Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] 1000 Posts and Counting...

[dean]

And thank you so much for your great contribution to our community!

All the best,

-dean
(and the rest of your friends and Slim Devices and Logitech)


-- 
dean

dean's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2
View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=42900

___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Classical music and the SB3 buffer

[dean]

What file format are these files?  Where are they stored?  Also, do you
have multiple players synced?


-- 
dean

dean's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2
View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=35004

___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: IR problems on Transporter

[dean]

Sorry that the IR sensor isn't in the right place for you.  We did try
to place it with the widest visibility, but with all that display glass
there wasn't much flexibility.

The IR input jack is designed to connect directly to the IR output of a
repeater in place of one of the stick-on IR LEDs.  For example, the
output from a Harmony 890 RF receiver should be able to be plugged in
directly using an 1/8" to 1/8" cable.


-- 
dean

dean's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2
View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=29656

___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Fancy Transporter-style remotes to be available?

[dean]

The new remote is available for order on the accessories page on our web
site now:  https://secure.slimdevices.com/order/upgrades.cgi


-- 
dean

dean's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2
View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=27965

___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Transporter dimensions

[dean]

Yep, they are very close to exactly 17 inches wide.  The one I measured
was 17.015.


-- 
dean

dean's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2
View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=28547

___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: transporter -- who's got it?

[dean blackketter]

Me.  :)

Patrick posted this:  <http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php? 
t=27536>


We had a slight delay on some of the case parts, so we haven't  
shipped out any of the backordered units yet, but we expect the first  
units to go out in the next day or so.  The production team is  
building up as much as they can given the parts shortage, so as the  
parts come in, we'll finish them up, do final tests and ship them out  
as fast as we can.


All the best,

dean





___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] AIFF files don't play

[dean blackketter]

On Sep 13, 2006, at 7:12 AM, octavian wrote:
Why don't AIFF files play on the Squeezebox or Softsqueeze? I have  
them

selected in server settings.
They should.  What behavior are you seeing/hearing?  Are there any  
error messages displayed?


___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Stereophile review

[dean blackketter]

On Sep 5, 2006, at 8:13 PM, highdudgeon wrote:

Too bad the Transporter doens't have a tape or f/x loop -- that would
solve the issue.


Sean hopes to add this capability soon:




___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Transporter: to hell with cynicism, I'm getting one. Now, how to use it, Sean?

[dean blackketter]

On Sep 4, 2006, at 9:32 PM, inguz wrote:

Another question for the Slim folks:  what's the output impedance from
the transporter (balanced, and unbalanced)?


From :

Unbalanced: 100 ohm (at -0dB)
Balanced: 1k ohm


___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Transporter Hardware/Software Interface

[dean blackketter]

On Aug 14, 2006, at 2:30 PM, pc4ever1 wrote:

Aside from the audio electronics specifications that have continually
been discussed in the other Transporter message I was wondering if  
some
additional hardware/software information can be provided as it  
pertains

to usability.


1) Can the "Transnav" controller knob be used to initiate a MusicMagic
Mood mix

2) Can the "Transnav" controller knob be used to initiate a MusicMagic
mix, if so how. Does one press the knob inward until the action of
making a mix is received?

Or does the remote need to be used?

or do you need to make selections by using the front panel "Play"
button



3) Can you access Rhapsody via the "Transnav" knob?
The knob is used to scroll through lists, effectively replacing the  
up/down arrow buttons on the remote, but with tactile feedback.   
Press the knob to move right, press the BACK button to move left.   
The PLAY button on the front panel behaves the same as the PLAY  
button on the remote.  So you'd use the front panel controls in the  
same manner to do a MusicMagic mix.



4) Are the front panel buttons configurable? Meaning if I wanted to
change the "visual" button to act as the "favorites" functionality is
this possible?

This is possible by editing the Front_Panel.ir file in SlimServer.



5) Speaking of the "Visual" button is this used for changing the
screensavers?
Sort of.  The VISUAL button is used to rotate through different  
displays on the right display (VU meters, spectrum analyzer,  
additional text, etc...)



___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Slim Devices Transporter?

[dean blackketter]

On Jul 29, 2006, at 3:21 AM, TiredLegs wrote:

dean Wrote:

On Jul 26, 2006, at 8:49 AM, TiredLegs wrote:

Does the knob also act as a volume control?

