My first wireless music server: Roku M1000 chokes on AIFF
Posted by: kuma on 06 November 2004
So, finally I got few geek friends hooked up Rokulabs M1000 wireless music server via my laptop using
47Labs Shigaraki DAC/Dumpty PS into the 552.
It failed to play through AIFF or WAV. It keeps buffering every 30 secs. Hardwiring the laptop via Ethernet cable to the Airport helped a bit ( every 3 min. ) but this does not work the way it should.
It is a shame because the playback did not sound bad at all!
Interesting thing is that even the mp3, via Shigaraki/552 kept the overall characteristics of the CDS3. Ok, it doesn't have the resolution nor the clarity, ( same goes for the AIFF/WAV ), but all and all, there wasn't much change in tonal balance nor overall presentation. ( sort of like cousins ) What's got lost mostly was in the bass region. Going back to the CDS3, the bass extension and detailing were pretty apparent. ( altho, it should improve in few days since the Dumpty was powered off for few weeks )
I always thought that Shigaraki DAC reminded me of a CDX ( I don't have one here for a direct comprison ). And it did not dissappoint in abililty to carry a tune.
In fact, this set up was probably the closest to my main rig amongst numerious DACs I've tried in here. No doubt the 552 contributing a lot to keep the timing and perserving a *life* from the music files which tend to lose the jump factor.
It's frustrating because while it was working, it sounded pretty darn good.
I've got the Airport Express and found out its digital out completely useless as it only supports optical digital.
Squeeze Box seems to be the only other alternataive.
Altho, Roku looks sexy and easy to hook up, this has a very limited application as it stands.
Guess I have to wait few more years to ditch my CDs.
47Labs Shigaraki DAC/Dumpty PS into the 552.
It failed to play through AIFF or WAV. It keeps buffering every 30 secs. Hardwiring the laptop via Ethernet cable to the Airport helped a bit ( every 3 min. ) but this does not work the way it should.
It is a shame because the playback did not sound bad at all!
Interesting thing is that even the mp3, via Shigaraki/552 kept the overall characteristics of the CDS3. Ok, it doesn't have the resolution nor the clarity, ( same goes for the AIFF/WAV ), but all and all, there wasn't much change in tonal balance nor overall presentation. ( sort of like cousins ) What's got lost mostly was in the bass region. Going back to the CDS3, the bass extension and detailing were pretty apparent. ( altho, it should improve in few days since the Dumpty was powered off for few weeks )
I always thought that Shigaraki DAC reminded me of a CDX ( I don't have one here for a direct comprison ). And it did not dissappoint in abililty to carry a tune.
In fact, this set up was probably the closest to my main rig amongst numerious DACs I've tried in here. No doubt the 552 contributing a lot to keep the timing and perserving a *life* from the music files which tend to lose the jump factor.
It's frustrating because while it was working, it sounded pretty darn good.
I've got the Airport Express and found out its digital out completely useless as it only supports optical digital.
Squeeze Box seems to be the only other alternataive.
Altho, Roku looks sexy and easy to hook up, this has a very limited application as it stands.
Guess I have to wait few more years to ditch my CDs.
quote:
Originally posted by kuma:
Squeeze Box seems to be the only other alternataive.
Altho, Roku looks sexy and easy to hook up, this has a very limited application as it stands.
Guess I have to wait few more years to ditch my CDs.
Kuma, i had the same problem with the squeezebox so dont go there! I found that it could handle AAC upto 192 but 320 caused exactly the same problem as you had.. very frustrating. Hardwired it was no problem but that missed the point for me... This is what slim tech FAQ said about the issue...
I'm trying to play AAC files on my Squeezebox over a wireless network and the audio sometimes pauses or breaks up.
This may be caused by insufficient speed in your wireless network. Here's why:
By default SlimServer will uncompress AAC files on the server side and send the uncompressed audio to the Squeezebox. Uncompressed audio at 16-bit resolution with 44.1kHz sampling rate, stereo, ends up around 1600 kilobits per second— as opposed to the compressed AAC bitrate which is typically around 128 kilobits per second.
When operating wirelessly on both ends of the network (i.e. wireless from computer -> base station, and base station -> Squeezebox), that data rate doubles. So you're trying to seend more than 3 megabits per second over 802.11b.
In theory, this should not be a problem, but it can be in the real world. 802.11b has an absolute maximum data rate of 11 megabits per second. Typical throughput to a given wireless client on an 802.11b network rarely ever exceeds 3-5 megabits per second.
For better AAC performance over wireless, you can reconfigure the server to convert the AAC audio to a very high quality MP3 format. To do this, you'll first need to install an MP3 encoder called LAME.
Mac Users:
Download the iTunes-LAME plugin, and drag the iTunes-LAME program from the top left to the bottom right alias (following the arrow).
Windows Users:
Download LAME 3.96 from one of these mirror sites
Extract two files LAME.EXE and LAME_ENC.DLL and copy them to C:\Program Files\SlimServer\server\bin\
Then in Player Settings for your Squeezebox, set a Bitrate Limit of 320, and you should notice an improvement.
I dont seem to have a problem with the airport express though so im sticking with that for the time being....
Regards
Neil