I am just starting to experiment with playing DSD files on my DS with Bridge II. To date I have been playing all forms of PCM file from my Synology NAS and this has worked very well, and it sounds great, btw. DSF files however do not play. I am using Minimserver with BubbleuPnP and controlling everything with a iPad running Kazoo. I can see the file on Kazoo, but they just don’t play.
The research I have done indicates I need to add streamer.transcode (DSF:DOPWAV) to the minimserver,via minimwatch, but this appears to be an obsolete command, since stream.transcode is not an option in the latest version of Minimwatch properties. Also, I thought the DS with Bridge II palys native DSD files??
So the long and short of it is, I need some help, please.
I also run a Synology Nas with BubbleuPnP and Kazoo on my iPad. The first thing to check is if you have installed minimstreamer (an addon for minimserver). You can check this using minimwatch. Go to Properties, then click Packages in upper tab. Is minimstreamer 0.5.25 listed in right side window. If not, you should be able to download it using the left side. It usually is listed there, just click install. Then give it a few minutes for the NAS to do it’s thing, open up minimwatch again, go to properties, System, and stream.transcode should appear at the very bottom. Enter the test dff:dopwav,dsf:dopwav. I just had to redo this after I downloaded a new version of Minimserver. Btw, MConnect and MControl are very good remote control apps for the iPad and MControl does Tidal. Hope this information helps you.
Cory has given you the info about MinimStreamer so you should be good to go. You also might want to try some of the other transcoding options with MinimStreamer. Some people (including me) find improved SQ by having MinimServer transcode PCM files from whatever format they are stored in (FLAC, for instance) to WAV rather than having the Bridge do this. Details are in the MinimStreamer manual.
The DS plays native DSD files only via its i2s inputs; the Bridge requires the use of DoP.
I’ve tried about every control point for iOS and ended up preferring Kazoo (which requires also running BubbleUPnP server, but you seem to have gotten that figured out already). I used mconnect and mcontrol for some time, but got really frustrated with them because they a) sometimes [not always] had trouble finding the Bridge and b) lost the contents of the playlist if you went away from the app for any length of time. The latter drove me nuts. It may be that these issues have been fixed, since I haven’t tried the most recent update.
Thanks for the help, the process was simple, especially the way you explained it.
Does this “path” provide the SQ improvement that the DS should be providing with DSD files over high rate PCM files? My thought would be no, since the DSD is being converted to PCM before the DS.
DoP is indeed using PCM as a container for the DSD bits - the actual DSD bits are being sent unmolested, just wrapped so that they 1) can go thru hardware/software designed for PCM and 2) won’t blast your ears if something goes wrong along the way.
You can just look at the DS’s screen to verify whether it’s receiving PCM or DSD (or DoP).
Single rate is all the Bridge II can handle, so anything more than that and you need to down convert it. I do this with JRiver on the fly but I don’t know MinimServer well enough to tell you if it can be done or if you need to transcode your files in advance.
MinimServer can do the transcoding on the fly, but AFAIK there is no way to tell it to differentiate single- from double-rate DSD; in other words, you have to downconvert all DSD or none.
You need to install MinimStreamer, which is an optional component of MinimServer. Then you tell it to change all DSD files to WAV. See this page; under Transcoding, note in particular the second paragraph under dsf. In the System tab of the MinimStreamer properties, under stream.transcode, you will put something like dsd:wav24.