servers Archives - Positive Feedback

XACT S1 Music Server

Marshall Nack — Sat, 30 Mar 2024 17:30:08 +0000

The brochure included with the XACT S1 music server hammered on the point again and again. Digital that doesn't sound like digital. More like vinyl. The single-minded focus caused me to reflect on the scene and our recent history. What began with Perfect Sound Forever in 1983 is now snubbed in 2024. The new standard... 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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Ayon Audio CD-35 II CD Player and USA Labs RS9 Music Server

Editors at Positive Feedback — Mon, 14 Mar 2022 16:15:31 +0000

Two very versatile, and impressive, performers. Review By Bob Grossman With this article, Positive Feedback continues its content-sharing relationship with Enjoy the Music where Bob Grossman shares his thoughts on the Ayon Audio CD-35 II CD Player and USA Labs RS9 Music Server. Dr. David W. Robinson, Editor-in-Chief The Ayon Audio CD-35 II, as reviewed here, is the... Read More »

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Impressions: The Wolf Audio Alpha 3SX Music Server, Revisited [updated]

David W. Robinson — Sun, 16 Jan 2022 17:04:31 +0000

Ye Olde Editor in contemplation, pipe in hand, Happy Valley (portrait by John Robinson; image processing by David W. Robinson) Wolf Audio's Alpha 3SX with its iPhone-based control interface Time to say it again: we are in the golden age of high-end audio. I cannot think of a single category of "performance audio" that isn't... Read More »

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432 EVO High End Reference Music Server - Soothing Vinyl Sound via 432 Hz Processing

Juan C. Ayllon — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 20:28:08 +0000

Somewhere off shore, just west of Pillar Point Harbor in northern California, the 432 EVO High-End reference music server is riding a mammoth wave at Mavericks Beach. Championing the superiority of 432 Hz tuned music, via connection with the rhythms of Mother Earth, over today's 440 Hz standard, the surging swell is gaining momentum. ... Read More »

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The Euphony Audio Summus Endpoint - How Do You Improve Upon Digital Perfection?

Tom Gibbs — Sun, 05 Dec 2021 17:41:02 +0000

The Euphony Summus Server and Endpoint, alongside the PS Audio Stellar Gain Cell DAC and the Gustard X16 DAC. From late 2019 into 2020, my personal life was an absolute shambles, mostly due to a seemingly never-ending series of health crises that quite nearly took me down with them. The only really positive thing (besides... Read More »

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I-O Data Soundgenic HDL-RAS2T Music Server/Audio File Transport

Wojciech Pacuła — Tue, 21 Jul 2020 17:16:47 +0000

I-O DATA was founded in 1976 in the Japanese city of Kanazawa. I-O Data is one of the largest manufacturers of computer peripherals in this country. In 2016, an offspring brand called Fidata was founded within company, whose audio files transports / music servers are intended for the "premium consumer market." In 2019, they decided... 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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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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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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JPLAY Femto for Windows, and UPnP vs. DLNA in a Computer-based Music Server Setup

Tom Gibbs — Tue, 01 Jan 2019 18:50:51 +0000

Marcin Ostapowicz of JPLAY contacted me a couple of months ago; JPLAY had just released the latest iteration of their superb computer-based music playing system, now billed as JPLAY Femto. Would I be interested in taking a listen? Of course, was the answer—JPLAY has definitely been my go-to software choice for making baseline comparisons between... Read More »

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Impressions: The exaSound PlayPoint DM Network Audio Server and DAC

David W. Robinson — Mon, 01 Oct 2018 15:39:13 +0000

Ye Olde Editor with pipe weed. Portrait by John Robinson. This seems to be a season for culminating projects. Given that autumn is upon us now, I reckon that the time matches the season, and the mood matches the moment. Having finished my summing up of the Audionet STERN and HEISENBERG reference products, it is... Read More »

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Mojo Audio Déjà vu Music Server

Mark Pearson — Mon, 30 Apr 2018 18:30:33 +0000

I'm going to start off by saying that I feel like I have been on a digital journey during the process of reviewing the Mojo Audio Déjà vu Music Server. I encourage all who are interested in the specs and tweaks for the Déjà vu Music Server to visit the Mojo Audio website and read... Read More »

