J River Media help needed

[Vinyleyes]

I'm just dipping my toe into Computer audio territory .. and learning what file formats and such that are around. At the moment I have a 2TB NAS which I picked up from Currys for just over 100 quid ,,, it has Twonky and other software on it .. and my Oppo BD 95 will see it over home server and present a contents list on the TV. I am thus able to put server music thru the DAC on the Oppo to then feed through my home sysytem .. This is still in it's infancy though for me .. and all on hold for now as I am away at work.

Bur over here I downloaded JRiver Media 16 free for 30 days to check it out .. as it will do FLAC files .... However .. when I burn the CD on my laptop the FLAC files are only around 800 kbs .. whan I do WAV they are 1400 kbs .. so what is happening here .. I thought FLAC was the same quality as WAV ,, surely the bit rates should b the same.

Also my Jriver media player is not playing DVD;s .. i get a message saying
"Invalid audio decoder or output pin" ......... but all DVD's play OK on windows media player ..

Any ideas/comments would be much appreciated folks .. but beware .. this could turn into an extended dialogue haha! .. I still got to try Foobar yet !!

Cheers

[Stratmangler]

However .. when I burn the CD on my laptop

Do you mean rip ?


the FLAC files are only around 800 kbs .. whan I do WAV they are 1400 kbs .. so what is happening here .. I thought FLAC was the same quality as WAV ,, surely the bit rates should b the same.

FLAC is losslessly compressed.
FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec
A player capable of handling FLAC decompresses the file on playback, so you can ignore the bitrates indicated.
The free bit is in that FLAC is opensource.

What are you using to rip CDs, and is it set up to rip securely ?
All that secure ripping means is that the ripped data is compared over at least a couple of reads, and if the data is identical it passes. If there is an issue then the data is read again (and again if necessary) to ensure that the ripped data is a true representation of what's on the disc with no read errors - unlike a CD player you will not get interpolation (making up of information) taking place, so if there are errors in your ripped data then the errors stay uncorrected.

[Vinyleyes]

Whoops .. yes of course I meant rip ! :mental: ...

I am just using my Sony VAIO laptop for now ... and I checked JRiver and am indeed ripping securely .. :)

Thanks :cool:

[Vincent Kars]

Also my Jriver media player is not playing DVD;s .. i get a message saying
"Invalid audio decoder or output pin" ......... but all DVD's play OK on windows media player ..


Try http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?board=22.0

[theabbot]

Hi
If you need any further info head over to Computer Audiophile and they have a full setup guide.
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/Windows-7-Audio-J-River-Media-Center-14-Configuration
Mike

[Vinyleyes]

Thanks guys ,, I completely forgot about those 2 resources ... it should be all there .. :-)

[Concerto Audio]

Hi
If you need any further info head over to Computer Audiophile and they have a full setup guide.
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/Windows-7-Audio-J-River-Media-Center-14-Configuration
Mike

Thanks Mike.
That was very useful link. Yesterday I was trying to stream music through J River bypassing Windows software through BMC dac.
Very educational link:lolsign:

[Concerto Audio]

I am trying to bypass the clock in the computer and go direct to my DAC using J River via TUSB driver. I palyed a studio master with high resolution 88Khz. The DAC shows upsamling coming in as 88Khz. My only problem now is that if i am bypssing the clock in the computer why is that when i mute the volume control in the windows no signal is coming out. I was under the impression that if the bit accurate data is going straight to the DAC the volume control should not effect the signal. I have idsabled the volume on the J River.

Can anyone help:(

[Vincent Kars]

Your post is a bit unclear to me.
Assuming TUSB is a usb driver I don’t see how this could bypass any clock inside the computer.
If “clock” means bit perfect output you won’t obtain this by using a different USB driver.
Bit perfect output is about bypassing the Win mixer as it applies dither.
Try WASAPI/Event style in JRMC
http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/SW/Players/MC14/MC_Wasapi.htm

[Concerto Audio]

Many thanks for that.
In J River i have selected Output Mode: ASIO
and in Device i have selected: TUSB Audio ASIO driver.

According to the DAC literature and i copy below:
"due to poor clock performance the computer should not be involved in the process of transforming pure data into a digital stream. Our DAC works in asynchronous mode which means that the computer just transfers pure data to the DAC and DAC generates the digital music stream with its clean and precise clock.Thus, the clock is generated in the place which requires the highest precision and lower jitter-close to analog conversation."

Is it true to say that if the volume is adjustable from the computer, the playback is definitely not bit-accurate?

[Vincent Kars]

Obvious you are using a USB DAC with asynchronous synchronization.
In this mode, the DAC tells the PC how much data should be send to maintain the sample rate.
The DAC cannot control the content of the data. This is the task of the media player and the audio driver.
http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/KB/USB.html

By design any type of DSP e.g. volume control is performing a calculation on the sample.
The output is different from the original sample so no longer bit perfect.
Not to be mistaken for “bad” but substantial digital volume control will result in a loss of resolution.
http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/KB/DSP.htm

Looks like you have a DAC with the XMOS async USB receiver (Thesycon).
I expect it to bypass the Win volume control (ASIO)
Do you have checked “Open device for Exclusive access” in JRMC?
(I use WASAPI but probably ASIO has the same setting)

http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/Pictures/Software/MediaPlayers/MC15/MC15_WasapiUSB.GIF

[Concerto Audio]

Thanks for that.
Let me try that this evening and will come back to you if i face more problems:)

[Concerto Audio]

Cracked it and can stream music with the windows volume on mute.
Display on the DAC states the incoming frequency 44, 88 and 96 :eyebrows:

But according to the manual a small play button should appear on the right hand side of the task bar...it is not there. Not sure whether it is an issue.