computer audio Archives - Positive Feedback

Playback Designs' USB-X4 Interface - A Further Step in Transparency

Rushton Paul — Sun, 09 Jul 2023 15:21:56 +0000

Ann and I are always interested in steps we can take to bring our listening to life. For us, this often means seeking greater clarity, greater transparency, to the sound. Years ago, it was the clarity we heard when listening to the monstrous resolution delivered by the Walker Audio Proscenium Turntable—a veritable vinyl grooves vacuum... Read More »

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A Supercharged Fanless Case for Your NUC Music Server - the HDPLEX H1 V3

Juan C. Ayllon — Mon, 15 May 2023 17:24:20 +0000

Want a souped-up fanless case for your music server but don't want to overspend, are willing to roll up your sleeves a bit, but you don't know where to look? It turns out the HDPLEX H1 V3 just might be your end game! Several years ago, I built my reference music server by purchasing an... Read More »

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The Akasa Turing FX - a Great Silent Bang for Buck and Your Intel NUC Server!

Juan C. Ayllon — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 19:34:02 +0000

Several years ago, I sold a very nice, expensive, music server to free up funds for better speakers, and sought a more cost effective one to manage and serve my digital recordings, streamed high res services like Qobuz and quality internet radio stations. It wasn't long until I discovered the Intel NUC. Dialing it in... Read More »

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Music Streaming with Fidelizer - the Nimitra2 Server + Nikola2 LPS + EtherStream Network Switch

Marshall Nack — Fri, 02 Sep 2022 20:21:22 +0000

When something is not as advertised, I have no problem calling it out. So it was when music streaming came along. I read reviews, heard the demos, and my ears told me it was a step backwards, plus it was always crashing. I stayed on the sidelines until about four years ago when my DAC... Read More »

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Ethernet Cables from AudioQuest - Pearl, Carbon, and Diamond

Marshall Nack — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 16:14:27 +0000

Something strange happened recently that caused me to rethink the testing paradigm used by reviewers. I was multitasking, putting some low-priced music streaming gear through its paces, while checking out a sampling of AudioQuest Ethernet cables. I began with AQ's bottom-of-the-line Pearl ($49.95/1.5m), then swapped to the top-of-the-line Diamond ($1599.95/1.5m), when it struck me. For... Read More »

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AirStream - Optimized Wireless Router from Fidelizer

Marshall Nack — Mon, 13 Sep 2021 02:35:21 +0000

Photo courtesy New York School of T'ai Chi Chuan Sundays at noon I take Qigong class, a Chinese discipline of standing postures and slow movements. Translated, it means "energy work," and is related to T'ai Chi Chuan. The aim is to help you achieve relaxation. Sounds easy, right? That's what you think. By the time you... Read More »

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Intona 7054-x Galvanic Isolator

John Zurek — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 22:52:52 +0000

The last few years I've been pretty pleased with my system, so I've really not been considering any major changes. My current gaggle of components, cables, and room treatments works well in my somewhat difficult room, and delivers most of the passion of the music while usually keeping me happily engaged. I even get to... Read More »

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Adventures In De-Crapification with the USBe Perfect

Bruce Kinch — Wed, 05 May 2021 20:58:29 +0000

Hey Kids! It's 2021, and with no more pressure to have the US BeBest, let's all go play with the USBe Perfect! When the call came in, Georgia area code—caller unknown, I let it go straight to voicemail. Finally weeding out spam calls, I found—tucked between a Police Defense Fund plea and a faux breast... Read More »

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Network Acoustics' ENO

Dave Clark — Sat, 30 Jan 2021 23:02:37 +0000

Okay so I have always been about removing or filtering out "noise" or whatever crap is in the signal or wherever… stuff that can cloud or obscure the music. Been after this ever since I realized it was there. Crap that gets in the way of the music. AC conditioners, AC regenerators, signal filters, grounding... Read More »

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Ethernet Streaming with Fidelizer - The EtherStream Network Switch

Marshall Nack — Fri, 17 Apr 2020 18:30:05 +0000

I had not yet drunk the Kool-Aid—I was more of a doubting Thomas—when the package arrived. My West Coast editor advised me, "Just swap out the one you have, plug this one in, give it the requisite 50 hours, and then take a sip," or something to that effect. In the box was a new... Read More »

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NAD M10 BluOS Streaming Amplifier

Michael Corsentino — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 20:13:53 +0000

Music lovers come in all stripes and colors. As much as I love the multi box room dominating rack of separates which make up my reference audio system, that kind of space and financial commitment isn't realistic for, or desired by everyone. Often a more modest space saving approach is called for.... Read More »

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Roon Labs Nucleus Plus Server

Malcolm J. Gomes — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 17:05:43 +0000

Over the past four decades I have had the pleasure of taking my readers through, and helping them understand many different music formats. During the 1970s we saw the compact cassette take over from vinyl records as the dominant format for music consumed at the mass-market level. The compact cassette was then eclipsed by the... Read More »

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Superb Digital Playback with the Euphony Summus Music Server

Tom Gibbs — Wed, 04 Mar 2020 20:55:25 +0000

Jump back in time to May 2016; Beth and I are going through probably the most difficult period of transition in our lives together. We'd just sold our house of thirty years, and our closing date was rapidly approaching. And we were in a mad scramble to move all our belongings into multiple storage units.... Read More »

