My Qute will now be downgraded, sigh!

Posted by: Richard Lord on 10 June 2011

I have decided to upgrade my system by ordering the North Star DAC, the Essensio model.  The cheapest they make.  At £825 it seems very good value. See the review by Keith Howard in this months Hi Fi News (July).  It has no display, other than two rows of LEDs and no remote.  It does, however, have several independent digital inputs, both Toslink and the preferred Coax.  But most importantly it has an asynchronous USB input. 

My Qute will now have to suffer the indignity of being used as my preferred method of controlling the volume.

I would have far preferred to have bought a Naim product.  Maybe the NDX, but it does not have an asynchronous USB. True, it does have an iPod compatible front panel USB, but that is not the same thing.  Also, it might be considered absurd to combine a £3,000 music streamer with a £1,400 Qute, but especially one being used only for volume control purposes. But there is no included volume control with either the NDX or the N-DAC.  I know I am supposed to partner an NDX with a Naim preamp and external power supply.  But quite apart from the considerable cost disadvantage, I would then need two Fraims.  I just have no space to spare for such an indulgence. Anyway I demand simplicity.  An NDX with a volume control would have been my (far) preferred choice. Oh, how I wish Naim made such a device. But they don't so I have to make do with something else.

The Essensio is a stepping stone to hopefully when a value for money DAC appears which also has similar features as the Essensio, but includes a good quality volume control.  Yes, of course I could have chosen the Weiss. But I am still reluctant to stray too far from the Naim arena.  What I am spending is small beer relatively speaking.  I am hedging my bets just in case Naim do unwrap something that truly meets my needs: good sounding but simple. An upgraded Qute, with no power amp perhaps and supports asynchronous USB.  Yes, I know unlikely, but I can dream.

For those proposing I choose UPNP, well, I have tried that. I still have the server, but now relegated to be an exra backup for iTunes.  UPNP is a Windows supported service; it is not supported by Apple. The Naim supplied DTC was a nightmare compared to iTunes. The experience convinced me that I will absolutely never compromise my system by going back to a Windows PC.  Yes, I could run Windows using Fusion or whatever on my Mac, but as someone rather eloquently put it in another thread, it would be like using your Lamborghini as a skip.  Apologies to the PC fan club.

Richard

Posted on: 14 June 2011 by pcstockton
Originally Posted by manicm:
Originally Posted by Steven Shaw:

My other half keeps buying records off Itunes which annoys me, since youre left with a 256kbps recording, and the price is pretty similar to buying the cd from amazon.

 

If genuine cd quality was available, I would start to think about it, but would probably still prefer to buy the cd since the download is no better.

 

Better than cd downloads from linn and naim I have no problem with and have downloaded several titles. Do Ipods play hi res files at all? If so maybe this could be a possibility in future.

Current iPods are limited to vanilla 16/48 files. If the now long-quiet rumours of Apple releasing high resolution music on iTunes come true then logic would follow new iPods being hi-res players. Alas we can only dream.

I thought you could jimmy jam 24/48s on to an iPhone.  I will check when I get home.

 

Sure 24/96 would be nice, but 24/48 is pretty nice.

Posted on: 14 June 2011 by Tog

@Patrick

 

To some of us able to remember 1985 and their first time with a "Fat Macintosh" it is difficult to forget the huge chasm between Dos and MacOS. The difference between a Picasso and a print from Athena, between Tolstoy and Jackie Collins and between Fortnum & Mason and Asda (Walmart). We saw them through the days when PC users laughed at us and even bought Apple's beautiful machines even when we knew they would probably crash running OS8. We waited for Copeland and waited and waited...

 

Sure things have got a bit better in the PC camp but to be honest even though I have to use them day after day at work I loathe the PC approach. 

 

William Morris had it right

 

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful"
He would have used a Mac
Togintosh

 

Posted on: 14 June 2011 by Guido Fawkes

> 

The strange thing (about Mac fans) to me is this:  Most PC users are happy to use Apple products when appropriate.  Many would happily use a Mac if it would run the software they need it to.

BUT!!!  Ask an "Apple person" to use ANYTHING NOT made by Apple and it is GO TIME.  They will never have it.  

