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Article: Personal Streaming Services Part 1: Vox


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Offline capability means the music is downloaded to the phone and stored there, is that right? So you'll probably want the iPhone with 256GB storage. 🙂

One never knows, do one? - Fats Waller

The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. - Einstein

Computer, Audirvana -> optical Ethernet to Fitlet3 -> Fibbr Alpha Optical USB -> iFi NEO iDSD DAC -> Apollon Audio 1ET400A Mini (Purifi based) -> Vandersteen 3A Signature.

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2 hours ago, Jud said:

 

I don't know why Tesla doesn't provide the option to use an iPad in place of the center console video screen.

 

If I had to guess I would guess that would make Apple pretty happy, but I think there is some bad blood between the two. Plus, you can't play whatever video game Elon Musk is making a big deal out of being able to play on their latest in car entertainment system with AMD CPU and GPU.

No electron left behind.

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I just started using an iPhone (12 PM 256GB) and primarily use my Jabra 85t's for listening as I have yet to pick up the Lightening adapters.  Sounds decent enough but does an app exist to bypass Apple's reluctance to use the enhance BT codecs.

 

For music I primarily use Radio Paradise.  If I want to listen to my music I just use the QNAP file manager and access the NAS...which if I read the recent article correctly, might not be the smartest thing to do.

 

Otherwise my Sony NWZ-ZX2 is fine,

QNAP TS453Pro w/QLMS->Netgear Switch->Netgear RAX43 Router->Ethernet (50 ft)->Netgear switch->SBTouch ->SABAJ A10d->Linn Majik-IL (preamp)->Linn 2250->Linn Keilidh; Control Points: iPeng (iPad Air & iPhone); Also: Rega P3-24 w/ DV 10x5; OPPO 103; PC Playback: Foobar2000 & JRiver; Portable: iPhone 12 ProMax & Radio Paradise or NAS streaming; Sony NWZ ZX2 w/ PHA-3; SMSL IQ, Fiio Q5, iFi Nano iDSD BL; Garage: Edifier S1000DB Active Speakers  

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18 minutes ago, joelha said:

Chris,

 

Phenomenal find. 

 

As an Android user, please tell me music can also be accessed via a web interface. 

 

Joel

 

 

This from the Vox forums 14 hours ago:

 

We are currently releasing VOX Universal (beta) on Windows and macOS, hopefully, Android.app will be the next step!

If you would like to try out VOX Universal (beta), please submit your request here: https://vox.rocks/windows-music-player 2!

One never knows, do one? - Fats Waller

The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. - Einstein

Computer, Audirvana -> optical Ethernet to Fitlet3 -> Fibbr Alpha Optical USB -> iFi NEO iDSD DAC -> Apollon Audio 1ET400A Mini (Purifi based) -> Vandersteen 3A Signature.

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Well, this sounds like a great deal; however, I'm seeing some teething pains :/

 

I started to upload my ALAC (iTunes-based, but stored on a local NAS) collection overnight, and so far, it's only uploaded 185 (of 120,000) tracks - the service seems to be responding VERY slowly and is consuming almost 150% of CPU on my Mac Mini.

 

Also, the Vox player is timing out trying to load the few albums (I'm assuming) that have been uploaded already (gateway error or the like), so I can't even use / listen to what has apparently been uploaded.

 

Given I have 300Mb Internet that seems to be working well for other purposes, I have to think they've got some resource contention, etc., issues going on on their end - hope that clears up soon.

John Walker - IT Executive

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Home Theater / Music -SonicTransporter i9 running Roon Server > Netgear Orbi > Blue Jeans Cable HDMI > Denon X3700h > Anthem Amp for front channels > Revel F208-based 5.2.4 Atmos speaker system

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3 minutes ago, jhwalker said:

Well, this sounds like a great deal; however, I'm seeing some teething pains :/

 

I started to upload my ALAC (iTunes-based, but stored on a local NAS) collection overnight, and so far, it's only uploaded 185 (of 120,000) tracks - the service seems to be responding VERY slowly and is consuming almost 150% of CPU on my Mac Mini.

 

Also, the Vox player is timing out trying to load the few albums (I'm assuming) that have been uploaded already (gateway error or the like), so I can't even use / listen to what has apparently been uploaded.

 

Given I have 300Mb Internet that seems to be working well for other purposes, I have to think they've got some resource contention, etc., issues going on on their end - hope that clears up soon.

 

My question is in the other direction.  Can uploading be paused?  If I do my entire collection in a single month, I'll exceed my data cap (1.2TB/mo), so I'd like to start near the end of a month, pause if/when  necessary, then finish up the next month. Possible?

One never knows, do one? - Fats Waller

The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. - Einstein

Computer, Audirvana -> optical Ethernet to Fitlet3 -> Fibbr Alpha Optical USB -> iFi NEO iDSD DAC -> Apollon Audio 1ET400A Mini (Purifi based) -> Vandersteen 3A Signature.

