Euphony OS w/Stylus player setup and issues thread

[Joerg D]

Hi there,
did you also notice a change in the sound with today's new release?
For me the bass has increased. But not unpleasant, but in good quality.
I like it .

many Greetings
Joerg
 

[bos3812]

22 hours ago, drjimwillie said:

Hi - I need some help becaus I just had a few conversations with Euphony support and I am confused.
I have a highly optimized server with a PF ultra OCXO clock on the motherboard and a PF ultra OCXO clock on the I2S bridge. I am currently only running Euphony and Stylus on it. I would like to try running it as a Euphony Endpoint. So, I purchased a Euphony Endpoint license. 
I thought, if I owned a server license and an endpoint license I could choose where to use them.  
I would like to experiment with Euphony server on my old CAPS Pipeline Computer. 
Zeljko said that I would have to move my server license to the pipeline, or purchase another server license.

This does not sound right to me. 

I own a lifetime license for Roon and I own HQ player and Accourate Convolver.

everyone says that Euphony and Stylus by itself sounds the best, but I want to find out for myself. 
although, I cannot stomach having to pay for two server licenses if I will only ever be using one server and one endpoint license.

from reading this thread I thought it was easy to switch use back and forth from server to Endpoint. Is anyone else doing that and how are you doing it? Did you have to buy two server licenses?

my next step was to take the J cat Femto ethernet card out of my current server and replace it with the new Jcat Ex Ethernet card, when I can save up the money from selling some of my older gear. This way I can take the J cat ethernet femto card and put it in my pipeline server.

Thank you

Hi drjimwillie,

 

Everytime when you want to transport your license to another machine Zeljko is involved in the process. It's allowed to transport your license to a new server/streamer but I can imagine that the number of times you do that is limited to a few times in a certain period. That's the reason that you can use a trial on every new machine, test it and change it as many times you want. I know Zeljko is prepared to extend the trial period when you have a good reason.

[ASRMichael]

1 minute ago, Joerg D said:

Hi there,
did you also notice a change in the sound with today's new release?
For me the bass has increased. But not unpleasant, but in good quality.
I like it .

many Greetings
Joerg
 

Not listened yet! I’ve got two Optane drives, one for new firmware & one for old. I normally do critical listen before I decide to permanently change to new firmware

[dminches]

1 hour ago, ASRMichael said:

Anyone know what does? I don’t see option to disconnect network? Is this automatic? 

 

when queue is filled from NAS and fully buffered to RAM and when playback starts - network can be disconnected

 

I am assuming this means you can manually disconnect from the network.

 

[seeteeyou]

1 hour ago, ASRMichael said:

Anyone know what does? I don’t see option to disconnect network? Is this automatic? 

when queue is filled from NAS and fully buffered to RAM and when playback starts - network can be disconnected

 

Most likely it's meant to be done manually, maybe they could figure something out and automate that at some point? Let's see how long does it take to fill the queue up then.

 

BTW, you actually mentioned something like that right here and then they're getting at least part of it done within a month

 

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/61249-the-ultimate-network-solution/?tab=comments#comment-1096911

On 12/17/2020 at 9:37 PM, ASRMichael said:

As SeeTeeYou says, if Euphony could add a feature to “Add All & Play” then shutdown network card for the duration of the album. Then we’re much closer to perfect network solution. 

 

[Chopin75]

Not sure if I posted this before, but my DSD playback is now giving pops again within same album, via nativeDSD on stylus. Anyone has this issue still ? 

[ASRMichael]

12 hours ago, seeteeyou said:

 

Most likely it's meant to be done manually, maybe they could figure something out and automate that at some point? Let's see how long does it take to fill the queue up then.

 

BTW, you actually mentioned something like that right here and then they're getting at least part of it done within a month

 

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/61249-the-ultimate-network-solution/?tab=comments#comment-1096911

 

Hi, yes talked to Zeljko last night. Basically before you could only buffer & play 2 songs if you pulled out the cable. Now you can buffer & play as many as you like then pull cable out. 

[dminches]

4 hours ago, ASRMichael said:

Hi, yes talked to Zeljko last night. Basically before you could only buffer & play 2 songs if you pulled out the cable. Now you can buffer & play as many as you like then pull cable out. 

I thought one could buffer the entire queue if the files were your own as opposed to being streamed. No?

 

[flkin]

One the network cable is pulled, you wouldn’t be able to control the music after. So this is only for those purist players who want zero effect from network or for testing the effect of the  upstream network equipment on current setup.

 

Note that pulling the network cable also means making the network card redundant - an item that might be an expensive component now made unnecessary due to the complete buffering of the tracks downstream of the card. 
 