 

Not completely true - it is not that I would only use Apple products; I'd switch back to an Amiga tomorrow if it ran the software I needed. I'll happily use products like Vortexbox. I'm not adverse to Nintendo or even a Playstation and I'll probably buy a Google Book with ChromeOS - but I prefer not to use Windoze or any product from that company if I can help it. I admidt it is a great shame as if product like J River Media Center and Foobar were open source then I could and probably would run them using a Mac or Linux. BTW how did they get away with ripping off Open Office? Still since Kermit left they don't seem quite as bad so perhaps I'm mellowing. Did you know they use to run their servers on Sun platforms?  


All the best, Guy


Posted on: 14 June 2011 by m0omo0
Originally Posted by Guido Fawkes:
Did you know they use to run their servers on Sun platforms?

That is not fair ROTF ! It was sooooo long ago... I remember having tried and sent the HTTP HEAD request to their servers through a command line to check if this rumour was true. And indeed it was. Well RIP Sun anyway.

 

OT but I'd happily run EAC on Windows 7 on my MacBook Pro if it was not 5 years old and crawling to a halt on W7, and if I hadn't so many CDs that I was longing for something more automated - and with a Naim sound as a player - like a HDX. But I'm afraid Patrick is mostly right, and that's frightening.

Posted on: 14 June 2011 by lhau
Wow, that is the longest rant I have seen about Apple & Mac on this forum! Let me tell you the other side of the story. When I was young I was using PC and totally against Apple because at that time the price points were ridiculous. I used MS DOS. I remember the dates when I had to tweak QEMM because while I have 3mb bytes plus free, but somewhere in the region between 640K-1MB is already filled with drivers blah blah so I had to optimize the “memory address” so that my programs can utilize the memories. I remember Windows 3.1 which was sort of better but still required daily reboot, while the Linux I had setup had been up for months during my first year in University. I remember Windows 95, which was ok, but still a lot of tweaks. It not only got those “autoexec.bat, config.sys” stuff but some new tricks in auto start folder and other registry or something (I got lost of the details by then). And then XP was somewhat better. But still I remember Blue Screen, the need to reboot and reboot, tweaking this and that. Installing little pieces of tweak software here and there, windows slow down. Reformat and reinstall. Having to patch, update software, worry about hardware crashes etc. And yes, calls from relatives, friends to help “fix” their computers. Which usually involve locating driver CDs, backup, reformat, reinstall. Do I enjoy it? No. “Did you know v4.2.3.76.123b of xxx was out?” “I installed it and it crashed” A big grin, “You don’t understand it, do you? You need to replace yyy with version 3.2.534.321 Beta first! Now you are dead meat, you have to reinstall windows” “Damn” Or, “Ok your Video Card doesn’t work, can I have a shot of ALL the software your PC is running?” After reading the software list. “Ok, we have figured out that your xxx Mouse driver is not compatible with us. It is not our problem, it is because that driver calls some unsupported API in windows that caused incompatibilities. You should contact the mouse manufacturer” Damn, why did I have the need to learn all this. Computer is a device. I don’t complain when there is something wrong with my Naim (Touch wood here!), I have no ability to fix it. It is not my job. When Mac began to price more reasonably. I made the switch. I installed MS Office, Aperture, VLC and some other piece of Instant Messaging. Then I don’t remember having to deal with it again. I am happy because I just want to stare at Word Documents, stare at Numbers for work and stare at pictures for my hobby. I haven’t worried about those “automatic.bat, config.sys, registry” stuff and I am happy to free up my life. My time is too valuable to do all those again. And I bought my gf a MacBook Air, so she won’t ask me to fix blue screen anymore. I am open minded about Microsoft, but given how they served me in the past decade, they have a big run for their money. Given Lion is $30, with features I am interested, while I remember Windows 7 cost over $100 and the biggest feature was that “it is more stable than Vista”, I think they have really lots of work to do before converting customers like me to go back. I hope someone else produces something better and cheaper. Right now Apple is just doing better. Trust me, PC people don’t understand. PC is only a means for us to work, not something we want to fix. It is perfectly ok for a normal people to just work without millions of dialog boxes, checkboxes and options, especially when those “default” options are those that most people want to figure out how to change. I can understand some PC people being intrigued by fanboys. They do exist, we cannot deny it. It is just that most Mac users are not fanboys, they want to use it for work only. If something better comes out, even better. And sorry for drifting outside of topic.
Posted on: 14 June 2011 by Hook
Originally Posted by m0omo0:
Originally Posted by Guido Fawkes:
Did you know they use to run their servers on Sun platforms?