Yes.  Press the VOLUME button on the front panel and turn the knob to
adjust volume.  After a couple of seconds of inactivity (or pressing
the VOLUME button again), the display will revert back to where you
were before.
-dean

Dean,
Thanks for your reply. However, as I mentioned in a later post,  
this is
exactly how I would NOT want it to work. I want volume control to  
be the
default mode for the knob, because I adjust volume much more  
frequently

than I select an album to listen to. (I suspect most other users would
do the same, at least those who will use the device as a preamp.)
Someone else suggested that the choice of behavior could be software
configurable, which would seem like the right solution.
This behavior is completely handled in software, so it wouldn't be  
hard to add an option to not have a timeout after pressing the VOLUME  
button, so you can use the button to switch the knob between being a  
volume and scroll knob.


The reason that we did not add a dedicated knob for volume control  
was because in many (most?) installations, folks will use their  
amplifier/preamp volume control.  Plus, the remote control has  
dedicated volume buttons.



___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Slim Devices Transporter?

[dean blackketter]

On Jul 26, 2006, at 8:49 AM, TiredLegs wrote:

Does the knob also act as a volume control?
Yes.  Press the VOLUME button on the front panel and turn the knob to  
adjust volume.  After a couple of seconds of inactivity (or pressing  
the VOLUME button again), the display will revert back to where you  
were before.


-dean
___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Transporter question for the CEO

[dean blackketter]

On Jul 25, 2006, at 2:06 PM, PhilNYC wrote:

Hey Sean...any story behind the name "Transporter"?  Hope you didn't
name it after that movie... ;-)


Actually, my wife came up with that one in a late night brainstorming  
session, just listing out words that have something to do with moving  
things around.


At the time she didn't know the the use of the word "transport" in  
the audio domain, but she IS a Star Trek fan.  (Picard & Janeway, not  
Kirk.)


Having an English major in the house is useful.  I think she knows  
all the words.

___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Slim Devices Transporter?

[dean blackketter]

On Jul 25, 2006, at 1:25 AM, Craig wrote:

Has anyone asked what the knob's for?


Essentially, turning the knob is equivalent to pressing the up and  
down arrows on the remote.  Pushing the knob is like pressing the  
right arrow, and the BACK button on the front panel is like pressing  
the left arrow button.


Now, with the ability to do force feedback, we can provide detents  
for each item in a list and have hard stops at the beginning and end  
of the list (and have those stops move based on how long the list  
is.)   We can also add larger and smaller detents based on groups  
(i.e. moving from items starting with A to items starting with B can  
have a heavier detent than items that all begin with the same  
letter), allow the user to push past the stop to wrap around, etc.


We've gotten basic navigation working well with the knob and haven't  
really explored all the possibilities of it and plan to tune the user  
interface in subsequent software updates.


It's a really cool bit of technology and I'm excited to see what  
clever things our open source community comes up with for it!


-dean

___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Best Hard Drive For Music Quality?

[dean blackketter]

On Jun 11, 2006, at 5:09 PM, ezkcdude wrote:
Just to put my comments in context. I work in a biology research  
lab as
a postdoc. We have a 7 TB (not a misprint) server (always online)  
in the
lab, and a ton of offline storage, as well. A typical experiment of  
mine

(time-lapse digital microscopy) takes up about 30 GB (again, not a
misprint) of storage. We have had many drives fail over the last  
couple
of years. You want to know what brand accounts for 100% of the  
failures?

It's not Seagate. I won't incriminate the guilty manufacturer.

Why?  That would be very useful information.

(My money's on Maxtor, that's the brand I've had the worst experience  
with.)



___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Nice review of the SB3 in UHF magazine

[dean blackketter]

On Jun 2, 2006, at 11:43 AM, krzys wrote:
I read the article in a store. They said that the Wi Fi password  
can be

recalled from SB in clear text using the remote. The password can then
be used to access the computer. Rare issue IMHO . I'm using wired SB
;-))
Well, that's the problem with print, it gets out of date pretty  
quickly.


That bug was fixed in the firmware that shipped with 6.2.2!


___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Announcement: DIY forum is active

[dean blackketter]

Dan's set up a new forum to discuss Do-It-Yourself projects: custom  
installs, modifications, upgrades, etc.


See you there!

___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: DIY Forum?

[dean blackketter]

I've asked Dan to set up a DIY forum and corresponding mail list.   
Stay tuned...

___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Power supply upgrade

[dean]

This thread has been unlocked at the request of some posters to allow
them to edit their posts.

Please do not make any new posts.  New posts will be removed and the
poster banned.

