PS Audio Music Server In The Pipeline?

[jeffstarr]

It wouldn’t be on my wishlist. If you can make playlists, choose one then just put it on random.

Plus there has to be a licensing fee, that would add to the price of every unit, for a feature, most audiophiles would never use.

[Elk]

Below a Hello Kitty face plate?

[badbeef]

I just realized I can talk to my Android-powered TV. Probably had it a year. It’s what I get for not reading manuals. So soon, our devices will be battling for supremacy.

TV: “WHICH ONE OF US do you want to play the music, Mark?”.

STEREO: “You may make pretty pictures and all, but you sound awful!”

ME: “BOTH OF YOU shut up.”

[jeffstarr]

I was just thinking, I know, never a good idea. But if you could get it to talk like Scooby Do.

Roh, roh, the Packers or NASCAR, what would Shaggy do?

[magicknow]

Hi PauL

How about a progress report on Octave?

thanks

Magicknow

[badbeef]

It’s a year off. There’s some tidbits in this thread:

http://www.psaudio.com/forum/directstream-all-about-it/directstream-bridge-ii-roon-and-the-future/

[pmotz]

Magicknow, over in the DS forums there is a thread titled “Bridge III?”. Just this morning Paul posted the following …

“Actually, the most difficult part of Octave is the metadata and getting it right. Roon suffers from the same problem. It’s really hard to make Octave simple and easy to use. In fact, the simpler and friendlier we make it the harder it is to achieve.

Consider that the millions of tracks of music we have to catalog and supply metadata for are not organized with perfection. The sources of metadata are all over the map. Part of the challenge is to figure out what people actually want: do you type “The” to access The Beatles? Or Mozart to access Wolfgang? And If I type Wolfgang what do I mean when it’s not as easy as Mozart?

Or, cover art and artist art? There are hundreds of thousands of photos associated with artists – some work for the graphic layout of Octave, others don’t. You can easily wind up with a picture of someone’s pants instead of their face, depending on the photo. We’ve actually had to write complex AI heuristics to suss out the face and position the photo right. Sure, facial recognition seems easy but it’s not and that’s such a tiny part of the challenge.

It’s maddening when you look at the results of a music search for something that seems obvious to you and not apparent to the machine. Works of composers, movements of a symphony, search by orchestra, conductor, composer. Want to listen to music composed by Beethoven but played by orchestras Barenboim conducted and finding them on a greatest hits album?

It is anything but easy and continues to be a challenge. The truth is the software bit that plays the music is trivial to getting the UI right.”

That does a pretty good job of summing up what they are up against.

[jhnh]

Maybe I missed this in the discussion, but will the goal of Octave be to match the SQ of the DMP?

I will never go back to playing CDs in the digital age. I still play LPs (gave up on digitizing them years ago), but I have no desire to dedicate a room to accessible media storage (books, CDs, movies, LPs, tapes — got rid of the books two household moves ago, CDs and movies are in the basement).

[badbeef]

Jah - yup, I think that’s pretty much the goal, sonically.

I didn’t imagine that I would be playing CDs again after 15+ years of having them all ripped to server, but the DMP/DSJ combo was a significant enough improvement that it’s not a burden - especially if you’re used to spinning vinyl discs. You choose different music when you actually look at and sort through physical discs. Ancient tech, I realize, but so is vinyl…yet it has its charms.

I tossed the hated jewel boxes years ago (with the exception of more recently purcashed discs and SACDs) and filed all the ripped CDs in binders. Since I got the DMP, I have little stacks of bare CDs sitting around, which is admittedly inelegant, but I have repeatedly been listening to my server/Roon/Tidal, etc. and realize I have the actual CD/SACD of the music, and I put it on the DMP and there’s no contest.

So, if Paul can pull off the, “sounds as good as DMP and works as easily as Roon” thing (my words), it should be an interesting product indeed.

[bitperfectrichard]

Jah said

… but will the goal of Octave be to match the SQ of the DMP?

Octave won't give up anything to DMP in terms of sound quality, except that it won't be able to rip SACDs, so DMP will still be the only way to play the juicy DSD layer. But expect regular CDs to sound the same, whether played from disc in the DMP or ripped to a file in the Octave. Will one end up sounding better than the other? ... It's possible, but if so, it won't be by design.

FYI, ripping the DSD layer of SACDs can’t be done at all without some serious oddball hardware (and software). It’s not an Octave issue per se.

[agladstone]

Ripping SACD’s isn’t too hard actually. It can be done with an OPPO 105 disc player and some free software and it can also be done with an older Sony PS3 that has an older firmware (Sony removed the ability to rip SACD’s with a firmware update, but there is a way to reverse the firmware if needed).

The OPPO 105 or Sony PS3 creates and SACD ISO, then you need Sonore’s free ISO2DSD software (available on their website) to convert the SACD ISO to a DSD file.

Its really pretty easy to do once you get the swing of it! I’ve ripped hundreds to SACD’s at this point and the DSD flies sound incredible!

[Elk]

Welcome, agladstone!

We have a couple of members who rip SACDs and who have shared the process. It is unfortunate it is a bit of work as many enjoy playing DSD files.

[bitperfectrichard]

agladstone said

Ripping SACD’s isn’t too hard actually…

Well, yes, if you like. It all depends on your comfort level (and tolerance) for dickering around with technology. Either way, but particularly with the old PS3 method, you’ll need to roll your sleeves up.

The key observation is that it’s not remotely like ripping a CD.

[jazznut]

As I just managed to access my home library from holiday location (with some port forwarding on my router at home) to play music over WiFi to a Bluetooth speaker here:

This is a great feature and a big wish for Octave!

It works from Jremote to Jriver library, it doesn’t with Mconnect, as there’s no manual config option for server access. It works for all files, hires or rebook (except DSF files certainly, as my iPad doesn’t decode it)

One more reason for streaming

[Elk]

Try that with vinyl.

[jazznut]

Correct, same disadvantage…

Well my son would say, that’s not new, he has his whole music collection on his phone all the time (64GB locally stored part of Spotify music).

But to have access to categorized 8 TB mostly hires files and be able to play them over WiFi is simply perfect. To make this working extremely user friendly for non IT affine listeners quite a challenge. Let’s see if Octave can really bring home library streaming to the mass of listeners without reduction to the very basics. For me it’s also fine if it’s another very good option.

I remember a vintage picture of a record player mounted in a car from Steve Hoffman forums … so there seem to have been mobile solutions for die hard vinylists at the time before MP3

[amsco15]

Elvis’ Cadillac (that’s a turntable if you can’t see it - above the shoe buffer)! On display at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. Lends credence to the adage that so many live better now than Kings (or The King) did in the past.

[jazznut]

That’s perfect, thanks for posting, car HiFi galore…

[Elk]

[bruces]

I know that the final product is still a fair way off (much later in the year),

But how about a progress up date?

Hey, we have not had an update this year!!

Am following the progress with a lot of interest.

Thanks.

Bruce