Any advice on building a Surround Music Server.

[Neil Palfreyman]

My music is stored in FLAC files on the NAS at the highest resolution I can extract. I've been using ffmpeg on my PC to rip the files from DVDs. I have one SACD but haven't found a means to extract the tracks from that (or even to play it) and no blueray discs. Fortunately much of the music I like (Prog Rock) comes on DVD.

Okay, that's good. Just another question to close off the basics, and I'm sorry if this sounds "patronising" - it's not meant to be!

Are you absolutely certain that you're ripping the highest quality audio stream to your FLAC files. This typically means Dolby Digital as your source stream is a no-no (unless it's all that's available) and if you're ripping DTS 24/96 make sure you're getting the core stream and the additional resolution in the "extension deltas."

I don't know enough about ffmpeg to tell you how to do this (there are other threads on the site, I believe) but it's fundamentally important that you're ripping the best quality audio stream available, and the whole of it, in the case of DTS above 48k.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

I realize you can use Oppo's imbedded navigation system. But the presentation experience of something like Kodi, Foobar, MusicBee, Jriver, is much superior and preferable for most of us. If you havent tried it, i suggest you give it a go. Take a look at Homers Kodi tutorial using the Aeon Nox skin. I'll bet you never go back to that Oppo system again.

Agreed

The question remains, can you feed the Oppo a continuous digital stream via USB or HDMI and get the decoded analog signal out. Can it work just like a standalone DAC.

Yes. Stereo only via USB. Stereo and multichannel via HDMI.

 

[LuvMyQuad]

I’ve been meaning to install an NUC or fanless PC on my main system and run maybe J-River or Kodi (not sure I want to deal with all the setup and customizing that KODI requires though?). I would need an AVR that takes HDMI though also, which I currently don’t have either. So yes it takes some good knowledge and planning to get this working right.

All player software is customizable. Homers Kodi tutorial makes it pretty simple, and once installed, requires no further futzing.

The way i see this, you don't need an AVR with HDMI as long as it has MC Analog in. See Kal's response above. The NUC connects to the NAS via ethernet and it connects to the Oppo 205 via its HDMI in. MC Analog goes from the Oppo to your AVR (as it probably does now). The Oppo probably also passes the video from the NUC through to its HDMI output, and then to your Video monitor. If it dosent pass it, you would split the HDMI and sent one side to the monitor. Either way doable with only the addition of the NUC. And now there are even more small economical "Kodi boxes" that will do it. Under $200. You need this Pup.

 

[Ron Wagstaff]

Nice




Some Points:
There are ways to extract the SACD tracks. Its an active forum subject and requires a particular type of player. But not worth it for one disc. What disk is it?

Im a prog guy too, There is a lot of prog on blueray. Yes, Pineapple Thief, Gentile Giant, Marillion, Steven Wilson, Porcupine tree, King Crimson... the 800 series Sony blueray players are very reasonably priced if you are looking for a disc option, To rip bluerays you'd only need a PC with a blueray reader.

There is also a lot of great prog on SACD. Genesis, RWPL ...

The SACD is Dark Side of the Moon and I believe much of the Pink Floyd stuff is.

Still I'm finding lots of stuff I like on DVD - Anthony Phillips, ELP, Jethro Tull, Renaissance, Rick Wakeman, Steve Hackett. I also like Eric Clapton, Mike Oldfield and Kate Bush from the same era.

I can't understand why a external Blueray drive costs five times an external DVD drive for my laptop so I haven't gone down that route. Actually now I think about it I have the Six Wives of Henry VIII on Blueray. My Sony Blueray player only has HDMI out and my laptop doesn't have HDMI In. So annoying.

 

[Ron Wagstaff]

Okay, that's good. Just another question to close off the basics, and I'm sorry if this sounds "patronising" - it's not meant to be!

Are you absolutely certain that you're ripping the highest quality audio stream to your FLAC files. This typically means Dolby Digital as your source stream is a no-no (unless it's all that's available) and if you're ripping DTS 24/96 make sure you're getting the core stream and the additional resolution in the "extension deltas."

