wtfplay

[bodiebill]

Give BugHead Green a try: much less features and older but does the job as well - less features -> more stability a lot of times.

Any idea where can I find BugHead Green?

[bodiebill]

Just tried wtfplay for the first time and I am impressed. Actually, it is the first time that a Linux system can compete (or is maybe even better) than my dual PC setup with JPLAY, AO, FP, PL and the likes of Hysolid, Upplay and BHE. The idea of a low-footprint Linux OS dedicated to audio already appealed to me, but the results with Daphile and Snakeoil OS were disappointing. But not with wtfplay!

 

I usually play DSD128 files that I first create (from DSD64 or flac) using Jriver MC. Reading about uwtfplay-dsd, I thought I'd try DSD256 files but alas these do not play: the white play window crashes immediately when i try.

 

Did anyone succeed in playing DSD256 with wtfplay?

[bodiebill]

Not me at least. My DAC supports dsd256 but only via native DSD, not DoP. The downside is that only a subset of native DSD-capable DACS are currently recognised as such in Linux. Hence why no dsd256 via Wtfplay for me. Maybe same applies? WTFPlay also reads the complete track into memory before play, presumably you have enough free RAM to hold what could be a large file?

I occasionally get problems with WTFplay if the DAC has been used with another player beforehand - sorting failure to play can sometimes be as simple as turning DAC off and starting afresh.

Thanks Norton!

 

My DAC (Lampi 7 Lite with Combo384 Amanero) is upgraded to DSD256. It does accept native DSD, as I verified with HQPlayer and Jriver. I also tried with a very short DSD256 track but to no avail, so I guess it is not a RAM issue. (This PC has 8GB RAM.) And restarting the DAC did not help.

[bodiebill]

Haven't looked in a while but I found it through Yokota's home page.

 

Thanks YashN; seems to be no longer available on his website.

[bodiebill]

Unless you had DSD256 working with Linux versions of HQP and JRiver, issue is probably (lack of ) Linux support for your particular DAC with native DSD. Details here

 

Yes, that could be it. Following the link you supply I did find an update from last March: "Updated patch for Amanero Combo384. Requires at least firmware 1099rc2". So maybe there is hope for future versions of wtfplay...

[bodiebill]

I found this download but don't know whether its any good. I have downloaded it in good order, but not activated yet, still playing with wtfplay.

 

VectorF ƒ_ƒEƒ“ƒ[ƒh‚𒆎~‚µ‚Ü‚µ‚½

 

Not easy crossing languages. I will try this but I'm concerned with all the variables having come from one that has many and never got it right.

Hmmm, the link does not work for me. However it looks like this is the last version of Bughead, 7.81, which can be downloaded here: Bug head

[bodiebill]

Would it be possible to use a wireless keyboard (for instance using bluetooth) with wtfplay?

[bodiebill]

@bodiebill: a wireless keyboard with the USB dongle will work just fine.

Thanks frd! I ordered this:

Mele F10 Deluxe fly-mouse review - AndroidPCReview

[bodiebill]

Thanks frd! I ordered this:

Mele F10 Deluxe fly-mouse review - AndroidPCReview

Hi frd, the above fly-mouse works well, there is just one thing: it has no TAB button.

Would it be possible to add an option to use 't' as an alternative for TAB? (Just like 'h' can be used as an alternative for F10?)

Then the remote control would be perfect!

[bodiebill]

@bodiebill: Of course, I will add another key for 'wtfcui' to switch the panels.

That is great, thanks frd!

I do appreciate this wonderful player and your dedication to further improve it!

[bodiebill]

@bodiebill: Of course, I will add another key for 'wtfcui' to switch the panels.

That is great, thanks frd!

Oops, I now realize that something similar applies to the Ctrl button, which is used to stop the music.

So would it perhaps be possible to also have a one-letter alternative (such as c or s) to stop the music, alongside Ctrl-C?

[bodiebill]

About file systems:

 

For wtfplay, NTFS has a small performance penalty and the main HFS+ partition of OSX Lion and above cannot be accessed.

 

So does this mean that FAT32 is the best file system to be used by those who do not use Linux except for wtfplay, and want read/write compatibility with either Windows or Mac?

 

Is exFAT (successor of FAT32 without 4GB/file and 8TB/partition limitations) not supported?

[bodiebill]

So does this mean that FAT32 is the best file system to be used by those who do not use Linux except for wtfplay, and want read/write compatibility with either Windows or Mac?

Just tried with a disk formatted with Mac OX Extended (journaled) on the latest MacOS (Sierra), and the files appear in wtfp.

So I am not exactly sure what "the main HFS+ partition of OSX Lion and above cannot be accessed" exactly means. Can anyone explain?

