NVA 'TFS': 'The Future Statement' lands at Marco Towers...

[Figlet108]

Hi folks.

Only just managed to get online after a v. busy yesterday and er.. we're already on 13 pages. That's somewhat intimidating.

First a great big thanks to Marco and Del for their wonderful hospitality - Del's cooking was delicious and a big treat (including the doggy bag ), and Marco's system was simply stunning. It was hard to tear myself away.

I appreciate the kind and supportive comments in this thread and believe it or not I very much welcome the negative comments and criticisms (as long as it's not rude and nasty). I'm from the school of tough love and I very much want to keep improving the designs and implementations of products and make sure I haven't missed a trick.

I will try and address the questions so far in the thread throughout the day (although it's another busy one for me) and will definitely address the question of price, and future product plans.

Jason

[jostber]

Thanks, Jason. Do you have a spec sheet for the TFS? And are the glass sylinders purely visual or do they have a function?

[Marco]

Hi Jason,

Nice one, matey. Glad you've joined us. There will be plenty of questions for you to answer now, I suspect! It was great meeting you on Saturday. Del and I really enjoyed your company, so we must do it again soon

Glad you enjoyed me 'ol Dansette. The system you heard is the culmination of years of listening and fine-tuning, and so it does what I enjoy with reproducing recorded music.

Most importantly, a BIG thanks to you for introducing me to the TFS. It has succeeded to do what no other music streamer has managed so far: open up a whole world of new music to me, with the minimum of fuss, *AND* make my fav choons sound more stunning than ever!!

Marco.

[Figlet108]

Do you have a spec sheet for the TFS?

Hi Paul,
not sure the exact specs you're interested in, but here are some and you can let me know if it answers your question:

Mobo: Asus AT3IONT-I Deluxe (as some have commented already)
Proc: Dual core Intel Atom 330
FSB: 533MHz
Graphics: NVIDIA ION™ Graphics Processors
Memory: 4 GB, DDR3 1066/800
Storage: 128GB SSD (provision for 2 more SSDs - so 3 in total)
Drives: Slot-loading Sony bluray drive with the usual DVD-RW facilities etc
Connectivity: GB ethernet, wireless n, bluetooth
Ports: HDMI, VGA, USB
Audio Ports: RCA analogue, Coax/Optical digital
Other Features: Analogue in for the odd needle drop; a half decent headphone amp built in.

This level of spec means that, (with the 2 cores in particular), playing music while at the same time doing other stuff like creating playlists, ripping CD's, researching music on the internet, downloading hi-res files etc etc, can be done simultaneously without hiccup.

The significance of the level of graphics spec means that full HD video and blurays play with ease.

The power supply contains two separate dual rail supplies both with 300VA transformers.

The whole system is low power and passively cooled - so no physical or electrical noise and no moving parts (other when ripping CDs)

Software:
Windows 7 Pro - this allows remote control via a PC or Mac laptop using RDC
JRiver is the software player / organiser
dbpoweramp is the CD ripper

I don't bundle bluray playing software as most pefer to use their own or won't make use of it. FWIW I am happy with PowerDVD 11 Ultra, although I know Ben (docfoster) didn't like it and uses something else.


What else do you want to know?

And are the glass cylinders purely visual or do they have a function?

Yes they provide a purely visual function
There are 4 blue LEDs at each cylinder that come on when the machine is switched on. When the machine goes into sleep or standby the lights flash to indicate the sleep state.
The cylinders act to 'project' the light and create a nice effect.

Not everyone likes the lights, and that's fine. It's very easy to lift of the screwless lid and disconnect the LEDs.
Although as Theo pointed out they also act as a deterrent to thieves especially when they flash

[Audioman]

Thanks and welcome to the forum. So basicaly TFS is a high spec PC in fancy case sold under a hi-fi brand. Now I will research the cost of parts. For audio it would be easy to lose the Blue Ray. Also file storage could be NAS server over network.

[Ali Tait]

Hi Jason, I'm sure plenty here would be interested in the forthcoming transport version.

