paulpaul Posted June 16, 2015 Share Posted June 16, 2015 I am running a 2012 i7 MBP as a server and a Mac Mini 2009 as a Network Audio Daemon. How should I further improve the sound quality? Should I remove the fan from Mac Mini or use a LPS with he MBP? Link to comment
paulpaul Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 I am just in the middle of road. Sonore told me its solution didn't support direct ethernet connection - from HQPlayer (Macbook Air) to its NAA without switch. Any suggestions for a NAA box which supports direct ethernet connection with HQPlayer? Link to comment
paulpaul Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 I tried both configurations by using my Mac Mini as NAA. The sound quality has a big big difference. It is why I use the direct ethernet connection to the NAA. You told me that these two should be the same in SQ. I am using "flat" Cat 6 cables at home rather than the twisted pairs cables. Will this affect the sound quality? Link to comment
paulpaul Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 I am using Apple Airport Express. Link to comment
paulpaul Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 I tried these 2 configurations. 1. MBA ---- audio ethernet cable ---> Airport Express --- flat Cat 6 Cable ---> Mac Mini (NAA) --- USB---> DAC 2. MBA ---- audio ethernet cable ---> Mac Mini (NAA) --- USB ---> DAC There is a big difference between these 2 options. The second one's SQ is much better than the first one. Link to comment
paulpaul Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 paulpaul, as an endpoint device the Sonore device will work with any upstream switch, physical or virtual. With my SMS-100, I used a virtual switch in the control PC and the SMS-100 worked in either MPD/DLNA mode and NAA mode without issue.[/quoteImitche, thanks for your experience. Jesus confirmed me that Sonore's solution could not work without a switch / router. Finally, I am narrow down to 2 actions. 1. Find a NAA to replace my Mac mini and stick with a direct ethernet connection. 2. Find out why there is a degrade in SQ when NAA goes through a router and fix it. It seems option 1 is the simplest and costs less. Link to comment
paulpaul Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 I am using Apple Airport Express. I just confused with the Apple products naming. Mine is an Airport Extreme. Link to comment
paulpaul Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 Thanks Miska. I have tried your setting and the SQ is very good. My audio ethernet grade cable is not long enough for permanent wiring. I would like to ask which setting you recommend. 1. Apple Extreme -> Cat 6 -> Fiber Media Converter -> Optical Cable -> Fiber Media Converter -> Cat 6 -> NAA 2. Apple Extreme -> Cat 7 -> NAA (I don't know how to ground the Cat 7 cable) Link to comment
paulpaul Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 Miska, appreciate very much for your explanation. Regarding option 2, do you have any good model (switch) in mind? Link to comment
paulpaul Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 I only managed to buy a Cisco SG92-24 and it has 2 SFP ports. I tried it last night and the noise level is much lowered. The next thing to try could be the SFP to fiber media converter. Thanks again, Miska. Link to comment
paulpaul Posted May 19, 2016 Share Posted May 19, 2016 I am using the latest version of HQPlayer on Windows 10 and NAA 311 version on Cubox-i4Pro. I experienced a lot of dropout.s However, I use my Macbook Air to replace the Cubox-i as NAA and using 320 version. No more dropout happens. So, I installed 321 verson on Cubox, but then HQPlayer cannot see it. When I switch back the NAA to previous version, my HQPlayer sees it again. Any experience sharing on the current version NAA on Cubox? Link to comment
paulpaul Posted May 20, 2016 Share Posted May 20, 2016 Interested in feedback as well since I'm experiencing the same thing. The cubox is unusable at this point. I picked up a cubox-i4pro for use as an NAA mainly as a test before getting a sonic orbitor or microR. I'm using the latest cubox NAA image and latest HQPlayer on a high end win10 wkst. Network is fiber (switch to media converter to cubox) but tried cat6 and no difference. I have been using a mini as the NAA for sometime without any issues whatsoever. I have tried all the HQPlayers buffer settings to no avail. DAC is a Lampi L7, upsampling PCM to DSD. I get the same results playing native PCM I hope there is someone that can lend assistance. Sent from CA app Cubox NAA is quite a black box to us. It works then it works. I am also wondering whether I should install a NUC as NAA. BTW, I am using a Lamp L4 DSD only. Link to comment
paulpaul Posted May 21, 2016 Share Posted May 21, 2016 Perhaps you are referring to this message:http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f11-software/hq-player-20293/index216.html#post544058 Thanks for your suggestion. I tried but it didn't work. Link to comment
paulpaul Posted May 21, 2016 Share Posted May 21, 2016 Owning both (Cubox-i4Pro and Sonore MicroRendu) I can assure you that comparing you Cubox to you computer will tell you NOTHING about how a MicroRendu will sound. Would be about as valid as driving a Yugo up a hill and concluding that all compact cars are poor performers uphill. It is good to know the difference. However our Cubox cannot play the music probably, i.e. lots of dropouts. Now, it is a pretty difficult situation to invest on a similar box. Link to comment
paulpaul Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 Sorry, may be I go to a wrong link. I cannot find the new 3.4.0 for Cubox. Link to comment
