palerider said
I am waiting for my Mivera Superserver right now; it will run Roon 1.3 when released
- Please keep us in the loop on this one. I am following this one closely.
(To edit these posts on my iPad sucks big time when quoting).
Frode said (To edit these posts on my iPad sucks big time when quoting).Very true.
It is one of the reasons I trim out excess quotes and encourage posters to use Add Reply rather than quoting everything. The forum is very difficult to manage when people quote excessively, especially on a tablet. And a phone is even worse.
magicknow said Paul are you planning to do some sort integration with Tidal?magicknow
Yes. Tidal, Spotify, maybe Apple Music, Tune In. I think part of what will make a good user experience is integrating the streaming service in one UI so it is all the same experience. Learn one UI and now you can navigate all the music libraries in the same way.
Frode said palerider saidYou bet.I am waiting for my Mivera Superserver right now; it will run Roon 1.3 when released
- Please keep us in the loop on this one. I am following this one closely.
Elk saidAlekz said As of SSD vs HDD. Since the music server is supposed to be placed in the "audio room", there must be no rotating disks . . .On a knee-jerk level, this is appealing. However. many modern hard drives are silent or so quiet they cannot be heard a foot or so away. And there are those who claim SSD emits various potentially problematic electrical fields and you thus do not want them inside the device.
Usually, disks are placed in a sort of a metal cage, so the EMI should not be a big problem, however vibrations from spinning disks are more difficult to get rid of.
Probably best is to provide a couple of options such as SATA slots for your drives of choice and a number of USB connections, both powered and powered. The user can then indulge in his bias de jour.Absolutely, the connectors and form factors are standard, any 2.5" disk can be used. Or even 3.5" disks, if PS decides to support them.
Alekz said Usually, disks are placed in a sort of a metal cage, so the EMI should not be a big problem, however vibrations from spinning disks are more difficult to get rid of.Yes, even SSD are in a case so the EMI claim seems far-fetched. But audiophiles worry about both real and imagined issues. Vibration appears a more valid concern.
Regarding Tidal streaming, is the server being considered for MQA decoding?
That is currently the plan of record, yes.
Paul - Iâm wondering if this unit will output I2S? If you mentioned it, I must have missed it. Iâm thinking of beta testing the Stellar DAC/preamp and would love to integrate this feature down the road.
Absolutely it will output I2S.
Paul McGowan saidTo why we donât use Roon. We love Roon and the guys behind it too. But they are too expensive for manufacturers to purchase. Our long term plans include taking the Octave user experience downscale into lower and lower cost products PS Audio makes. Imagine someday a seriously under $1,000 music server from us. Hard to do if we have to pay Roon $500 for the firmware. And then thereâs longevity. How long will Roon be around? Maybe forever, maybe not. But I am unwilling to risk turning our hardware products into bricks if they go away. Weâve been around 40+ years and plan on another 40 to go under the helm of my son Scott.
The first product out the door will be priced similar to DirectStream, perhaps DSJ.
Paul - I, for one, would hate to do without Roon. I find it indispensable in my listening experience. Unless something else comes along in Octave that is more indispensable, I guess. Still, is there a way to make Octave Roon compliant but have the user have the option to purchase and use and not have it baked into the cost of the unit? I know SOtM has a cheaper unit (sMS-200) with only a free 2 month Roon option. I already have a lifetime user license and Iâd hate to see that go to waste! Without Roon, Iâd really have to be wowed by the product and content provided to offset the loss.
+1.
Weâll see. Right now it would be near impossible, but you never know what the future brings. Part of the problem we face, if not the biggest, is the Roon server and all that goes with it would have to be installed and configured for that to work. As you know, Roon requires a computer for its server (even f that server is on a NAS). Then, it requires an end point. For us to make it possible to simply choose Octave or Roon weâd have to buy the license for the Roon server - which simply wonât work.
The second problem is the sound of Roonâs server isnât up to our standards. They may, or time, get that solved - theyâre awfully close now. But since we havenât any control over how their server works or sounds itâs out of our hands.
One of the main goals of Octave, aside from providing a stunning interface thatâs easy, welcoming and involving, is to eliminate complexity from computers. We want this to be simple, plug and play and perfect. We also want to guarantee sound quality, metadata accuracy, Tidal, Spotify, and perhaps Apple music integration in the same UI. Those are not easy goals to implement, and even harder if people want a choice.
Give it some time and give it a look and listen. My gut tells me youâll like it every bit as much, but weâre a long way to launch and test.
I donât understand. I thought that the Bridge 2 could now be used with Roon, I just looked now âRoon readyâ. And many rave about Roon.
Do all the current players like Aurrender, Antipode, Sony, etc have their own player system? I guess that would make sense.
I know a player is basically a computer that is designed and simplified to just store and stream music. I imagine building a player that would use the software player of your choice say JRiver or Roon would need more flexibility, kind of like sticking a Mac Mini in a box with hard drives, and connectors?
Roon offers their player software, but it would be like buying a lifetime subscription, and you would have to depend on them to supply the data, is that how it would work?
Then what makes the Bridge Roon ready? Both my DACs have USB that I can plug in my PC or a player, and no matter what I use it works.
jeffstarr said I don't understand. I thought that the Bridge 2 could now be used with Roon, I just looked now "Roon ready". And many rave about Roon.The Bridge is an 'endpoint' in Roon-speak. You have to have a 'server' on which to run the Roon software; this can be a computer, some more-powerful NAS models, or a standalone audio player. The Roon server ships the music off to the endpoint (kind of like a renderer in UPnP parlance).
PSA would have to license the Roon software to put into their box (whether or not the purchaser chose to use it) and then the user would have to buy a subscription if he/she wanted Roon. At least thatâs how I understand it. Maybe, just maybe, PSA could construct the server so that the user could add Roon software if desired and not pay up front. But that would defeat the whole idea of a simple, ready-to-use box; I mean, adding software onto Linux machines is not for computer newbies.
Ok, do you need this Roon end point if you are using the USB input or just with the Bridge?
The Bridge IS a Roon end point.
You donât need the Bridge to play Roon if youâre using USB. In this case, the computer youâre connecting the DAC through USB has the Roon server and player on it. So all you would need is Roon installed on your computer and a DAC connected through USB. Youâre good to go.
Many people would prefer to tether their DAC through Ethernet, thus allowing the DAC to be away from the computer. To do that you need something like the Bridge.
The Bridge connects the computer to the DAC through any length of Ethernet Cable or WIFI. Once connected, the computer has the Roon server, the Bridge has the Roon player (or end point).
Hi,
Iâm new here, eagerly waiting for my Stellar Gain Cell Dac to be ready. The new purchase has prompted me to look for a streamer with I2S. So far all I have found are pages on Hifiberry and hacking some cards from China 
So I then looked at the Aries Mini, but no spotify is a bit of a downer, and of course no I2S.
I wonder if PSAudio would consider putting out a streamer in the new sleek Stellar case at a similar price point to the components. Most have either ripped our CDs to a NAS or have them on an external harddrive, so no need to include internal storage (outside some kind of storage buffer) or a CD/DVD mech to do the ripping. It could be considered a âLiteâ version of the server, hopefully with lots of trickle down tech 
Dan
Yes, by all means, itâs already in the works. Look for something near yearâs end.
This is very exciting Paul⊠Iâm looking for the same thing, streamer for Tidal to get away from all of the computer noise, dealing with bypassing CoreAudio, etc⊠just something clean and designed by audiophiles for optimal sound.