Messages

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Questions / Re: Hi Res Flac (96 & 192 khz) will play a few seconds then goes to next in queue

« on: April 07, 2020, 01:13:21 PM »

Thanks for the information on the Roost dac and the usb settings. You are obviously more knowledgeable about these things than I am and people like you are one of the reasons I posted to this site. I received a lot of good info and perhaps I should try to educate myself a bit more about the gear I have so I can get the most out of it instead of buying extra gear.

As for your belief that audio files do not need to be of any higher resolution than standard cd quality; I can only say that I hope that is true because I have plenty of cds to rip instead of spending a small fortune buying hi res files from the various websites that sell them. Of course we must always take in to account how the music file was created, was it a copy of a copy or was it a high res copy of an analogue or high res digital master.

I can also add DR or dynamic range into the mix as I have some downloaded digital albums that tout improved dynamic range which is the counter to compression I believe. Anyway we are off topic with the exception of my thank you for the help above.

Oh yes and volume level does make a difference.

Stay safe!

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Questions / Re: Hi Res Flac (96 & 192 khz) will play a few seconds then goes to next in queue

« on: April 06, 2020, 07:04:47 PM »

Hi hiccup,

The usb 2.0 standard only support 96 khz 24 bit is my understanding and the Hagel Roost manual states that the usb maxes at 96 khz and you need to go coaxial or optical on the digital side from higher res sounds. I suppose I could buy another dac and use my analogue inputs as well.

As for the hi-res argument, I need to qualify that I am  unable to do much testing yet with the 192 khz files so I assume your question pertains to the difference between 96 khz and 44.1 and also 320 khz mp3 files.

I have had digital music ever since Napster was on the scene and I started with 120 khz mp3 initially, liked vbr mp3's for awhile and then 320 when they became available. I had a friend who liked digital music but was really an analogue guy (turn table) but used digital for his music player when walking etc.

He would ask if I could rip some of his cd's for him from time to time as he had a cd player as well and i used to do so in 320, stating that it was overkill at that. Then I started to get some flac and wav files in my collection and liked them better than the mp3's when it came to higher frequency reproduction. wav or high res flac are the same in my opinion in this regard. My friend asked about them one time when he noticed I had some. He is a digital skeptic and so I thought he would say they were a waste of space but he didn't, he asked if I could rip his cds in flac and I said that I could. THere is a difference if you have a system capable of reproducing hifi sound and you have flac files that come from a "good" source. Remember garbage in...garbage out applies here as well.

The flac will sound brighter (better high frequency replication). The higher bitrate flac  (96 khz) if taken from a good source i.e. (high analogue master or high res digital master) is slightly better again but the law diminishing returns applies to this as well as all other things audiophile. It is logical that the more you sample a source the greater the resolution, the better the high frequency reproduction. Can you hear it, the experts apparently say no, I bought my gear and my files and I say yes.

My testing is simple, I have copies of some good quality mp3, 44.1 cd rips and 96 khz (purchased online) files of the same song. I play each file to a chosen point and then switch to the next one. I can usually hear the difference in well recorded music that is worthy of hires recording. Kiss an angel good morning by Charlie Pride for example sounds great as an mp3, Pink Floyd maybe you might hear the difference on some of their music. Of course higher res does not mean you will enjoy the song more as I have found out. So in closing I have somne music I like to listen to on an analyitical level asit was written that way and other stuff is fine in 320 mp3 (Garth Brooks, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard all come to mind. Female vocals do improve with higher res though (Emmy lou Harris, Eva Cassidy etc.)

There you have it.....fire away if you will.

Stay safe ......

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Questions / Re: Hi Res Flac (96 & 192 khz) will play a few seconds then goes to next in queue

« on: April 04, 2020, 09:58:43 PM »

Thanks Vincent, you have given me some good options, and some I would never have thought of as possible remedies. What software do you use to analyze your audio files?
As for the higher resolution audio files, I would not expect them to contain more information in the higher frequencies but only that they would more closely replicate the analogue waveform that our ears are supposedly more used to. The other obvious thing would be that higher frequencies are harder to replicate accurately with low resolution sampling and my ears can hear the difference, on my system, with the higher res files appearing brighter, though not necessarily better (more musical). If they were well recorded/engineered then the black background is deeper and the higher frequencies appear to have a reverb or echo quality. Mark Knopfler's guitar chords on some of his better stuff is a pleasure to listen to in hi res as well as jazz and blues.
I should try to not be too long winded but I want to thank you and the others for their input. AND I think MusicBee is one heck of a great piece of software and I will continue to use it with great pleasure. I just have to improve my system a bit.

