Bryston Music Server

John Casler · « **Reply #20 on:** 23 Jan 2009, 05:11 am »

For current BRYSTON owners with the MPS2 Power supply, a 3 box solution of:

1) Media Server/Processor/CD player/Burner
2) BDA-1 DAC
3) MPS-2 Power Supply
4) Local or other Hard Drive

And obviously a remote.

For less boxes, use the DA (DAC) option in the Server box (reduces boxes) and or even a smaller Power Supply (like the BP25) to reduce box count even further or if you don't have or want the MPS2

KeithA · « **Reply #21 on:** 23 Jan 2009, 12:28 pm »

Quote from: alexone on 23 Jan 2009, 02:08 am

hi, Phil!

you are using wave to store your audio on your WD hard disk, correct? if so, did you notice any dropouts while playing? that's what happens to my files from time to time. i am using wave too and my hdd is a toshiba 1000 gb.

al.

I'm using WAV for my music (about 1,200 CDs ripped to a 1 TB hard drive) and I've never noticed dropouts using the Squeezebox Duet.

Keith

alexone · « **Reply #22 on:** 23 Jan 2009, 09:02 pm »

Quote from: Phil A on 23 Jan 2009, 04:07 am

Al, I have stuff being recorded in the Zune software in Windows Media Audio (WMA) lossless. It makes it very easy to transfer to the Zune that way. I picked up my Western Digital HD media player (very small - perhaps 3.5x5 inches I'd guess with 2 USB inputs, an HDMI out, a composite video out, analog audio out and a toslink out) tonight I had the rain check on for $99.99 and it may be a few weeks before I get to really play with it (getting whatever music I want in the meantime on the hard drive (it's a 500G Western Digital I picked up at Target a few weeks back for $77.77 - the My Book series). I've actually only played part of a few songs on the hard drive. I've have not played stuff on the computer much but have not noticed any drop-outs with WMA lossless. I also threw a couple of digital movie copies that came with Blu-Ray discs on the hard drive.

With the digital movie copies I had, I figured I'd rather have them on a portable drive and I also thought it would be convenient to store my Zune library and when I saw the reasonable hard drive and the media player device I figured its worthwhile as an introduction. Once I get all the music I want on the hard drive, I may keep in in the main system which interconnects to the bedroom system on the other side of the wall and the bedroom system feeds multiple places via a speaker switcher.

ok, Phil. thank you.

al.

alexone · « **Reply #23 on:** 23 Jan 2009, 09:05 pm »

Quote from: KeithA on 23 Jan 2009, 12:28 pm

Quote from: alexone on 23 Jan 2009, 02:08 am

hi, Phil!

you are using wave to store your audio on your WD hard disk, correct? if so, did you notice any dropouts while playing? that's what happens to my files from time to time. i am using wave too and my hdd is a toshiba 1000 gb.

al.

I'm using WAV for my music (about 1,200 CDs ripped to a 1 TB hard drive) and I've never noticed dropouts using the Squeezebox Duet.

Keith

Keith,

i am using WAV as well and i do have droputs sometimes. but where does it come from?

al.

niels · « **Reply #24 on:** 24 Jan 2009, 12:45 am »

Do you stream it via cable?
I have Apple Lossless, wav and flac, pluss some hi-rez 24/96, never experienced any dropouts of any kind, and I use wireless!

alexone · « **Reply #25 on:** 24 Jan 2009, 08:35 am »

Niels,

yes- via USB cable from the hdd to the laptop and then via USB from the laptop to the BDA-1.

hmmm.........it may be the hdd or the laptop?!

al.

niels · « **Reply #26 on:** 26 Jan 2009, 07:54 pm »

I am not sure alexone....

But, John made an impressive "want" list for a music server, but I think its essential a server will have a plugin for room correction.
Examples :
http://www.juicehifi.com/index.html You can make curves in this, and then load them into http://inguzaudio.com/RoomCorrection/ for example.
You can stuff a server with all kinds of "audiophile" ideas but room correction is essential and the first thing one should think about. How many is running a system with +-10 db still thinking it sounds gorgeus? Why pay for +-1db specs in speakers then?
Basic stereo is ready for an transparent upgrade......
I do not have surround, and my Inguz room correction only works with SqueezeCenter, which in turn only works with the music I play from the computer. If I added a Pioneer surround receiver to my system I could use that as a preamp and could get room correction for all my sources, satellite tv, internet radio, the works. I have to say its tempting, so, maybe Bryston in the future should consider room correction in their integrated-and preamps? Well, maybe thats over the top, but.....

