I personally rip my own CDs to lossless and am very careful about properly tagging them. I make sure all “artist,” “album,” “composer,” “track,” “title” and other fields are filled up correctly and without spelling errors.
I do this because prior to using the DS with Bridge II, my Cambridge CXN (network streamer with the same functionality but does not sound as good) displays that information on its LCD screen. Also, the songs are stored in a Synology NAS on which minimserver is running. I use the mconnect HD app on my iPad to choose what to play.
Meta tags show up correctly on the Cambridge CXN. Here is an example:
The song title is correct but instead of the artist, the composer shows up below. Also, the album title is correct on the CXN, but on the DS, the year meta tag of the album is also displayed.
Last but not least, my wife commented that the typeface on its LCD screen appeared “CRT-like” and not reflective of its price. She compared it to my Cambridge CXN which uses some type of font smoothing to make it more legible. Naturally, I defended the DS saying it sounds a whole lot better than the CXN, but I sort of saw where she was coming from.
My questions are:
Is this intended? Below the song title, the DS displays the “composer” tag instead of “artist?”
Can some type of font smoothing be applied to the UI of the next DS update?
In my opinion, the fact that your DS is displaying the composer rather than the performer is not caused by the DS, itself. I have seen my DS do something similar and I was able to adjust it in my server software (MinimServer). What server software are you using? If it is MinimServer, Google the following without the quotes: “minimserver which tags to display” and you should find a link with instructions to address the situation.
Bootzilla’s suggestion should take care of the issue.
But I prefer what the DS is displaying. You see the album cover to know the performer, the date is a nice bit of extra information, and you see the composer as a freeby.
What information to display is a tough call. I listen primarily to classical music Thus, I want to see the composer and the performer. I also would like conductor and orchestra and . . .
I suppose the “composer” meta tag is really what PS Audio intended to display under the “Title” tag and not the “artist” tag.
I couldn’t find any information on the meta tags displayed on the DS LCD screen while using the Bridge II in either the DS PDF manual nor the Bridge II PDF manual.
I still hope the fonts could be improved though, for better readability and to present a better appearance when compared to similar products from other manufacturers.
It would also be nice if a future firmware update would enabled cycling the LCD display between four states, namely album art only, album art + meta tag info (without volume and playing time), no display at all (completely dark), and the stock display. I believe this wouldn’t be too difficult for the fine UI engineers at PS Audio, nor would it take up too much code space.