Shootout at the Linux Corral: AudioLinux vs Euphony

[HeeBroG]

Hi Bob,

 

I take it the best sound so far requires 2 Euphony licences; one for server and the other for endpoint running Stylus EP?

 

Geoff

[HeeBroG]

9 hours ago, austinpop said:

 

 

Stylus has 2 buffering settings:

• "Buffer before play = 100%" (this is on the Settings > Music Service tab)
  • This reads the entire track into memory before playback
  • Note - this is only for local files, NOT streaming files, which are only partially buffered
• "Use Cache" (this is on the Settings > Library tab)
  • This transfers tracks that have been added to the queue to the "Euphony drive." The location is /data/music/E_CACHE
  • If your boot drive is an Optane SSD, then this causes the player to first move the files from the music storage location to the E-CACHE directory on the Optane SSD. On playback, it load the files from the Optane SSD
  • Again, this is only for local files, not streaming services

 

 Thanks Rajiv.

 

Is the "Buffer before play" equal to "Use Cache" if one doesn't have an Optane SSD boot drive?

[HeeBroG]

17 hours ago, tapatrick said:

 

I found time to set up my NUC7PJYH properly, running euphony/stylus with hardware volume setting (thanks Bob). So these are my first impressions. Everything else is the same except for removing the NUC AL/ramboot endpoint (isolated from network with Aqvox switch and USB out via iso regen and sonore ultra digital). Now I hear what all the excitement is about. The sound is fuller as if all the musicians are closer and the sound has a richer quality, less thin. To put this in perspective, this is a pleasant and noticeable difference but not huge by any means.

 

The real issue for me is that there is a slight harshness to the upper registers of voices which, unfortunately I cannot abide. My Omega super alnico's are beautiful at rendering voices, and I have worked hard to reduce any distractions as much a possible especially in sibilance. My first impressions of Euphony/Stylus, apart from the above fuller SQ,  is that this area of voice is not satisfying and I can't ignore it. I only stream from Tidal (I gave up on Qobuz due to too many glitches in playback) and don't have any hard drives for music so I definitely find with AL/Rambooting and removing the USB sticks this exact issue seems to be alleviated enough to satisfy my tastes. More listening is needed before any decisions can be made....

 

Hi tapatrick,

 

Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

Just to clarify; are you using the NUC7PJYH as a single machine with Euphony Stylus?

Secondly, may I ask how your NUC7PJYH powered?

 

Geoff

 

 

[HeeBroG]

10 hours ago, austinpop said:

 

No, Geoff.

 

"Buffer before play" has to do with preloading a song into memory before initiating playback.

 

"Use cache" has to do with transferring a music file from its original storage location to a new storage location (/data/music/E_CACHE) on the "Euphony Drive," or boot disk. This applies to whatever you chose your boot disk to be - whether Optane SSD, regular SSD, HDD, etc.

 

Thanks Rajiv.

What if one boots from a Euphony from a USB stick and there is no internal SSD/HDD. Music files are stored on an attached USB HDD.

 

G