Manic Moose (S2) - BDP's third major firmware release

James Tanner · « **Reply #1840 on:** 29 Jun 2016, 12:49 pm »

Quote from: Marius on 29 Jun 2016, 12:39 pm

Great, and please do.
MM might be not as visually attractive, but there's nothing as clean and quick as browsing one's library by folder. Not to mention playing with one click. MM shines in that.

Cheers,
Marius

Hi Folks,

Yes I think Roon and MM are different enough that some will prefer MM and some will prefer Roon or other 3rd party interfaces like MPAD and MPOD or Android based interfaces. Roon is much more Graphic based whereas MM is geared more towards Folder based operation.

Also I will be interested in customers opinion of the sound of MPD vs third party software.

james

docder · « **Reply #1841 on:** 29 Jun 2016, 07:50 pm »

I installed Roon last night and have been running it today to Roon Ready BDP-1. First impression was that Roon SQ was lighter, cleaner, clearer, more refined than MM MPD. But Roon kept dropping out and this evening I went back to MM. The MM SQ now seemed more revealing, a bigger sound field, more depth. Plus I prefer the simpler interface of MM, don't like all those little hearts in Roon, yuck. I know I am on a learning curve with Roon but I was struggling to get it to do what I wanted. I'll keep on trying but this evening I'm back with MM for its simple elegance [the grey version] and its big sounding reproduction of a certain singer songwriter doing his Sinatra thing in Kettering, Oh.

D

Grit · « **Reply #1842 on:** 29 Jun 2016, 08:00 pm »

I wish/hope a nice graphical/visual interface doesn't mean depreciated sound quality.

BSMSPEMBA · « **Reply #1843 on:** 30 Jun 2016, 02:53 am »

Quote from: unincognito on 23 Jun 2016, 03:48 pm

S2.26 2016-06-20
Changes to services, now only one playback service can be running at once (MPD, DLNA renderer, shairplay, Squeezelite or Squeezeslave)
When one is turned on, the others are turned off

Chris, may I inquire as to why this change was implemented? It is actually less user friendly.

I regularly switch back and forth between my playlists on my internal SSD (MPD) and using Shairplay when I want to stream from Amazon. Before this change, the BDP-2 would automatically play from either source with no problems at all. Now, I have to go into Services and enable the "input" I want to use. It feels like a "feature" was removed. Is it possible to undo this change?

Thank you

BSMSPEMBA · « **Reply #1844 on:** 30 Jun 2016, 03:07 am »

Quote from: BSMSPEMBA on 30 Jun 2016, 02:53 am

Chris, may I inquire as to why this change was implemented? It is actually less user friendly.

I regularly switch back and forth between my playlists on my internal SSD (MPD) and using Shairplay when I want to stream from Amazon. Before this change, the BDP-2 would automatically play from either source with no problems at all. Now, I have to go into Services and enable the "input" I want to use. It feels like a "feature" was removed. Is it possible to undo this change?

Thank you

Also, even when MPD is on, which forces Shairplay off, my Apple device (iPhone) shows the BDP-2 as an available AirPlay device for streaming. This confuses the issue as an end user, because it makes me think that I should be able to stream to the BDP-2, but there is no sound due to Shairplay having been forced off and not automatically turning itself back on, like it used to do in the past.

Thank you

Krutsch · « **Reply #1845 on:** 30 Jun 2016, 10:10 am »

Quote from: Grit on 29 Jun 2016, 08:00 pm

I wish/hope a nice graphical/visual interface doesn't mean depreciated sound quality.

I am going to put some real time into this, over the next 2 weeks. So far, nothing I've listened to in my system can quite match the BDP-1 with MPD playback.

Grit · « **Reply #1846 on:** 30 Jun 2016, 04:34 pm »

Quote from: James Tanner on 29 Jun 2016, 12:49 pm

Hi Folks,

Yes I think Roon and MM are different enough that some will prefer MM and some will prefer Roon or other 3rd party interfaces like MPAD and MPOD or Android based interfaces. Roon is much more Graphic based whereas MM is geared more towards Folder based operation.

Also I will be interested in customers opinion of the sound of MPD vs third party software.

james

Finally got Roon up and running (BDP-2 to BDA-2 to SP3 via AES/EBU). The only difference was that I compared files on the server to files stored on an SSD locally on the BDP2. The files are identical, just stored in different locations.