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Audio Ramblings - The AURALiC Aries G2 Streaming Transporter

Dave Clark — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 18:53:19 +0000

I have been a very happy owner and user of the Aries Network Streamer/Renderer from AURALiC for a good number of years (HERE). In its use, the Aries "rendered" our music, make that files, as well as I could ever imagine—pace, resolution, dynamics, extension, clean, articulate, palpable, and so on, and so on, and so... Read More »

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A Stunning Improvement in Computer Audio Sound Quality - the Samsung 960 EVO SSD

Tom Gibbs — Thu, 22 Feb 2018 17:35:46 +0000

First, a little background on recent system developments…when we moved into the new house last January, my goal was to modernize our computer, audio, and video accessibility as much as possible. I had a new dedicated listening room with beefy, dedicated electrical wiring, and the new room had three times the internal volume of my... Read More »

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Aurender A10 Network Music Server

Danny Kaey — Tue, 19 Dec 2017 16:55:54 +0000

"Hey, we have the Aurender A10 in; interested in writing a post script to my review?" spoke our fearless leader, Dave Clark. "Sure, why not", I simply replied. Having spent time with various digital bits and players over the past year or so, including dCS Rossini, Meridian's stupid great Explorer2 (with full Roon and MQA compatibility),... Read More »

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Audio Ramblings - The SOtM SMS-200ultra, tx-USBultra, and sPS-500... a Magical Trio.

Dave Clark — Fri, 08 Dec 2017 17:35:55 +0000

SOtM, a Korean company, had caught my attention at a number of shows with their way cool looking and affordably priced products that allow one to get their files from A to B. SOtM offers three lines of products: the Ultimate, the Advanced I, the Advanced II, along with a good number of accessories. You... Read More »

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Audio Ramblings - The CORE and EDGE from Antipodes Audio, Part 1

Dave Clark — Tue, 07 Nov 2017 02:51:19 +0000

So it is now 2017, and many of us music lovers and gear nuts have moved into the area of playing back our music files (streamed or downloaded from the internet or ripped from a CD) in some fashion. The world of computer-based audio has evolved from using an off-the-shelf PC or Mac to do... Read More »

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Sonore's UltraRendu Streamer with the UpTone Audio UltraCap™ LPS-1 Linear Power Supply

Tom Gibbs — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 20:30:48 +0000

Streaming is the future of computer audio. Anyone who's serious about playback of digital files knows that streaming is essential to achieve the ultimate in effortless, totally transparent playback. Think of it like this: with computer audio, there's no transport, per se; you can have the world's greatest digital-to-analog converter, but you've still gotta have... Read More »

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Elac Discovery Music Server

Larry Cox — Thu, 10 Aug 2017 20:35:38 +0000

Computer audio is a little bit like Sauron's "Ring." It promises audiophiles control over their digital files, easier access to information about the music they are listening to and even dominion over the information from the overlord of information called the interwebs all from your throne, er listening seat. What's not to like? That's the lure. The... Read More »

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Roon Headless on a NAS with the microRendu: An Important Follow-up

Tom Gibbs — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 01:53:16 +0000

The NAS element of my Roon/QNAP/microRendu setup is a QNAP TS-251, which has the requisite 64-bit processor and sufficiently upgradeable RAM to run Roon Core effectively. And at a significant cost savings when compared to Roon's recommended QNAP setup ($500 vs. nearly $2000 USD). During my initial explorations of Roon late last year, I quickly... Read More »

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Impressions: The Playback Designs Merlot Quad DSD DAC and Syrah Music Server, with Brief Notes on the Pinot Quad DSD ADC

David W. Robinson — Fri, 07 Oct 2016 23:01:09 +0000

So here I am again, returning to one of the touchstone companies for DSD and digital audio: Playback Designs. Am I surprised? Should anyone be surprised? Heck no. In fact, according to Andreas Koch, he and I first saw each other at the original DSD demonstration at Mobile Fidelity in Sebastopol, CA, back in September... Read More »

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