All is forgiven! I was just saving people time finding a dealer. Dedicated Audio is another. I nominate you as sergeant at arms 
1 Like
Sound aside Hegel is designed in Norway apparently and built in China. I try to keep my gear spend on North Americaās factories.
1 Like
Just wondering if there has been any progress towards tuning up the streaming functionality of the Strata. Canāt get Qobuz or Amazon Music to play via the app this morning. Seems like there hasnāt been a lot of discussion about beta concerns lately on this forum. Is the beta over? Are there plans to fix the streaming bugs?
The beta is over as they are selling and shipping from their site. So, unless they consider their customers ābeta testersā I believe this is a GA product. And, in talking with some of the PS Audio folks I find they are way way too transparent to pull such a thing. From firsthand experience, this is a real, and stable, product.
But, about the software, you are right. Iāve not seen a new release announced anywhere in like 2 months. Neither phone app or firmware version. Which is strange for such a new product. In fact, my unit is running a firmware version 1 up from what you can download off their website and its been this way for over a month (was shipped with the newer firmware).
My unit is solid and the only issues Iāve had with it Iād consider to be low priority. I do not run the application however as my two primary streaming sources are Roon (digital-in from a streamer) and Spotify (use the Spotify App + Spotify Connect).
Itās a solid unit for sure but not perfect. There are little things floating around that people have mentioned and are waiting for a fix; either in firmware or in the application. I donāt know if PS Audio has a ārelease scheduleā but two things are concerning on the application side:
- I cannot find app in the Apple App Store (was this ever pushed? are we still expected to side load?)
- The Android application was last updated April 19th 2020
If they are trying to do releases once a quarter then maybe weāll see something in September? But, again, that seems a little slow for such a new product. I do enjoy the thing almost every day so Iām cautious on my tone when talking about it. It really does sound good and looks good and is priced right. In this new COVID working environment I do hope it is getting the attention it deserves on the software side. Iām patient though.
I appreciate your response! I absolutely love the audio quality of this product. My CDs & LPs have never sounded so good. My main concern is that I bought this specifically for the streaming integration and up until this point have been disappointed with the playback. Most of the time Qobuz stutters & I can usually force it to work by playing a song from Amazon Music & then switching back. Now Amazon Music has stopped playing. I canāt get Spotify to recognize the Strata and some have expressed that Apple Play can work with the unit, but not mine. This is maddening that they would end the beta with this glaring deficiency not resolved. From a user interface perspective, this unit does not work unless there is a firmware update they included with the newer units that they did not release to the beta users. I feel there has been poor communication regarding these issues and would consider returning the unit if there is no repair in sight. What is strange is how varied consumer experience had been. Hopefully there will be more info coming and my expression of disappointment is premature.
My unit has never indicated to any of my Apple products that is supports Airplay and its not listed anywhere in the glossy product material. Yes, was super-confused when I saw others said it was working. Iāve been doing the digital streaming thing for a couple years now and have collected a nice assortment of āstreamersā. My plan for this unit, after watching the beta comments, was to just ignore the streaming side of the unit and re-purpose my other devices if I found any issues. Well, thatās sort of what happened. I use Roon and without Roon support I had to hook-up a Roon endpoint. Roon then becomes the way I stream Tidal and Qobuz. I donāt use Amazon. OK, so letās look at the list:
- Tidal & Qobuz, I use Roon via Roon endpoint coax-in to the Strata.
- Spotify This works great and I do use it. Iām actually using Spotify more for music discovery in that room since getting the Strata.
- Napster:nope, iHeart:nope (I use Roon for streaming radio), Music Shares:nope, DLNA:nope
So, yeah, I donāt use the streaming side of this thing very much and I donāt use the app at all. The value is really in the pre-amp section and DAC which are both great.
- Note on Spotify Connect
I was working with a diet-pi streamer build and trying to get that working with Spotify Connect. Learned a few things with that. There are two ways to get a Spotify Connect endpoint to āpopā into the Spotify app. One is via direct login. If the device has the ability to log-in directly then it will use direct authentication and all of your apps will be able to stream to that device. The other way is via the Spotify app discovering a Spotify Connect endpoint on the local network and notifying Spotify that this endpoint exists and should be associated with your account. Thatās how Strata works. So, depending on how youāve got the Strata connected to your network, you need to get an application on the same exact network. That means that, if it is not working, your Strata is wired and your app is wireless either temporarily move your Strata to wireless to get the app working on a PC or something that is wired. I have found that once Spotify sees your Spotify Connect device, and you keep using it, it never needs to discover it as local again (or, at least not for some period of time Iāve never exceeded). Hope that helps.