Thank you,

Dean


-- 
dean

dean's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2
View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=20844

___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: DIY Forum?

[dean blackketter]

On Apr 12, 2006, at 10:52 AM, occam wrote:
Prior to today, I would have thought a DIY forum was an excellent  
idea.

But Kevin Pearsall's, Customer Support Manager, action of today makes
me think it a foolish and wasteful idea. Kevin has seen fit to delete
the entire thread 'Power supply upgrade'.

That was a mistake.  The thread has been restored.

It remains locked to try to stem the flame war that was there.  The  
next step is to start banning folks who continue to make the  
environment unpleasant.



Personally, I'll confine my discussion of DIY efforts to boards where
the moderators are no so ham handed.
You have our apologies regarding the deletion.  It has been undone  
and we hope to have the DIY forum up soon.


___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] DIY Forum?

[dean blackketter]

I agree, this is a Squeezey idea!


On Apr 12, 2006, at 7:51 AM, ezkcdude wrote:



-- 
--

A poll associated with this post was created, to vote and see the
results, please visit http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php? 
t=22944
-- 
--

Question: Should there be a DIY Forum?

- Yes
- No
- Need to think about it some more
-- 
--


Am I the only one who would like a DIY forum here? I think it would be
Squeezey! Yeah, I just invented that word.


--
ezkcdude

SB3->Derek Shek TDA1543/CS8412 NOS DAC->MIT Terminator 2
interconnects->Endler Audio 24-step Attenuators (RCA-direct)- 
>Parasound

Halo A23 125W/ch amplifier->Speltz anti-cables->DIY 2-ways + Dayton
Titanic 10" subwoofer

He's not hi-fi, he's my stereo.
-- 
--
ezkcdude's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php? 
userid=2545

View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=22944

___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles


___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Power supply upgrade

[dean blackketter]

Due to the number of reported posts and complaints, we're locking  
this thread.


This is the first time we've had to do this on the forum, I hope it's  
the last.


Posters:  Please keep on topic and stop the personal attacks.  The  
next time we get into this situation, we'll be banning users, first  
temporarily, then permanently.



___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: upgrade digital output

[dean blackketter]

mauidan & highdudgeon:

Take your conversation off the public forum.

Thanks,

dean
___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Squeezebox Showroom

[dean blackketter]

Actually, we're having an "open house" in our suite for the next  
three nights (Jan 5, 6, 7) in the Monte Carlo Hotel in Las Vegas.


Feel free to stop on by room 31-202 from 3:30 to 6:30pm and say Hi!

-dean


___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Strange Distortion with FLAC files and SqueezeBox2 6.2.X

[dean blackketter]

There were some requests for additional information about your files.

Help us help you.  :)

On Dec 4, 2005, at 7:36 AM, agentsmith wrote:



radish Wrote:

It would be really useful if you could file a bug at
bugs.slimdevices.com, along with your observations and ideally an
example of a file (or the metaflac output from the file) which causes
problems. That will help ensure it gets fixed in the future.


I did open a bug report.  Not a lot of responses so far though

http://bugs.slimdevices.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2651


--  
agentsmith
-- 
--
agentsmith's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php? 
userid=1838

View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=18647

___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles


___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: 6.2.2 - Volume Bug Patch

[dean blackketter]

This one is the 6.2.2 nightly release with the fix in:





___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: 6.2.2 - Volume Bug Patch

[dean blackketter]

Tonight's 6.2.2 nightly build will have the patch included.

It does not require a firmware update, just install the new slimserver.

___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Volume bug - can you really hear it?

[dean blackketter]

Andrew,

I've checked in the patch for tonight's 6.5 nightly release.  Please  
test that and let us know what the performance is.


Thanks!

-dean
___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Squeezebox 2 - Subtle noise and distortion.

[dean blackketter]

On Nov 17, 2005, at 6:00 PM, AndyWright wrote:

Doesn't the iTunes normalization actually alter the data within the  
file
rather than just tagging it ?  If so, this could account for the  
drop in

quality.
I don't think so.  As far as I know it just saves a gain value that  
it uses later.


___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Squeezebox and Yahoo Music Subscription

[dean blackketter]

On Nov 15, 2005, at 5:44 PM, AV_Guy wrote:

For another they have a better remote.

I'd like to know why you think the Roku remote is better.

My experience was that my hand got cramped after just a few minutes  
of use of the thing, plus I found that the navigation user interface  
was quite unintuitive.



___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Sound Quality w/ Latest Firmware

[dean blackketter]

On Nov 14, 2005, at 1:34 PM, Patrick Dixon wrote:




Given that the Squeezebox has a 24 bit output, the rounding error
should be down at around at 138-144dB, not 90-96dB and I have a hard
time believing that the effect would be as obvious as you state at
that level.



