Network Audio Adapters (NAA)

[bonzo]

My take: as the quality of CDPs and TTs remains mostly constant and costs keep going up, the quality of computerised audio progresses every 6 months and costs keep coming down.

Recently, a good modded transport required (not required if you don't believe in these things) someone to buy a readymade server like the Aurender or a fully modded PC like the CAPS Zuma. A full blown Zuma with Win 12, Audiophile Optimizer, and fancy USB cards would have cost 3k GBP here. The costs keep going up the more power supplies you add, and so do the number of boxes on the shelf.

Now, by adding a $400ish Network Audio Adapter (NAA), which is like a small PC (like a NUC), that has music player clients installed on it, you can stream via USB to your dac. Add a battery supply, even then the cost is far lower than CAPS or Aurenders. It needs to be controlled via a normal laptop, but it's ok for the laptop to be noisy, no mods required. By using HQ Player over the NAA, one can also upsample everything to DSD, and there seems to be a 100% strike rate that this works better than Jriver.

I am going a step further. Getting in a 50 quid set up (plus cost of HQ Player), which will be something similar to Rasberry Pi, and work as a NAA, and will stream all music as DSD into the Lampi, because Lampi DSD is the holy grail :rocker:

Over the next few months, will compare it to the Aurender, the 400ish NAA, and a full blown Zuma plus Win 12 etc.

If either of these 50 quid or the 800 USD NAA kills the big names (the 800ish NAA is known to), it's a victory.

There is also something called a fitlet coming out at $130 which will do the NAA job too, apparently.

 

[amey01]

computerised audio progresses every 6 months

How exactly?

I am going a step further. Getting in a 50 quid set up (plus cost of HQ Player), which will be something similar to Rasberry Pi, and work as a NAA, and will stream all music as DSD into the Lampi, because Lampi DSD is the holy grail :rocker:

I don't quite understand how you're doing this. Are you adding a third-party NAA to a Raspberry pi?

Over the next few months, will compare it to the Aurender, the 400ish NAA, and a full blown Zuma plus Win 12 etc.

My bet is that you'll be eminently impressed.........not because I understand exactly what you're doing (above), but because audiophile optimiser and Win 12 doesn't change the sound one iota :rocker:

 

[bonzo]

How exactly?

I don't quite understand how you're doing this. Are you adding a third-party NAA to a Raspberry pi?

There is one plug and play NAA on a Rasberry Pi like thing, that costs the 400ish USD. http://headmania.org/2014/08/25/sotm-sms-100-network-streamer-review/

The 50 quid one, a non commercial freak geek is building it for me, he already has one for himself.

My bet is that you'll be eminently impressed.........not because I understand exactly what you're doing (above), but because audiophile optimiser and Win 12 doesn't change the sound one iota :rocker:

Lol

 

[amey01]

a Rasberry Pi like thing, that costs the 400ish USD. http://headmania.org/2014/08/25/sotm-sms-100-network-streamer-review/

As you can imagine, I disagree with this most of the information in this link.

But I have a particular problem with this statement:

and this shouldn’t matter, but what if it does?

If you don't understand the problem you are fixing; and aren't even aware if it is a problem, then how can you claim to "fix" the problem?

If you can't hurt the sound; how can you possibly claim you have improved the sound?

 

[bonzo]

As you can imagine, I disagree with this most of the information in this link.

But I have a particular problem with this statement:



If you don't understand the problem you are fixing; and aren't even aware if it is a problem, then how can you claim to "fix" the problem?

If you can't hurt the sound; how can you possibly claim you have improved the sound?

I think the fix every solution is trying to put in is to lower noise, clean power, and improve clocking. I disagree you have to know what the problem is to hear a change or improvement in sound. If I find a better amplifier, I don't know what problem I have fixed - THD, impedance? Sometimes we need to hear another product to know what we were not getting. Else all of us would have been happy not upgrading from Bose speakers.

When I had the Aurender S10 for demo for a couple of weeks last year with the Logans, it definitely was an improvement over my mac with Audirvana Plus (which was better than Audirvana, while I never got on with Amarra). Was the Aurender worth the price, no. But was it better, yes. Quieter, smoother, easier flow, more dynamics.

 

[amey01]

I disagree you have to know what the problem is to hear a change or improvement in sound. If I find a better amplifier, I don't know what problem I have fixed

Sorry Kedar - misunderstanding. I didn't mean you (personally) have to undestand the problem. What I meant was that the designer needs to understand the problem. It's absurd to think a designer to throw together a few components and then make up a "problem" that they have solved without really understanding it.

I think the fix every solution is trying to put in is to lower noise, clean power, and improve clocking.

This I do disagree with. What does lower noise or clean power do? Clean power doesn't make computers more accurate when dealing with the data about your bank account; likewise it won't make the computer more accurate when dealing with data that just happens to be music.

Data is data to computers - it doesn't matter whether that data represents music or your bank account.

Clocking is done inside the asychronous DAC, so no matter what you do, it will not and can not affect the clock.

 

[bonzo]

Sorry Kedar - misunderstanding. I didn't mean you (personally) have to undestand the problem. What I meant was that the designer needs to understand the problem. It's absurd to think a designer to throw together a few components and then make up a "problem" that they have solved without really understanding it.



This I do disagree with. What does lower noise or clean power do? Clean power doesn't make computers more accurate when dealing with the data about your bank account; likewise it won't make the computer more accurate when dealing with data that just happens to be music.

Data is data to computers - it doesn't matter whether that data represents music or your bank account.

Clocking is done inside the asychronous DAC, so no matter what you do, it will not and can not affect the clock.

Clean power is not for the computer alone, it is to stop dirty power entering your chain. Does this make a difference, I do not know yet, but seeing the differences in Lampi 4 and 5 (5 had a dedicated supply), I will assume it does. Power supply to the small EM ESLs is different to the bigger models. Many upgraded models of CD players, dacs amps, include better power, so no reason to believe it is not the case with computers. Of course, demos will prove it.

Lower noise in the system - once the system sounds quieter, like it did with the aurender, you can hear a greater range, things just play more easily. Music is just more relaxed.

 

[amey01]

Clean power is not for the computer alone, it is to stop dirty power entering your chain. Does this make a difference, I do not know yet, but seeing the differences in Lampi 4 and 5 (5 had a dedicated supply), I will assume it does. Power supply to the small EM ESLs is different to the bigger models. Many upgraded models of CD players, dacs amps, include better power, so no reason to believe it is not the case with computers. Of course, demos will prove it.

Lower noise in the system - once the system sounds quieter, like it did with the aurender, you can hear a greater range, things just play more easily. Music is just more relaxed.

Agree. There are some ways you can achieve this though, such as wi-fi, optical connection or isolation.

I would have thought these methods (including an isolated USB input) would be the best way to achieve this, but if not then to each their own

 

[RCHeliGuy]

Right now I've got 192kHz x 24bit media on my workstation in the other room.

The OPPO 105D reads it all by WiFi so there are no cables and there is no noise.

The audio stream is buffered by the OPPO and the network protocols would require the re-transmission of any bytes that didn't pass the checksum.

So since the OPPO keeps plenty of extra bytes in the queue and has plenty of time to backfill any data that needed to be retransmitted there is never a lag and never any loss of data.

It works really well!