That is not fair ROTF ! It was sooooo long ago... I remember having tried and sent the HTTP HEAD request to their servers through a command line to check if this rumour was true. And indeed it was. Well RIP Sun anyway....

 

It wasn't just Apple, but Microsoft as well.  Sun servers hosted microsoft.com and its related environments for much of the 1990's.   But back then, 85-90% of all internet traffic ran through Sun servers.

 

I worked for Sun from 1986 through 2001.  I remember the peak period, right before Y2K.  We were all convinced that the fundamental nature of the world economy had changed, and that any pretty much any business model could work as long as it had a web presence.   Scott was incapable of making a bad decision, and the global demand for servers seemed infinite...

 

...and then the bubble burst.  

 

It was a great ride while it lasted, but I was lucky to get out when I did.  What happened there from 2001 to the present was really hard to watch.

 

Hook

Posted on: 15 June 2011 by Pev

100% endorsement of Patrick's rant.  I used the original Mac for a while in the mid 80s - poxy little b/w screen and a keyboard designed for a deformed hamster. The killer was that I couldn't make it do what I needed to do so I switched to PCs. That's apart from Apple products being over priced and under powered for decades. Having said that they seem a lot better these days - I have an iPod and nearly bought a Mac Mini last year until I realised it didn't come with an HDMI port. Jobs brandishing an HDMI adapter cable as a great leap forward earlier this year - and getting a round of applause from the faithful was one of the funnier moments on the news this year!

I've run a research unit for over 20 years with an average of a dozen or so PCs running and they have been extremely reliable; never had a virus and everyone finds them easy to use apart from one person who has a mac at home - maybe it's a left brain/right brain thing....

What I really can't understand is the sheer hatred of MS/Windows from some people - are you all still peed off over the demise of Netscape? Hasn't Bill given enough money away yet?

Posted on: 15 June 2011 by Guido Fawkes
Originally Posted by Pev:

What I really can't understand is the sheer hatred of MS/Windows from some people - are you all still peed off over the demise of Netscape? Hasn't Bill given enough money away yet?

Bill who? 

 

It was a great shame about Netscape; however now we have Chrome so things are picking up. I prefer Chrome to Firefox and Safari and Opera.

 

Hatred is a strong word, but I'd sooner cut cane for Castro than use it, but I've no wish to start a Third World War II 

(Of course there is more too it that meets the eye, but I shall always try to avoid their products; though I realise their technology is embedded in may items I use) and of course, I have to use it for work.

 

So I go kicking and screaming each morning to that Windoze machine - type in my user name unix4ever - and password and hit return - then I go to make some breakfast and on returning it has booted up, about 11 o'clock I reboot as it has lost its network connection by then, but that is good 'cos it is coffee time. Then I get in another two hours until a thoughtful pop-up windows says missing DLL - which I assume means it thinks I'm missing dinner of lunch, so I reboot and go off to lunch, a bit more work and then time for afternoon tea and a quick reboot to be on the safe side (safe being a mode it often asks me to boot in) and then a bit more before closing down for the night zzzz (why do you need to click the start menu to shut it down?)

 

It is not just about product though, but about the attitude of a company towards its customers.

If it were about product alone then we'd all be happily using

 

 

However, I always liked Sun as a company for servers and I still see Sun servers around today working as reliably as ever. I was sad to see them suffer oraclisation. Apple has always made good products (I use to like resolving conflicts, honest) and has always been helpful. Commodore support was an oxymoron - a bit like Microsoft Works. 

 

So no real rant from me, just banter. If you want to use a PC that is entirely up to you - me I'd prefer to use an Amiga, but failing that a Macintosh does a very nice job. If you write software for a living and it only runs on Windoze then I'm afraid it is unlikely that I'll ever use it, which is shame really as I wish some of the programs Patrick suggests were open source then even I could run and enjoy them 

 

All the best, Guy

 

PS Richard, I hope you don't mind your thread taking this well trodden if completely off topic path. 