paulpaul Posted June 16, 2016 Share Posted June 16, 2016 3.4 is what I am using. I cannot find the log file on the NAA. Where do I find it. This is what it says when it crashes: 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Play + 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Playback engine running 2016/06/10 10:27:30 No suitable output rate for 44100, stop 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Parallel threads: 8 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Nested parallelism: 0 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Parallel pipelines: 4 - 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Playback engine stopped & 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Pause & 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Play + 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Playback engine running 2016/06/10 10:27:30 No suitable output rate for 44100, stop 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Parallel threads: 8 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Nested parallelism: 0 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Parallel pipelines: 4 & 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Stop - 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Playback engine stopped - 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Network engine stopping... 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Set convolution: 1 & 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Play + 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Playback engine running 2016/06/10 10:27:30 No suitable output rate for 44100, stop 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Parallel threads: 8 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Nested parallelism: 0 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Parallel pipelines: 4 - 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Playback engine stopped 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Set convolution: 1 & 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Play + 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Playback engine running 2016/06/10 10:27:30 No suitable output rate for 44100, stop 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Parallel threads: 8 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Nested parallelism: 0 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Parallel pipelines: 4 - 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Playback engine stopped 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Set convolution: 1 & 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Play + 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Playback engine running 2016/06/10 10:27:30 No suitable output rate for 44100, stop 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Parallel threads: 8 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Nested parallelism: 0 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Parallel pipelines: 4 - 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Playback engine stopped 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Set convolution: 1 & 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Play + 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Playback engine running 2016/06/10 10:27:30 No suitable output rate for 44100, stop 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Parallel threads: 8 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Nested parallelism: 0 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Parallel pipelines: 4 - 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Playback engine stopped 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Set convolution: 1 & 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Play + 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Playback engine running 2016/06/10 10:27:30 No suitable output rate for 44100, stop 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Parallel threads: 8 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Nested parallelism: 0 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Parallel pipelines: 4 - 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Playback engine stopped & 2016/06/10 10:27:30 Pause Hi I also have a cubox but I cannot find any cubox NAA under the images directory in HQplayer. Could you pls show me the link? Link to comment
paulpaul Posted June 18, 2016 Share Posted June 18, 2016 I have a Win10 NAA running on i3-6100t. It is a low power CPU. Link to comment
paulpaul Posted June 27, 2016 Share Posted June 27, 2016 For anyone experiencing dropouts with a Cubox and or SOSE, this solved the issue (thanks to ericuco for pointing this out). Apparently, with some endpoints, too fast of a network/information seems to overwhelm some devices. I put a dumb 100MB switch before the Cubox and no issues whatsoever. Since my network connection to my listening room is fiber (I ran a long temporary eth cable from switch for this test) and the media converter is 1GB only, the Cubox is limited to 470Mbps and won't work with this setup. I won't be putting a 100MB switch in my rig, but could set the port to 100MB on my managed switch which should work, but have not tried yet and doubt I will. Search continues for an NAA..... It works for me too. Thanks. Link to comment
paulpaul Posted December 1, 2017 Share Posted December 1, 2017 I have been using HQPlayer (Windows 10) with NAA (Windows Server 2012 R2) and my DAC is Holo Spring. I was using Holo ASIO drivers. They have been running perfectly. Recently, I bought an i2s card and for some reasons I have to use WASAPI. I never tried this before. My problem is my HQPlayer PC cannot see the NAA. Do I miss out anything? Link to comment
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