This is simply incorrect - the rounding error is at the 16th bit of a
16-bit audio signal, therefore it is at -90/96dB.
The output audio signal is 24 bits.  The rounding error is at the  
least significant bit there.


The source material is 16 bits and when you scale that value it  
necessarily needs to be rounded to the output resolution.



It's not just that I like it better - it's also that it's 'correct' to
maintain the accuracy of the original digital data - in a similar way
as it's 'correct' not to sample rate convert 44.1KHz audio to 48KHz  
(as

some other manufacturers do).
It's a tradeoff between the accuracy of the gain control vs the  
rounding error at the 24th bit.



Even if you don't understand it and won't
take my word for it, the difference between the 'rounded' volume
multipliers and the unrounded volume multipliers is so slight that it
cannot possibly have a negative effect!

Yet they can have a positive effect?

I can believe that it does sound better in some cases because you  
would be rounding up the gain value.  The oldest trick in the stereo  
salesman's book is to turn up the volume to make something sound better.


I'm not trying to be difficult here, but I do want to understand this  
before we make a change.  Another proposal moved the 8 to 16 bit  
threshold from -35db to -30dB.  What's the right value for this?

___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Sound Quality w/ Latest Firmware

[dean blackketter]

I'm not entirely sure I understand the problem well enough to say  
that this patch is correct.


(I realize that there has been some listening tests done and you like  
it better, but I want to also make sure it's correct.)


Given that the Squeezebox has a 24 bit output, the rounding error  
should be down at around at 138-144dB, not 90-96dB and I have a hard  
time believing that the effect would be as obvious as you state at  
that level.



___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Sound Quality w/ Latest Firmware

[dean blackketter]

6.2.1 is likely to go out today, sorry it didn't make it.


___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: AAC in Wireless?

[dean blackketter]

You will need to have QuickTime installed on the PC in order to play  
AAC files, as SlimServer uses the AAC decoder built into QuickTime.


The easiest way to install QuickTime is to install iTunes, but I  
think that there may be a separate stand-alone installer available too.



On Oct 31, 2005, at 12:26 PM, ObjetDart wrote:



I'm having the exact same problem.  AAC files (.m4a files from iTunes,
no DRM of course) simply refuse to play on my SB2.  I can browse to  
the

file from the SB, select it, hit "Play"...the SB acts like it is going
to play it...but nothing ever happens.  Meanwhile, the SlimServer web
UI says the track is playing on the SB.  But it isn't.

I've read the FAQ entry about this... I understand the issues with
having to convert AAC to FLAC and how FLAC requires a lot of wireless
bandwidth to send.  I do not think that is the issue here, I'm running
11g and all wireless devies on the network easily get 1-1.5MB/sec
throughput.  It's like the files simply refuse to play, with no error
messages or anything.  Anyway, normal lossless FLAC files always play
fine on the same SB.

iTunes is *not* installed on the PC that is running the slimserver - I
assume this is not an issue.  Is it?

I tried searching the forums since I'm sure this has been discussed
before, but the search feature seems to be broken (searches for both
"aac" and "m4a" give no results, which seems a bit hard to believe!)


--
ObjetDart
___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles



___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Question for Sean

[dean blackketter]

On Oct 30, 2005, at 11:13 PM, Robin Bowes wrote:


dwc said the following on 31/10/2005 04:36:


Tyll Hertsens of Headroom touches on "skin effect" and other related
concepts in a nice posting on crossfeed:
'link to post at head-fi'
(http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1675900&postcount=30)



Actually, thinking about this a little further, if we could get  
hold of pretty much *anyone's* HRTF it would be possible to apply  
it digitally to the signal before streaming it to the SB. Or it  
might even be possible to do it in firmware? Dean?
I'd assume that the calculated filter would have a fairly large  
number of coefficients and while the CPU in SB2/3 is fast, it  
probably wouldn't be able to handle that much additional DSP.  Better  
to do it in the server.

___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Sound Quality w/ Latest Firmware

[dean blackketter]

On Oct 30, 2005, at 11:15 AM, Patrick Dixon wrote:

Dean, I don't think the Stereophile dither article you linked to is
quite analogous; it's refering to trunkating 24-bit sampled audio to
16-bits - so you still have a full 16-bits of actual 'real' data.   
With

the SB2 volume control situation however, the division process ('cos
that's what it actually is), is loosing the resolution of a 16-bit
sample at the lsbs.
Think of it as truncating 32 bit audio at 24 bits.  Same principles  
should apply, no?