[bodiebill]

As for HFS+ it is supported and if you format a partition using HFS+ then wtfplay-live will see files. The problem is that the newer releases of OSX do not just use HFS+. They use a sort of logical volume manager. It provides features such as encryption or snapshots. By default OSX uses it for system partition.

F

 

My iMac, although running Sierra, apparently is still using the old 'SATA Internal Physical Disk' instead of the 'CoreStorage LVG' layout for the system disk. I checked this in Disk Utility.

And the USB stick formatted with HFS+ (with the 'Master Boot Record' option although I don't think this matters) works well with wtfp.

Thanks frd!

[bodiebill]

First impressions are good. Installation was easy following the instructions on your website. And having some alternative keystrokes (such as O for Tab) is very handy for my air mouse :-)

Too early to say anything about the sound...

Great work, thanks Fryderyk!

[bodiebill]

Question about getting DSD256 native to work with my Combo384 Amanero DSD256 ready Lampizator DAC: will that work with wtfplay 0.6? Or, if not, is there a way to make it work?

Combo384 Amanero is mentioned on the website with experimental kernel patches (see link in wtfplay manual section 2.3), but I am not sure what the necessary steps would be to add support for it.

[bodiebill]

Been working with the Mele F10 for all control of wtfplay over recent weeks and it is working great here with the latest release.

 

This has been the most significant release for me to date since wtfplay was launched, with the updated player bypassing some Alsa libraries now and going direct to Linux kernel it has improved sound.

 

Also I have added a lot of hardware recently and wtfplay works with it all with no hiccups and has added flexibility.

 

hi sligolad,

Great setup, impressive! Did you succeed in playing non-DoP DSD256 with wtfplay into your Lampi Big7?

So far I have not succeeded to make that work with my DSD256-ready Lite 7 with Combo384 Amanero.

[bodiebill]

Thanks sligolad!

 

I am not planning to buy any new stuff just now. Everything is going so fast it can be dizzying. Currently sticking with my two setups:

(1) wtfplay with DSD128 files on SD card, and

(2) Server 2016 JPLAY dual PC setup playing from RAM with AO, FP, PL and audio PC optically isolated with glass fiber.

 

All powered with linear PSU's/battery.

 

Looking forward to developments that make non-DoP DSD256 possible with Combo384 Amanero – which applies to both setups.

[bodiebill]

Really enjoying 6.0, currently with buffer at 8192. Sound is precise and smooth at the same time, and doesn't tire.

 

Question: is it possible to influence the screen standby time, i.e. the time that passes before the screen goes black?

[bodiebill]

@bodiebill: there is a command setterm. You can use it to control the screen blank time. Here is the link to its manual page:

 

https://linux.die.net/man/1/setterm

 

The parameters that you are interested in are: -powerdown and -powersave.

 

Thanks Fryderyk! After some fiddling I got it to work with this command:

 

setterm -blank 1

 

which blanks the screen after 1 minute of inactivity.

[bodiebill]

Can you advise the effects on sound that increasing buffer to 8192 has in respect to the default?In my system I think that decreasing the buffer down to no lower than 512 has a beneficial effect.Also have you any experience in the other settings?

Regards

 

Thanks blawre. No experience with other settings. One of these these, when I find the time, I will compare buffer sizes and post the results...

[bodiebill]

Can you advise the effects on sound that increasing buffer to 8192 has in respect to the default?

In my system I think that decreasing the buffer down to no lower than 512 has a beneficial effect.

Just compared 8192 with lower values and in my system (playing DSD128 into Lampizator DAC with Amanero) 8192 is more open and relaxed. I prefer it. YMMV.

[bodiebill]

hi frd,

 

In the manual you say "There is a small performance penalty when accessing NTFS filesystem under Linux". Can you elaborate? Is it about access speed or about sound quality? I would not expect the latter as wtfplay loads everything into RAM anyway first, correct?

 

Related question: does the type of storage (usb, ssd, ...) influence sound quality?

[bodiebill]

I know some people claim the best results are with SATA disks (SSD or HDD) only. Other group do not use SATA at all. Instead they use USB3.0 drives only. I think that this is very system specific. I would suggest: test it yourself. It does not take long time and will give you the best answer that you can get.

 

Thanks frd, yes I will test it myself. If I will hear a difference it will agains my expectation because the files are played from RAM. But ears have to prevail over theory :-)

[bodiebill]

Unfortunately the source of the files still makes a difference :-((

[...]

You would think the type of USB stick would not matter after going the the LAN Isolator but a recent purchase of SLC USB sticks has made a marked improvement over MLC USB sticks. Harder to come by and more expensive the SLC USB solution is the best storage hardware I have heard so far.

 

That is really interesting. When I remove my usb stick or SD card after wtfplay has loaded the files, the music plays gloriously.

Does wtfplay really 'remember' where the files came from?

If our ears say 'yes' we have to believe it, but it would be mind-boggling :-)