Posted on: 15 June 2011 by pcstockton
Originally Posted by Guido Fawkes:
So I go kicking and screaming each morning to that Windoze machine - type in my user name unix4ever - and password and hit return - then I go to make some breakfast and on returning it has booted up, about 11 o'clock I reboot as it has lost its network connection by then, but that is good 'cos it is coffee time. Then I get in another two hours until a thoughtful pop-up windows says missing DLL - which I assume means it thinks I'm missing dinner of lunch, so I reboot and go off to lunch, a bit more work and then time for afternoon tea and a quick reboot to be on the safe side (safe being a mode it often asks me to boot in) and then a bit more before closing down for the night zzzz (why do you need to click the start menu to shut it down?)

 

Guido,

 

Come on.  You KNOW this is not how a correctly working PC operates.  Something is wrong with yours.  I have had an XP laptop running 24-7 for about 3 years.  I have only rebooted when I installed something that required a restart.

 

I have never had to reboot due to a "lost connection", and you can fix that without rebooting (right click - repair). I would bet the problem is with the router, not the PC. Missing DLL?  Never seen that.

 

It sounds like you have some serious virus or something.

 

If you nit-pick having to click a button to shut-down the computer, NO ONE can help you.

 

Should I (as you seem to) extrapolate my WORST experiences with Macs and apply to all in the world?  OK, everytime I use a Mac I cant even tell what is running.  What am I supposed to look for the little dots in the dock?  And EVERYTIME iTunes is opened, there is the swirling bouncing rainbow ball of death.  NO SHIT, I have had to reboot Macs far more often than PCs in an effort to get rid of that thing.  Even with airports I cant get them to stay connected.  And when streaming music to one there are drop-outs on every song.  The most bizarre (and 100% true) issue is that, when streaming from iTunes to an Airport, AND the Remote app is open, if someone calls by buddy's iPhone while the app is open, the music stops in iTunes.  Seriously.  How?  dont know.  Finally, upon EVERY reboot, his Seagate external is not found.  It must be plugged in after the computer is booted up.  Then is shows up sometimes.  Often it simply stops seeing the connected drive, only reconnecting the mains to the drive will clear that up.

 

Maybe this is becasue he is running an older OS, maybe it is becsaue it is a 5 year old Mac desktop computer.  But I assume this is not how all Macs operate.... but you get my point hopefully.

 

-Patrick

Posted on: 15 June 2011 by Richard Lord
Originally Posted by Guido Fawkes:
 

PS Richard, I hope you don't mind your thread taking this well trodden if completely off topic path. 

 

You go right ahead, all of you.  I am enjoying this.  I just cannot believe how strongly people feel about both their computers.  

 

Richard

Posted on: 15 June 2011 by Guido Fawkes
Originally Posted by pcstockton:
Originally Posted by Guido Fawkes:
So I go kicking and screaming each morning to that Windoze machine - type in my user name unix4ever - and password and hit return - then I go to make some breakfast and on returning it has booted up, about 11 o'clock I reboot as it has lost its network connection by then, but that is good 'cos it is coffee time. Then I get in another two hours until a thoughtful pop-up windows says missing DLL - which I assume means it thinks I'm missing dinner of lunch, so I reboot and go off to lunch, a bit more work and then time for afternoon tea and a quick reboot to be on the safe side (safe being a mode it often asks me to boot in) and then a bit more before closing down for the night zzzz (why do you need to click the start menu to shut it down?)

 

Guido,

 

Come on.  You KNOW this is not how a correctly working PC operates.  Something is wrong with yours.  I have had an XP laptop running 24-7 for about 3 years.  I have only rebooted when I installed something that required a restart.

 

I have never had to reboot due to a "lost connection", and you can fix that without rebooting (right click - repair). I would bet the problem is with the router, not the PC. Missing DLL?  Never seen that.

 

It sounds like you have some serious virus or something.

 

If you nit-pick having to click a button to shut-down the computer, NO ONE can help you.

