My exhaustive tests with dozens of storage devices were performed, mostly, at the time of JPLAY v. 6.2, where I used it in conjunction with MinimServer. At that time, I experimented with numerous filters with AVconv and FFmpeg and a lot of other things. Local storage (SSD, not HD) has always been superior (and I still think SSD and SATA cable are better than M.2 NVMe), with the computer itself managing the library and playback. More than that, I've always preferred the exclusivity of assignments, and for this reason I consider the result of the SATA connection superior only for transferring music data and, in the case of a single-PC, the network connection exclusively for remote control. The concentration of all activities inside the computer is superior, and even with two computers or a computer and a NAS, the arrangements for the pair to play better than one alone need to be rigorous. There's no use for a good computer and a bad computer, or a good computer and a bad NAS. Some NAS have the ability to manage a DLNA network or create a UPnP server. Others even allow the installation of MinimServer. It works, but not as well as using an SSD via SATA connection, with dedicated power supplies and cables (it could be a JCAT SATA Cable), and JPLAY FEMTO managing everything. In the case of femtoServer, the result is even superior to MinimServer, so I'd never consider deactivating it. If that were not enough, the femtoServer is a fundamental part to enable low latencies and a high DAC Link, which brings a result that is usually (not always) superior. It's the double combination of femtoServer and JPLAY FEMTO that makes it the fantastic tool it is, the best I've tried. So, I would use the single-PC as it actually is (and not as Audio-PC, disabling the femtoServer) and try to allocate the music files on an internal SSD, via SATA connection. If this were not possible, it would create a virtual disk to locate the NAS, but I would keep the activity of organizing the library and reproduction concentrated in the JPLAY FEMTO (in this case, the JCAT Net Card FEMTO can be just as important as the JCAT USB Card FEMTO, and you could also consider creating an independent DHCP server to connect the NAS directly to the computer - without router, instead of making a bridge connection - it is a adjustment that I consider best, with two subnets and JPLAY FEMTO between them). Regarding TIDAL, I tested it a little over a year ago, for only 30 days, and found the quality to be much lower. I don't have much experience, but I would probably see: (i) network problems (latency, packet loss, lack of response in time, etc.); (ii) problems with the cell phone or tablet controller (energy saving mode mainly, which MUST be disabled), and; (iii) lastly, there would be a problem with the computer. It doesn't seem to be the case, as the problem appears to be only via streaming. PS .: Marcin, the tool for creating a network with an independent DHCP is very small and only adds a background process. The one I used, if I'm not mistaken, had less than 1MB. Perhaps, for the next editions of JPLAY, it will be possible to implement something like this, to make it possible to connect a NAS directly to one of the ports of the JCAT Net Card FEMTO without the need for a bridge connection (in which case the router would continue to manage the IP and the data flow). Although this isn't necessary for the integration of two PCs with fixed IPs, I believe that for the direct integration of a PC and a NAS it's necessary. I don't know if any NAS behaves like the computer, where the fixed IP allows direct connection.

Thank you @FelipeRolim You are right, I misunderstand the question that AO makes regarding JPLAY. My router does not allow me to configure static IP for my devices, so I have done it each one. I will plan to buy a router in the future, but I have to do it with caution, because not everyone can replace the one from my network provider. I've installed WS 2019 non core(in the future I plan to install core edition, but right now to simplify I prefer install "graphical" edition) and follow your advices, I'm really happy with the results. But I still have one problem: - Listening to Tidal using BubbleUpnp app to control it, the songs in the queue keeps skipping after 1/2 minutes of play time; Using BubbleUpnp or Fidata(iOS) to play songs from my WD MyCloud DLNA server, all works well; What can cause the problem of BubbleUPNP streaming Tidal? I use an Huawei P10 and I already disable all "Power Saving" options that I found. My JPLAY's settings are the same as in my first post, exception to Hibernate Mode that now is ON. Is there any advantage in using JPlayFetmoServer to stream files from my WD MyCloud over using WD MyCloud DLNA server directly? If so, how can I configure JPlayFetmoServer to use files stored in my WD MyCloud. I may have to map it to work as a normal hard drive in Windows, is that true? If I don't plan to use JPlayFetmoServer at all, is there a way to disable it? In that case should I configure my PC as an AudioPC(in AO, Fidelizer and JPLAY) or I have to still configure it as Single PC?