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Qobuz and the Hard Drive

Marshall Nack — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 18:09:33 +0000

It's not news that streaming has gobbled up 75% of the USA consumer music market, as reported recently by the RIAA, simply how fast it happened. This is the most exciting development in the High-End right now. The urge to jump quickly to the new thing is very tempting. My prudent advice for anyone considering... Read More »

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Fidelizer EtherStream Network Switch

Tom Gibbs — Sun, 15 Dec 2019 20:31:16 +0000

Streaming digital media is the future of music playback; I've been playing about with it now for roughly five years, often with USB sources directly connected to my stereo. But it's become apparent to me over the last few years that Ethernet streaming with my Sonore UltraRendu is vastly superior to a direct USB connection.... Read More »

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CH Precision Ethernet Streaming HD Board

Marshall Nack — Sat, 23 Nov 2019 19:35:36 +0000

It's winter time. Want to know the best tweak for the season? Humidity. Get a humidifier and maintain about 35% RH at the equipment rack. Not only does it make you feel better, it will make the equipment perform better. Sound travels through air: consider it the final wire in your system. Ralph Pays... Read More »

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The Lindemann Limetree Network Bridge

Editors at Positive Feedback — Thu, 21 Nov 2019 23:38:49 +0000

Guest review by Mattias Jung of HiFi Statement. In the past few years I had lost track of the Lindemann company and their audio products. This was despite the fact that I had only the finest memories of the products from Bavaria since the early days, and whenever I passed by a Lindemann demonstration at... Read More »

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Audio Ramblings and the SOtM sNH-10G Switch

Dave Clark — Sun, 01 Sep 2019 18:24:04 +0000

For those of us who are pushing things in terms of what can we accomplish with playing our music back via files within some networked system, well… where does one stop? Or better yet, what else can one do to improve things? Obviously, it starts with files whether ripped from a CD or sourced from... Read More »

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Advanced Optical Streaming with the Sonore Signature Rendu SE System Optique

Tom Gibbs — Sun, 01 Sep 2019 17:27:53 +0000

Since Adrian Lebena reached out to me three years ago with the offer to review Sonore's first product, the microRendu, a Sonore streamer has been in my system ever since. The microRendu was amazing—especially when paired with Sonore's Signature Linear Power Supply. It took my streaming experience—which previously had been restricted to bandwidth-limited and feature-limited... Read More »

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Simaudio Moon 390 Network Player and Preamplifier

Will Wright — Wed, 21 Aug 2019 17:23:08 +0000

We're Gonna Spread Our Wings And Take To The Sky For some time now I've been attempting to implement, to my satisfaction, a home built music server/home theater PC. Being an audiophile, I set the bar higher for sound than picture. But until just recently my attempts have not produced sound quality competitive with my... Read More »

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Creating a Path to Digital Music Bliss with Roon

Sam Rosen — Tue, 20 Aug 2019 19:00:10 +0000

From left to right, Intel Nuc Roon Core, Pro-Ject Stream Box S2 Ultra, Raspberry Pi 3 B+, Raspberry Pi 3 B+ Over the past year I have spent a significant amount of time working on solving what appeared to be a simple problem. How do I distribute my digital music throughout my home in an... Read More »

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Lindemann Audio Limetree Network DAP / Headamp

Editors at Positive Feedback — Mon, 08 Jul 2019 17:54:31 +0000

Good Things do Come in Small Packages Review By Rufus Smith With this article, Positive Feedback continues its content-sharing relationship with Enjoy the Music. Rufus Smith shares his thoughts about the Lindemann Audio Limetree Network DAP / Headamp. Read, and learn.... Dr. David W. Robinson, Editor-in-Chief Do good things really come in small packages and at ridiculously low... Read More »

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The New Apartment Lounge Streaming Magic: The Superb AURALiC ARIES G1 Wireless Streaming Transporter

Maurice Jeffries — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 15:58:48 +0000

Digital Marches On Back in Issue 96 (HERE), Managing Editor Dave Clark put the AURALiC ARIES G2 Streaming Transporter ($3999) through its paces, praising that unit for its relative ease-of-use and naturally unforced, but also superbly detailed, sound. More recently, Alex Brinkman, AURALiC North America's Marketing Director, reached out to see if I wanted to... Read More »

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Audio Ramblings and the Antipodes CX

Dave Clark — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 21:51:11 +0000

Getting music from A to B is still the hot thing with more and more renderer/server/streaming devices coming out from every nook and cranny. While there continues to be offerings from such companies as AURALiC, Aurender, and so on—running their own proprietary software—there are those from the likes of Antipodes, Wolf, Roon, Small Green Computer,... Read More »

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Audio Ramblings - The Small Green Computer sonicTransporter i5 Music Server and the ultraRendu and ultraDigital Units from Sonore

Dave Clark — Sun, 13 Jan 2019 19:13:23 +0000

The Small Green Computer's sonicTransporter i5 fills a niche for those looking to add a simple and affordable music server to their system—one that runs with, say Roon (you will need a license for Roon), though the sonicTransporter i5 can also run with Samba and other software options. I say affordable as it is $795... Read More »

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