Stay healthy in these troubled times!

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Questions / Re: Hi Res Flac (96 & 192 khz) will play a few seconds then goes to next in queue

« on: April 04, 2020, 02:20:25 AM »

I am using a PC which has a usb 2.0 connection with my Hagel amp/dac. The issue is that the usb connection only supports a maximun of 96 khz-24 bit. The UPnP or DLNA connection supports the 192 khz files. I can look at purchasing another device that would either store the files internally or receive them via wifi and output to the Hagel via a coax or optical connection.
I could also run a hardwired ethernet cable to the Hagel but that would be a lot of work and a lot of cable. The issue I have learned is not with Musicbee but with the limitations of my setup. I will need to look at what will interface with the Hagel to allow me to play the large files without issue or lower my expectations and be happy with 96 khz files and lower. Trouble is I can hear a difference and I like it.

Thanks Vincent for your input as it was on the money for getting rid of any lag. Trouble is I am too spoiled and want the good stuff. lol

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Questions / Re: Hi Res Flac (96 & 192 khz) will play a few seconds then goes to next in queue

« on: April 03, 2020, 12:48:55 AM »

Thanks everyone for your input. I am using UPnP and I did have the plugin installed. I went back and did some more investigation and it appears that large file sizes tend to lag.
MusicBee appears to interpret these pauses as eof possibly or something else. I believe my issue is that I cannot stream 150 meg + flac files wirelessly with my setup. Perhaps there is software out there than can help the dac to convert the digital data stream more efficiently (Audirvana) I used to think that if I could stream 4 gig video then 150 meg audio should be a cinch but when you consider that a movie averages an hour at least and a song averages 5 to 10 minutes then I guess I have my answer. I love the software but will have to use another method to play my hi res files. Looked so easy at first - buy a good DAC/Amp and use a conputer as a server. I even bought a NAS so things would work more smoothly but as NigWills pointed out, he moved to a wired setup for his hi res and I believe I need to as well, for now. Any suggestions would be appreciated if there are workarounds.

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Questions / Re: Hi Res Flac (96 & 192 khz) will play a few seconds then goes to next in queue

« on: April 01, 2020, 11:32:42 PM »

I hope the above link works for you. But all you need in my opinion is any hi res flac to emulate what I have since I have this problem with all my files regardless of their origin.

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Questions / Re: Hi Res Flac (96 & 192 khz) will play a few seconds then goes to next in queue

« on: April 01, 2020, 11:30:13 PM »

http://gofile.me/58q45/PeSlVDbTp/music/Linda Ronstadt/Linda Ronstadt - Don't Cry Now (2014) [192 khz-24 bit]/04. Desperado.flac

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Questions / Re: Hi Res Flac (96 & 192 khz) will play a few seconds then goes to next in queue

« on: April 01, 2020, 11:13:03 PM »

I have music files on my home server and send them by wifi to a network switch which has an ethernet port wired to the back of my Hegel Roost amp. These files are hi res files I purchased online from various vendors. I tried all my hi res flacs of which i have hundreds and they all do the same. Different sources but same issue. Unless the issue is with how Misicbee appends album art and other tag info.

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Questions / Hi Res Flac (96 & 192 khz) will play a few seconds then goes to next in queue

« on: April 01, 2020, 07:09:17 PM »

Regular resolution flac files (44 khz - 16 bit) play fine but if I try to play anything of higher resolution it will only play a fewe seconds and move on to the next file in the queue. It will continue to do this to the end of the file list. This is with flac files that I am having the problem. Can anyone shed some light on what is causing this. I eventually can get a file to play if I repeatedly keep trying to get it to play.