Dead silent dedicated Linux music server for USB DAC's.

ted_b · « **Reply #540 on:** 15 May 2011, 04:05 pm »

I just purchase an Antelope Zodiac Gold DAC, capable of 24/384k. When I was successful running Alix earlier I was using a buddy's Antelope Zodiac Plus, capable of 24/192k. That DAC was set for what they called UH1 (UH2 unavailable on that DAC anyway). This Gold DAC was set for UH2, also called USB Class 2.0 audio, and plays 384k files on my Mac server....so I assumed this would work with Alix/MPD. Nope, it wasn't until a few minutes ago when I set it for the "lesser" UH1 did it successfully play music. Any ideas as to why their "USB Class 2.0 Audio" setup wouldn't work, and wouldn't therefore do greater than 24/192k via Linux? I always see the statement that Voyage MPD wants to see a USB Class 2.0 audio driver...well?

Alexdad54 · « **Reply #541 on:** 15 May 2011, 04:35 pm »

Doesn't it say Mac only for UH2 (as of Dec 2010)?

ted_b · « **Reply #542 on:** 15 May 2011, 04:37 pm »

Quote from: Alexdad54 on 15 May 2011, 04:35 pm

Doesn't it say OSX only for UH2 (as of Dec 2010)?

Yes, it does. That's my point! Throughout this thread and other Alix/MPD discussions we talk about USB Class 2.0 audio, yet this lists 24/192k as USB Class 1.0, and that USB Class 2.0, as defined by Antelope, doesn't work in Linux? Antelope is a big enough player in pro audio, etc that I'd have thought their definitions would be correct, but after doing some googling it seems that USB Class 1 only goes to 24/96k and 12Mbits and is more in line with Antelope's UF1. And that USB Class 2.0 is 480Mbits and supports ALL sample rates (yet I have confirmed that, in Linux, UH1 will not play 352k or 384k, nor will UH2 play at all). So I'm a bit confused.

nyc_paramedic · « **Reply #543 on:** 15 May 2011, 09:00 pm »

Quote from: ted_b on 15 May 2011, 04:05 pm

I just purchase an Antelope Zodiac Gold DAC, capable of 24/384k. When I was successful running Alix earlier I was using a buddy's Antelope Zodiac Plus, capable of 24/192k. That DAC was set for what they called UH1 (UH2 unavailable on that DAC anyway). This Gold DAC was set for UH2, also called USB Class 2.0 audio, and plays 384k files on my Mac server....so I assumed this would work with Alix/MPD. Nope, it wasn't until a few minutes ago when I set it for the "lesser" UH1 did it successfully play music. Any ideas as to why their "USB Class 2.0 Audio" setup wouldn't work, and wouldn't therefore do greater than 24/192k via Linux? I always see the statement that Voyage MPD wants to see a USB Class 2.0 audio driver...well?

Ted, any error messages? Can you try plughw instead of hw:xy?

ted_b · « **Reply #544 on:** 15 May 2011, 09:14 pm »

Nick,
I'll try that. Don't get me wrong, I get up to and including 24/192k fine via UH1. It's just weird that Antelope calls that mode (incorrectly) USB Class 1.0.

nyc_paramedic · « **Reply #545 on:** 15 May 2011, 09:22 pm »

Quote from: ted_b on 15 May 2011, 09:14 pm

Nick,
I'll try that. Don't get me wrong, I get up to and including 24/192k fine via UH1. It's just weird that Antelope calls that mode (incorrectly) USB Class 1.0.

Did you check /proc/asound and make sure you really are sending 24/192? Hope the DAC isn't just upsampling...

ted_b · « **Reply #546 on:** 15 May 2011, 09:35 pm »

Yes, and my DAC doesn't upsample.

I guess I haven't explained this well enough...my bad. I am NOT concerned about it sending true 24/192, it does....just wondering if:
1) Voyage MPD can do 24/384k like my Mac server does; and
2) Antelope Audio has in fact mislabeled their instructions (screen shot above) as it relates to USB classes 1.0 and 2.0. Seems that UF1 should be labeled as Class 1.0 and UH1 as Class 2.0...with UH2 being proprietary speed for MACs.

nyc_paramedic · « **Reply #547 on:** 16 May 2011, 12:57 am »

Quote from: ted_b on 15 May 2011, 09:35 pm

Yes, and my DAC doesn't upsample. I guess I haven't explained this well enough...my bad. I am NOT concerned about it sending true 24/192, it does....just wondering if:
1) Voyage MPD can do 24/384k like my Mac server does; and
2) Antelope Audio has in fact mislabeled their instructions (screen shot above) as it relates to USB classes 1.0 and 2.0. Seems that UF1 should be labeled as Class 1.0 and UH1 as Class 2.0...with UH2 being proprietary speed for MACs.

Outpur of aplay -l? What devices do you see when you run alsamizer in the console?

ted_b · « **Reply #548 on:** 16 May 2011, 01:20 am »

root@voyage:~# aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Gold [Zodiac Gold], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

I don't know what alsamizer (or alsamixer) is.