Not every manufacturer develops its own driver or sufficiently improves a generic driver (such as Thesycon) to extract the most of hardware quality. So, it's very difficult to assess what can be better. The drivers from Hegel, Wyred4Sound and the old USB controllers from Schiit, for example, are not as improved as possible. But, even so, I always find them more reliable. Regarding the order of installation, I'm not the greatest expert on this, but I believe that the JPLAY FEMTO needs to be installed first. Audiophile Optimizer doesn't ask if we want to uninstall JPLAY, but rather disable the network service related to it. If you don't have two computers (Control-PC and Audio-PC), the answer will always be no. However, installing JPLAY FEMTO before is important because the Audiophile Optimizer changes to adapt to it. From start to finish, my sequential order is: (i) install JPLAY FEMTO; (ii) install Audiophile Optimizer, but don't run it; (iii) install the DAC driver through Service Tools; (iv) run the Audiophile Optimizer. An additional tip: using DHCP on the computer and on the router is always very comfortable and always works. More than that, remote access by mstsc.exe helps a lot and solves the vast majority of situations, eliminating a monitor, a mouse and a keyboard (which are very bad for the audio quality). But, in Audiophile Optimizer, disabling all network services brings a substantial improvement. It happens that, so that this doesn't harm the JPLAY FEMTO, it's necessary that the network controller is always configured with fixed IP. BubbleUPnP will continue to work. This, for me, is the best possible scenario for extracting the best quality: fixed IP, without network services, without remote access, without HDMI / VGA connections, and without the USB connection being shared with any other device (mouse and keyboard). Then, the computer will only have three connections: power cable, USB cable from the DAC and network cable for the remote control. I'm very grateful for your words, and for knowing that you have helped and inspired in some way to experience more. I really believe that, today, we haven't yet discovered anything that is more capable than Windows, be it together with JPLAY FEMTO, be it together with Audirvana, HQPlayer or other high level software. I've never seen a Linux perform the same way, even though I tested it all. But, for that, it is necessary to know how to make it work at its maximum. This is also why I consider some reviews to be flawed, unreliable or with little depth of experimentation, such as the one published about the JCAT Net Card FEMTO. Although I consider this card to be highly reliable and intend to buy two in the future, to get the most out of it we need a different level of intimacy with the settings, mainly using Windows Server 2019 in Core Mode.

Thank you @FelipeRolim for your input. Strange that a different Android phone as impact in sound quality. In mconnect I understand, because mconnect downloads the song and then sends it to the JPLAY(so a better cpu, wireless module, etc can impact sound quality), but in BubbleUpnp the song is downloaded by JPLAY. I will try to test it with different devices and see what happens. I will try to implement your recommendations regarding Home Network Configuration. And thank you for your posts here in Audiophilestyle, you are one of the persons that make me give Windows/JPLAY another shoot. After hearing JPLAY, even without any Windows' tweak, I found it's sound quality superior to every Linux Audio Distributions that I've tested(Euphony/Gentoo/Daphile/Volumio). With AO3 + Fidelizer + MinorityClean installed, it's even better. Related to my problems: When I installed AO3 I already have JPLAY installed, and on the AO3 setup in one of the steps it asks to delete JPLAY, I answered NO. I should have uninstalled JPLAY, and installed it again after AO3 setup? There is some order on Software(JPLAY + AO3 + Fidelizer + MinorityClean) installation that I should follow? I see on a post someone talking about the "Thesycon driver". I should use "Thesycon driver" or stick with the manufacturer drivers for my Roksan K3 DAC?

