I reread. You don’t need a copy of your library on your NAS to stream to the Strata. If you enable DLNA streaming on JRiver running on your NUC, it will stream the local files to the network and you can simply select the Strata as DLNA rendered (zone) in Jremote. You will keep all your Jriver tagging and functionality through Jremote. You can just switch between your DAC and the Strata by changing zones in JRemote. I also have a copy of my music files on NAS, but this is just a backup.
I did not know that when buying the 1-Bay NAS in preparation for the Strata…
BTW, advantage of NOT using the files off my NUC music server is: when used with the PS Audio app, I do not even need to boot up my NUC. Just launch the app, and start playing music off my NAS. I will experiment later with playing on Strata by streaming from Jremote to it.
Yup. I do not feel that my NAS was a waste, since I now have another copy of my music files 
I just received my Strata and set it up yesterday. Some first reactions/suggestions: Working though the menus manually would be much easier if the manual showed the layout of the menus in a diagrammatic format. It is a bit painful without that.
I see mention of a PSConnect app in the discussion above but the manual makes no mention of an app and a search of Apple’s app store returns nothing. Scanning the QR code found in the above discussion with my iphone on my laptop screen generated a prompt on the phone asing to open this in itunes, but then nothing happened when permission was given. Bugs?
I manually connected to my wireless home network because the WPS route did not work and I was successful streaming from Audirvana over the wireless network and in casting streams from radio apps and the like from ipone and ipad. The only disappointment so far is that dsd does not seem to be supported by the Strata from Audirvana, nor are PCM streams above 192 resolution despite indications in the manual to the contrary.
If you have any guidance it would be appreciated. More feedback on the sound and performance will come as I get these issues worked out and the unit has some run-time.
Bruce
PS- Just tried headphones…so how do you switch off the main speakers when the headphones are plugged in? I can find nothing in the manual.
…I did not know that when buying the 1-Bay NAS in preparation for the Strata…
BTW, advantage of NOT using the files off my [NUC] music server is: when used with the PS Audio app, I do not even need to boot up my NUC. Just launch the app, and start playing music off my NAS. I will experiment later with playing on Strata by streaming from Jremote to it…
The problem is you lose your JRiver tagging and organization of your library and now need to maintain the library in two places. This was a non starter for me.
I love my new Sprout and am thinking about getting a Strata but reading about the wireless connection has confused me. I listen to Spotify on my Windows 10 laptop using Sprout bluetooth to cast to my speakers and do not have a smart phone. Will I be able to listen to Spotify on a Strata?
Welcome Barry! Great to hear you’re enjoying the Sprout100. The upgrade from Sprout to Strata ain’t subtle.
If you’re using the Spotify connect app on your PC, you’ll be able to set the Strata as the audio device.
If both the Strata and the PC are connected to the same LAN, it’s very easy to do!
You bet! Strata is Spotify ready.
It’s a know bug. For now, just unplug and replug the headphones.
Thanks, has anybody compiled a list of known bugs so I don’t waste time recapitulating what is already known?
BB
@jamesh
My Mac is in the shop for battery repair but the Strata still fights me back to 0 and getting stuck even with PS Connect with Tidal.
Tonight it happened after switching from Toslink (TV) to Bridge. Volume wouldn’t stay up till I switched back to Toslink, pushed up, then pressed 9.
Also separately I was watching TV via toslink and swapped the phase back to normal and the volume dropped to 0. It appears that glitch may not be only with Audirvana.
Fun Fact, Neutron app on smartphone pairs well with Strata for DLNA and SQ is very good. I can’t A/B since my Mac is in the shop but the increase in SQ is consistent with what I hear with Audirvana. The Bridge and PS Connect is edgy and sharp, both Audirvana and Neutron have a lot more body and more musical everything. I hypothesize this is due to upstream buffering leading to stream stability, and FLAC uncompression.
Disclosure, Neutron has no integration with streaming services; local phone music only.
A couple of things-
I have Zu Omen DW with clarity caps and the snubbers to lower ohms from 12 to 4.7 I believe. Strata drives the speakers wonderfully. Bass is good (don’t forget the dac filters embedded in the menu and on the remote), but I think the amp is likely tuned less for pop/rock and more for classical, jazz bluegrass, etc. It’s not bass heavy. My pre strata rig is Schiit Bifrost 2, saga, vidar. Bass is accentuated there, but the vidar is lacking in treble, transients, fine detail.
The PS Connect amp continues to frustrate me, still cant log into Qobuz or Tidal. But I can on Spotify and Amazon, except I’m not paying for those services.
