Touch/Caiman/AE setup issues

[Bonky]

Hi all, please can you help this Mac owner (PC owners please leave).

I am new to all this digital stuff so please bear with me.

I have, as you can see, a Touch + Caiman with Gato upgrade and AEs. I have had the 1st 2 items for a week now and they have never been 'off'. I believe they should have 'burnt-in' by now.

I have a copy of the 24/96 version of Band-on-the -run as a FLAC file. I also have an AIFF copy of this done with, I think, XLD. The FLAC file played via the Touch/Caiman is inferior sonically in all ways to the AIFF played via Apple Airport Express (and not the latest version at that!). I believe that the AE natively outputs at the 16/14.1 format

The Apple Audio Midi Setup is set-up as 2ch- 24 bit, 96k, but a change to 16bit/44.1 seems to make little difference.

I have also tried this set up with a 'standard' download of Coldplay's Viva la Vida at 2822 kbps/44.1k (according to iTunes) in both FLAC and AIFF formats with the same results.

I am quite disappointed at this as given the hype on these and other forums, and the financial outlay, I was expecting a (modest) increase in sonic delivery.

I'm probably doing something wrong so would appreciate the cognoscenti giving their advice.

E.g. I've read somewhere that expecting the DAC + chip(s) in the 'Touch" to convert the FLAC format puts too much of a strain on its modest capabilities, and that is better converting the FLAC file to PCM (presumably 'low-endian' (there, I'm picking-up some of the terminology)) on the Mac first, but which software is 'best'? I started using 'MAX" but it seems to expect a 'cue sheet' (whatever that is), otherwise it won't work.

Thanks in advance,

I can't help but feel that when we've sorted all this out, a 'stickie' would be very useful.

BW

Richard

[WAD62]

Macs & Coldplay...time to leave...

[Stratmangler]

First things first - are you using the embedded server in the Touch, or are you using Squeezebox Server ?

[Stratmangler]

Macs & Coldplay...time to leave...

[HighFidelityGuy]

I'm afraid I don't know much about Mac's, AE's or Squezeboxes so I probably can't help much but speaking as an IT professional and Caiman owner the first thing I'd try would be connecting your computer directly to your DAC to take the streaming gubbins out of the equation. I'm not sure if that's possible in your situation. I'm guessing the two aren't near each other if you're streaming but it might be worth the effort to rule out streaming issues. That's about all I can think of at this stage.

[Bonky]

First things first - are you using the embedded server in the Touch, or are you using Squeezebox Server ?

...errr.. how do I tell?

When I go into the Squeezebox server (32bit) pane in 'system preferences' it states that the server is running...
..BUT I am playing the music (and it's not usually ColdPlay!) by using the Touch to access my music folder on my Mac in the next room.

I'm doing these comparison tests by playing this music at the same time that I'm using iTunes to play the same music from the Mac via AE. My amp has 2 identical aux inputs and I'm using the selector switch on the amp to go between the 2 sources. The music from the Touch is muffled cf that from the AE.

Thanks,

Richard

[Stratmangler]

I've no direct personal experience of setting up the Touch.
I have heard it, and muffled is not a word I'd use to describe the sound.

You've not managed to get a conflict between the TinySC embedded in the Touch and the Squeezebox Server on your Mac have you ?
Disable the Tiny SC in the Touch if you can.

[Bonky]

I've no direct personal experience of setting up the Touch.
I have heard it, and muffled is not a word I'd use to describe the sound.

You've not managed to get a conflict between the TinySC embedded in the Touch and the Squeezebox Server on your Mac have you ?
Disable the Tiny SC in the Touch if you can.

Apologies,(and I have looked at the manual and googled it) but how do I disable Tiny SC (what is that anyway?) in my Touch?

Thanks,

Richard

[HighFidelityGuy]

From what I've read here: http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.php/TinySC

If you have version 2 firmware you need to go to Advanced in the embedded software menu. Under that there should an an option for Local Music Storage.....On/Off/Starting/Scanning. I think you need to set this to off.

[Bonky]

From what I've read here: http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.php/TinySC

If you have version 2 firmware you need to go to Advanced in the embedded software menu. Under that there should an an option for Local Music Storage.....On/Off/Starting/Scanning. I think you need to set this to off.

Thanks very much for that info.

I've looked at the webpage you referred to -thanks, but - I'm still having problems.
I gather the settings you referred to are on the mac/pc and not on the touch. I've opened the server pages on the Mac and clicked the Advanced tab. It has most of the settings that are mentioned in Version 2 of TinySC but NOT Local Music Storage.

Perhaps it's off already as no USB or SD card have been attached?

Thanks,

BW

Richard