I only listen for 20 minutes or so comparing Roon to MM. My initial thoughts were that roon sounded flat, less dimensional, and less engaging. I hope I'm wrong. I have very high hopes for a GUI for the BDP2.

I plan to listen more tonight and to form a more definitive opinion.

Rod_S · « **Reply #1847 on:** 30 Jun 2016, 05:10 pm »

Are any of you using your Artist and Artist Album tags differently to achieve a particular sorting/identification behavior? I've just started re-ripping all of my CD's to lossless uncompressed vs dbpoweramp's lossless compression level 5 which I choose initially and was wondering how I might be able to use these tags differently. During my initial ripping I set both of these to be the same which has caused issues for sure in Artist view when it comes to my soundtrack albums which feature tracks from differing artists. This always causes those albums to be split apart so if I want to listen to all songs from the album I have to access it via Default view in order to get at the folder so all songs get loaded at once rather than me bouncing all of the place in Artist view from artist to artist trying to piece the album together.

Grit · « **Reply #1848 on:** 30 Jun 2016, 08:43 pm »

Are you noticing an audible difference from the compression, or is it just for peace of mind? Just curious because I considered the same thing but never had the time to test it

Rod_S · « **Reply #1849 on:** 30 Jun 2016, 08:48 pm »

Quote from: Grit on 30 Jun 2016, 08:43 pm

Are you noticing an audible difference from the compression, or is it just for peace of mind? Just curious because I considered the same thing but never had the time to test it

Just for peace of mind more than anything at this point. Initially when I started the ripping process I only had a single 6TB drive in my NAS and had no idea how much space it wasn going to take to rip my entire collection so I went on the space conservative side with dbpoweramps default. Now that I have 3 6TB drives space isn't an issue so I'm re-ripping everything.

vonnie123 · « **Reply #1850 on:** 1 Jul 2016, 08:02 am »

@ unincognito (Chris).

My BDP-1 from day one has lost its display screen after a couple of hours of use. Subsequent to the S 2.28 firmware update, this issue has been corrected. All controls work correctly, and the screen displays the active track and artist. Up to about 16 hours use on Roon Ready, everything works great...

Anonamemouse · « **Reply #1851 on:** 1 Jul 2016, 09:57 am »

Quote from: Rod_S on 30 Jun 2016, 05:10 pm

Are any of you using your Artist and Artist Album tags differently to achieve a particular sorting/identification behavior? I've just started re-ripping all of my CD's to lossless uncompressed vs dbpoweramp's lossless compression level 5 which I choose initially and was wondering how I might be able to use these tags differently. During my initial ripping I set both of these to be the same which has caused issues for sure in Artist view when it comes to my soundtrack albums which feature tracks from differing artists. This always causes those albums to be split apart so if I want to listen to all songs from the album I have to access it via Default view in order to get at the folder so all songs get loaded at once rather than me bouncing all of the place in Artist view from artist to artist trying to piece the album together.

In what format are you ripping? Flac? Wav? Anything else?
DBPoweramp has Flac compression level 0, which basically means the uncompressed WAV file with a layer of tags around it.
Advantages: tags that actually are picked up, uncompressed WAV, low processor activity because the file doesn't need to be decompressed.
Disadvantage: large files.
I rip everyting in compression level 1 or 2. Considerably smaller files, no loss in sound whatsoever, still a smaller load on the processor.

About the tagging: there is a separate tag: "album artist". Fill this with the main artist under which you would like to see the album listed, and the entire album should show up under that name. Since I am not home right now I cannot tell you how to get there in DBPoweramp... I suggest you download Tag&Rename, by far the ultimate tagging tool.

Rod_S · « **Reply #1852 on:** 1 Jul 2016, 12:55 pm »

Quote from: Anonamemouse on 1 Jul 2016, 09:57 am

In what format are you ripping? Flac? Wav? Anything else?
DBPoweramp has Flac compression level 0, which basically means the uncompressed WAV file with a layer of tags around it.
Advantages: tags that actually are picked up, uncompressed WAV, low processor activity because the file doesn't need to be decompressed.
Disadvantage: large files.
I rip everyting in compression level 1 or 2. Considerably smaller files, no loss in sound whatsoever, still a smaller load on the processor.

About the tagging: there is a separate tag: "album artist". Fill this with the main artist under which you would like to see the album listed, and the entire album should show up under that name. Since I am not home right now I cannot tell you how to get there in DBPoweramp... I suggest you download Tag&Rename, by far the ultimate tagging tool.

