wait to try but still getting decompression failed message and my e-mail to channel d was returned as their address was unavailable; so perhaps they're down at present. Is anyone else having this problem?

It was slow when I downloaded it on Sunday (Kangaroo time).  I don't think they have a very fast connection to the interweb.

I am thinking I may keep both versions available.  I still think some albums sounded better with the chunkier sound of 1.74a, although they are a minority.   Most are better with the new version. I will be interesting to see how things go over time.  

Right now its harder to tell as I have a head cold.  The pile of tissues is impacting on room acoustics, let alone my dulled hearing.  Insert virus joke here.

As a point of clarification–the n-Serve app used to control the Naim servers is NOT the same app as the n-Stream app used to control the UnitiQute (or other Uniti-family products), nor does it use the same protocols.

Also–in all fairness, there is a rather marked difference in performance when using a Naim server directly than, say, using a UPnP-equipped NAS to feed a UnitiQute.

I agree with you on that. Which is why since returning my UnityServe, I am using the USB output from the MacBook into (temporarily) a HiFace EVO.  This makes a significant improvement over using the Optical out of the MB into the Qute alone.

Richard

Just want to be sure I am interpreting this correctly.

The brand of UPNP server affects SQ?