JRiver tips and techniques: user experiences repository

[solrighal]

I've fixed my problem with making a FLAC folder. I was actually over-thinking things. What I can't seem to do is get Jremote to connect and then to get my new "view" to show in Jremote. I've followed the instructions to do this that are on the first page of this thread but it doesn't show up. Perhaps I need to restart MC19 but I can't do that until I'm finished importing thumbnails. Given that I live in the sticks and never even see north of 400kbps this could take some time.

[ted_b]

Usually just restarting jremote will do the trick (i.e show the new views you added). To restart jremote make sure you first truly close it out.

[Skeptic]

Anyway, I'd like to create a view which just shows flac files but which still retains the Artist/Album file structure. Can this be done? Not by me anyway. Can someone help me achieve this please? I've followed what I thought was the way to go but it never works right. What am I missing?

Do you actually want to view the file structure, or just the information contained in the tags?

If you only care about the tags, this is very easy to do.

 

1. Right-click the "Audio" heading in the tree and create a new library view. Use an Empty View and call it whatever you like.

2. Set the view type at the top to be a "Categories" type.

3. Add "Album Artist (auto)" and then "Year - Album" for your categories.

4. In the "set rules for file display" add a rule which is "File Type is not MP3" or you could use "Filename (path) does not contain \mp3\" if you prefer.

[solrighal]

Thanks for the input Skeptic. I've managed to do it but differently from you and I suspect not as successfully. I used "artist" & "album", then "file type is flac". The trouble is my tagging is clearly not up to scratch. I've never really bothered with tagging because I've always navigated via folder structure.

 

I noticed last night that, when scrolling through my "flac view", I could have multiple entries which are for the same album but different artists. For instance, Eminem, when I navigate to there I don't just see the complete folder, what I see is the artist and whoever he collaborated with. Sorry, it's difficult to explain what I mean.

 

It may not matter. I think your "Album Artist (auto)" category may be the answer. It'll have to wait for now but I'll get back to you either way when I get back to my machine later today.

 

Thanks again for the help, it's very much appreciated. There's nothing like computer software for making me feel my age.

[Skeptic]

Handling tracks with multiple artists, or compilation discs where each track is by a different artist can be a bit tricky, depending on how your files are tagged.

 

If the Artist field is tagged as "Eminem feat. Dido" then that will show up as a unique name for a single artist.

What you really want is to have each artist separated by a semicolon such as "Eminem; Dido" which will list that track under both "Eminem" and "Dido" in a view which lists tracks by "Artist".

 

 

The "Album Artist" field is used to specifically list an album under the name of a single artist.

So an album may have collaborators (e.g. Dido) but the album itself is an Eminem album - so you would use "Eminem" in the Album Artist field.

 

 

"Album Artist (auto)" is a special field in JRiver which tries to group your albums under a single heading automatically if the "Album Artist" field is empty, without requiring you to manually fill it out for all your albums.

 

 

If an album has Eminem listed as an Artist on every track, even if some tracks also have collaborators listed, grouping by "Album Artist (auto)" should only list the album under "Eminem" - it would not be listed under "Dido" (or any of the other collaborators) as she only contributed to a single track.

 

If you have a compilation album (e.g. "Top 40 hits" ) where every track has a different artist, the album will be listed under "(Multiple Artists)" rather than being listed under 40 different artist names.

 

 

If JRiver calculated the wrong value for this grouping (sometimes an album will be listed under "Multiple Artists" when that's not what you want) or if you want to override it with a specific name, you can manually fill out the "Album Artist" field, which takes priority over the automatically calculated one in that view.

 

For example, if you wanted that "Top 40 Hits" compilation to be listed under the name of whoever created it, rather than "Multiple Artists" you would fill out the Album Artist field with that name.

 

 

I hope that makes things a bit clearer.

[solrighal]

I hope that makes things a bit clearer.