Thanks

I'm ripping to FLAC using the Lossless Uncompressed option

Rod_S · « **Reply #1853 on:** 2 Jul 2016, 01:45 am »

I know there is weird behaviour associated with wav files due to tag issues but any idea why I'm not getting Disc 1 from a 2 disc set showing up in Artist View? Disc 2 is being picked up just fine. I also have another 2 disc set and neither of those albums are getting picked up. Very strange. Neither of these are albums (4 discs in total) I ripped myself, I got them from someone else.

Grit · « **Reply #1854 on:** 2 Jul 2016, 11:58 am »

Quote from: Grit on 30 Jun 2016, 04:34 pm

Finally got Roon up and running (BDP-2 to BDA-2 to SP3 via AES/EBU). The only difference was that I compared files on the server to files stored on an SSD locally on the BDP2. The files are identical, just stored in different locations.

I only listen for 20 minutes or so comparing Roon to MM. My initial thoughts were that roon sounded flat, less dimensional, and less engaging. I hope I'm wrong. I have very high hopes for a GUI for the BDP2.

I plan to listen more tonight and to form a more definitive opinion.

I was exhausted last night and only listened for a few minutes, this time over headphones on my BHA-1. I'm still hearing a difference between MPD and Roon, but im wondering if that difference is simply volume related?

Should the volume of music played via MPD be identical to music played via Roon?

Is anyone else noticing differences between the two? Perhaps it's something unique to my system/setup?

Krutsch · « **Reply #1855 on:** 2 Jul 2016, 02:28 pm »

Quote from: Grit on 2 Jul 2016, 11:58 am

I was exhausted last night and only listened for a few minutes, this time over headphones on my BHA-1. I'm still hearing a difference between MPD and Roon, but im wondering if that difference is simply volume related?

Should the volume of music played via MPD be identical to music played via Roon?

Is anyone else noticing differences between the two? Perhaps it's something unique to my system/setup?

In short: yes. I am also wondering if it's a volume issue.

I am running a BDP-1 w/ AES out into a Bel Canto DAC 2.5 into a Woo WA3 w/ headphones (Sennheiser HD-650, HD-700). I believe that MPD playback sounds cleaner, detailed, with more impact and I wonder if that simply means "louder".

I don't have a sound meter, but maybe someone can weigh-in on the question of loudness with MPD.

Marius · « **Reply #1856 on:** 3 Jul 2016, 10:51 am »

Quote from: Krutsch on 2 Jul 2016, 02:28 pm

In short: yes. I am also wondering if it's a volume issue.

I am running a BDP-1 w/ AES out into a Bel Canto DAC 2.5 into a Woo WA3 w/ headphones (Sennheiser HD-650, HD-700). I believe that MPD playback sounds cleaner, detailed, with more impact and I wonder if that simply means "louder".

I don't have a sound meter, but maybe someone can weigh-in on the question of loudness with MPD.

In my setup, the Roon stream sounds louder than MDP. I havent changed the volume slider and other options in Roon yet though. Maybe that could rule out the volume issue, and make comparing on other aspects than volume a bit easier.

Cheers,
Marius

James Tanner · « **Reply #1857 on:** 3 Jul 2016, 11:33 am »

Quote from: Marius on 3 Jul 2016, 10:51 am

In my setup, the Roon stream sounds louder than MDP. I havent changed the volume slider and other options in Roon yet though. Maybe that could rule out the volume issue, and make comparing on other aspects than volume a bit easier.

Cheers,
Marius

Also you can turn off the Volume control in Roon

james

Grit · « **Reply #1858 on:** 3 Jul 2016, 12:47 pm »

I believe I had it set to "maximum". Is that the same as disabling it?

I'll have to go back and spend some time configuring Roon. Are there any other recommended settings?

Rod_S · « **Reply #1859 on:** 16 Jul 2016, 06:46 pm »

For all you classical music guys out there, when you are ripping your discs how do you:

name the folder
name the track
tag the track (what are the typical important tags classical albums should have for proper classification and cataloging)

What confuses me is there is the musical piece i.e. song if you will (sometimes a disc actually has multiple pieces I have noticed), original composer, the conductor and then whatever orchestra and choir may be involved. Should all of this be captured somehow or do you typically disregard some of it.