___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Sound Quality w/ Latest Firmware

[dean blackketter]

On Oct 30, 2005, at 1:39 AM, Patrick Dixon wrote:





It's not clear that there is an issue at all. We'd need a
reproducible case.



There is definitely an issue, and it's easy to demonstrate/reproduce -
the only question is whether you can hear it or not!  I say I can, and
jhwilliams has done blind testing which indicates that he and his
girlfriend can too.  I have now reverted to Firmware 15, which I'm
happy with sound-wise.


Well, internally on the player, the old volume control and the new  
volume control both change the same gain coefficient.


The old-style is a 1.7 fixed-point encoding and the new one is a  
16.16.  So, depending on the value of the gain, you may find rounding  
errors, since the resultant value is truncated at 24-bits, but the  
trade off is that you can have much smaller volume increments.


I can't argue that you can't hear the difference (folly in this  
forum), but I do believe that it's mathematically correct and for the  
vast majority of users the new volume curve is a benefit.


p.s. I found this article on dither very interesting:  stereophile.com/features/705dither/>







The issue is that previously the volume control used an 8-bit
multiplier coefficient which meant that the full resolution of 16-bit
audio (which is of course what CDs are) was always retained within the
24-bit datapath of the SB2.  The new log volume control uses a 16x16
bit multiplier which means that rounding errors are 'always'
introduced, and these are unconcealed by the addition of any dither.
It's surprising to me too that I can hear these artifacts, but I think
it's the character of the noise (coupled with oversampling in the  
DAC?)

that makes it stand out.

Even with the addition of dither (which may well be useful for the
replay gain situation anyway), there is an audiophile arguement that
says you should always preseve the S/N ratio of the original 16 bit
signal where you can.  Therefore I am simply suggesting that you
'tweak' the coefficients of volume control settings 20-39 to use 8-bit
resolution rather using the full 16-bit resolution of the new
multiplier.  Much below vol 20, 8-bit coefficients are not enough to
resolve the volume steps required, but at these levels the artifacts
are unlikely to be an issue.

My calculations gave something like this below - so the volume changes
would be negligeable with the adjusted coeffs.  Just ANDing the 20-39
coeffs with 1100hex would probably give acceptable results.

vol8-bit coeff'new' dB'old' dB

2014-25.2-25.4
2116-24.1-24.1
2218-23.1-22.8
2321-21.7-21.6
2425-20.2-20.3
2529-18.9-19.0
2633-17.8-17.8
2738-16.6-16.5
2844-15.3-15.2
2951-14.0-14.0
3059-12.7-12.7
3169-11.4-11.4
3280-10.1-10.2
3392-8.9-8.9
34107-7.6-7.6
35123-6.4-6.3
36143-5.1-5.1
37165-3.8-3.8
38191-2.5-2.5
39221-1.3-1.3
402560.00.0


--
Patrick Dixon

www.at-view.co.uk
___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles



___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Sound Quality w/ Latest Firmware

[dean blackketter]

It's not clear that there is an issue at all.  We'd need a  
reproducible case.


On Oct 29, 2005, at 8:52 AM, Music Machine wrote:



This is a very serious issue for some owners that put the  
Squeezebox in

service as the primary source.  Is there a bugzilla for this?

Regards


--
Music Machine
___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles



___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Lifting 12.2880MHz crystal

[dean blackketter]

On Oct 18, 2005, at 10:39 PM, seanadams wrote:

32 and 48KHz will not work if you lift the 12.2880 xtal.
Also, 8k, 16k & 24k will not work as well, as stations at these rates  
will be resampled to 48k or 32k as appropriate.


-dean
___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Buying advice - Amp & Ceiling Speakers for SB

[dean blackketter]

On Oct 7, 2005, at 5:22 AM, inguz wrote:



How about a cheap-cheap amplifier (which gets rave reviews, but  
I've not
heard it) and some fancy loudspeakers (the A'Divas sounded very  
nice on

a very brief listen, but others likely have more experience with
them):

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/sonicimpact/t.html
I'm using this amp for the speakers mounted in the ceiling and it  
works terrific and you can't beat the price.


-dean
___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: optimal sound level squeezebox2?

[dean blackketter]

Sorry if my post was unclear.  100% (aka 40 on the player display, 11  
on the web interface) is still -0dB.


