A Relevatory Experience
Posted by: ursus262 on 17 February 2015
Yesterday, I had a revelation that I'd like to share. My MacBook Pro's jack socket is not only headphone and line out, it is also an optical digital out as well.
My Naim Uniti has an optical digital input on the front panel as well. Some time ago I bought an optical cable to connect the two appliances together and this has worked reasonably well. However, yesterday I downloaded an audiophile player for the Mac (and other platforms as well) called Jriver. It comes recommended on some of the forums as it is touted as being able to deliver a bit-perfect output.
Anyhow, I played music using this player through the optical connection and the experience was amazing. Unlike some other audiophile players which sound thin and lacking in bass, the Jriver sounds fulsome and deep and deeply satisfying.
Which brings me to another point: why does a lot of so-called "audiophile" equipment sound so boring, flat and uninvolving?
Jriver has been discussed a lot on this forum,so nothing new there.
And I'm happy to report my naim kit sounds quite the opposite of dull and boring.
Scott
Just to clarify: I meant to refer to equipment from other manufacturers. My Naim system sounds superb.
That's why we buy naim.
Scott
..... it is touted as being able to deliver a bit-perfect output.
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... and what do you think other players and IT applications do? Just thinking in the direction of your online banking activities ...
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... and what do you think other players and IT applications do? Just thinking in the direction of your online banking activities ...
Nothing to do with it and rather unhelpful. In this context it just means you've not got any manipulation of the data between source file and output. It just helps fix some of the little things that can stop this happening - computer volume control set at less than 100% or some sample rate conversion going on etc etc. In the Mac world it's stopping you needing to fiddle with Audiomidi settings if you play hi-res formats other than redbook.
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... and what do you think other players and IT applications do? Just thinking in the direction of your online banking activities ...
Nothing to do with it and rather unhelpful. In this context it just means you've not got any manipulation of the data between source file and output. It just helps fix some of the little things that can stop this happening - computer volume control set at less than 100% or some sample rate conversion going on etc etc. In the Mac world it's stopping you needing to fiddle with Audiomidi settings if you play hi-res formats other than redbook.
Well, this is what I suspected. I do know that with UPnP, something happens in the chain somewhere that makes the resultant sound output, to my ears, a bit disappointing. UPnP is clever technology, but for me, it is not really good enough, so I am going to connect directly as mentioned above. It works for me!
... - computer volume control set at less than 100% or some sample rate conversion going on etc etc. In the Mac world it's stopping you needing to fiddle with Audiomidi settings if you play hi-res formats other than redbook.
Valid point. Thank you.
UPnP is a protocol which will not touch the data, so this cannot be the reason for your experience.
I am particularly interested to hear of others' experiences of using Jriver, especially from a sound quality perspective. I have done a search on this subject. I would appreciate constructive comments please. Has anyone compared this to other players?
I did use BitPerfect, but wasn't convinced it was good enough for me. There is Audivirna (did I spell that correctly?) and I did try that. It's good, but the bass sounded a bit flat, as though there is a lower filter or cut-off.
Ursus262 originally posted:
"Which brings me to another point: why does a lot of so-called "audiophile" equipment sound so boring, flat and uninvolving?"
One suggestion is that you have listened for so long to a system with a "house sound" that is engineered to be very different from that of almost any other manufacturer, that anything else just sounds 'wrong'. That house sound (according to some) deliberately exaggerates dynamics, and as a consequence, other (possibly) more accurate sounding systems now sound dull and flat to you. Perhaps your system sounds 'better' than live music to your ears too?
Nothing wrong with that! Back in the mid 70s, I had a DBX box that did the very same thing, and also practically eliminated background noise and hiss from LP's and cassettes. I used it for a while, but then decided that I preferred the sound of my system without the device, surface noise warts and all. No doubt Naim does this in a hugely more sophisticated way, and I have heard Naim based systems that sound truly excellent, but my own preferences are largely (but not exclusively) elsewhere, with brands I won't name here, but which I certainly don't find boring, flat and uninvolving.
I would also echo the assertion of PinkHamster that UPnP is a protocol which does not affect data, so I doubt very much that the protocol itself impacts sound quality. I personally have not noticed any significant difference (allowing for potential audio memory issues, and not having conducted blind tests) between music streamed to my Hugo via my ND5XS and the same music fed to my Hugo by JRiver over USB.
Now, DSD files fed by JRiver to the Hugo over USB - that's a different matter. They have produced some of the best results I have ever heard.
Hmack, as a matter of interest what are you using to feed your Hugo via USB?
Ah ha, thanks. I'm still experimenting with different inputs and transports, hence the interest
I am particularly interested to hear of others' experiences of using Jriver, especially from a sound quality perspective. I have done a search on this subject. I would appreciate constructive comments please. Has anyone compared this to other players?
No whatsoever personal experience with Jriver unfortunately, but I was reading the Computer Audiophile review of the Sonore Signature Series Rendu right now and one of the two system used in the demo is based on "a CAPS v4 Cortes running JRiver Media Center as the DLNA server". The review of the whole system -- included the Jriver server -- is very positive. I seem to remember posts by Jan-Erik Nordoen in this forum comparing the sound of MPD under Linux to the sound of a server under Windows but I am not sure if it was Jriver or something else. Best, nbpf
I was impressed with J River, could quite happily use it, but wasn't as impressed with my PC feeding the Hugo. It was very open and revealing with lots of space around instruments and a good sound stage but the music lacked weight and presence compared to the qute 2 feeding it. I suspect that the USB output from my server is noisy and this affects sq. Perhaps a different PC would work better.