 

Yes, that makes things much clearer, you certainly know your stuff. I must admit this is the first time I've ever paid for music software but it's actually turning into quite a sound investment. I'll be back home soon and will put this help into practise. Once more, many thanks.

[solrighal]

Yes!

 

You beauty, this works perfectly my friend.

 

Now, I have two more questions for now if I may - somewhere else I saw a tutorial on how to set up the audio section (sampling rate etc.). Any idea where I saw it because I'll be damned if I can find it now, lol?

 

Second question - is it possible to set JRiver so that when I open the program it will automatically open in my "FLAC view"? At the moment it always opens in the welcome screen view.

 

Edit - question 2 is solved. I'm an idiot.

 

Thank you.

[ted_b]

Yes!

 

You beauty, this works perfectly my friend.

 

Now, I have one more question for now if I may - somewhere else I saw a tutorial on how to set up the audio section (sampling rate etc.). Any idea where I saw it because I'll be damned if I can find it now, lol?

 

The DSP area is where you set up any up or downsamping you require. You can find it by clicking on the tools -> options -> audio -> settings or by clicking on the three graphic equalizer lines icon next to the repeat icon in the upper right corner of the main display screen.

 

There is normally nothing that needs to be done other than tell JRIver what to do with sample rates your DAC can't handle. That being said there is a plethora of features and options if you want to get creative, or if you use JRIver for other uses like multichannel, home theater, etc.

 

What DAC do you use? The O DAc? It handles 44 and 96k (according to its website; which is weird that if it does 96k why wouldn;t it do 48k, and no 88k?) so all other sample rates need to have instructions to go to one or the other.

[solrighal]

I'm using an ODAC, yes.

 

You've lost me. ?

[solrighal]

Do I set all to 96k then? What would be the point in that? I assume 96k is better than 44k. I'm embarrassed because I did read about this somewhere when I was researching all these purchases but for whatever reason I don't seem to have bookmarked it.

[ted_b]

Lost where? How to find DSP?

Here:

 

Lost about your DAC doing only 44k and 96k? Well, when I saw you had the O DAC I looked it up (to help you). A website showed it handled 16 and 24 bit 44k and 96k. If it handles 96k that means it has a 48k based clock, so why isn't 48k listed as a sample rate your DAC can handle too. And if your DAC can do 2x clock rates then why can't it do 88k (i.e most DACs that are limited to 24/96 can handle 24/44.1, 24/48, 24/88.2 and 24/96k). That's all I meant. So....if your DAC truly cannot handle 24/48 then you need to tell JRIver (my orange arrows) what to do with those sample rates. I've already shown you (red arrows) what to do with 176k and 192k music files.

 

Now...where are you lost exactly. Thx

Ted

 

P.S. Don;t necessarily set everything to 96k. I'd let redbook (44.1k) alone for now and let it play natively before you listen to it upsampled to a non-integer sample rate. You might be surprised that less processing is better. And your DAC may sound better at 44k, who knows. All DACs have sweetspots.

[solrighal]

Thank you. I'm lost in the sense that surely if a file is recorded at, say, 48k, there's no advantage in playing that back at 96k, or is there? I've just read on another forum that the ODAC supports "16/24bits @ 44/48/96khz" so you're right enough.

 

Edit- I've followed your instructions above and all is well. What's the audiophile view on "Volume Levelling"? It seems like a good idea to me since my seating position isn't near my O2 amp and getting up and down to change levels is a bit of a pain. If it degrades sound quality though then I can live without it.

[solrighal]

What do people think about JRSS? I'm not sure I even hear a difference. I notice it's on by default but turning it off seems to make little difference. Is it wise to use it or does it somehow interfere with bit perfect playback?

[Skeptic]

Edit- I've followed your instructions above and all is well. What's the audiophile view on "Volume Levelling"? It seems like a good idea to me since my seating position isn't near my O2 amp and getting up and down to change levels is a bit of a pain. If it degrades sound quality though then I can live without it.

Volume Leveling works well in my experience.