Hello. I did very extensive tests with every smartphone/iPhone software I found. I can't say that they were all conclusive, but I managed to make a good impression of them. So, here are some reports: 1 - MConnect is the worst software I've tried, with a good margin. I believe this is because, with MConnect, the mobile device becomes the signal path, so the wireless signal (which I try to avoid as much as possible) becomes fundamental, the quality of the device too, and in the end, we create a path that doesn't seem to be the best. It contradicts what we have as most perfect in audiophile terms, which is the wired connection. 2 - BubbleUPnP has always been the best on my system (although I never tried Audirvana). But, it also has particularities that I consider important for the extraction of the best quality. In my case, I have two individual subnets, one general for the house and the other for computers (Control-PC and Audio-PC). It's the general network that serves to control playback, and even though there is NO transfer of music data through it, BubbleUPnP still improves the quality by having the controlled computer and the cell phone set with fixed IP on the router. Furthermore, the quality of the router makes difference, the wireless network, and also the mobile device itself. I installed the same version of BubbleUPnP on a Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and a Galaxy Note 9. The playback commanded by Note 9 was clearly better. And, if all this wasn't enough, more recently (I would say the last five updates), BubbleUPnP has considerably improved its quality and stability. So, it all depends on the circumstances and several other factors. I find it very difficult to identify the best one, as the circumstances of the experiment are decisive for the result. For a while I used and preferred the fidata Music App, but the BubbleUPnP updates did it the best again, on my system.

My goal is to stream TIDAL to my NUC8i5BEH with JPLAY Fetmo + AO3 + Fidelizer + MinorityClean. I was looking to the best way to control Tidal and stream music to JPLAY, so far I've tested: - Audirvana in Macbook streaming to JPLAY - Best sound quality, but I don't want to use it as it required that my MAC is always on; - BubbleUpnp(Android) - Pretty good sound quality, slight worst than the above configuration but still great; The problem is when the phone is locked, the next song on the queue does not play; Also doesn't support MQA, but this isn't a big deal; - Audirvana installed on the same machine of JPLAY - Worst than BubbleUpnp but better than mconnect; Audirvana Remote iOS app sometimes don't connect to Audirvana; - mconnect(iOS) - The worst, as it is device dependent: iPhoneX > iPad Mini Retina > iPhone SE; The iPhoneX that I use to test isn't mine so I can benefit of the superior sound quality of it; There are better ways to stream TIDAL to JPLAY? It is better to install BubbleUpnp on my NUC, activate OpenHome and control Tidal with Linn/Lumin app? Or I will get bad sound quality and problems connecting to it? Related to my problem with BubbleUpnp Android's app, there are some setting that I'm missing? How do you have your BubbleUpnp app and Android phone configured? I'm doing more tests and now I'm having the following problems, I don't detect them before installed AO3: mconnect- Music stops after 2/3minutes; Audirvana in Macbook streaming to JPLAY - Parts of music gets mixed and music stops after 2/3minutes; What I'm doing wrong?

PURE TRANSMISSION OF NETWORK MUSIC DATA. High quality cryo treated copper wire with gold plated connectors guarantee improved transmission of network audio signals resulting in increased level of resolution and clarity. Reference LAN Cable GOLD available now at www.jcat.eu The cable offers ~65% of the performance of the flagship Signature LAN Cable GOLD Regards, Marcin

Good to hear! Enjoy Regards, Marcin

Yes, I found out that the drivers that I was using are not the correct ones. MQA problem seems also to be resolved, in the Roksan Dac settings I changed Output format from 2channels 16bits to 2channels 24bits and that did the trick. Thank you Marcin for the fast support. I will do more tests, and see if everything is working properly if so I will purchase an JPLAY license. Best Regards, Mário São João

Related to crashes in JPLAY, I think I found the problem. I was using the wrong DAC drivers, I downloaded them from Roksan Black Integrated Amplifier page because there is no Roksan K3 DAC page(old model). Although they work, apparently they don't work properly. I contact Roksan to find out if these are the proper drivers and they send me the link to the K3 ones. I installed them and until now no crashes from JPLAY. But Audirvana/BubbleUpnp MQA files still don't play and I'm pretty sure that in one of my previous installations I was able to stream MQA files throw Audirvana using JPLAY KS.

