Salkstream III ordered. Setup??

Saturn94 · « **on:** 9 Jun 2016, 11:32 pm »

I finally bit the bullet and ordered a Salkstream III. I expect to take delivery next week.

I'm trying to be prepared for a smooth setup process. For reference, computer stuff is not my forte (understatement...lol).

I currently have about 102 gigs of music on a laptop I'll need to transfer to the Salkstream. What's the best way to do this?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions and any tips that will help the setup process go smoothly.

Ern Dog · « **Reply #1 on:** 10 Jun 2016, 03:47 am »

I have about 550 gigs of music and it takes my rig about 18 hrs to transfer that into my Salk streamer gen 1. Maybe the gen 3 will be quicker with its beefed up processor. I only use WAV files.

It's as easy as saving a document into a file. I highlight the music files I want to transfer and drop it into the streamer file. Done.

I bought an external hard drive just for backing up the Salkstreamer: https://www.amazon.com/MiniPro-External-FireWire-Portable-Drive/dp/B00BPEL9SW/ref=sr_1_21?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1465530239&sr=1-21&refinements=p_89%3AOyen+Digital

Saturn94 · « **Reply #2 on:** 10 Jun 2016, 04:41 pm »

So from my computer to the Salkstream through my home network? Or would it be better to hook up a drive to the Salkstream and transfer vis USB?

Big Red Machine · « **Reply #3 on:** 10 Jun 2016, 04:59 pm »

I would go with the USB transfer and only bite off chunks at a time. Often if you grab the whole folder it really gets caught up in its shorts how to think its way through all that data.

PSB Guy · « **Reply #4 on:** 10 Jun 2016, 05:39 pm »

Quote from: Big Red Machine on 10 Jun 2016, 04:59 pm

I would go with the USB transfer and only bite off chunks at a time. Often if you grab the whole folder it really gets caught up in its shorts how to think its way through all that data.

I totally agree with this. I just recently tried to copy my 616 GB collection to a backup over the network and it said it would take about 16 hours. It choked half way though. Over the network is fine for ripping one CD at a time, but for large transfers, go with USB.

Cornelis

Carl V · « **Reply #5 on:** 10 Jun 2016, 06:23 pm »

***sigh***
lurking and wanting to make the jump.

How big are these 'chunks"?
how much hands on?
if the music is on external HD as FLAC
and separate NAS as WAV files how much brain power is required to
bring all this together?

Big Red Machine · « **Reply #6 on:** 10 Jun 2016, 06:52 pm »

Quote from: Carl V on 10 Jun 2016, 06:23 pm

***sigh***
lurking and wanting to make the jump.

How big are these 'chunks"?
how much hands on?
if the music is on external HD as FLAC
and separate NAS as WAV files how much brain power is required to
bring all this together?

Carl, the software will recognize your music file types, all you need to do is put them in a folder, typically labeled Music. Literally if you jammed 1000 files into that folder it would pick out the music and ignore the non-music, except for artwork tagged to the album. But don't purposely put extraneous docs into that folder as it is inefficient and you need a dedicated file space for tunes! I have 3x 5TB hard drives. One is connected and being used and two are back-ups. I rip to the active one and then plug the others in one by one via USB and copy all new files as they are added. I keep the back-ups in separate rooms and fire boxes.

Chunks: grab A thru D for instance and load that, then come back for E thru H, for instance. Drag and drop.

sounddog · « **Reply #7 on:** 10 Jun 2016, 08:06 pm »

Saturn 94, I got a SalkStream 2 a few months ago and I'm sure I'm no better with computers than you are. It was easy. I copied my laptop music files (all were flac) and then pasted them into the Salk. Once that was done I transferred the laptop files into a backup external HD. If you do run into problems, Jim is always great about walking you through a solution.

Saturn94 · « **Reply #8 on:** 10 Jun 2016, 10:09 pm »

Quote from: Big Red Machine on 10 Jun 2016, 04:59 pm

I would go with the USB transfer and only bite off chunks at a time. Often if you grab the whole folder it really gets caught up in its shorts how to think its way through all that data.

So would I just hook my laptop directly to the Salkstream via USB and transfer the files?

Saturn94 · « **Reply #9 on:** 10 Jun 2016, 10:17 pm »

Oh...forgot to ask.

I thought I had everything I needed ready for when the Salkstream arrives (probably Tuesday) and just realized I forgot to order an optical cable!