Sasha · « **Reply #27 on:** 26 Jan 2009, 10:08 pm »

Quote from: alexone on 24 Jan 2009, 08:35 am

Niels,

yes- via USB cable from the hdd to the laptop and then via USB from the laptop to the BDA-1.

hmmm.........it may be the hdd or the laptop?!

al.

Your problem is most likely related to the usage of USB for both the transfer of data from the disk to the notebook and from the notebook to your DAC.
If you want decent transport feeding your DAC, drop all the ideas that involve USB, wireless, and all those computer gizmos, get purposely built dedicated PC with professional sound card and feed your DAC low jitter signal as it should be done.

alexone · « **Reply #28 on:** 27 Jan 2009, 12:51 pm »

Sasha,

yes i was thinking about a PC but i don't have that much space left that would be necessary. i don't mind of having a bit more equipment in my living room but everything should have its place- that's the way i like it. i hate it when things look overcrowded. so the laptop was a kind of 'gentleman agreement'. a professional sound card would be a good solution for sure- you are right.

i just changed the USB cable in the meantime and..........no dropouts so far (funny, hey?!). well, i will watch it

al.

auee1977 · « **Reply #29 on:** 28 Jan 2009, 01:59 pm »

To me the greatest, of many, defects in music servers manufactured as stand alone units, such as those from Olive, Cambridge, etc. is that after ripping there is no way to back up the files to another hard drive and then reinstall the files from the back up when the main drive fails. Hard drives break and fail all of the time. This is a foreseeable event which must be taken into account. It makes absolutely no sense for a consumer to spend countless hours ripping their music collections to a device, and have the hard drive fail with no back up. What a waste of time and energy. Second, many of us have used Apple's proprietary iTunes software to rip music. I have done so with apple lossless. Mr. Tanner's idea to provide for apple lossless ripping, file organization with iTunes and apple lossless playback is a great one. Third, hard drive space must be expandable and the drives preferably hot swappable.

niels · « **Reply #30 on:** 28 Jan 2009, 05:01 pm »

Well, most dont use music servers, they use a NAS, and normally you have your ITunes Library on your computer, and this you can export to wherever you want, and still retain the backup on your computer. A separate portable harddisk can also be used for backup.
If you have a NAS its wise to use mirrored, or better, arrangements.
But I follow your concern....

James Tanner · « **Reply #31 on:** 29 Jan 2009, 07:03 pm »

Interesting comment:

It is also important to provide some sort of isolation between the RFI noise of the computer and the audio system. But don't be fooled—wireless is NOT the way to do it. Wi-Fi adds an RFI generator right in your house. The RFI gets on all of the AC lines in the walls; all interconnects and speaker cables, your power cords, everything. Unplug all of the Wi-Fi from the AC power to make sure it is really "off" and your stereo will sound better. You can get your house wired for Ethernet for a few hundred bucks. It's kind of like adding a dedicated AC outlet. Then you can ditch the RFI broadcasting station that's in most houses running 24/7.

You will probably also want to know that Wi-Fi operates at exactly the same frequency as a microwave oven. There are possibly going to be some long-term health issues related to turning your home into a low-level microwave oven that is always on.

Jon L · « **Reply #32 on:** 29 Jan 2009, 07:37 pm »

Good old Charles Hansen of Ayre

He's been saying that same thing for years, and while he's technically correct, whether WiFi makes any audible difference to a given person in a given system/home is highly debatable.

For example, I have done A-B testing with my WiFi plugged and unplugged in the past; and just now, I did some more A-B testing since this post. If you do this enough times, it *is* possble to think you hear significant differences. I did myself a few times, but this effect is not consistent and can vary. In fact, a few times, I thought the sound was actually BETTER with WiFi aa

Then I tried listening to one track over and over without changing anything else. If you do this enough times, the same track *can* seem to sound different even though nothing has been changed. Sure, this effect is small, but so is the difference I *thought* I heard with WiFi on and off...

All I can say is, everyone should try this themselves and decide for themselves in their own systems. Who knows? Maybe some people will hear big enough differences consistently to get rid of WiFi.