Also, I still get audio at 0 volume, but I have Schiit gear and saga does the same thing so I’m used to it… it doesn’t bother me at all…
The strata has lots of bells and whistles…I didn’t notice a volume difference between balanced and SE input, automatic trim leveling maybe? I noticed the soundstage via USB has more forward placement and perceived volume level for the treble and upper registry instruments and sound. This makes detail and transients easier to hear, but does seem to place lower frequencies farther in the back of the soundstage, and impacts the bass texture and detail, which affects overall tonal balance. Mids are fantastic though.
Ah well, can’t have it all…
Have you experimented with your gap height or positioning?
@renscandi
Also have you compared different loads? It’s possible rock music translates better closer to 8 ohms or at 12.
What DAC filters do you recommend for more bass?
I should clarify, the strata will thump if I give it juice. I have reference level set at a 57.1-57.4 on my spl meter with a pink noise track going. This translates into listening levels around 67-70 with peaks hitting close to 77 and lows down in the high 50’s. So not real loud.
When I talk about the bass being a bit lower or untextured, I’m not talk about the main loud parts, those come through nicely. There’s a part about 5 minutes in on Deacon Blues (Steely Dan, Aja) where the detail of the rythym bass part gets washed out a bit by the treble at the volume level I mentioned. It’s harder to pull it out of the sound profile.
Then there is a part with the drums on the extended intro of Hotel California -(Eagles, Hell Freezes Over - Live). On my other amp/dac I can physically feel the reverberation of the drums come through the speaker. With the strata it sounds very similar, but the feeling is gone.
And let’s be honest, I have to be in peak critical listening mode to to notice some of this stuff. It’s stuff that a great many people will never pay attention too…just sharing my thoughts.
I’m wondering if I listen at a bit lower volume then the sweet spot for the amp. And if I sit closer then most… my speakers and listening position are about a 6.5 feet triangle.
I have got the rubber feet on my Zu, so once I put those on I stopped playing with gap height.
I play with the filters from recording to recording, I’ve used em all, no recommendations, just trust your ears.
You should really make home made shims to experiment with gap height. The rubber footers raise the speakers pretty high which may be outside of their optimal zone for Strata. The footers raise it to 0.8 inch. You may find it is of no benefit but it may be worth it to see.
@renscandi
Also the 4.7 ohm may not be optimal (this is really worth experimentation). Remember that is the average impedance and by looking at the driver impedance curves from Zu, that might place most of the midrange much lower possibly close to 2ohm which is very hard to drive.
Yeah I’m due to take the snubbers off soon, today is probably as good of time as any. I ran the speakers without snubbers for almost a year before throwing them in on a whim. My Vidar really seemed to like the snubbers being added in. So I kept them in with the strata and another amp I have in the house.
Also, with the rubber footers my Zu speakers sit with a 9/16 gap. Slightly wider then the 1/2 max they talk about, but I have a circular felt pad on the footers to keep my floor from being stained.
1 Like
Sorry for adding yet another variable to the mix… try experimenting with the distance between speakers. A perfect unilateral does not always work… if you bring them a smidge closer to each other you may get better midbass coupling among other things.
Thinking if they are perfect match the waves will cancel each other out? I have a tape measure for an approximate but the numbers I gave were just that, an approximate. It’s not a perfect triangle. Each leg of the triangle within a few inches but not perfect.
I will play around with it some though, maybe tomorrow. It took me awhile get vocal separation the way I wanted it with the Zu. My KLHs are easier to place to get background vocals to seperate.
Fancy by Reba McIntyre album version, if you have you speakers spaced right relative to the rest of your equipment, you can better hear the separation and placement of the various background singers. There are parts where you can hear (and “see”) 4 backing singers at one time. The track listing has 8 different background singers…
It’s been driving me crazy trying to get the Zu aligned to pull them out as cleanly as the KLH Kendalls do… backing vocals and low bass are the one are the KLHs best the Zu (my opinion).
I’ve got the snubbers off now and am feeding strata balanced from the Bifrost 2via USB, it’s very very nice. I’ll try the strata USB DAC later tonight as well. All of the above comments from the last day or so were using stratas built in DAC via USB…
Does anyone here have a comment on USB vs optical with the stratas onboard DAC?
The first few weeks I used a Google Chromecast Audio and it’s optical out into strata or the bifrost. The last few weeks I’ve been using USB almost exclusively, with the exception of when watching TV.
The midbass comment is based on psycho acoustics I believe. Paul has mentioned it as a major factor that makes positioning challenging. Wider separation increases imaging but at the expense of midbass. Play around with increasing and decreasing the distance. You just have to try it out and see where the best balance is. I have pushed a little too wide before and just felt it lacked impact or something was wrong… The center flattens out. A little closer together and the middle fleshes out.
1 Like