 

Technically you are going to be slightly raising the noise floor on the tracks which have their volume reduced rather than inceased, but 24-bit audio's noise floor is so low that it's an inaudible change on my system.

What do people think about JRSS? I'm not sure I even hear a difference. I notice it's on by default but turning it off seems to make little difference. Is it wise to use it or does it somehow interfere with bit perfect playback?

JRSS is only used when up or downmixing audio. If you're only playing stereo music to a stereo dac, it won't make a difference.

[solrighal]

I can definitely see the benefit of Value levelling for myself because I'm mainly lying on the couch when I'm listening to headphones and the volume control of my O2 is miles away. I'll give it a try from now.

 

I'm only listening to stereo music so it makes no difference whether JRSS is on or off, is that right?

[gumby]

I suppose I need to eat some crow now and apologize for my behavior earlier in this thread. It was unwarranted.

 

Ted_B, JRiver, and the forum as a whole. I apologize.

 

I just found this thread after spending the winter implementing a MCH computer playback solution using an exaSound e28, CAPS Zuma running JRiver and JRemote on an iPad. I briefly felt the way you did about JRiver. It is great, but for the life of me, I still don’t understand why an album isn’t just an album no matter what artist fields are involved. If you call up an album, you should get the album no matter what other kind of meta data is associated with the files. This is the kind of stuff that prevents this technology from having a wider consumer appeal.

Now that I got that off my chest, I have some questions.

I am playing DSD files and the e28 reports DSD at 2.822Mhz. JRemote and JRiver are both reporting 352.8kHz (or 384….I cannot remember which it is). What do I make of this?

Has anyone played around with the settings for buffering? If so, what have you settled on? The JRiver recommendation for prebuffering is 6 seconds, the main buffering setting is 100 milliseconds.

Thanks.

[ted_b]

Gumby, Since you are using DoP JRIver and JRemote are reporting what they are carrying (i.e PCM carrier is 352.8k for DSD128, for example, 176.4k for DSD64).

 

Not sure what you mean by "albums should be albums". They are (assuming they are either single artist or compilations..multiple artists).. But album field is not the only identifier; otherwise the Replacements' Let It Be would not be differentiated from that other obscure group that has an album that name. And JRiver is widely used, so not sure what you mean.

[gumby]

Gumby, Since you are using DoP JRIver and JRemote are reporting what they are carrying (i.e PCM carrier is 352.8k for DSD128, for example, 176.4k for DSD64).

 

Not sure what you mean by "albums should be albums". They are (assuming they are either single artist or compilations..multiple artists).. But album field is not the only identifier; otherwise the Replacements' Let It Be would not be differentiated from that other obscure group that has an album that name. And JRiver is widely used, so not sure what you mean.

 

Hi Ted,

 

I did not think I was using DoP. I have ASIO driver from exaSound with DSD selected as the bit streaming format, not DSD over PCM (DoP). I attached a screenshot so you could see what I men Also, the files are DSD64, not DSD128. As you noted, it seems it should report 176.4 if it was DoP and not 352.8? Perhaps I do not understand what is going on?

 

I would add the obscure group's name to the album title, just like I do Symphony No 2 by any number of composers and orchestras. I understand the idea though and appreciate what your saying. But it was creating more issues for me than it solved.

 

Thanks for responding and for all the other good information here.

[ted_b]

Gumby,

Good point about ASIO, not DoP. I was almost gonna delete my comments when I realized George delivers ASIO drivers (I shoudl know; I do multichannel with the e28 and wriote a damn reveiw ). It must be a reporting issue within the driver, cuz at least exaSound is reporting DSD, and that's really all that matters. My mch system is torn down now this week but I will confirm that's what it does on my end too later in the week.

[Skeptic]

It is great, but for the life of me, I still don’t understand why an album isn’t just an album no matter what artist fields are involved. If you call up an album, you should get the album no matter what other kind of meta data is associated with the files. This is the kind of stuff that prevents this technology from having a wider consumer appeal.