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17 minutes ago, Jud said:

 

My question is in the other direction.  Can uploading be paused?  If I do my entire collection in a single month, I'll exceed my data cap (1.2TB/mo), so I'd like to start near the end of a month, pause if/when  necessary, then finish up the next month. Possible?

I think you have to close the uploader app to pause / stop it. 

Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems AudiophileStyleStickerWhite2.0.png AudiophileStyleStickerWhite7.1.4.png

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8 hours ago, Jud said:

 

 

This from the Vox forums 14 hours ago:

 

We are currently releasing VOX Universal (beta) on Windows and macOS, hopefully, Android.app will be the next step!

If you would like to try out VOX Universal (beta), please submit your request here: https://vox.rocks/windows-music-player 2!

Thanks Jud. 

Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems AudiophileStyleStickerWhite2.0.png AudiophileStyleStickerWhite7.1.4.png

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2 hours ago, jhwalker said:

Well, this sounds like a great deal; however, I'm seeing some teething pains :/

 

I started to upload my ALAC (iTunes-based, but stored on a local NAS) collection overnight, and so far, it's only uploaded 185 (of 120,000) tracks - the service seems to be responding VERY slowly and is consuming almost 150% of CPU on my Mac Mini.

 

Also, the Vox player is timing out trying to load the few albums (I'm assuming) that have been uploaded already (gateway error or the like), so I can't even use / listen to what has apparently been uploaded.

 

Given I have 300Mb Internet that seems to be working well for other purposes, I have to think they've got some resource contention, etc., issues going on on their end - hope that clears up soon.

is it 300mb both directions?  Usually upload is a LOT slower.  on Cable services anyway.

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Interesting run-through Chris.

 

Quote

Vox Premium can be used as an offsite backup of one's music because the content is downloadable. Those interested in using it this unintended way should understand that only audio files are uploaded (no album art images or PDF liner notes) and when the music is downloaded back to one's computer all the albums are in individual folders, not the standard Artist > Album architecture.

 

... this is so annoying though and reminds me of YouTube Music. It really makes the service feel like it's a playback-only solution - i.e. your local collection must remain "gold" and push changes to Vox.

 

There are actually quite a few solutions in this arena. Not all bundle the storage - some also allow you to playback from existing storage (e.g. a Google Drive, or whatever).

 

bliss - fully automated music organizer. Read the music library management blog.

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55 minutes ago, Dan Gravell said:

Interesting run-through Chris.

 

 

... this is so annoying though and reminds me of YouTube Music. It really makes the service feel like it's a playback-only solution - i.e. your local collection must remain "gold" and push changes to Vox.

 

There are actually quite a few solutions in this arena. Not all bundle the storage - some also allow you to playback from existing storage (e.g. a Google Drive, or whatever).

 

Always advantages and disadvantages.  Google Drive gets more expensive at the TB+ volumes a lot of our collections run ($10/mo), as do various other common cloud offerings from the big tech companies.  Vox isn't a complete backup solution, and we don't know whether they'll still be in business in 5 years or still be priced at $5/mo.  But they do provide a form of backup very inexpensively, the service is apparently dead easy to set up, and you get hi-res music playback for your collection bundled with that music file backup.

 

What I use currently is more robust on the backup side (Backblaze - they have a $60 annual unlimited plan, as well as the plan I'm on that offers more geek-oriented features for more money, called B2; they've been in the backup business for a long time, so I feel fairly comfortable they're not going away anytime soon), and doesn't cost much on the hi-res playback side ($27 annually for a domain name and the Subsonic music server; $4 once and done for the iOS app I use, AVSub), but it's not a simple all-in-one solution like Vox.  The hi-res playback side of things is described in the article linked below, in enough detail that people who are interested in a geekier, more customized way of doing this should be able to give it a good try:

 

 

One never knows, do one? - Fats Waller

The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. - Einstein

Computer, Audirvana -> optical Ethernet to Fitlet3 -> Fibbr Alpha Optical USB -> iFi NEO iDSD DAC -> Apollon Audio 1ET400A Mini (Purifi based) -> Vandersteen 3A Signature.

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3 minutes ago, joelha said:

Jud,

 

To employ your streaming solution with Backblaze, do you have to use the B2 option?

 

Thanks for the great information and for kicking off a discussion with your earlier article that I suspect will benefit many of us. 

 

Joel

 

The streaming solution is entirely separate from Backblaze, which I use for backup only.  Sorry if I didn't clarify that above.

One never knows, do one? - Fats Waller

The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. - Einstein

Computer, Audirvana -> optical Ethernet to Fitlet3 -> Fibbr Alpha Optical USB -> iFi NEO iDSD DAC -> Apollon Audio 1ET400A Mini (Purifi based) -> Vandersteen 3A Signature.

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4 minutes ago, Jud said:

 

The streaming solution is entirely separate from Backblaze, which I use for backup only.  Sorry if I didn't clarify that above.

Nothing to be sorry for, Jud.

 

I'm still excited about employing some form of what we're discussing here. 

 

Thanks. 

 

Joel

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