The older volume mapping was neither linear nor logarithmic, rather  
it was the best mapping we could do with only 8 bits of resolution  
and still have audible differences at every step from 0 to 40 on the  
display.  So, the steps at very low levels were audibly large and at  
high levels where audibly small.


What we changed was that we added higher resolution volume control  
(fixed point 16.16 multiplier).  We did not change the 24 bit output  
resolution.


With the new higher resolution control, we're able to make the volume  
control logarithmic where 1% steps down are -0.5dB.


This means that there's a difference between the old mapping and new  
one and it's generally at a lower volume than before.


Sean also recently added a preamp output level setting which sets the  
maximum analog output level, so when we're at 100% the voltage level  
can be adjusted lower in the case that your analog input to your  
amplifier/preamp needs a lower maximum value.  That setting is also  
in dB.







On Oct 1, 2005, at 1:46 AM, seanadams wrote:



I'll double check this - I think this is just a misunderstanding of  
that

post.

if 100% volume is not -0d then it's broken, but I don't think that's
the case.


--
seanadams
___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles



___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] switching vs. linear - on a scope

[dean blackketter]

I'd be interested to know the scale (both time and amplitude) of that  
signal and where it was measured.


Also, it might be interesting to know if any measurable difference  
was found on either the analog or digital outputs.  :)


On Sep 25, 2005, at 9:40 PM, Music Machine wrote:



Wayne of Boulder posted pics of the PS output over on audiocircle.   
The

pics speak for themselves.

http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/viewtopic.php? 
t=21808&sid=ba4c86cccaa383a636eb041ee106b9f7


Regards,
Music Machine


--
Music Machine
___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles



___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] FLAC vs. VBR MP3: should I hear a difference?

[dean blackketter]

On Sep 19, 2005, at 7:57 PM, Pat Farrell wrote:


And some day, you might get a better system and will
be able to tell.


Of course, your ears aren't going to get any better over time. Enjoy  
your hearing while you have it!



___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Replay Gain in next nightly/firmware 22

[dean blackketter]

Squeezebox1 continues to be supported.

The way to implement this on Squeezebox1 is by pre-compensating the  
main volume level.


It's technically possible (within the capabilities of the decoder's  
volume control), but that code hasn't been written yet.  Would love  
to see a patch, now that the hard parts have been done.


We did make a call to do the SB2 implementation first in part because  
to do it right we needed to update the firmware.



On Sep 17, 2005, at 9:49 AM, kelsey wrote:



When I received my Squeezebox in Sept. 2004, I was thrilled with the
product but a little dismayed to discover that it provided no sort of
output normalization functionality. Imagine my excitement then to see
that this feature, filed as a bug in Dec. of 2003, has finally been
implemented. Upon receiving an email update indicating that bug 80 was
fixed, I downloaded the latest nightly and discovered... nothing.

Visiting the forums for some idea about what is going on, I see  
that it

is only implemented for Squeezebox2. Will this feature be implemented
for Squeezebox? Is there any technical reason that this cannot be
implemented for Squeezebox? Is it the case that with the introduction
of S2, Squeezebox is considered a non-supported product and won't
receive and feature type upgrades?

hopefully,
Kelsey Kennedy


--
kelsey
___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles



___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Replay Gain in next nightly/firmware 22

[dean blackketter]

On Sep 16, 2005, at 2:46 PM, max.spicer wrote:

So, does keeping replaygain turned on result in a reduction in audio
quality that is likely to be noticed?


No.  The gain adjustments are done with 24 bit precision, so it's  
very unlikely that you'd hear any quality issues.  Also, if you don't  
have replaygain tags (or the equivalent ID3 or iTunes settings) for  
your songs, there should be no change at all to the bits.



___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Dropouts ruining my Squeezebox dream

[dean blackketter]

On Sep 11, 2005, at 12:19 PM, bec143 wrote:



I'll give it a shot, but need to find an ethernet cable that's  
close to

100ft long.  The cable modem and airport are upstairs, whereas
everything else is is downstairs.  Point-to-point the distance between
the SB2 and the airport is much closer.
Try moving the player temporarily and see if it works better via  
ethernet.  Then you'll know if you should start messing with your  
wireless configuration.



Is FLAC really going to require less bandwidth than AIFF or Apple
lossless? I've neve tried Flac files, is ut easy to rip CDs this  
way on

my Mac and get theminto iTunes?
If it's a Squeezebox2, then it doesn't matter.  SlimServer will  
automatically compress your AIFF files to FLAC for transmission.  You  
get the benefit of FLAC's lower bandwidth, and since it's lossless  
you won't hear a difference.



