wtfplay

[AnotherSpin]

Is there a way to test this wunderwaffe player in a real world operation system environment? Mac OS if you please.

[sligolad]

This Cudowna broń player has instructions for real world systems....even for OSX....RTM 

 

[bodiebill]

Used to upconverting everything to DSD into my Lampizator DAC, and following glowing reports on the quality of Red Book CD with wtfplay, I connected my previous DAC again, an Audio Aéro Prestige Signature DAC/SACD player, and listened to wav files. Stunning SQ indeed! And I also remembered how good that DAC is, and in some way even more musical and absorbing than the Lampizator DAC.

 

However, when trying to play DSD64 via the Audio Aéro, I only get a soft hiss. I do remember this DAC played DSD files under Windows. However, all the wtfplay variants I tried produce this hiss. Is this DAC not compatible with wtfplay DSD?

[AnotherSpin]

41 minutes ago, sligolad said:

This Cudowna broń player has instructions for real world systems....even for OSX....RTM 

 

Would you please give a link to instructions for OSX? Thank you.

[sligolad]

6 hours ago, AnotherSpin said:

Would you please give a link to instructions for OSX? Thank you.

Follow link in the first line of first post in this tread and you will find a very good set of instructions.

 

For installation guides and user guides click on the Docs link at the top of the page.

It can be a bit daunting if you have always been a GUI user in Windows or OSX like myself but if I can work it out then most can get to terms with a Linux based setup....again only worth the effort if sound quality is your main interest as graphic content will be minimal at best.

 

Good thing is that you do not mess up your OS or hardware even if you give up on the USB stick preparation or you stop running the software off your USB stick....PC or laptop remains unchanged.

 

Once you create the USB stick you can move it between PC's or laptops.

[sligolad]

7 hours ago, bodiebill said:

However, when trying to play DSD64 via the Audio Aéro, I only get a soft hiss. I do remember this DAC played DSD files under Windows. However, all the wtfplay variants I tried produce this hiss. Is this DAC not compatible with wtfplay DSD?

Surprised to hear DSD files do not play as I do know Fryderyk has tested a lot of USB hardware with the player, I expect he will have a look in here soon with some ideas on what may be the problem.

 

Must look up this DAC myself but good to hear it work well with Redbook.

[frd__]

I am happy to let you know that the new release of wtfplay-live is now
available. The ISO images and the release notes can be found in the usual
location:

 

http://wtfplay-project.org/rnotes.html

 

Also, the support for DFF and AIFF files is nearly finished, so expect the
new release soon. Initially I planned to include these features in this
release, but the code is not sufficiently tested.

 

Anyway - have a fun with this release. I hope that you will like it.

 

@AnotherSpin wtfplay-live is a LiveCD - you need burn it onto an optical disk,

or write it onto a memory sick. Then boot your PC from that disk/stick. Check

out the installation manual here and also see the quick start quide.

 

@bodiebill how do you connect your SACD player to your PC? Coax? USB?

 

F

[bodiebill]

Hi Fryderyk,

 

Good news, I will download soon.

 

And the connection between my Audio Aéro DAC (SACD player) to my PC is:

DAC => SPDIF (BNC) => Audiophilleo 1 => USB cable => PC

[frd__]

Do you use any volume control on your Audiophilleo 1? That may destroy DoP markers in the audio stream. Just make sure that Audiophilleo works in bit-prefect mode.

[bodiebill]

Thanks Fryderyk! I am sure I have the Audiophilleo volume fixed at 100%, but will have a look again tomorrow.

[AnotherSpin]

15 hours ago, frd__ said:

 

@AnotherSpin wtfplay-live is a LiveCD - you need burn it onto an optical disk,

or write it onto a memory sick. Then boot your PC from that disk/stick. Check

out the installation manual here and also see the quick start quide.

 

I followed your directions and installed ISO image on old usb stick - burning process took 20 or 30 minutes, but it was successful. I booted mac mini from USB and play music files through iDSD micro, it works fine. The sound quality - I compare wtf with HQ Player which have been my player of choice for couple of years now. Well, what I hear from wtf is impressive. I am trying not to jump too fast and too far with conclusions, but initial impressions are very promising.

 

Now I need to go deeper into all settings and learn how to operate all this - I was not using this way of dealing with files since early 90s.

 

Some questions:

- I am accessing  files from regular external USB HD drives without problem, but external firewire HD is not supported, right?

