The Dark Side; Digital audio equipment recommendations and setup.

The combined library is nice. Thinking about it, that might be enough.
One other question: Is there a way to edit metadata for my files? I have a few CDs that Roon didn't recognize. Do I need to find my old Windows laptop and install the desktop app?
 
apholden said:
The combined library is nice. Thinking about it, that might be enough.
One other question: Is there a way to edit metadata for my files? I have a few CDs that Roon didn't recognize. Do I need to find my old Windows laptop and install the desktop app?
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Roon doesn’t edit the metadata on the file. Instead it has It’s own library that sits on top of that and appears in its interface. The bonus to that is that it allows you to tidy up the data of files from streaming providers too so that it fits your needs (Such as taking out annoying extra descriptors after album/track names and tidying release dates/album art etc.)

To edit the album in Roon click on the three little dots and choose edit. This will give you a load of editing options across a few tabs. If you choose to go on with Roon past the trial make sure to use the option in the settings to back this up to an external HD/NAS/Cloud service because the backups are tiny and loosing it would be pretty catestrophic!
 
File under: Digital Technical difficulties?

I've a Mytek Brooklyn Bridge and while I love the sound quality, it has 2 issues:

1. It runs insanely hot -- does everyones?
2. Sound output: No matter what I set as the default (auto, main) it never plays sound without my getting up and toggling the speaker setting -- one click and it plays, but it's a pet peeve.

Not disqualifying by any measure. I have raised the Mytek up off the shelf so it gets plenty of air -- but it ran hot enough that the original feet left marks on the wood shelf and I'd be worried to ever leave it run over a weekend.

The speaker piece is irritating.

Thank you for any thoughts?
 
NOTE: issues with the monolith USB thumb drive dac after a good amount of months

the sound is not really impressing me anymore and im finding it kinda bland, i dunno if a dragonfly red/cobalt or anything would be an improvement, but there isn't really a sound that is hot or warm or much detail.

also i think either my IFI usb to USB c cable is breaking (my original thought but after twisting it around a bit it doesn't work) or the usb dac itself is having connection errors, maybe the USB part is falling apart or something but that is definitely something to think about if you want this as the 60 dollar replacement for the dragonfly black

finally the DSD playback is kinda finicky, i dunno if its because of the dac or foobar needing a certain driver but the foobar driver has to be a certain way or else the signal for DSD or PCM will sound so horrible its completely unlistenable
 
New toy arrived!! Bluesound Node 2i

It actually arrived on Tuesday but I did not think I would have time to set up during the week but was wrong about how long it would take. The setup took less than 10min. The hardest part was remembering my tidal password. It found my wifi network no problem, then the iPad app updated the firmware. I was streaming from Tidal in a few minutes.

I was worried I would have to muck around with my Roon setup but when I opened Roon up and went to the Audio settings the Node was ready to go. No issue with streaming from my iMac to it, or using my iPad as a controller from the Node.

It is fairly small, about the size of a small hardcover book, smaller than a Mac Mini. All in all, very happy with it.
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jamieanderson1968 said:
New toy arrived!! Bluesound Node 2i

It actually arrived on Tuesday but I did not think I would have time to set up during the week but was wrong about how long it would take. The setup took less than 10min. The hardest part was remembering my tidal password. It found my wifi network no problem, then the iPad app updated the firmware. I was streaming from Tidal in a few minutes.

I was worried I would have to muck around with my Roon setup but when I opened Roon up and went to the Audio settings the Node was ready to go. No issue with streaming from my iMac to it, or using my iPad as a controller from the Node.

It is fairly small, about the size of a small hardcover book, smaller than a Mac Mini. All in all, very happy with it.
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tbh i actually thought that in the future when i move in with my brother i would buy him one of these so he can experience high quality sound from a streamer but he mostly uses apple music and he also is wanting a CD player and all this other stuff, so for 400 its a bit much for me...

it seems incredibly impressive though i feel when the entry level for a streamer is 500 dollars its kinda difficult
 
jamieanderson1968 said:
New toy arrived!! Bluesound Node 2i

It actually arrived on Tuesday but I did not think I would have time to set up during the week but was wrong about how long it would take. The setup took less than 10min. The hardest part was remembering my tidal password. It found my wifi network no problem, then the iPad app updated the firmware. I was streaming from Tidal in a few minutes.

I was worried I would have to muck around with my Roon setup but when I opened Roon up and went to the Audio settings the Node was ready to go. No issue with streaming from my iMac to it, or using my iPad as a controller from the Node.

It is fairly small, about the size of a small hardcover book, smaller than a Mac Mini. All in all, very happy with it.
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Exciting times! One thing I will say is maybe don't leave it right on the vents of your amp. At least bring it to the front of the amp so it can breath a little.

Bluesound really did a nice job with this piece though, I think it makes higher end streaming much more accessible to people, both the price point and the ease of use.
 
duke86fan said:
tbh i actually thought that in the future when i move in with my brother i would buy him one of these so he can experience high quality sound from a streamer but he mostly uses apple music and he also is wanting a CD player and all this other stuff, so for 400 its a bit much for me...

it seems incredibly impressive though i feel when the entry level for a streamer is 500 dollars its kinda difficult
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I wish the Aries Mini still was in production. I grabbed one on ebay for a good deal a year or so ago and it's awesome.
 
MikeH said:
I wish the Aries Mini still was in production. I grabbed one on ebay for a good deal a year or so ago and it's awesome.
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Yeah it was a great little machine at its price point. If it was still available it’d be what I’d look at over the bluesound because of native DSD support. That said Auralic said that they couldn’t make enough money out of it to make it viable at the price point and didn’t want to make the compromises to do so.
 
Joe Mac said:
Yeah it was a great little machine at its price point. If it was still available it’d be what I’d look at over the bluesound because of native DSD support. That said Auralic said that they couldn’t make enough money out of it to make it viable at the price point and didn’t want to make the compromises to do so.
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Makes sense but it's sad! It's a cool little machine and I like that you can still do an external DAC in it. I actually lucked out getting mine used because it included a 500GB built-in HD (with a bunch of music on it) and a linear power supply, but visually it looked brand new. Echo Audio had one for sale a week or so ago for a pretty good price IIRC.
 
duke86fan said:
tbh i actually thought that in the future when i move in with my brother i would buy him one of these so he can experience high quality sound from a streamer but he mostly uses apple music and he also is wanting a CD player and all this other stuff, so for 400 its a bit much for me...

it seems incredibly impressive though i feel when the entry level for a streamer is 500 dollars its kinda difficult
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I was going to do a homebrew setup but was just getting all turned around on how I wanted to do the setup. The price on the Node 2i dropped so I jumped at it. Not that is it cheaper, but Marantz has a streamer with a cd player
displayname said:
Exciting times! One thing I will say is maybe don't leave it right on the vents of your amp. At least bring it to the front of the amp so it can breath a little.

Bluesound really did a nice job with this piece though, I think it makes higher end streaming much more accessible to people, both the price point and the ease of use.
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Definitely. Just had it on top for setup and pic purposes.
 
If you're unfamiliar with Modwright, both their gear and modifications services are highly respected. This newest mod service looks very interesting.
 
do dacs actually make a difference in sound, i dunno, i dunno what is correct and what changes.. i know your filter matters because i do notice a sound difference, but i dunno what kind of sound would really make sense to me because i wanna make sure i use money well enough and im not wasting my money planning on moving to tidal hifi student and MQA instead of the 320kbps ogg of spotify but with a couple extras i dont use (hulu/showtime)
 
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