___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Dropouts ruining my Squeezebox dream

[dean blackketter]

Bruce,

Can you do an experiment and try it with an ethernet cable  
temporarily?  That would let us know if it is an issue with your  
wireless connection.



On Sep 11, 2005, at 11:13 AM, bec143 wrote:



Well I have had my SB2 for a while now, and after eventually deciding
that I like my Naim CD player more for regular listening,  I have used
my SB2 primarily for radio since the Spring.  With reports of all  
sorts
of  new mods on the horizon, I decided to check out the SB2  
compared to

my CD again. I should add that I would love to be able to eventually
switch completely to a SB2-based system someday.

The problem is, I still am plauged with frequent dropouts when playing
ripped music, whetehr it's AIFF, Apple lossless, or even just AAC
files.  This never happens with the radio, and it makes listening to
the SB2 nearly impossible, since you never know when it's going to
happen.

I use Apple Extreme and a 1.5 Mhz G4 as the server, and signal  
strength
as reported by my SB2, never dips below 55%. I have the lattest  
firmware

etc., and have tried everything suggested whrn I brought this up last
spring, but now I'm out of things to try.

I'm sure this might be cured with a hard-wired system, but its not an
option in my house.  It will need to be wireless, or just a radio.   
Any

new advances in solving this problem?

Thanks,

Bruce


--
bec143
___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles



___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: SB2: reduce analog out voltage by 10x?

[dean blackketter]

On Sep 10, 2005, at 9:55 AM, JJZolx wrote:

seanadams Wrote:

Right now the sofware volume control uses an 8-bit linear value  
which by

itself doesn't give enough levels on the low end of the scale.


If volume control is done in the CPU couldn't it have been made
nonlinear to address the problem at the lower volumes?

Yes, we'll be fixing this.


Or would that
be difficult/confusing for users?

Nope, linear is the one that doesn't make any sense.


___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: digital output format?

[dean blackketter]

On Aug 30, 2005, at 1:22 PM, Mike Hanson wrote:



mazurek Wrote:


Is the digital output of the squeezebox always 24 bit resolution, or
does it depend on the source file?


Ripped WAVs from CDs are 16-bit, so 24-bit will not happen.
Yes, but... MP3 is a lossy encoding.  Our MP3 decoder does generate  
24 bits of output.


Then decoded MP3 and FLAC audio may have a volume adjustment applied  
to it with 24 bits of accuracy.


The D/A converter then gets 24 bit output.  S/PDIF output will be  
converted back to 16 bits.

___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: SB2 "audiophile edition"

[dean blackketter]

On Aug 24, 2005, at 7:44 PM, jazzfan wrote:

(Oh, but on the real side of life I was unable to go for a second unit
for the upstairs system due to the low WAF)


Why was that?
___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: PSP slim controller

[dean blackketter]

On Aug 21, 2005, at 6:42 PM, Milhouse wrote:

I agree the display on the PSP is very good, but unfortunately the v2
PSP browser doesn't do it justice - the text (on the BBC News website,
for example) is blurred and unpleasant to read, which spoils the whole
experience.
That's really interesting, I've got the 2.0 US update running here,  
and the font is very clear when browsing the Handheld skin, and not  
too bad when on the BBC.co.uk site.  There are some simple tweaks  
that would make Handheld a lot better, but it's actually quite lovely  
to read, IMHO.



Roll on the Nokia 770 with a decent browser and superb high-resolution
touch screen! :)
I agree, this is going to be a really exciting platform for  
controlling SlimServer.


-dean

___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] PSP slim controller

[dean blackketter]

Is this the 2.0 US version?  If so, where is it available?

-dean

On Aug 19, 2005, at 12:19 PM, davidada wrote:

Hi , I will post pics later , but I wanted to let everyone know that I
downloaded version 2 for the playstation portable,it has a full
functioning browser and works awesome to control the slimdevice  
through

the browser.very cool!!

___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: SB2 as an OEM module?

[dean blackketter]

There's some stuff on their web site:

About the toolset (gcc, gdb, etc plus a weak windows-based GUI):   
<http://www.ubicom.com/software/swdev_environment.html>


And their SDK (which is more like a whole OS and very well written):  
<http://www.ubicom.com/software/ipmodule_software.html>


-dean

On Aug 17, 2005, at 4:43 PM, Jacob Potter wrote:

On 8/17/05, seanadams <[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
mx.forums.slimdevices.com> wrote:



There is a long story behind this about a battle to get the Ubicom
processor made accessible to open development (right now the SDK  
costs

$30K). Once they pull their heads out of their butts it could be made
into a really interesting development platform.



