wtfplay

[AudGuy]

Hi frd_ thanks very much, no problem ... things will be hectic over the next few days anyhow.

 

I will send my email address via the link you provided.

 

All the best

[frd__]

Hi,

 

I am pleased to announce that wtfplay-live 0.6 is ready for download.

 

This release includes playback navigation and a few other changes. The details can be found in the release notes at: wtfplay-project.org/rnotes.html

 

The link to download directory can be found here.

 

Enjoy!

[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.

[sligolad]

Thanks frd! I ordered this:

Mele F10 Deluxe fly-mouse review - AndroidPCReview

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.

 

I have recently added a JPlay femto usb card, PPA OCXO CF Card reader for music files, and the Startech as discussed here:

USB Strikes Back! Watch out AOIP - USB/Ethernet Chain beats All (at least for me)

 

The Startech beats the PPA OCXO CF Card reader so all my listening is now from the Startech which works great with wtfplay even with wtfplay being loaded off one of the Startech USB ports on startup.

 

Audio PC - Gigabyte H97M-D3H @ 800Mhz Cpu & 800Mhz Ram, PPA OCXO Mobo, Teradak ATX Linear for 20 pin ATX on Mobo, Paul Hynes SR7EHD 12v for Mobo, 5v for clocks & 5v supply to Audiowind Regulator for 1.3v to RAM direct, JCat Femto USB Card 5v from Paul Hynes, Startech Lex – Amber Regen to JCat USB & Startech Rex to Lex by 2x Meicord LAN through GISO GB Isolator powered by Teddy Pardo 18v Linear, Wtfplay off USB on REX – remote control by Mele F10, D to D - PPA Red USB Cable - Intona Isolator- LFP 3.3v battery powered USB Regen – Isolated Xmos 768kHz USB DDC powered by 2 x 3.3v 0.8uV Linear Regs – i2s - D to A - Lampizator Big7, Conrad Johnson Premier 17LS, Classe CA 2200, Raidho C1s. Recent changes underlined.

[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.

[sligolad]

Hi Bodiebill,

I am playing dsf files now with my Big7 and I never heard DSD tracks sound so amazing.

I had stopped listening to HighRez and DSD because wtfplay was just so good on redbook files, better than any other player i tried.

 

Some time ago after trying superclocks on the Big7 without much benefit on the Amanero I then tried some Xmos cards which showed promise, then F1 USB card using i2s which was an improvement, then JLSounds card with clock board with anther step up.

Finally landed on the Isolated Xmos 768kHz USB DDC powered by 2 x 3.3v 0.8uV Linear Regs – i2s - reclocker which was the best of all by a way. So this is now running inside the Big7 and it has really brought the Big7 to a whole other level.

Link to work carried out here:

Tír Na HiFi • View topic - Lampizator Big7

 

The addition of the JCat Femto card and Startech was the icing on the cake. I am going to bring my gear to a large group get together tomorrow to see what the reaction is and will report back.

 

Going to get another listen to a LifePo battery powered custom design Amp which has been a giant killer at previous meets, hopefully this is now ready for final build and should be a great combo with the Big7.

 

I will hopefully get a bit more info on DSD playback from frd as regards Xmos as I am not certain if the dsf files are going through as native or not but dsf tracks on this version of wtfplay really do sound amazing.

 

As well as the above and some sets of electrostatic speakers we will be using a set of custom build 2 way speakers with ceramic cones and these have always been very impressive. So fingers crossed all with match up to some sonic bliss or maybe not!!!

 

Either way I should be able to provide some more feedback soon on DSD playback.

[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.

[Norton]

Hi,

 

I am pleased to announce that wtfplay-live 0.6 is ready for download.

 

This release includes playback navigation and a few other changes. The details can be found in the release notes at: wtfplay-project.org/rnotes.html

 

The link to download directory can be found here.

 

Enjoy!

 

Thanks frd__ 0.6 sounding excellent here. Is there any shortcut to add more native DSD-capable DACS? Only downside for me with Wtfplay (or any current Linux solution) is that I can't play DSD256 files with my DAC. Have to use Windows/Asio instead.

[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?

[Ipoci]

I did a very short test with WTF 0.6 due to the fact my audio setup is "under maintenance".

 

I noticed a different behaviour of <wtfplay> vs. <uwtfplay-dsd> with my JLSounds setup configured with DSD Volume Bypass:

 

- <uwtfplay-dsd>: In steady state, mute relay is on. As soon as the first DSD track starts, mute relay switch to off and music starts. At the end of a single track, mute relay switch to on again and then off as soon as the subsequent track starts. Sometimes (to be honest I don't find a rule), I need to set again DSD Volume Bypass by the DAC panel.

 

- <wtfplay> : With the new player, at the end of every track mute set to off and then it remain engaged even if a new track begin.

 

Any clue ?

 

Have a nice day. Massimiliano

[frd__]

@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.

 

@Ipoci: Interesting. I never came across this issue. But let's make sure that we are talking about the same things:

 

1. What player binaries from release 0.6 are you using specifically: wtfplay is one and you say this does not work. After the track finishes playing then your DAC is muted, even if the next track starts to play. uwtfplay-dsd must be the previous release as is not in the 0.6 image. I suggest to try the following player binaries from the latest image: wtfplay-dsd and uwtfplay-dsd-old.

 

2. Did you have similar symptoms with any of the previous releases of wtfplay-live?

 

F

[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.

[Blawre]

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?

 

Thanks for feedback.

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

[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?

[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?

Normally the filesystems (FS) are handled fully in the operating system's kernel, and this is true for all FS that are supported by wtfplay-live with exception of NTFS. The NTFS is handled with a help of an additional application. That means there is an extra step in all NTFS operations. That for example can slightly affect the file loading time or how quickly you get the directory listing.

 

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

It is really hard to answer this one. 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.

[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 :-)

[Blawre]

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.

Thanks for feedback - still experimenting.

[cbee]

After playing using wtfplay I want to update the last played tag. In Jriver it is read only. In tag scanner and mp3tag it show a values such as this:-1486291582

Anyone know how to interpret this or know of another metadata editor that shows the last played tag in a normal date/time format?

[frd__]

In tag scanner and mp3tag it show a values such as this:-1486291582Anyone know how to interpret this or know of another metadata editor that shows the last played tag in a normal date/time format?

 

This looks like Unix Epoch timestamp - the number of seconds since midnight 01/01/1970. Check out this site:

 

Epoch Converter - Unix Timestamp Converter

 

F

[cbee]

This looks like Unix Epoch timestamp - the number of seconds since midnight 01/01/1970. Check out this site:

 

Epoch Converter - Unix Timestamp Converter

 

F

 

Yes that's it. I can use that site, thanks.

[sligolad]

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 :-)

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

 

I have tried all manner of SSD's with PPA TCXO SSD, PPA OCXO SSD, PPA CF Card adaptor with OCXO, PPA Sata cables and all loading into RAM under Ram disk and now Wtfplay.

 

I have recently moved away from SATA as there was an improvement going to the Startech Isolator with USB sticks for music.

 

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.

[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 :-)