 

Should I (as you seem to) extrapolate my WORST experiences with Macs and apply to all in the world?  OK, everytime I use a Mac I cant even tell what is running.  What am I supposed to look for the little dots in the dock?  And EVERYTIME iTunes is opened, there is the swirling bouncing rainbow ball of death.  NO SHIT, I have had to reboot Macs far more often than PCs in an effort to get rid of that thing.  Even with airports I cant get them to stay connected.  And when streaming music to one there are drop-outs on every song.  The most bizarre (and 100% true) issue is that, when streaming from iTunes to an Airport, AND the Remote app is open, if someone calls by buddy's iPhone while the app is open, the music stops in iTunes.  Seriously.  How?  dont know.  Finally, upon EVERY reboot, his Seagate external is not found.  It must be plugged in after the computer is booted up.  Then is shows up sometimes.  Often it simply stops seeing the connected drive, only reconnecting the mains to the drive will clear that up.

 

Maybe this is becasue he is running an older OS, maybe it is becsaue it is a 5 year old Mac desktop computer.  But I assume this is not how all Macs operate.... but you get my point hopefully.

 

-Patrick

 

Look here Patrick who you jiving with that cosmic debris? 

 

(Please read the following in a Ron Hubbard type voice)

 

No the PC hasn't got a virus, it runs Windoze 7 with a special build - I do not have administrator rights and my company can install and remove software on it willy nilly - they whipped my Chrome browser, but haven't noticed Firefox yet. 

 

I bet it is not my Juniper router that is to blame. I'm sure I configured properly - if I didn't then please don't tell the boss or I should have to look for a new job ... wonder if Microsoft would employee me  - it is not the Internet connection that drops, but the SSL VPN session with my company's network: so I suspect it is the client on the PC. Sometimes switching user to myself fixes this, other times it needs a complete reboot. I tried hurling it across the room, but even this didn't improve matters. 

 

>  OK, everytime I use a Mac I cant even tell what is running.

 

You could select Force Quit on the Apple menu and it will list things or you could simply go to a terminal window and enter ps - ef to see every running process. The command tops will show you what programs are using up precious resources.  

 

The Apple key and Tab will also show you what is running at any time. 

 

You can use the grid stack feature in Snow Leopard to see what is running

 


 

You can't do that on an Amiga or on stage anymore

 

> swirling bouncing rainbow ball of death 

 

I kinda like that sounds like the title of an album by Cathedral. 

 

> Maybe this is becasue he is running an older OS

 

I run older version of OSX (Tiger) on one computer and do not have these problem. Has your friend talked to the guys at Apple - - you have some interesting problems there. 

 

Don't take it too seriously, I'm sure you don't and deep down your a Mac 

 

And as for using the Mac Mini as a music server - only two words I can say are Vortex Box

 

All the best as always, Guy

 

Posted on: 15 June 2011 by Tog
Not much I can say - day from hell and Mrs Tog in hospital. The mac thing is probably emotional and undoubtedly irrational burly works for me in the same way that a Rothko or a Matisse. There is something reassuring in man made objects where people have bothered to care. Apple and Vortexbox hit the spot for me. To paraphrase the great Dave Allen "may your OS go with you" Tog
Posted on: 15 June 2011 by Hook
Originally Posted by Tog:
Not much I can say - day from hell and Mrs Tog in hospital. The mac thing is probably emotional and undoubtedly irrational burly works for me in the same way that a Rothko or a Matisse. There is something reassuring in man made objects where people have bothered to care. Apple and Vortexbox hit the spot for me. To paraphrase the great Dave Allen "may your OS go with you" Tog

 

Nothing worse than the Mrs. being in the hospital.

 

Our best to Mrs. Tog -- we'll all wish for her a quick and complete recovery.

 

Hook

Posted on: 15 June 2011 by lhau
Originally Posted by Tog:
Not much I can say - day from hell and Mrs Tog in hospital. The mac thing is probably emotional and undoubtedly irrational burly works for me in the same way that a Rothko or a Matisse. There is something reassuring in man made objects where people have bothered to care. Apple and Vortexbox hit the spot for me. To paraphrase the great Dave Allen "may your OS go with you" Tog

Wish Mrs Tog get well soon!

Posted on: 15 June 2011 by Hook

I like both PC's and Mac's. 

 

I prefer using a Mac as a laptop.  I have a Macbook Pro that I use in my listening room, and I travel with a Mac Air.   Their touch pads are the best, and I really miss the two and three finger scrolling (and page forward/back) when switching back to my business laptop, a Lenovo PC.  The Pro's backlit keyboard is also very nice.

