[Bob in St. Louis]

Bob,
Are you using the internal DAC to the PC, or an external DAC?

Thanks HAL.
I'm using the optical out of the PC to an external DAC.

I've got MediaMonkey. I should try it I suppose, although I bought the JRiver because it was supposed to be better, bla..bla..bla.... Plus, the remote Android app was suppose to be the next best thing to sliced bread, bla...bla...

Bob

[JEaton]

Reading this thread, I wonder why many of you guys don't just go back to spinning CDs. What is it you hope to gain from a PC based audio source?

[Bob in St. Louis]

Because I can click [random Blues] and it'll jump from John Lee hooker, to Buddy Guy, to _________ all day long, and in multiple rooms of the house with the same remote. If I'm not in the mood for Albert King, I push 'next' and I get the next guy in the line up.

[JLM]

Reading this thread, I wonder why many of you guys don't just go back to spinning CDs. What is it you hope to gain from a PC based audio source?

Exactly why I got out of the water and haven't been back in 5 years.  However with all the promise (and slickness when it does work) I'm struggling with why I should drop $500 or so on another CDP.

[HAL]

Some computers with optical output have limitations as to what sample rates and bit depths they support.  Some will not support WASAPI, so depends on the motherboard or sound card.  This is probably why you are having issues.  This would be worth checking if you do not have the info.  If this is the case, using MS Direct Sound with the player maybe the only option.   

If the DAC has a coaxial S/PDIF input an option that has worked very well is the M2Tech HiFace USB to S/PDIF coaxial/BNC adaptor.  This works with the MS Windows Vista/7 WASAPI interface up to 24bit/192KHz and sounds excellent.  There is a newer version out called the HiFace2 which is supposed to be an improvement.  I now use the M2Tech HiFace Evo with my MS-1 setup with excellent results.

I continue to be impressed with how much better this setup sounds than my CD player and universal disc transports.     

[Chromisdesigns]

Reading this thread, I wonder why many of you guys don't just go back to spinning CDs. What is it you hope to gain from a PC based audio source?

Better sound than my old CDP, which needed replacing when I got the SB Touch, my whole collection fits on an external drive the size of a paperback book, instead of a wall-sized rack, or several shelves full of binders, and I love being able to control it from the iPad while sitting on the sofa!

And, though I haven't done this yet, I could take a pocket-sized 1 TB backup drive with me, use a small dac/headphone amp, and have all my music with me on trips.

[Bob in St. Louis]

HAL - Thank you very much for taking the time to type all that.
However, deciphering the odd language you speak will take me quite some time.
More than likely, history will repeat itself and after spending some time to figure out what you're talking about, I'll give up, pour a fresh drink, and listen to Pandora and call it a day.

Bob

[toddbagwell]

Reading this thread, I wonder why many of you guys don't just go back to spinning CDs. What is it you hope to gain from a PC based audio source?

Access.
I can find exactly what i want quickly, have it play following the current selection, and never need to get up to get something off the shelf.

Computers do have some problems that Cd'd don't, but i have a couple cds that were unplayable as cd, but with error-correction when ripping, are now accessible.

Just my opinion,
Todd

[HAL]

HAL - Thank you very much for taking the time to type all that.
However, deciphering the odd language you speak will take me quite some time.
More than likely, history will repeat itself and after spending some time to figure out what you're talking about, I'll give up, pour a fresh drink, and listen to Pandora and call it a day.

Bob

Bob,
Glad to help if I can.

If you want to PM me the info on your PC, maybe I can find some info to help.  Trying not to derail this thread to much.

[glynnw]

And besides high music quality I can, with 1 click, see the artist's info on Wikipedia.  Now when I find a song I like I can quickly find similar music.  Today,  while listening to The Fall by Gorillaz, I decided I needed their first album and ordered it on ebay for less than $5 .  I have learned more about bands' bios in the last year than in the prior 10 years.  And all while listening.  Now I want to instantly see lyrics, but it actually takes about 10 seconds to do that. What a pain.

If I thought I were sacrificing sound quality I might do it differently, but to my ears that is just not an issue.

[avta]

I've used all the versions of the Squeezebox and the last one, the Touch, is by far the best and easiest to use. For the money it's very hard to beat in my opinion. Before you give up completely on Logitech maybe you could borrow a Touch and try it for a while or find a dealer that will give you a trial before you buy.