1 Like
Thanks for the Spotify advice! I can play Spotify no issues with my computer browser. It seems to pick up the Strata just fine over my WiFi and after I tried that now the phone app can see the Strata. Much appreciated with the Spotify trouble shoot. Itās weird that Spotify is not accessible through the Strata app like Amazon & Qobuz are. Hopefully some software updates are looming just beyond the horizon to clean up the PS Connect app quarks. All the best! And your forum name is āstellarā btw
I think itād be nice to have all of the streaming services consolidated into one app, but I think the Spotify app is one of the best apps out there, so iām more than happy using it.
1 Like
Except for Sonos*, I donāt know if Spotify works inside any application but Spotify. Itās a way for Spotify to control the user experience by keeping you in their application. They opted for the Spotify Connect model, which frankly, seems like an easier way to integrate a streaming service into your product and probably one of the main reasons it is so widely supported.
Andā¦ I have to agree with @jamesh, when you have a great app to begin with then users donāt complain when that app rolls a new feature and your 3rd party app has to catch-up.
*Sonos is just a giant weird beast of a product. They support darn near everything and have a huge customer base. This gives them weight to throw around which allows them to implement things others just simply cannot. Sometimes itās good to be big. But, their sound quality certainly doesnāt match their app 
I know too many people who value the app over sound quality though
I am sorry youāre having such trouble.
There have been several updates to the software, hopefully you got them. You shouldnāt be having these problems still, so may I please ask that you reach out to our service folks?
The one streaming issue we havenāt been able to resolve is 192kHz streaming on Qobuz. It still stutters and that may wind up being an unforeseen limitation of the module. Weāre still trying to sort that one out. But everything else should be working just fine. Please contact us.
Can you remind us how to check for current software version, or date Strata was last updated?
I would like to double-check I am running with the latest softwareā¦
The firmware version is easy to check. Hold down the input button the front and then do fast presses until you get to the firmware version screen. The latest version of code should be on our website in the downloads section.
Any new updates on the way?
Sounds like there is one coming later this month. Iām not clued in with everything it is encompassing nor do I have a solid ETA.
2 Likes
On a side note I am extremely impressed with streaming performance over WiFi (with Audirvana) 
I hope more products come out with WiFi in the future If Ethernet is so goodā¦ why do we need $1000 in switches and power supplies to make it sound good? I say just go wireless and filter out the RF noise.
In my system it smoked the EtherRegen.
I agree, but in my experience, the things I have connected via wifi tend to have a more dodgy connection. Speed and what not can be pretty variable as well. Whereas the hardwired stuff seems more consistent.
Iāve had almost no issues with the WiFi from connectivity point of view. This may be that almost everything I have is on 5g band and I use a nice Asus 86 router. The Strata is limited to 2.4 band but the only other traffic on that band is my printer. It may be a help that my Mac and Audirvana are always on the 5G so that is super fast and clear connection. I could see having the source device on 2.4 and Strata on 2.4 could cause more issues.
I may have less of an issue as well since I donāt stream super hi res. I max out at 24/96, most is 16/44.1 or 24/44.1.
The SQ is worth the trouble.
1 Like
For me, itās best to examine the end product rather than make sweeping conclusions about countries. China is coming fast, and no doubt, beyond doubt, without question will one day fly past the USA in terms of production quality. Itās a huge country comprised of human beings, just like you and me. If North America can produce quality gear, thereās no genetic reason why China canāt do the same. 1.4 billion people is a ton of people to make sweeping conclusions about.
Primaluna, YBA, Hegel, Wharfdale, Apple and many others have their quality products produced in China. In that regard, the quality of the actual product certainly deserves scrutiny. But shunning 1.4 billion people, ad hoc, is a bit on the racist side of the equation. Just sayinā 
The app for my iPad still canāt be installed. Has this ever been fixed?
Alsoā¦"Go to Settings -> General -> Profiles & Device Management
Select the Linkplay Tech App and allow it to run on your device.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy your new Stellar Strata!"
There is no āProfiles & Device Managementā under General on my iPad.
