In my unending quest for better audio, I just installed a trial version of QOBUZ and then proceeded to configure LMS (Version 7.8.1) to listen on my audio system.
After some research I found 2 separate plugin components that support the QOBUZ music stream - the Pierre Beck/Michael Herger QOBUZ plugin and the ickStream plugin (which is designed to support multiple high end data streams).
FYI - My connection is via a pair of TP Link powerline connectors. However these have been working fine for the past year, so I don't think they are causing the problem. I performed the following tests:
1) I tested the Beck Herger plugin on my SB3 player (at the high res/flac) setting and experienced continual dropouts as the player apparently could not provide a sustainable connection. When it played it sounded very good, but kept stopping every 10 secs or so - not very acceptable.
2) Using the same plugin I changed to datastream to mp3, and things worked correctly - however the audio quality is not as good as the flac data stream.
3) Reset the datastream protocol to flac, and tested the ickStream plugin. In this case everything works as expected, without any dropouts.
This has been a somewhat surprising experiment and raises (in my mind) some interesting questions, as follows:
1) What is the difference between these 2 plugins? Is it possible that the SB3 does not support flac streams and the ickStream software has the smarts to auto convert to a lesser audio quality. (That's just a theory on my part - I need some extended listening testing on this).
2) Can any other link in my audio chain explain this? The TP Links are a suspect here, but have worked OK for a long time.
I'd need to do some more listening tests to confirm things. However if anyone else has any similar experiences please chime in.
Regards,
Patrick
After some research I found 2 separate plugin components that support the QOBUZ music stream - the Pierre Beck/Michael Herger QOBUZ plugin and the ickStream plugin (which is designed to support multiple high end data streams).
FYI - My connection is via a pair of TP Link powerline connectors. However these have been working fine for the past year, so I don't think they are causing the problem. I performed the following tests:
1) I tested the Beck Herger plugin on my SB3 player (at the high res/flac) setting and experienced continual dropouts as the player apparently could not provide a sustainable connection. When it played it sounded very good, but kept stopping every 10 secs or so - not very acceptable.
2) Using the same plugin I changed to datastream to mp3, and things worked correctly - however the audio quality is not as good as the flac data stream.
3) Reset the datastream protocol to flac, and tested the ickStream plugin. In this case everything works as expected, without any dropouts.
This has been a somewhat surprising experiment and raises (in my mind) some interesting questions, as follows:
1) What is the difference between these 2 plugins? Is it possible that the SB3 does not support flac streams and the ickStream software has the smarts to auto convert to a lesser audio quality. (That's just a theory on my part - I need some extended listening testing on this).
2) Can any other link in my audio chain explain this? The TP Links are a suspect here, but have worked OK for a long time.
I'd need to do some more listening tests to confirm things. However if anyone else has any similar experiences please chime in.
Regards,
Patrick