I do congratulate Charles for his upcoming USB DAC. Licensing the Asynch USB from Gordon Rankin was a very smart move, and I'm sure his DAC will sound great. Can't wait to hear one. Charles does advocate that hardwired Ethernet DAC's would be much preferable to WiFi, and I do wish Bryston would make a DAC of BDA-1's caliber with ethernet input

niels · « **Reply #33 on:** 29 Jan 2009, 10:24 pm »

I seriously doubt this. What do I tell all my neighbors then?

Phil A · « **Reply #34 on:** 29 Jan 2009, 11:12 pm »

Quote from: James Tanner on 29 Jan 2009, 07:03 pm

Interesting comment:

It is also important to provide some sort of isolation between the RFI noise of the computer and the audio system. But don't be fooled—wireless is NOT the way to do it. Wi-Fi adds an RFI generator right in your house. The RFI gets on all of the AC lines in the walls; all interconnects and speaker cables, your power cords, everything. Unplug all of the Wi-Fi from the AC power to make sure it is really "off" and your stereo will sound better. You can get your house wired for Ethernet for a few hundred bucks. It's kind of like adding a dedicated AC outlet. Then you can ditch the RFI broadcasting station that's in most houses running 24/7.

You will probably also want to know that Wi-Fi operates at exactly the same frequency as a microwave oven. There are possibly going to be some long-term health issues related to turning your home into a low-level microwave oven that is always on.

I concur. I recently moved an older PC upstairs to the loft. I had it pre-wired when the house was built in 1997. The jack didn't work (must have been cut somewhere). I ran the wires from the main PC on the first floor down to the basement before I finished the basement. I have wired going all over. I took out the video I did when the house was being built to figure out how to get a wire from the loft upstairs to the basement level and got a cable to the network switch in the basement which goes into the PS3 down there and then routed back up to the main system, which also backs to the bedroom system on the 1st floor. I have a bunch of PS Audio Noise Harvesters and you can see an audio difference besides hear it. I had them over a friend's place that has Wi-Fi. The amount of problems won't be something that is constant and won't be heard every single time but they will be there.

konut · « **Reply #35 on:** 29 Jan 2009, 11:26 pm »

Quote from: Jon L on 29 Jan 2009, 07:37 pm

Charles does advocate that hardwired Ethernet DAC's would be much preferable to WiFi, and I do wish Bryston would make a DAC of BDA-1's caliber with ethernet input

This would be my preference as well. It would seem to mitigate the jitter problem with SPDIF.

NewBuyer · « **Reply #36 on:** 29 Jan 2009, 11:52 pm »

Quote from: James Tanner on 29 Jan 2009, 07:03 pm

Interesting comment:

It is also important to provide some sort of isolation between the RFI noise of the computer and the audio system. But don't be fooled—wireless is NOT the way to do it. Wi-Fi adds an RFI generator right in your house. The RFI gets on all of the AC lines in the walls; all interconnects and speaker cables, your power cords, everything. Unplug all of the Wi-Fi from the AC power to make sure it is really "off" and your stereo will sound better. You can get your house wired for Ethernet for a few hundred bucks. It's kind of like adding a dedicated AC outlet. Then you can ditch the RFI broadcasting station that's in most houses running 24/7.

You will probably also want to know that Wi-Fi operates at exactly the same frequency as a microwave oven. There are possibly going to be some long-term health issues related to turning your home into a low-level microwave oven that is always on.

James - Absolutely, completely agree with everything you just posted there. Most manufacturers and their partners are unwilling to ever mention any of this - either out of ignorance or current/future liability concerns. Thank you very much for posting this comment, including the last sentence it contains.

niels · « **Reply #37 on:** 30 Jan 2009, 10:00 pm »

I have owned the (highly debated if they work actually..) Noise Harvester, and frankly, the only time that the little light would shut up was when I didnt use any dimmers in the house....I heard no differense with the Harvester, not even with tube driven electrostatic headphones.

James Tanner · « **Reply #38 on:** 30 Jan 2009, 11:30 pm »

Quote from: niels on 30 Jan 2009, 10:00 pm

I have owned the (highly debated if they work actually..) Noise Harvester, and frankly, the only time that the little light would shut up was when I didnt use any dimmers in the house....I heard no differense with the Harvester, not even with tube driven electrostatic headphones.

Hi Niel

What's a Noise Harvester?

james

NewBuyer · « **Reply #39 on:** 30 Jan 2009, 11:55 pm »

Quote from: James Tanner on 30 Jan 2009, 11:30 pm

Hi Niel

What's a Noise Harvester?

james

I'm not Niel, but a Noise Harvester is one of these little PS Audio gizmos.

I've never tried them...