 

Quite a while back I decided to rip my CD's to FLAC.  I cannot understand why Apple does not support this (or any other) open standards, so my music server is a PC by necessity.  Both Windows 7 and J River MC have been very good, reliable pieces of software IME.   I also appreciated having the choice among several different audiophile-grade sound cards.  For me, the open architecture of PC servers has proven very attractive.

 

So, for the foreseeable, I will be a Mac Laptop/PC server guy, and as far as I can tell, that is currently the best of both worlds.

 

Hook

 

Posted on: 15 June 2011 by lhau

NEVER had a problem with the dozen PCs. Well I don't deny I need to reboot my Mac about once every other month. My iPhone sometimes reboot itself (I think had this about 10 times in my 3 years ownership).

 

But I believe there are people who really encountered zero problems. After all, Discovery Channel no long ago told me the record of falling without parachute and survive was 30,000 ft or so. It doesn't mean I will try to jump from the 2/F. I rather try my luck in lottery.

 

Seriously, at the 80s, I used PC because I didn't like the price and that very small screen just wasn't for me. But time has changed. Now I don't have to see the blue screen often and I have a 27" screen area, I use Mac. If someday in the future Microsoft or any other guys pulls out something better, I will head there.

 

I think Microsoft have many talented people, they are certainly capable of doing good thing. Currently they are just misguided IMHO. As a user, I can say the holy grail of computer science is NOT that it have 1 zillion zillion iga FLOPs, can process 100 trillion trillion trillion pixels and triangles, or that there are 7 billion new features and options. We just want the end results, be it a Word document, calculations, graphics or whatever we REALLY are after. The holy grail of computer science is the button. A single button that when I press it does what I want it to do, send it, print it or whatsoever. No more efforts. In fact, even better if it figures out when I want to press the button and thus eliminating the need for a button altogether. I don’t want to know the computer exists, why should I want to know what process is running if I can help it?

 

There are Audio company out there with “Pure Direct” buttons, and DAC with “Filter” options, up/down sample options. After reading through the manual, there is a recommended set of option for optimizing audio quality. I always ask, why there are such buttons there at all? Don’t we all always want to optimize the audio quality? I am glad Naim does not do these.

 

 

Posted on: 15 June 2011 by Tog
Appreciated T
Posted on: 16 June 2011 by Guido Fawkes
Originally Posted by Tog:
Not much I can say - day from hell and Mrs Tog in hospital. Tog

My best wishes too, hope she makes a very speedy recovery. 

Posted on: 16 June 2011 by u6213129461734706

Hope Mrs. Tog is better! My better half has been sick for 2 weeks, just getting better now. She just had medical results about a cyst and node and no changes thank God.

 

For insurance, our 'True' Fitness elliptical arrives in two hours, can't wait, my favorite cardio workout in our own home, only inches away from MacBook/Fidelia/Rega/Technics/Intro IIs and the TV. Set my target heart rate and soak up the tunes. I want my wife to be fit and healthy and happy! She deserves it. We all do!

 

Love my Macs, but really liked the network of PCs I set up at work (bike shop) to manage our Trek bicycle/inventory software. Inexpensive PCs running XP. No problems, no reboots, Windows worked well in that iteration.

 

I will say this. I'm not purchasing software through the Apple 'App Store' anymore. Stephen Booth has had trouble with the App Store trying to get approval for a newer version of his music player Decibel. I repurchased Decibel from his site (originally purchased from the App Store) so I could update it without any hassle.

 

Further, I deleted the version of Fidelia I bought on the App Store. I wanted to use Fidelia Advanced, and that is an upgrade that can't be done with the 'Fidelia' bought in the App Store. So for these reasons, and other issues I'm having with the App store, I'm only buying software directly from the developer's website.

 

I'm really enjoying Fidelia Advanced right now.

 

Dave

Posted on: 16 June 2011 by Guido Fawkes

Alas I can run neither Fidelia Advanced nor Decibel on my Apple Music Server as it uses ancient G5 processors - what do these products bring that humble iTunes cannot deliver - I have tried alternative less advanced players, but have always gone back to iTunes. The use of the MF V-Link rather than optical out was a revelation, but the alternative players I tried didn't seem to do much.