Thanks for the screenshot. You are using the largest buffer size which can be an issue. I'd recommend increasing DAC Link to 10Hz which is the default value and start from there. Also, make sure that you have a driver installed from your USB DAC manufacturer. Built in Microsoft USB Audio Class 2 driver is not supported. if your USB DAC driver has a control panel where you can adjust buffer size, you may play with this too. BTW - did you enable 'optimize for single PC option' in JPLAY installation setup? It is recommended. Regards, Marcin

You can see my configuration in the attached file. I also have tested with other "DAC Link" values with same results. I already tried with Bubble UPnP app, but for me Audirvana sounds better. I also have an Beresford Caiman Seg Dac that I've tried but it crashes always, I can't even make it work.

Hello, Thanks for the compliments on SQ. Can you please tell me the exact configuration in JPLAY settings panel? BTW - I'd highly recommend using Bubble UPnP remote app, although it requires an Android device. Regards, Marcin

I recently bought a NUC8i5BEH, with 16gb Optane and 1x16gb 2400mhz in order to test various Linux audio distributions and stick with one. In the process I read some posts/reviews saying JPLAY is superior, so I give it a try. I have to agree with them, to me JPLAY is another league, much more musical, less harsh, music has flow, it's fantastic. I'm planning to buy an JPLAY license but first I have to figure out two problems that I have. What I've test: I have installed it in several windows versions(10, 2019 server and 10 enterprise LTSC). I have installed Roksan drivers in order to be able to use Kernel Streaming. I have used Audirvana and Mconnect(iOS) to stream Tidal. I have tested with/without MinorityClean and Fidelizer free. Problems: After I hear 4/5 musics it crashs(I'm testing, so usually I hear 30 seconds of one them switch to another) (see attached image). Sometimes MQA files doesn't play. Using Roksan K3 Dac directly works perfectly but JPLAY sounds much better. Note that I'm using and 16gb Optane as disk so I have only 1gb(2gb in 2019 server) of free space in disk, but that doesn't seems to be the problem. Can someone help me?

Hi Guys, Please leave a review and star rating on the Polestar platform. Thank you in advance! Here is the link: The USB Cards are sold out now! New batch is expected in April. There will be a big announcement this month from JCAT. Stay tuned for more details Best regards, Marcin

Hi Guys, I have a favor to ask you who have used the cards, please leave a review and star rating on the Polestar platform. Here is the link: Thank you in advance! Best regards, Marcin

Hello @austinpop, I asked here : no feedback. same question on the gentooplayer thread bring a strange answer... i did not follow up on these 2 threads. I will try to deep dive in the eth tools.

Please let us know what you learn. It seems like this can be done with a sequence of "ethtool" commands, but there may be a cleaner way using a config file somewhere.

This is a prototype of a music server that I showed in Munich last year. There have been new developments since then which will delay the music server. Regarding smaller endpoint device, I've been working on it for quite some time already - designing a computer from a scratch is a complex project... Regarding 5ppb oscillators - these are small these days, you will see. Anyway, this is OT discussion.

Apacer SSD..hmmmmm

Could this perhaps be it? Where I’m still pondering how the 5ppb oscillator would fit in 🤔

In that case, it would be interesting to see a JCAT endpoint, fanless server or -even better- a NUC Compute Element JCAT expansion NET card. I’ll keep my fingers crossed 👍

Thanks Marcin, I’m checking with Piero from AudioLinux if he has some ideas

Windows will load the drivers automatically, but I recommend installing the drivers from intel. The drivers from intel are also available for Linux

thanks for asking the question as I have the same thought about linux. @Marcin_gps the drivers for Windows are generic or specific ?