[Chromisdesigns]

Might be a bit off topic, if so moderator please feel free to move it to the lab / DIY area, but I'm thinking a setup like this is in my future for travel, to take along all my music without messing with a laptop.  iPad doesn't work, for the obvious reasons, but lately we've been leaving the laptop home and using the iPad for most everything else.

http://www.squeezeplug.eu/wiki/index.php/SqueezePlug#Configure_SqueezePlug

Specifically, I'm thinking about doing it with a Raspberry PI, the above software, a small portable 1 TB drive, and a dac/headphone amp.  Maybe build everthing except the portable drive into a single enclosure with one power supply.  I can just image my media storage on the portable drive, and off we go!


Think along the lines of a "super iPod", but with FLAC and good dac and amp.

-----
Thinking on it some more, I won't need the squeezeplug softwar, just a music player for linux.  Duh...

[Nick B]

I've used all the versions of the Squeezebox and the last one, the Touch, is by far the best and easiest to use. For the money it's very hard to beat in my opinion. Before you give up completely on Logitech maybe you could borrow a Touch and try it for a while or find a dealer that will give you a trial before you buy.

I appreciate the suggestion, but I've had such a bad history with this device. I still can't get my ASUS laptop to connect with the Logitech site. I will consider it it though. I do have a great power supply already and I was looking for the Bolder site which I finally found. As Wayne is getting out of the mod business, I don't think it's a good idea to have him do any mods and I don't know of anyone else who does it> I haven't had any contact with Anthony Padilla for a long time. Also, I was hoping to upgrade the sound a bit and have no idea whether a modded Touch would sound appreciably better than my modded SB 2.

[MaxCast]

I have had a disc error with my sbox for over three months. So during this time i've been buying vinyl    I like PC based music for all the above reasons:  easy access, lyrics, band info, etc.  Eventually I'll work it out maybe with Hal or a Salk streamer.

[this_is_vv]

i am using a Linux MPD as transport which connects to my NAS server (using a wireless router as bridge  mode)which has all the music

NAS server cost was 350$ .....it has movies music pic with Raid Z configuration

PC(puppy Linux Mpd ) -> DAC->Amp->Speaker


the PC costed me 25$ from ebay...and cisco wireless router for 15$ which can be hacked to DDrt or tomato and work in bridge mode...

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=107923.msg1108974


http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pc-based/215731-pc-music-transport-25-a.html


more then happy with this setup....

V

[ngomez745]

I've never had issues with my Touch, its directly connected to my router for streaming only. I didn't want to mess with laptops,hard drives or any kind of special software.
I also have the partial analog mod from Wayne and it sounds great. I use MOG music service and Pandora when I just want to play music. My iPhone controls everything.

[Bob in St. Louis]

.......I was looking for the Bolder site which I finally found. As Wayne is getting out of the mod business, I don't think it's a good idea to have him do any mods and I don't know of anyone else who does it> .

That's a shame, he does a great job. I LOVE the sound of the SB3 he modded for me (which I may sell along with the stock Duet).
There's another fellow around here that does (did?) mods to Logitech devices. Look for Red Wine Audio (RWA).

Bob

[randytsuch]

Also, I was hoping to upgrade the sound a bit and have no idea whether a modded Touch would sound appreciably better than my modded SB 2.

I remember reading in places that a modded touch is better than a modded sb2.  May have been a post by Wayne, but I can't swear to it.

FYI, at some point, I changed from a diy modded sb2 to a diy modded duet, and the duet sounds better than the sb2.

Randy

[Wayne1]

As Wayne is getting out of the mod business, I don't think it's a good idea to have him do any mods

I'll still be around for at least the next six months. 

To my ears, the Touch is the best sounding of all the Squeeze devices. It is completely different from the SB2 or SB3. It is pretty much a small computer that acts as an interface between the Logitech Media Server program and your system.

Any problems that may come up can usually be tracked down to various programs on the main server that do not want to play nicely with the LMS program. If you just use the server for LMS, you shouldn't have any problems. Using the server computer to surf the web at the same time you are playing music might cause some difficulties. Without a doubt, some anti-virus programs cause problems for LMS.

For me, I haven't found anything else that works as smoothly and sounds as good as the Touch. My modded Touch sounds quite a bit better than my hyper modded SB3, which was an improvement of the modded SB2.

Good luck with your search.

[Bob in St. Louis]

I'll still be around for at least the next six months.  :

Where are you going Wayne?