Is there any sign of them moving towards this? It looks like an
amazingly cool architecture, but yeah, 30 grand...

How sophisticated is the SDK?

- Jacob
___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles



___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Some Qs on the output configuration

[dean blackketter]

Yes, that's possible.  Please file an enhancement request on  
bugs.slimdevices.com.


-dean

On Aug 14, 2005, at 2:50 PM, Robin Bowes wrote:


seanadams wrote:


D'oh - it's inverted. Firmware fix coming.



Sean,

Any chance this can be a configurable option?

For example, if I (or others - hi Vinnie!) decide to bypass the op- 
amp output stage then we would require the output of the DAC to be  
"correct" phase (actually, "correct polarity" would probably be a  
better description) rather than the "inverted" polarity that would  
be required to feed the inverting output stage.


R.
--
http://robinbowes.com

If a man speaks in a forest,
and his wife's not there,
is he still wrong?

___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles



___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Some Qs on the output configuration

[dean blackketter]

On Aug 10, 2005, at 5:54 AM, occam wrote:

1.The pcm1748 is capable of digital attenuation of -64db in steps of
.5db, for a total of 128 settings. The SB2 implements this feature  
with

40 steps. Is there any practical way of expanding the configuration of
the SB2 to access this finer granularity, such as reprogramming  
EEPROM,

if its controlled by such?
The Squeezebox2 does the attenuation in software, processing the  
samples with 24 bit accuracy before they get to the DAC, but with  
only 8 bits of resolution in the multiplier.  We expect to expand  
that range for the next major firmware release.



2. The output opamp is configured for a gain of about 2. Is it
inverting or non inverting? Is that NJM2041 configured as straight amp
or as a lowpass filter? If so, how many poles and what is the pole
frequency? Is the NJM2041 stable at Av<=1? Can I adjust the gain by
changing Ri & Rf?

Will let Sean reply to that one.

-dean
___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] BNC instead of RCA for SPDIF out

[dean blackketter]

On Aug 1, 2005, at 4:08 PM, JayNYC wrote:

Any way to get a BNC connector instead of RCA?


Another alternative:





___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] BNC instead of RCA for SPDIF out

[dean blackketter]

On Aug 1, 2005, at 4:08 PM, JayNYC wrote:

Any way to get a BNC connector instead of RCA?


http://www.redwineaudio.com/SB2_Mods.html
___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Flac or not, that is the question

[dean blackketter]

What's going on is that visualizer code is in the same thread as the  
FLAC decoder and on a per-frame basis FLAC is using more real time,  
which slows down the update frequency.  The CPU's not overloaded,  
rather there's a little bit of timing that could be improved.


On Jul 28, 2005, at 4:50 PM, kevin wrote:



Jacob--  You'd have to get Vidur to confirm this, but I don't think it
had to do with the processor being overtaxed or anything like that...
I seem to recall him saying something about the FFT function just
working completely differently than when using MP3 and PCM, so the fps
is a bit lower...  But this was a long time ago and I can't recall any
exact details...

There was a bug about this, though:
http://bugs.slimdevices.com/show_bug.cgi?id=900


___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: SB Audiophile Wish List

[dean blackketter]

I've seen these on some equipment, is there consensus (audiophiles,  
consensus?  HA!) on BNC vs. RCA for S/PDIF?



On Jun 24, 2005, at 5:23 PM, Yannzola wrote:



How about a 75 ohm BNC SPDIF out?

y.


--
Yannzola
___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles



___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Whole House Audio

[dean blackketter]

Chad,

Can you describe your setup?  (Network configuration, server hardware/ 
OS, etc?)


One second lag is definitely not acceptable, I'd like to be able to  
reproduce this issue here.


-dean
On Jun 9, 2005, at 8:57 PM, caclement wrote:



Gentlemen,
I have the same problem with syncronization between a SB1 and SB2.  I
just bought the SB2 for the sole purpose of whole house audio.  I was
going to buy a few more but wanted to check it out.  I was promised by
Slim Devices that the two would sync flawlessly but it is definitely
not the case.  I'm about 1 second off between the two which is
completely unacceptable.  I'm considering sending mine back since my
home has a fairly open floor plan and the same song competing with
itself if not pleasant to listen too.  Does anyone know of a fix for
this?  Is there something I can do to improve this before I pack it
up.

Chad


--
caclement
___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles



___
audiophiles mailing list
audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles