Best way to use naim DAC ?

Richard,

Why not simply go straight into the nDAC with your current set-up?  You have optical output, why the need for USB?  Control volume with your Remote app and use iTunes.  Done.

Also it really seems petty to claim that a USB converting device is intolerable.  What is the big deal?  The Hiface seems perfect for you.  Tiny and will give you good sound.  Plus you could use it on ANY machine yours or others as it is easily portable.

I use my soundcard's digital output (Juli@) to the Naim DAC.  It sounds fantastic.  I'm not sure why this isn't your method if you really want to use the Naim DAC.  If you dont want the Naim DAC, there are hundreds of DACs out there with different connections.

As with most worthwhile pursuits, there is bound to be need for effort and compromise.  If everything is working well on your end, you have great sound, and aren't looking change anything, what are all of these discussion for?

My buddy's Rega DAC sounds decidedly flatter and through USB rather than his PC (also Juli@) output.  It isn't your system but I figured I would offer that experience. 

If the ultimate goal is of course sound quality, why not try a USB device to see if it improves on a direct USB connection.  No harm in trying.  Then a demo with the same into the nDAC seems to be in order.

It is a bummer that upnp was so painful for you.  I can only guess it was a result of trying to integrate iTunes into that world.  It works so seamlessly and wonderfully for me and everyone else I know who uses it, albeit none are exclusively Mac.  If you were willing to use a cheap old PC as a server I think you would really like it.  Just like your NAS, you wouldn't even know it was there.

Streaming music from home (Thee Oh Sees) to my old iPhone 3G in my office right now.  MONEY!!!!!!!!

RE: videos.  How do you get your DVDs "onto" the NAS?  Just curious.

Good luck,

Patrick

Apple have a couple of issues right now, and i am a self confessed fan bois (macbook, to minis, imac, ipad, airport, apple tv)

They have truely gone corperate, everything, everything they do now is soley concerned with how to sell you content, and the front to this is the utterly shit itunes. I used to like it, for the life of me i cannot remember why. On mac now this turd of an application is what one hundred megs? For what? A half arsed interface, and a million ways to get you to buy content.

Other issues include no viable solution for upnp, apples insistence on doing somethong else every time, and these things landing up simply not working.

Airplay is a turd, why is everyone here so moist about this, have you actually tried using it? Its shit. And its been hamstrung so for instance why can i not airplay to my mini which is connected to my hfifi? Why does ninty percent of video i airplay to my apple tv result in an warnign that my tv does not support hpcp encryption etc etc.

I love apple astetics, but have to say my love has seriously gone off the boil with lion which is shite and aperture which is getting shite.

Anyways rant over.

. . . and somebody said I rant?

In a few months Apple will be launching their TV. I bet that will work with Airplay!

So true Garyi, so true.  Although I do have a hard time finding fault with most of Apple's hardware, and the iOS is genius.

The rest is exactly as you put it.  A way to buy content.

Richard,

Firstly, the VLC app for iPad is sweet.  It will play anything, and you can even delete vids without syncing to iTunes.

The "native" video player is junk, unless you buy the vids from iTunes of course.

How do you get past copy protection with Handbrake?  I thought it couldn't help with that.

Lastly, with Handbrake can you output as "DVD Video" meaning FULLY uncompressed with all titles, menus and MOST importantly, all of the embedded audio options like DD or DTS?

I am curious for my Mac only buddy.

I have ripped all of my DVDs (mostly music of some kind) and now have them available in J River. It wasn't easy to find a way past copy protection.  Especially since I own the disc and am making a copy for my own use at home/backup.

Which brings up the coolest aspect of a real media player.  I can set an "alternate" audio path for video.  This sends the video's audio to my 5.1 while music goes out to my Naim DAC.  Sic.

Cheers!

Patrick

For a long time (until '05 or so) it was simply the best readily available player for either platform.  I always enjoyed it more than Windows Media Player or Winamp.

Until....... my library grew too large for it to work quickly, and I discovered lossless/FLAC.  Then i found Foobar, then J River.

J River is so fast I dont actually know how they do it.  So good.

I am ready, willing, and able to move on to something better (on ANY operating system) when it comes around.  I cant wait.

-Patrick

Right..... it is kind of like:

Apple will make you any color laptop you want as long as it is silver.

Friends

First off, thanks for a great thread. I am frequently reading over my head but some things are starting to make more sense.

Garyi, pcstockton, I hear what you're saying. Unfortunately, selling content seems to be the basis for most human interaction nowadays. Cable, satellite, Netflix, you name it; all about selling content with maximum profit. From my admittedly novice perspective, at least Apple controls the quality of the required interaction and makes things easy to do. If I can setup UPnP Macbook iTunes to UnitiQute anyone can.  

I hear you as well.

I just think the "quality" is deplorable.  And I feel the "easy to do" only applies to how easy it is for them to absolutely GOUGE you for low bitrate MP3s.  On top of that, I dont want their content.

That said, I do like the iBooks app and have bought 6 books so far.  Fortunately they were all very mainstream (Neal Stephenson, and Game of Thrones).  Obviously that has nothing to do with iTunes.  Music is a completely different matter.

-patrick

Selling is fine as long as the vehicle/product is good.  But if the vehicle/product is developed for the sole purpose of generating revenue you get things like Housewives of Atlanta and $10 albums of shite bitrate MP3.

I can sit through a couple of commercials (or skip past with the DVR) to watch an episode of Breaking Bad.  And consequently wouldn't lose sleep if J River offered a way to buy music easily through the program.

-Patrick

I use iTunes video player with both iTunes-based and ripped videos. No problems. You do have to convert ripped DVDs to a iTunes readable format, though.

Handbrake has never failed to copy a DVD. Copy protection and regional coding don't stop it, in my experience.

Handbrake gives all sorts of compression options. Bear in mind that DVD video is already compressed (lossy) so no true uncompressed option is really possible. Handbrake lets you select quality up to and including best available. I use about 75% and it indistinguishable from the best available on my iPad where I mostly watch videos (whilst travelling).

Handbrake does a lousy job with metadata and episode labelling for DVD TV series.

Nice about the auto switching of outputs. I would like that.

Winky

Patrick,

Your tireless passion has worn me down.  I have bought a new hard drive for my broken Franken-PC. I will install JRMC (again) and give it a fair try.

Nick

Xbmc is. Ot concerned with selling you anything, will display all you vids and music in glorious detail and can be controlled by ipad,iphone or android. Or have it on your tv and control with a remote.

Itunes ir truely not all that any more.

I've decided I must be very old-fashioned. I don't buy anything from Apple via iTunes, never have. Don't watch movies through anything other than the TV usually via BluRay or DVD although I did pop a couple of films which came with a digital copies when I bought the BluRays onto my iPad. This worked absolutely fine & was dead easy to do. Like Winky I've used Handbrake to copy films occasionally & that works well.

iTunes works fine. It's not slow. It doesn't crash. The sound quality is fine. I've got lots & lots of CDs burned onto it. Using the iPad remote's a joy.

I have a laptop (a new one) with Windows 7 installed which I require for the occasional Windows-only program & for RS232 duties. I put the JRiver software on it & it looks very nice but for my needs it doesn't do anything iTunes doesn't do. And I had to use Windows which I find really tiresome. I'm sure it's not beyond me to set up one of the many PCs I've got hanging about as a dedicated server but I really can't be bothered. It'll just be unnecessary clutter.

I do wish folk who post didn't constantly revert to tiresome hyperbole to try and emphasise their viewpoint. Posting that something's "Sh*t" won't endear anyone to your viewpoint either.

Good call.

Agree that the arguing with "sh*t" and "t*rd" is a bit below the normal level of this forum.

And Patrick wrote:

   "iTunes though is a different story. It ONLY exists as a portal for you to buy media from Apple. Period. "

This is simply untrue.

A lot of us use iTunes as a media-player only, and please accept that we're happy with it.

I've never bought anything from iTunes Store (I have it disabled in Parental settings).

Just because you use it for something else does not change the sole purpose of iTunes which is to sell you content and load up iPods (which they sell you). 

You not buying things does not entail that the developers of iTunes will make it anymore of a more robust media player.  Sorry.

If for any reason the iTunes store ceased to exist, development of iTunes would go with it.

-p

I tried XBMC. Couldn't get it to work at all.

Oh no Patrick on his crusade again... At last some voices of reason. Live and let live patrick and others. Some of the language being used is off putting...

I have used, built and supported all sorts of computers in my time from Micro processors to main frames, it's all about what works for me. I have never purchased any music from the iTunes store and have never felt the need to. The Apple ecosystem and iTunes works perfectly well for me and no amount of abuse aimed at Apple and iTunes will make me change anything.

Just enjoy your music guys

The very key phrase there is "for my needs", the list of advantages may be hundreds items long.

They may not be "needs" for you but there are some features that you wont find in iTunes that you could potentially appreciate:

- Integral UPNP Serving of music, AND video, photos and data.

- Theater View with gorgeous scrolling artist background pics

- Endless customization (can you even change the font in iTunes?)

- Multiple Servers (set one up for uncompressed and one to convert on the fly to MP3 for remote use)

- Stream different content to multiple zones.  iTunes only streams the same thing to multiple zones and not very well.

- Hires streaming.

- Easily stream to your iOS/Android device when away from home.

- Fully Integrated Netflix, Hulu, Youtube, LastFM etc, etc

- 64bit data path with great internal volume

- Auto sample rate switching

- Playback Blurays, and any video codec/container

- Superior native iOS app (JRemote)

- Fastest performance of any player out there

- DVD ripping/tagging

- Browser within the program for super quick and easy Wiki, AMG, Google, Images or whatever you want.  It simply auto searches for whatever you are listening to.

- The Theater View "Shell".  You never need to see Windows again.  Simply run in Theater View and even have other executable programs available within.  You can set to run on boot and go straight to Theater View

- Play Doctor (it CRUSHES Genius)

- VERY, VERY well supported product.  Can you go on Apple's iTunes Forum and talk DIRECTLY to the actual owners/developers?  Want a feature implemented?  Done.

- Constant development with almost weekly (optional) upgrades.

- Easy web browser interface for controlling from another PC.

ad infinitum

You aren't interested in ANY of that?  Or should I have written a longer list.

Cheers,

Patrick

Sorry fellas.  I thought we were all big boys and girls in here. 

I said the word "s*ite" maybe twice?  And I think it was just to describe 256kbps MP3s.  I figured everyone would agree that they are in fact poo-poo and not worth $10 or more for an album's worth of them.

Sorry for the unseemly language.  They say the REAL version (without the "E") on TV every night these days.  Didn't even know it was still considered a "bad word".  I likened it to "bugger" and "bloody" which I thought were fairly innocuous.

I will absolutely refrain from saying any more Carlin-type words around here.

Cheers,

Patrick

That is great.  For you.  Others may be interested in trying something else out.  I just think sometimes people get a little bit of tunnel vision and dont know that they can both do more and solve problems at the same time.

How do you think I found out about iTunes and computer based replay in the first place?  Suggestions from others. 

Go check the thread title.  If you start one talking about iTunes, and how amazing it is, I promise not to post.

It is too bad that you see my list of truths to be "abuse aimed at Apple".   I have nothing against Apple in the least.  I have nothing bad to say about them in general.  I love a ton of their products.  I however do not like the  iTunes list of shortcomings, its telos, and definitely do not like 256k mp3s. 

I dont think I have done anything other than list reasons I dont like iTunes and why I need/appreciate another option.  I am not mad, upset, or really care all that much about iTunes.  Not sure why it upsets you so much but perhaps it is just how I am reading your post, and you mine.

-Patrick

Patrick,

When looking at the features that you list, it certainly seems like JRiver is one of the very best media-players out there, esp. for Windows platform/OS.

But you have to realize, that no matter how good an app, very few computer users are prepared to switch OS in order to use a good application.

I use Mac OS X, so JRiver is not an option.

If I had a Windows PC I would certainly consider JRiver.

I haven't tried iTunes on Windows in a couple of years, maybe it's not as good on Windows as on Mac (I remember hating the Safari browser on Windows).

I'm not saying iTunes is the perfect media-player, but it works very well for me on a Mac.

One of iTunes' big flaws is the lack of support for FLAC.

Take care,

  hego99

Very interesting. But nothing there that I require for listening to my ripped CDs through my Hi-Fi.