Soundaware D100 Transport

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by Hands, Mar 10, 2016.

  1. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    I have a smaller library than most, less than 10 albums in 24/96, and basically everything ripped to FLAC. I got used to the UI and remote pretty quickly and have no issues getting around. The UPnP app I used as a remote control or streamer for the device worked without issue except for the fact the app itself, not the D100, was buggy. I haven't played around with NFS, nor would I need to seeing my library is small enough to fit on a 128GB SSD. I'm very picky and selective about music I listen to regularly or for "serious" listening sessions, hence why my library is small.

    It's possible the beta firmware floating around will fix a lot of the network related issues he mentioned in that review. I wouldn't know. I didn't try anything other that playback from the SD card until I tried the beta firmware.

    I've been trying to say that if you have particular file types, huge libraries, or need specific UI functionality that you're accustomed to via most PC software solutions, the D100 might not be for you despite how good it sounds. For a simpleton like me, doing nothing but playing back a small library from an SD card that I've kept manually organized and sorted over the years, the D100 is a fantastic device.
     
  2. SoundSound

    SoundSound New

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    Thank you Hands!


    I get your opinion and totally with you on the “simpler is better” point of view.


    Has anybody had a chance to compare the SOUND from directly attached SD Memory Card vs. Memory Stick vs. HDD/SSD?
     
  3. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    Found v2.9.9 firmware floating around on the same foreign forums I found other beta firmware at.

    Good news, FLAC decoding seems to work better. Songs no longer start a half second through the track. For most things, this was a non-issue, but some tracks start immediately. The D100 only handled this properly either if with a CUE file or if you started a track, rewound to the start, and then hit play. Now the songs play from the start as expected.

    Also, while gapless playback doesn't seem to work, it's more a matter of there being the slightest gap in between tracks. Much better.

    Bad news, some tracks that are supposed to be continuous and gapless have a brief stutter at the start of the second, but nothing goes missed and is smooth sailing after that. Not sure what that's about.

    While it would have been ideal to have all these things ironed out from the start, I do appreciate the updates and added functionality, and I still can't complain given this is by far the best sounding source I've heard yet.
     
  4. MrTie

    MrTie Friend

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  5. lukeap69

    lukeap69 Pinoy Panther

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    New firmware announced. I will try it later tonight when I get home

    soundaware

    New firmware V1.0.21 for D100Pro was launched, with added AirPlay function, which can transfer any available audio data from iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Mac (request OS X Mountain Lion) to SOUNDAWARE desktop players, (through music services on your iPhone or Mac, such as Spotify and so forth).
     
  6. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    Should help with FLAC encodings and gapless. Beta FW wasn't totally perfect but still much improved over previous stable FW. Not a top concern of mine compared to SQ.
     
  7. lukeap69

    lukeap69 Pinoy Panther

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  8. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    To the one or two other people that might care: Having experimented with recent beta and now the latest stable firmware, I can confim that gapless playback is still not fixed, or rather fully implemented. Some tracks will leave off a half second at the end or beginning of two gapless tracks, and some tracks still stutter for a half second at the start.

    The fix for this is to use CUERipper to rip your CD as one big WAV or FLAC file along with a cue sheet. This will show up in the D100 as both a cue sheet you can pick from, which then lets you pick individual tracks, or you can play the entire file separately. Gapless works perfectly in this case.

    As mentioned before, on one hand, I'd prefer these problems not exist out of the gate. The D100 has been around for a couple years, I think. On the other hand, I'm perfectly happy with the workaround due to the sound quality. The rep did say upcoming firmware should resolve this.

    For those unaware, and in case I forgot to mention, the rep did say you can contact them for a native 120V version of their deluxe or femto D100.

    Will get some ears on the D100 in a couple days. Hoping the guys like it. :)
     
  9. SoundSound

    SoundSound New

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    Mac mini + Singxer SU-1 = Soundaware D100 ?

    Dear Audiophiles:

    Would you consider the SOUND presentation provided by Mac mini (Audirvana Plus) + Singxer SU-1 to be similar to what you get from Soundaware D100 Transport?

    P.S. SU-1 is intended to be used to send the stream to AES/EBU XLR DAC input.
     
  10. philipmorgan

    philipmorgan Member of the month

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    I haven't heard the gear in question, but the body of listening evidence indicates that USB converted to SPDIF will almost never sound as good as native SPDIF or AES.
     
  11. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    You're going to have to ditch USB anything to compete, or so is my strong opinion.
     
  12. MisterRogers

    MisterRogers Ethernet Nervosa

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    Dammit @Hands - why don't to come out and say what you really feel?? :)

    Having heard both, but having much more familiarity with the SU-1 (stock and modded), I'd give the Soundaware the nod vs. SU-1 stock, but I think the SU-1 get's a lot closer fed by an LPS-1. Or so is my shaky observation.
     
  13. jexby

    jexby Posole Prince

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    I second the opinion if I could hear the configuration myself.
    :p
     
  14. thoth

    thoth Acquaintance

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    Why would that be? Why can't the DDC kill all jitter through buffering and re-clocking USB data? Or any digital input, for that matter.
     
  15. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    USB audio is asynchronous and doesn't have a clock as such. "Reclocking" USB is meaningless, the audio only gains a clock after it has been through the USB receiver- and you're at the mercy of the quality of the clocks in that.

    While good USB to SPDIF converters exist, they're not cheap, or common. You also generally want one with good galvanic isolation, as USB right out of a computer is electrically noisy (usually mostly down the VBUS line), which doesn't help, either.
     
    Last edited: Apr 2, 2017
  16. jexby

    jexby Posole Prince

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  17. Miracle1980

    Miracle1980 Acquaintance

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    Do you know if the gapless ''issue'' has been fixed with the new firmwares? I have all my collection with single tracks and, till now, i hold myself before ordering/trying the D100pro...
     
  18. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    Same boat since their last firmware update in October.
     
  19. frenchbat

    frenchbat Almost "Made"

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    Dlna can't do gapless. It will only happen if the manufacturer does something funny with the transfer in his firmware.
     
  20. GoldfishX

    GoldfishX Facebook Friend

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    https://imgur.com/a/3mBhy

    Very pleased with the D100 since I got it. Was worth trashing the hutch on my desk to build around it, in any case. The Yggdrasil really seems to like it, using the AES connection. I just got it back from Schiit with the USB Gen 5 upgrade (about 5 days before they announced the new upgrade...grrr), so I'll A/B at some point, but no hurry. The synergy is fantastic.

    No headphones hooked up yet, but the Audioengine HD6's sing quite nicely with that those two at the front. They replaced a pair of KRK Rockits that were just too bright for any extended listening sessions. The sound I'm getting is really open, detailed, musical and non-fatiguing. I'm worried about headphone pairings and synergy. Just enjoying the Audioengines too much right now to worry about it.

    One caveat I'm noticing. The SD card sounds worlds better than the USB hard drive I have connected. The music off the hard drive sounds brittle, flat and fatiguing. I wanted to turn it off on the first couple songs. The SD card-sourced music is what sounds incredible.

    Edit: Also pictured: Extra AAA batteries for the remote!
     

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