Physically disconnecting the lan cable is not the same as switching off the network using software. An attached cable still allows leakage currents to flow so it’s not as good as a physical disconnect. 

[seeteeyou]

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/30376-a-novel-way-to-massively-improve-the-sq-of-computer-audio-streaming/page/680/?tab=comments#comment-1064409  

On 6/30/2020 at 12:14 PM, Nenon said:

But a very important point I would like to make - even with that many switches in my chain, I prefer to listen to my local music over KVM with my network cards disabled. It sounds more natural and more effortless.

 

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/taiko-audio-sgm-extreme-the-crème-de-la-crème.27433/page-206#post-655430

Quote

What if I disable all network cards in Windows, so the OS cannot perform any network activity? And what if I use HQplayer with no oversampling and connect via KVM to control the software. Well, this my friends was one of the biggest improvements on my DIY server.

 

[Lukasluis]

6 hours ago, seeteeyou said:

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/30376-a-novel-way-to-massively-improve-the-sq-of-computer-audio-streaming/page/680/?tab=comments#comment-1064409  

 

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/taiko-audio-sgm-extreme-the-crème-de-la-crème.27433/page-206#post-655430

 

What If I connect an external HDD or Memory card as my music source and connect a keyboard and monitor to the PC? Will that sound better than having a network card? 

[flkin]

I think that a keyboard is pretty harmless but a monitor requires a graphics card. Graphics cards and any powered eternal drive might inject noise or unwanted leakage currents unless their power source is carefully managed. 

 

It's all a compromise actually how to store the music - internally, externally directly connected, network. Each have many variations and their own Pro and Cons. After applying best practices, I think finally it comes to listening then deciding.

 

 

[dminches]

4 hours ago, flkin said:

I think that a keyboard is pretty harmless but a monitor requires a graphics card. Graphics cards and any powered eternal drive might inject noise or unwanted leakage currents unless their power source is carefully managed. 

 

It's all a compromise actually how to store the music - internally, externally directly connected, network. Each have many variations and their own Pro and Cons. After applying best practices, I think finally it comes to listening then deciding.

 

 

 

You don't need a graphics card is the motherboard and CPU support on board graphics.

 

[davide256]

15 hours ago, Lukasluis said:

What If I connect an external HDD or Memory card as my music source and connect a keyboard and monitor to the PC? Will that sound better than having a network card? 

awful idea unless you have the engineering skills and material resources of Aurender or Innuos. Stock MOBO inputs for SDXC, SATA and M.2 NVMe

compromise audio quality vs buffering same over Ethernet from NAS or streaming service.  Optane drive works well but is cost prohibitive.

Connecting media by USB doesn't change this.

[Lukasluis]

1 hour ago, davide256 said:

awful idea unless you have the engineering skills and material resources of Aurender or Innuos. Stock MOBO inputs for SDXC, SATA and M.2 NVMe

compromise audio quality vs buffering same over Ethernet from NAS or streaming service.  Optane drive works well but is cost prohibitive.

Connecting media by USB doesn't change this.

I compared Euphony's SQ using same copy of music stored on NAS (powered by LPS) vs same Music stored on external HDD (USB3 cable connected to HDD Docking Station using iFi iPurifier3, docking powered by LPS). I prefer the SQ of the latter. 

[flkin]

18 hours ago, dminches said:

 

You don't need a graphics card is the motherboard and CPU support on board graphics.

 

 

It all depends on the motherboard specs.  The specs will state if onboard graphics is present...or if such is supported with a given CPU (the CPU specs will reflect whether it provides graphics capability).

 

Many older motherboards came with onboard graphics but...as many higher power boards cater to gamers today, I would not expect a newer/recent board to provide onboard graphics (gamers tend to prefer discrete GPU cards).

 

I expect that motherboards without graphics support is probably best for audio applications as it allows the graphics card to be removed after the streamer is setup properly. This is what I do with my Pink Faun gaming board and I hear a difference with and without the card installed.

[davide256]

21 hours ago, Lukasluis said:

I compared Euphony's SQ using same copy of music stored on NAS (powered by LPS) vs same Music stored on external HDD (USB3 cable connected to HDD Docking Station using iFi iPurifier3, docking powered by LPS). I prefer the SQ of the latter. 

sounds like something in your audio chain is compromising the midrange... tone color density, dynamics and background instrument separation should be

better with NAS. There are devices that call themselves a NAS but aren't worthy of the name. I had a Buffalo NAS once, it was terrible sounding

compared to using Synology NAS, all streamed music sound squashed and lifeless. Since you don't post a system, hard to know whats coloring your sound.