- There is a gap between songs, and when new song starts first second or so is missed. Is there a way to fix it?

- dff files will be supported later, correct?

- What wtf mean? Is it what I thought?

 

Thank you.

[bodiebill]

I did not succeed yet to have wtfplay play DSD (pure or DoP) via the Audio Aéro, but neither did I succeed under Windows, so I don't think it is a wtfplay problem. No big deal given my euforia as a result of what 0.6.1 does with WAV. Beats Bug head!

[frd__]

@AnotherSpin: Thanks for trying wtfplay. It's good to hear that it does not disappoint. To answer your questions:

 

1. No, the firewire drives are not supported.

2. Currently the player loads the track, plays it, loads another, plays it, etc... I am working on gapless playback, so this feature will appear in the future releases. As a quick workaround I can recommend combining multiple tracks into a single one using shntool. Personally, gaps do not bother me that much, and very often, I additionally keep a full album in a single file. I understand however, that for most of the users gapless playback is a must.

3. Support for DFF files will come in the next release

4. I suppose it means what you think it means. This is what happens when a software engineer picks a name for the project

[bodiebill]

hi Fryderyk, in the release notes for 0.6.2 you say:

The new kernel includes the native DSD patch for Amanero. This is an experimental feature. With this patch you can now play DSD256 (and maybe DSD512). There is a catch though. Your Amanero must have the firmware 1099be or never (be is the keyword here).

I have not been able to locate this 1099be firmware. Do you know where I can find it?

[AnotherSpin]

33 minutes ago, frd__ said:

@AnotherSpin: Thanks for trying wtfplay. It's good to hear that it does not disappoint. To answer your questions:

 

1. No, the firewire drives are not supported.

2. Currently the player loads the track, plays it, loads another, plays it, etc... I am working on gapless playback, so this feature will appear in the future releases. As a quick workaround I can recommend combining multiple tracks into a single one using shntool. Personally, gaps do not bother me that much, and very often, I additionally keep a full album in a single file. I understand however, that for most of the users gapless playback is a must.

3. Support for DFF files will come in the next release

4. I suppose it means what you think it means. This is what happens when a software engineer picks a name for the project

 

Thank you Fryderyk – no disappointments, quite contrary I am very glad I tried your player, as per now I am very much impressed with it in a most positive way. I can not stop listening to various albums for many hours already. As per now one issue slightly bothers me more than others, including lack of gapless play – every next track starts muted for a second or two before volume goes back to normal level. If I skip back to the beginning of a track with left arrow key the track starts ok, without mute. Is there a way to cancel mute or adjust any settings to deal with this?

[satbaba]

I tried wtfplay and found it really good. The bass sounds great. Detail is magnificent. Sounds like analog.

Thanks frd__

[frd__]

@bodiebill: On the Amanero website you can find a firmware update tool. This tool allows you to change Amanero's firmware to whatever is available. You will find 1099be there. The situation is not straightforward. There are a few important points to keep in mind:

 

 

 

*  There are two firmware images: one for ARM chip and one for CPLD chip. You will see a lot of versions for both images. I am not sure whether both need to be loaded at once. I am guessing that yes. I am also guessing that you need to load ARM and CPLD images that match, or in other words - that know how to talk to each other.

* The tool allows to change also a bunch of other settings in the firmware - there is a risk that you break something.

* I do not know if there is an easy way to figure out what the current firmware version of an Amanero board. As far as I remember the update tool does not tell you this. The webpage tells what is the default firmware version loaded in the stock Amanero's, but your DAC manufacturer may have changed that and loaded different firmware. It is better to ask the manufacturer to be sure.

* There is always a risk of breaking stuff. I this situation you can always erase the Amanero's firmware  and try again, but make sure that you know the firmware version/configuration that works (see the previous point).

 

Bottom line is this: if you know what you are doing and breaking stuff won't give you a heart attack - go ahead and play with it.

 

 

[frd__]

@AnotherSpin: The pause that you talking about is the time when the audio file is being loaded. Once the file is loaded, then it can be navigated through without any further delays.

@satbaba: Thank you for the kind words.
 

[AnotherSpin]

5 hours ago, frd__ said:

@AnotherSpin: The pause that you talking about is the time when the audio file is being loaded. Once the file is loaded, then it can be navigated through without any further delays.

 

I understand. Is there a way to load next track faster? To turn the whole album into one file is an easy solution, but it is a kind of hassle it requires some additional effort each time. 