By the way, plughw did nothing different (i.e UH2 is still not working except for MAC). Is there any downside to leaving my config file with "plughw" instead of "hw" (I realize "plughw" pads 24 bit areas for earlier versions of OS; wasn't sure if it did any harm to our later versions that don't need it).

jrebman · « **Reply #549 on:** 16 May 2011, 01:34 am »

Nick,

Thanks for the confirmation on alac, and for pointing me to the bridging -- will look into that.

-- Jim

nyc_paramedic · « **Reply #550 on:** 16 May 2011, 01:40 am »

Quote from: ted_b on 16 May 2011, 01:20 am

root@voyage:~# aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Gold [Zodiac Gold], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

I don't know what alsamizer (or alsamixer) is.

By the way, plughw did nothing different (i.e UH2 is still not working except for MAC). Is there any downside to leaving my config file with "plughw" instead of "hw" (I realize "plughw" pads 24 bit areas for earlier versions of OS; wasn't sure if it did any harm to our later versions that don't need it).

Just run alsamixer command at the console. I'm curious to see if there is a USB mixer device in the DAC.

No harm in leaving plughw in your mpd.conf I suppose.

ted_b · « **Reply #551 on:** 16 May 2011, 01:44 am »

Card: Zodiac Gold F1: Help │
│ Chip: USB Mixer F2: System information │
│ View: F3: Playback F4: Capture F5: All F6: Select sound card │
│ Item: Esc: Exit │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ This sound device does not have any controls.

nyc_paramedic · « **Reply #552 on:** 16 May 2011, 01:46 am »

Quote from: ted_b on 16 May 2011, 01:44 am

Card: Zodiac Gold F1: Help │
│ Chip: USB Mixer F2: System information │
│ View: F3: Playback F4: Capture F5: All F6: Select sound card │
│ Item: Esc: Exit │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ This sound device does not have any controls.

Ok.

And, any dmesg errors when plugging the DAC in?

ted_b · « **Reply #553 on:** 16 May 2011, 01:55 am »

No error messages. I just think the Antelope manual has its USB modes labeled poorly. UH1 is fine, just doesn't do above 24/192. The Sonore "USB-capable DACs" database that Jesus has put together say the same thing; it lumps the Antelope Plus and Gold together as limited to 24/192 even though the Gold will do 24/384 on the MAC (with no installed/proprietary drivers)
http://www.sonore.us/Sonore-USB-Compatibility.html

nyc_paramedic · « **Reply #554 on:** 16 May 2011, 02:08 am »

Quote from: ted_b on 16 May 2011, 01:55 am

No error messages. I just think the Antelope manual has its USB modes labeled poorly. UH1 is fine, just doesn't do above 24/192. The Sonore "USB-capable DACs" database that Jesus has put together say the same thing; it lumps the Antelope Plus and Gold together as limited to 24/192 even though the Gold will do 24/384 on the MAC (with no installed/proprietary drivers)
http://www.sonore.us/Sonore-USB-Compatibility.html

And it won't even play 16/44.1 in the USB Class 2 mode? Anything in the mpd.log when you try to play music? What 384Khz file did you play on the Mac?

ted_b · « **Reply #555 on:** 16 May 2011, 02:27 am »

Nick,
UH2 will not play at all in MPD, only MAC. BUT...unlike the Antelope pdf page example I showed......I don't think it's proper to call UH2 a USB Class 2 mode. USB Class 2 includes anything above 24/96, and anything more than 12Mbits, so to me UH1 is actually USB Class 2 mode, and therefore we are fine. At least that's the conclusion I'm reaching.

By the way, I have several DSD (dff) files that I resampled at 24/384k and have several DXD files (24/352) that play fine through Pure Music and MAC....and show on the DAC as 352k and 384k. No biggie really, only demo files and stuff...just to show.

nyc_paramedic · « **Reply #556 on:** 16 May 2011, 02:35 am »

Quote from: ted_b on 16 May 2011, 02:27 am

Nick,
UH2 will not play at all in MPD, only MAC. BUT...unlike the Antelope pdf page example I showed......I don't think it's proper to call UH2 a USB Class 2 mode. USB Class 2 includes anything above 24/96, and anything more than 12Mbits, so to me UH1 is actually USB Class 2 mode, and therefore we are fine. At least that's the conclusion I'm reaching.

By the way, I have several DSD (dff) files that I resampled at 24/384k and have several DXD files (24/352) that play fine through Pure Music and MAC....and show on the DAC as 352k and 384k. No biggie really, only demo files and stuff...just to show.

You need to call up Antelope. I just looked through the manual and they make mention of a "custom" USB controller chip. Though, if it works without drivers in Mac it should work fine in Linux.

And nothing in the mpd.log when you play a file?

ted_b · « **Reply #557 on:** 16 May 2011, 02:57 am »

Here's some stuff from the end of my MPD.log file (huge file full of database updates, new album adds, etc).. I'm not sure of the chronology of what I was doing during these timestamps (playing 24/192 music fine with UH1, redbook fine with UH1, trying UH2, changing config file to plughw, trying again).