Well here is the most obvious reason as to why that is: what do you do when you have two albums with the same name, by different artists?

 

If you simply group by the album name, you now have two albums by completely different artists being grouped together as a single album.

 

But this is why the Album Artist field exists - to place an album under a single heading.

 

And in JRiver, you have the Album Artist (auto) field, which calculates an Album Artist value automatically.

Please read this post for more information on it.

 

I am playing DSD files and the e28 reports DSD at 2.822Mhz. JRemote and JRiver are both reporting 352.8kHz (or 384….I cannot remember which it is). What do I make of this?

You need to enable bitstreaming if you want native DSD playback.

If it's reporting 352.8kHz you are converting to PCM.

 

You may have enabled DSD encoding in the DSP Studio, instead of DSD Bitstreaming in the audio options.

Has anyone played around with the settings for buffering? If so, what have you settled on? The JRiver recommendation for prebuffering is 6 seconds, the main buffering setting is 100 milliseconds.

I wouldn't touch it if you aren't having any problems. Those settings are for fixing playback issues.

[ted_b]

Skeptic, it is not true that he is not doing bitstreaming. He is; he already said the exasound shows DSD. He is NOT converting to PCM, nor am I. I have the same thing often with jremote...showing 352.8k (happened last night) on the jremote now playing screen, but the DAC is fine and playing DSD normally. JRiver is reporting accurately for me too. What is doubly strange is that 352.8k is DoP's carrier for DSD128 not 64. Anyway, it's a Jremote reporting anomaly that does not affect sonics.

[Skeptic]

Skeptic, it is not true that he is not doing bitstreaming. He is; he already said the exasound shows DSD. He is NOT converting to PCM, nor am I.

If JRiver says that it's playing 352.8kHz 64bit audio and the DAC is receiving DSD, you are using DSD Encoding, which means it's being converted to PCM and then encoded back to DSD.

 

If you are bitstreaming DSD, the audio path should say that it's outputting 2.8MHz 1bit audio.

 

I have the same thing often with jremote...showing 352.8k (happened last night) on the jremote now playing screen, but the DAC is fine and playing DSD normally. JRiver is reporting accurately for me too. What is doubly strange is that 352.8k is DoP's carrier for DSD128 not 64. Anyway, it's a Jremote reporting anomaly that does not affect sonics.

Check what JRiver itself is saying. This might be a bug in JRemote.

[ted_b]

?? Skeptic, sorry but you need to read these posts. Do my statements "JRiver is reporting accurately" and "It's a jremote reporting anomaly" mean anything? Yes, skeptic, it's a jremote issue not a JRiver or user or DAC one.

[Skeptic]

?? Skeptic, sorry but you need to read these posts. Do my statements "JRiver is reporting accurately" and "It's a jremote reporting anomaly" mean anything? Yes, skeptic, it's a jremote issue not a JRiver or user or DAC one.

If you check Gumby's post, he says that both JRiver and JRemote report 352.8kHz on playback, and the DAC is reporting DSD.

 

This will only happen when you are using DSD Encoding, and not DSD Bitstreaming.

When bitstreaming, JRiver will report 2.8Mhz 1bit not 352.8kHz 64bit.

[gumby]

If you check Gumby's post, he says that both JRiver and JRemote report 352.8kHz on playback, and the DAC is reporting DSD.

 

This will only happen when you are using DSD Encoding, and not DSD Bitstreaming.

When bitstreaming, JRiver will report 2.8Mhz 1bit not 352.8kHz 64bit.

 

Skeptic and Ted,

 

I checked again. JRiver is reporting 352.8kHz at the top of the playing now window/page. I always assumed JRemote just reported what JRiver was seeing. It is interesting that Ted says JRiver and JRemote are not reporting the same thing.

 

Here is screenshot of my DSP studio settings. It is not enabled because I wanted the raw bistream. Note that it is reporting DSD bitstream in the footer.