 

However, as Fidelia Advanced and Decibel require Snow Leopard and I can only manage as far as a Leopard of the standard variety I cannot try these. I cannot in my mind understand how software can improve a bit perfect stream, but not having heard them I don't really know. So interested what options I'd get if I did find a way to use them.

 

Perhaps Do different renders matter? is worth a thread 

 

In the meantime The Guess Who's Wheatfield Soul sounds pretty good through the AMS/V-Link/UQ

 

All the best, Guy

Posted on: 16 June 2011 by garyi
Pev minis  do have hdmi, and a simple adaptor at a fiver will also convert the mini display port to hdmi and also carry audio, meaning a mini can have two hdmi outputs.

Research before spoating.

Must say i like how win 8 is shaping up.
Posted on: 16 June 2011 by u6213129461734706

A piece of advice I found on Computer Audiophile. 

 

I had turned off indexing for Spotlight on my Mac, supposedly it's better 'sound-wise' in terms of the CPU and some of the music players. But I had problems updating software purchased on the App Store. Turned on indexing tonight and my 'other' (updating) problems with the App Store are now resolved. Which wasn't Apple's fault. They have been trying to help me with my updating issues, to their credit.

 

The thing is, hog mode is supposed to be desirable for a software music player, and Fidelia Advanced provides this and customization of the output sample rate conversion and dither. Fidelia says on their site that "the Mac App Store version of Fidelia is a separate version which does not include the Fidelia Advanced features, and there is no way to upgrade the Mac App Store version to include Fidelia Advanced". So I guess I should have researched all of this more, and then I wouldn't have purchased Fidelia on the App Store.

 

Has anyone else heard of this type of situation with software purchased from the App Store versus from the developer?

 

I'm a little apprehensive now, and out of caution, may only buy from the developer. In the situation with Stephen Booth's 'Decibel', Stephen gave a workaround for updating to the newest version of his software while awaiting Apple's approval of the new version for the App Store. I don't know what the status of this situation is at this point.

 

Dave

Posted on: 17 June 2011 by sheffieldgraham
Originally Posted by The Hawk:

A piece of advice I found on Computer Audiophile. 

 

I had turned off indexing for Spotlight on my Mac, supposedly it's better 'sound-wise' in terms of the CPU and some of the music players. But I had problems updating software purchased on the App Store. Turned on indexing tonight and my 'other' (updating) problems with the App Store are now resolved. Which wasn't Apple's fault. They have been trying to help me with my updating issues, to their credit.

 

The thing is, hog mode is supposed to be desirable for a software music player, and Fidelia Advanced provides this and customization of the output sample rate conversion and dither. Fidelia says on their site that "the Mac App Store version of Fidelia is a separate version which does not include the Fidelia Advanced features, and there is no way to upgrade the Mac App Store version to include Fidelia Advanced". So I guess I should have researched all of this more, and then I wouldn't have purchased Fidelia on the App Store.

 

Has anyone else heard of this type of situation with software purchased from the App Store versus from the developer?

 

I'm a little apprehensive now, and out of caution, may only buy from the developer. In the situation with Stephen Booth's 'Decibel', Stephen gave a workaround for updating to the newest version of his software while awaiting Apple's approval of the new version for the App Store. I don't know what the status of this situation is at this point.

 

Dave

Dave,

             Sorry to hear of your problem with Fidelia purchased on the App. store.

I did post a word of warning about this in April.

 

https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...ply=4804681822991799#4804681822991799

 

Hence I purchased Fidelia direct from Audiophile Engineering. However I purchased the remote App. from the Apple App. store. I don't think it can be purchased any other way, it being a i-Touch/Phone app.

Posted on: 17 June 2011 by u6213129461734706

I think at the time, all I understood from your comments was that one was updated from the developer, the other through the App Store. I should have researched it more.

 

The iPhone app is great!

 

Dave

Posted on: 17 June 2011 by Pev

"Pev minis  do have hdmi, and a simple adaptor at a fiver will also convert the mini display port to hdmi and also carry audio, meaning a mini can have two hdmi outputs.

Research before spoating".

 

It didn't have one a year ago when I was looking for a media pc...