May 16 01:08 : player_thread: played "wav/Jimmy Cobb Quartet/Jazz in the Key of Blue (24-192)/06 - Jimmy Cobb Quartet - Jazz in the Key of Blue (24-192) - I Had the Craziest Dream.wav"
May 16 01:17 : player_thread: played "wav/Norah Jones/Feels Like Home/03 - Norah Jones - Feels Like Home - Those Sweet Words.wav"

May 16 01:17 : output: Failed to open "Zodiac Gold" [alsa]: Error opening ALSA device "hw:0,0" (snd_pcm_hw_params): Broken pipe
May 16 01:17 : output: Failed to open "Zodiac Gold" [alsa]: Error opening ALSA device "hw:0,0" (snd_pcm_hw_params): Broken pipe
May 16 01:18 : output: Failed to open "Zodiac Gold" [alsa]: Error opening ALSA device "hw:0,0" (snd_pcm_hw_params): Broken pipe
May 16 01:18 : output: Failed to open "Zodiac Gold" [alsa]: Error opening ALSA device "hw:0,0" (snd_pcm_hw_params): Broken pipe
May 16 01:18 : output: Failed to open "Zodiac Gold" [alsa]: Error opening ALSA device "hw:0,0" (snd_pcm_hw_params): Broken pipe
May 16 01:18 : output: Failed to open "Zodiac Gold" [alsa]: Error opening ALSA device "hw:0,0" (snd_pcm_hw_params): Broken pipe
no message buffer overruns
Jan 01 10:11 : config: option 'user_mmap' on line 187 was not recognized
May 16 01:30 : output: Failed to open "Zodiac Gold" [alsa]: Error opening ALSA device "plughw:0,0" (snd_pcm_hw_params): Broken pipe
May 16 01:30 : player_thread: problems opening audio device while playing "wav/Norah Jones/Feels Like Home/01 - Norah Jones - Feels Like Home - Sunrise.wav"
May 16 01:30 : output: Failed to open "Zodiac Gold" [alsa]: Error opening ALSA device "plughw:0,0" (snd_pcm_hw_params): Broken pipe
May 16 01:30 : player_thread: problems opening audio device while playing "wav/Norah Jones/Feels Like Home/02 - Norah Jones - Feels Like Home - What Am I To You.wav"
May 16 01:30 : output: Failed to open "Zodiac Gold" [alsa]: Error opening ALSA device "plughw:0,0" (snd_pcm_hw_params): Broken pipe
May 16 01:30 : output: Failed to open "Zodiac Gold" [alsa]: Error opening ALSA device "plughw:0,0" (snd_pcm_hw_params): Broken pipe
May 16 01:30 : output: Failed to open "Zodiac Gold" [alsa]: Error opening ALSA device "plughw:0,0" (snd_pcm_hw_params): Broken pipe
no message buffer overruns
Jan 01 10:47 : config: option 'user_mmap' on line 187 was not recognized

(The Jan 01 comments seem weird)

Eudyptes · « **Reply #558 on:** 16 May 2011, 09:24 am »

Why not just use aplay with your various hires files to help sort this out?

e.g.

aplay -v -D plughw:0,0 xxxx.wav or aplay -v -D hw:0,0 xxxx.wav

that at least should clarify what voaygae MDP/ALSA can handle with your DAC.

low_budget_listener · « **Reply #559 on:** 16 May 2011, 03:28 pm »

Hello all,

I just wanted to thank Nick for starting a great and informative thread, and everyone else for contributing. Only a few weeks ago I discovered VortexBox, which has been mentioned elsewhere in this thread. I recommend it highly as an extremely convenient way to rip and encode CD's. I run it in a virtual machine on my work computer, and every time the CD drawer opens, I swap discs and keep working as VortexBox does its thing. It is designed to be an all-in-one solution, and comes loaded with Squeeze Server and DAAP/iTunes, but I won't be using it as a music server. This thread has convinced me it won't be difficult at all to get better sound using the "do one thing and do it very well" approach, and everything about the silent mpd server appeals to me.

I'm cheating a little, which may in the end prove detrimental to the sound quality, but last night, instead of an Alix board, I bought an HP thin client. The board is cluttered with an integrated video chipset, and it has a ridiculous number of usb ports, but the Atom cpu should make it versatile, and it has a fair amount of memory. I'll load it with voyage and use it as an mpd server first. I'm also curious about the cics memory player approach, so I'll likely purpose the new box to that too, after I get a feel for how the Voyage/mpd configuration sounds. I may opt to get the Alix then, so I can do side-by-side comparisons. I may pick up a few more thin clients, too, depending on how this one fares in the shoot out. They go fairly cheap at auction, and I have friends and family who would love to have one.

Eventually, I'd like to migrate the same technology to my car. It's amazing how this opens up so many possibilities.

Well, to get back to the point of my post -- I don't think I'll have all that much difficulty getting the HP up and running Voyage/mpd, for which I'm grateful. Thanks to all of you, everything I need to know is easily found in these 28 (and growing) forum pages.