PW DS DAC does not always display Album Art

Audio Components DACs
1

Hi All,

I do not always see the current track Album Art when playing tracks on my DirectStream DAC from my NAS.

I can see the Album Art in JRMC20.

I can see the Album Art by signing on to the Network Bridge web page and clicking Playing Status.

Sometimes it is displayed and other times it is not displayed.

At all times it is displayed on the Network Bridge web page.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Chip

edit - additional comment

I have just noticed that the Album Art did not change just now as the track changed but when I checked the Playing Status page of the Network Bridge the Album Art was displayed but upside down!

end of edit

2

One thing that helps is to have your art in the folder named simply " Folder.jpg " with the capitalization, no parenthesis. I get my art from http://www.albumartexchange.com/covers.php .

3

Following up on woot’s comment: I play almost exclusively FLAC files with the art embedded in each file. There is usually a little delay with displaying the art, relative to the beginning of the music. Is this because the renderer has to pull out the image from the FLAC file? Would it be faster to extract a copy of the cover art and keep a copy as Folder.jpg? Would doing so help in the occasional situation where album art is not displayed on my system? (Bridge playing files from MinimServer on a Synology NAS.)

4

Give it a whirl.

5

I would also be interested in your findings on this one.

6

Hi all,

I also almost exclusively play flac files. My experience that started this thread is only related to playing flac files.

I use JRMC20 to select the files from my NAS (QNAP TVS-463 running MinimServer) and send them to the Network Bridge (which was factory installed in the DirectStream DAC) to the DAC.

I have all my album art imbedded in flac files as a jpg image file. I also have a jpg in the same folder named ‘Folder.jpg’ just to be sure.

Still looking for a solution.

7

I’m just curious but what do you gain by running mimimserver? JRMC should be able to directly access the files on your NAS (i.e., just add the music folder to the JRMC library).

8

I have used MinimServer for years on my NAS in place of the factory provided application.

  1. I think it is more robust than the standard offering included with the hardware.

  2. I can also use a Control Point on my iPad to direct files from the NAS to the DAC without having a PC running.

9

Thanks. That makes sense. If you were just using JRMC you wouldn’t need to run server software on the NAS itself but if you sometimes go direct from NAS to Bridge you do need it.

10

I still have weird experiences with album art. Sometimes it shows and sometimes it does not not change.

I have found that if I go to the Network Bridge web page and perform a Reset UPnP then the album art will display for the next album but it does not always carry on and display the following album.

Any ideas?

Chip

11

Unfortunately album art had never been completely reliable with Bridge 1. B2 is better but still not perfect.

12

I continue testing on a regular basis hoping to get a better understanding.

Last night I loaded a 23 track playlist containing two albums, so two album covers (art). All tracks e flac with imbedded album art and a folder.jpg file of the album art in the directory containing the flac files.

The playlist played through track 16 but them stopped while playing track 17.

I did see the album art as I expected on the DS DAC for the first time.

Another day, another experience.

I am waiting with baited breath for Network Bride II hoping to finally clean up the problems of my Network Bridge I and make my system perform to specification.

13

Weird, I use DS DAC with Bridge II, and album art with WAV files never work. I use MinimServer, too. I gave up getting it working. It did work, a few times, on my DS Memory player. I gave up on that too.

Funny, the same ripped files stored on a thumb drives played in my VW GTI or E300 show album art 100%, even in random play.

Clearly the album art is there, just a really bad implementation for it. The GTI or E300 does not need a SIM card to be installed to remember album art. It seems to be attached to each WAV file for each song individually.

14

I’m curious whether you ever reached out to PS Support about the album art issue. It’s unfortunate when owners give up on issues without a fix.

15

Not everyone cares and thus do not bother.

In past discussions a number have stated they do not care whether the DAC displays album art or not, and did not rely on this as part of their purchase decision. Often they would prefer large location numbers or other display information. Others, of course, would like album art.

16

Yes. I’ve always found that to be quite odd that many people don’t seem to care that their PS Audio products don’t work 100% properly.

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17

This is, of course, not the point.

For example, I have no idea whether I can display album art or not. I do not necessarily even include album art with my rips.

Others obsess with finding fault, even if it has absolutely nothing to do with their use of the product.

18

No. It’s exactly the point. I got the impression that @rower30 was frustrated with things to the point where he’d given up on them. Which triggered my curiosity, knowing he is technically very qualified, whether his campaign to address the mentioned problems was a solo adventure, or whether he’d sought assistance from PS Audio but that had ran its course without a solution.

19

Ahh . . . so your broad sweeping comment is actually addressed solely to Galen.

Thank you for the clarification.

20

Maybe yes, maybe no. My take is this, they play music well, and the DS memory players firmware is fixed so that it now acts like a proper player.

When the DS DAC and Player dusplay album art, like proper players they will. Until then I can’t fight city hall. The city has to WANT to make this feature WORK seamlessly…Glad they decided to get the player sorted out.

Still have no explanation as to why every WAV file has album art attach, and displays 100% in either cars digital system. If a car can go it? No internet and no SIM card for album art, the data is already in each file. The point is, I don’t have to work at it to make it work. Others will be more frustrated moving from units that work seamlessly, and this would want go be avoided, yes?

Game

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