[jostber]

Hi Paul,
not sure the exact specs you're interested in, but here are some and you can let me know if it answers your question:

Mobo: Asus AT3IONT-I Deluxe (as some have commented already)
Proc: Dual core Intel Atom 330
FSB: 533MHz
Graphics: NVIDIA ION™ Graphics Processors
Memory: 4 GB, DDR3 1066/800
Storage: 128GB SSD (provision for 2 more SSDs - so 3 in total)
Drives: Slot-loading Sony bluray drive with the usual DVD-RW facilities etc
Connectivity: GB ethernet, wireless n, bluetooth
Ports: HDMI, VGA, USB
Audio Ports: RCA analogue, Coax/Optical digital
Other Features: Analogue in for the odd needle drop; a half decent headphone amp built in.

This level of spec means that, (with the 2 cores in particular), playing music while at the same time doing other stuff like creating playlists, ripping CD's, researching music on the internet, downloading hi-res files etc etc, can be done simultaneously without hiccup.

The significance of the level of graphics spec means that full HD video and blurays play with ease.

The power supply contains two separate dual rail supplies both with 300VA transformers.

The whole system is low power and passively cooled - so no physical or electrical noise and no moving parts (other when ripping CDs)

Software:
Windows 7 Pro - this allows remote control via a PC or Mac laptop using RDC
JRiver is the software player / organiser
dbpoweramp is the CD ripper

I don't bundle bluray playing software as most pefer to use their own or won't make use of it. FWIW I am happy with PowerDVD 11 Ultra, although I know Ben (docfoster) didn't like it and uses something else.


What else do you want to know?




Yes they provide a purely visual function
There are 4 blue LEDs at each cylinder that come on when the machine is switched on. When the machine goes into sleep or standby the lights flash to indicate the sleep state.
The cylinders act to 'project' the light and create a nice effect.

Not everyone likes the lights, and that's fine. It's very easy to lift of the screwless lid and disconnect the LEDs.
Although as Theo pointed out they also act as a deterrent to thieves especially when they flash

Thanks, that was what I wanted to know regarding the specs.

[Figlet108]

So the Audio is setup to use ASIO to interface to the DAC.

This means that the music data is sent directly to the DAC without any intervention from Windows or even the Xonar audio console - it literally gets delivered at the DAC's doorstep.

This means that if you made a bit-perfect rip from a CD, you will get a bit-perfect delivery to the DAC. It also means that no jitter is introduced by the transport itself.

It also means that you don't have to do anything to switch between different sample rates or bit depths - it's transparent and hassle free.

One implication is that the windows volume control doesn't work (remember it bypasses Windows completely).

The options for attenuation are as follows:
1) Have the maximum signal go to a pre-amp and attenuate from there in the analogue domain.
2) JRiver has an option for changing the 'internal volume'. This effectively attenuates in the digital domain before the data is sent to the DAC. Now because JRiver user 64-bit data structures for processing the music data this kind of internal attenuation effectively has no negative effect on the audio.
Therefore this option allows for plugging the TFS directly into a power amp and bypassing the pre altogether.
3) As above but use a pre to set the ball-park volume in the analogue domain and tweak it from the comfort of your armchair in the digital domain with the 'internal' volume control.

[Figlet108]

So basicaly TFS is a high spec PC...

Hi Paul,

well, no not really - it's a well spec'ed PC for the applications it was designed for and no more. I make this point because a high spec PC would be much more powerful, much hotter, much louder and more expensive.
Once you have enough power to do all your audio and in the case of the TFS bluray tasks you are done. Any more and you are wasting energy and heat for nothing.

Now I will research the cost of parts.

Aren't you lucky that someone told you what to buy so you didn't have to spend hours and hours researching and experimenting, and wasting money on speculative parts that didn't work out in the end....

For audio it would be easy to lose the BluRay.

Well, not really. You need some kind of drive in there for folks to rip their CD collections. And since this is a Statement product and since in the early stages of development bluray playback was specifically requested (I'm looking at you now Ben ) it really had to be a slot-loading BD drive

Also file storage could be NAS server over network.

Paul, not only could it be NAS, IT SHOULD be NAS. NAS is definitely the best solution as I tell anyone who cares to listen. My own TFS at home has a measly 30GB SSD and a 8TB NAS (RAIDed and backed up) spinning away in the basement. The TFS is wired into the network with cat6.
However, not everyone is ready to go the NAS route yet, so including a 128GB SSD with provision for 2 more is a good compromise and a buffer until the uninitiated get initiated

[jostber]

Can it be used with a Linux PC?