 

Thank you.

[bodiebill]

8 hours ago, frd__ said:

@bodiebill: On the Amanero website you can find a firmware update tool. This tool allows you to change Amanero's firmware to whatever is available. You will find 1099be there. The situation is not straightforward. There are a few important points to keep in mind:

*  There are two firmware images: one for ARM chip and one for CPLD chip. You will see a lot of versions for both images. I am not sure whether both need to be loaded at once. I am guessing that yes. I am also guessing that you need to load ARM and CPLD images that match, or in other words - that know how to talk to each other.

* The tool allows to change also a bunch of other settings in the firmware - there is a risk that you break something.

* I do not know if there is an easy way to figure out what the current firmware version of an Amanero board. As far as I remember the update tool does not tell you this. The webpage tells what is the default firmware version loaded in the stock Amanero's, but your DAC manufacturer may have changed that and loaded different firmware. It is better to ask the manufacturer to be sure.

* There is always a risk of breaking stuff. I this situation you can always erase the Amanero's firmware  and try again, but make sure that you know the firmware version/configuration that works (see the previous point).

Bottom line is this: if you know what you are doing and breaking stuff won't give you a heart attack - go ahead and play with it.

 

Thanks Fryderyk!

 

I already looked at the Amanero website, and I downloaded oemtool115 and oemtool117. However, the only 1099 firmware listed therein are 1099akm and 1099c. I even found oemtool118 on another website, but this has no 1099 firmware at all. As we say in the Netherlands: "am I looking with my nose?"

 

But even when I'd find 1099be, I'd be reluctant to do the flash without further permission: I wrote Lukasz (Lampizator) Fikus to ask whether that would be ok. Of course, on the other hand, I would be happy to be your guinea pig and test DSD256 with wftplay and my Lampi Lite 7.

[frd__]

@AnotherSpin: Unfortunately not at the moment.

 

@bodiebill: I checked OEM tool just now and you are right. There is only 1099c. In fairness I was checking for 1099be quite a while ago, and I was convinced that it was there. My mistake - I am sorry for that. I should have checked it twice.

 

For the next release I will rebuild kernels to work with 1099c. As for now please try to play DSD256 file with wtfplay-dsd to your Lampizator DAC. There is just a slight chance that it may work. If not, you will hear the noise - so turn the volume down before trying.

[bodiebill]

Currently, with wtfplay and my Amanero, DSD128 works but DSD256 does not.

I wil be patient and await the next release. Enough to savour as it is :-)

Thanks again Fryderyk!

[AnotherSpin]

1 minute ago, frd__ said:

@AnotherSpin: Unfortunately not at the moment.

 

 

Ok, Fryderyk! Music sounds so lively and natural through your player that it compensates some inconvenience which clearly is the trade-off of minimalistic approach which is desirable to keep in the future. I already thinking over the strategies of joining album files into one before listening sessions (xAct does it well in OSX). It is more a question of routine which we are able to adjust ourself to with short time and slight effort.

 

Today I opened HQ Player for a short time after a day or two listening to wtf player. It was an eye opener (or ear opener). After wtf player the same tracks sound artificial and blurry in HQP - it was a shocking surprise for me, I thought HQP was the best OSX player (after comparing with Amarra, Audirvana, etc.) for a long time. Will give more detailed comparison after some additional time.

[robocop]

To be fair HQ Player for best sound relies on finding the right settings for your system. I personally found it to be not as good as my preferred player below.

 

I have tried the latest version of wtfplay and am watching its progress closely.

 

Its simplicity is very seductive and I think its direction of development is the right one. 

 

Its still not in the same camp as my sound from Xxhighend Ram OS. But this costs both in time and money to maximise. Its reliance on Windows is a pain but I guess this has a positive effect on the sound.

[AnotherSpin]

5 hours ago, robocop said:

To be fair HQ Player for best sound relies on finding the right settings for your system.

 

Thank you for comment. I've been using HQ Player for at least two or three years, followed this product through its various development stages, and used most of the settings and their combinations thoroughly. I believe I knew which settings work nicely in my system(s). I also experimented with settings in Amarra Symphony and its later incarnations and Audirvana Plus as well, including additional room correction components, etc. for a long time. Wtf player still have some things in its sound which make this player stand well against named players. There is still some time required for coming to intermediate conclusions. Maybe I need to overcome my initial wtf excitement...)