 

[Lukasluis]

5 hours ago, davide256 said:

sounds like something in your audio chain is compromising the midrange... tone color density, dynamics and background instrument separation should be

better with NAS. There are devices that call themselves a NAS but aren't worthy of the name. I had a Buffalo NAS once, it was terrible sounding

compared to using Synology NAS, all streamed music sound squashed and lifeless. Since you don't post a system, hard to know whats coloring your sound.

 

It is a Synology NAS. The only noticeable difference is the HDD-attached music is a little bit more dynamic. 

[ASRMichael]

The feature I’ve been waiting for! Well for local files...

 

Add album, buffer, then in expert menu press play. See below, it automatically shuts down network completely. It also auto populates how long for (album time length). 

 

 

[Speedy381]

I've listened quite a lot since the update (s). I did think I heard a difference in the bottom end; more emphasis and more rounded perhaps.

But nothing like the change that disconnecting the network has made. Tonight I sat through a Jeffrey Foucault album on buffer and network disconnected in Expert. I  really enjoyed it, but it wasn't until I listened to a track again with network connected and wondered what had happened. I had to do the Expert disconnect again for that track and sure enough, a real change to detail, air and tone. What's that all about?

 

[dminches]

15 hours ago, flkin said:

 

It all depends on the motherboard specs.  The specs will state if onboard graphics is present...or if such is supported with a given CPU (the CPU specs will reflect whether it provides graphics capability).

 

Many older motherboards came with onboard graphics but...as many higher power boards cater to gamers today, I would not expect a newer/recent board to provide onboard graphics (gamers tend to prefer discrete GPU cards).

 

I expect that motherboards without graphics support is probably best for audio applications as it allows the graphics card to be removed after the streamer is setup properly. This is what I do with my Pink Faun gaming board and I hear a difference with and without the card installed.

 

Isn't that what I said (with a type of "is" instead of "if")?  

 

Even many of today's high powered Intel motherboards have  onboard graphics support.  Many AMD don't seem to.

[Dev]

43 minutes ago, dminches said:

 

 

Even many of today's high powered Intel motherboards have  onboard graphics support.  Many AMD don't seem to.

 

Just clarifying this a bit more...

 

Most of today's high powered Intel motherboards rely on the processor graphics. They don't have a separate VGA graphics controller on the motherboard like many sever motherboards do. So if you buy a KF version of the Intel processor, you are out of luck without a dedicated PCIe based graphics card. Just having HDMI/DP/VGA port on the back of the motherboard is not sufficient to have graphics.

[flkin]

4 hours ago, ASRMichael said:

The feature I’ve been waiting for! Well for local files...

 

Add album, buffer, then in expert menu press play. See below, it automatically shuts down network completely. It also auto populates how long for (album time length). 

 

 

Oh didn’t notice this part of the update. Thanks for bringing it up! 😄👍🏻
 

For sure this helps isolates all upstream devices from the sound. 
 

This software method is good but I would imagine some hardware design with some toggle to physically switch network connection on and off would be better still.

[NanoSword]

9 hours ago, ASRMichael said:

The feature I’ve been waiting for! Well for local files...

 

Add album, buffer, then in expert menu press play. See below, it automatically shuts down network completely. It also auto populates how long for (album time length). 

 

Finally, Very happy my wife always adds a small router to improve the wireless signal but this step makes me hate my system. This small router causes poor sound quality.I disconnect the network cable every time so that the sound is not affected, but now there is a solution without moving my lazy ass while I am drinking coffee and listening to the music .

 

Sometimes the coffee I drink improves the soundstage and the details I think caffeine works better than this little router.

[Chopin75]

5 hours ago, flkin said:

Oh didn’t notice this part of the update. Thanks for bringing it up! 😄👍🏻
 

For sure this helps isolates all upstream devices from the sound. 
 

This software method is good but I would imagine some hardware design with some toggle to physically switch network connection on and off would be better still.

Well, I just tried after the latest update, the entire Euphony is offline, and it is supposed to switch back on after a set amount of time ? The default is 206, so it means 206 min ?  It is really the same as pulling out my ethernet cable.  Not very practical, but maybe a bit better than pulling out the ethernet cable, and it reboots back after that set time, which I suppose is a bit more convenient than rebooting yourself but then u need to time when you want the reboot. Time the time for the album. or set of tracks loaded to finish, and so the Euphony reboots after the tracks are done? If it can be automatically reboot once all the tracks are finished (e.g via consume) then it would be much more helpful. 

 

I am not really detecting lots of Change in SQ.  but I would need ABA comparison