Can anyone recommend a good optical cable I might find locally (Target, Home Depot, Lowes, Best Buy, Ace Hardware, BJs Club)? Or maybe get an inexpensive "good enough" cable for now to get me started and replace with something better later?

I'd like to get it this weekend.

Thanks.

Big Red Machine · « **Reply #10 on:** 10 Jun 2016, 10:29 pm »

So you are not doing DSD then?

Big Red Machine · « **Reply #11 on:** 10 Jun 2016, 10:30 pm »

Quote from: Saturn94 on 10 Jun 2016, 10:09 pm

So would I just hook my laptop directly to the Salkstream via USB and transfer the files?

Maybe, but maybe not. YOu might have to put a medium in-between like using a usb drive to extract from one and then insert into the next.

Saturn94 · « **Reply #12 on:** 10 Jun 2016, 10:33 pm »

Quote from: Big Red Machine on 10 Jun 2016, 10:29 pm

So you are not doing DSD then?

No DSD.

Saturn94 · « **Reply #13 on:** 10 Jun 2016, 10:36 pm »

Quote from: Big Red Machine on 10 Jun 2016, 10:30 pm

Maybe, but maybe not. YOu might have to put a medium in-between like using a usb drive to extract from one and then insert into the next.

I do have a USB drive I use for backup. Would I just plug it into the Salkstream and transfer the files? Would I see both the player and the drive on a network connected computer (like my laptop) so I can drag files from the USB drive to the player?

jsalk · « **Reply #14 on:** 11 Jun 2016, 12:31 am »

You cannot connect your laptop directly to the StreamPlayer to transfer the files. The reason is that both units have to have IP addresses on your network and those can only be assigned by the router. So both have to be plugged into your router.

That said, if you have all of your music on a USB drive, you may want to have me log onto your system and transfer the files right from the USB drive connected to the StreamPlayer. Then, I can use rsync, a Linux app, to do the transfer. It is faster and more reliable. I sent you an email listing the name of the program I would use to log onto your system and take care of it for you. I can start things going and then let it do its job as it will take quite a bit of time. But in the end, you will get a good transfer.

- Jim

Saturn94 · « **Reply #15 on:** 11 Jun 2016, 12:43 am »

Quote from: jsalk on 11 Jun 2016, 12:31 am

You cannot connect your laptop directly to the StreamPlayer to transfer the files. The reason is that both units have to have IP addresses on your network and those can only be assigned by the router. So both have to be plugged into your router.

That said, if you have all of your music on a USB drive, you may want to have me log onto your system and transfer the files right from the USB drive connected to the StreamPlayer. Then, I can use rsync, a Linux app, to do the transfer. It is faster and more reliable. I sent you an email listing the name of the program I would use to log onto your system and take care of it for you. I can start things going and then let it do its job as it will take quite a bit of time. But in the end, you will get a good transfer.

- Jim

Thanks Jim. I got your email.

Saturn94 · « **Reply #16 on:** 16 Jun 2016, 05:11 pm »

My Salkstream III arrived earlier this week.

Bad news; it was DOA....power comes on briefly then shuts off after a few seconds. Jim talked me through checking out some things, but it still wouldn't work. So it's going back to be fixed.

Good news; I bought it from Salk and know that Jim and company will take good care of me.

Saturn94 · « **Reply #17 on:** 23 Jun 2016, 10:54 pm »

I got the fixed player back yesterday (turned out to be a bad power switch) and Jim helped me get it up and running with Roon (thanks Jim).

Now I can't seem to get AirPlay to work. I have the settings set in Roon per Jim's instructions, but I'm still not getting any sound. While I'm waiting for Jim's response to my email (I hate to call him for a 3rd time), does anyone have an idea why it's not working?

I can see the player selected on my iPad for AirPlay, and I can see the player selected when running Spotify, but still no sound.

jsalk · « **Reply #18 on:** 24 Jun 2016, 03:36 pm »

The solution to most issues is simple. In the case of Airplay, it is normally configured to output to the "default" audio device. This would normally be USB for most users. But since you are using a toslink connection, the Airplay configuration file needs to direct the output to the toslink output instead. Roon or mPad do not control the Airplay function. It is a separate app running at a lower level in Linux and it takes control of the audio output whenever called upon. So, in this case, we simply need to inform Airplay where to stream its output.

I just emailed a file you can copy to the StreamPlayer to implement this change. You should be set to go.

- Jim

Saturn94 · « **Reply #19 on:** 24 Jun 2016, 10:44 pm »

Thanks Jim. Got it and AirPlay is now working.