I don't know enough about ffmpeg to tell you how to do this (there are other threads on the site, I believe) but it's fundamentally important that you're ripping the best quality audio stream available, and the whole of it, in the case of DTS above 48k.

I run a little app called MediaInfo which tells be what audio streams are available on the disk and I rip the highest quality one. Then there's a whole load of messing about with Audacity to extract the individual tracks.

I don't know what extension deltas are.

 

[J. PUPSTER]

All player software is customizable. Homers Kodi tutorial makes it pretty simple, and once installed, requires no further futzing.

The way i see this, you don't need an AVR with HDMI as long as it has MC Analog in. See Kal's response above. The NUC connects to the NAS via ethernet and it connects to the Oppo 205 via its HDMI in. MC Analog goes from the Oppo to your AVR (as it probably does now). The Oppo probably also passes the video from the NUC through to its HDMI output, and then to your Video monitor. If it dosent pass it, you would split the HDMI and sent one side to the monitor. Either way doable with only the addition of the NUC. And now there are even more small economical "Kodi boxes" that will do it. Under $200. You need this Pup.

Yes, that all sounds about right because I currently have my ROKU plugged into the HDMI in, on the back of my Oppo and it works exactly that way. Have to think this through some more... either get another HDMI switcher for both ROKU and NUC or move the ROKU to my current HDMI switcher feeding my TV and use the TV’s current TOSLINK connect to the AVR since I believe the ROKU only does lower res. audio anyway?

Don’t know if any of this helps Ron, but shows there’s more than one way to skin the hookup cat sometimes
Check this drive out Ron:
Pioneer BDR-XD07S Portable 6X Blu-ray Burner External Drive Bundle with 100GB M-DISC BDXL and USB Cable - Burns CD DVD BD DL BDXL Discs
I’m considering this one myself since the LG with M-Disk capabilities is no longer available.

 

[LuvMyQuad]

The SACD is Dark Side of the Moon and I believe much of the Pink Floyd stuff is.

Still I'm finding lots of stuff I like on DVD - Anthony Phillips, ELP, Jethro Tull, Renaissance, Rick Wakeman, Steve Hackett. I also like Eric Clapton, Mike Oldfield and Kate Bush from the same era.

I can't understand why a external Blueray drive costs five times an external DVD drive for my laptop so I haven't gone down that route. Actually now I think about it I have the Six Wives of Henry VIII on Blueray. My Sony Blueray player only has HDMI out and my laptop doesn't have HDMI In. So annoying.

I go the cheap route as well when it comes to ripping blue rays. I use an internal BR burner with a USB adapter kit. The adapter kit includes a separate power supply. It isnt pretty, but i store it out of site until needed. And cheap... under $100 total.
burner
adapter

What Sony player do you own. Some are capable of ripping SACD.
see here. look for an updated list toward the end of the thread

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Sing the @LuvMyQuad praises today to the tune of a Steve Miller song:

Luv-y 🕊 -y,
Luv-y 🕊 -y,
Luv-y 🕊 -y all the time

Available in Q8 Quad at your favorite Multi-channel stores while supplies last folks!

 

[jimfisheye]

Just skimming this thread. Apologies if I've missed the obvious rebuttals but just a couple points.

I have read that a dedicated music server could be built and that it would sound much better.

The audio output quality is 100% the DAC. (Digital to analog converters)
The computer system used has no bearing. It's either serving the data stream or not. If not, you get an error. Not degraded sound. In the same way digital images "pixelate" instead of blur.

There aren't many multichannel DACs on the market, that's for sure.

Actually there are a great many to choose from and pro used gear going back a decade.
Getting an audio interface with 6 or 8 outputs with professional grade converters isn't hard. You can find interfaces with 40 outputs if you need that! You can also combine audio interfaces in a system and use everything together.

This is slick:
Computer (2010 or newer) with thunderbolt port.
HDMI AV receiver with unrestricted HDMI input.
TB to HDMI cable
Hit play on your favorite media player app.

Cons:
Netbook style computers with no TB ports. (And if it has an HDMI port, it's restricted to video only.)
HDMI AV receivers sold with the HDMI inputs restricted to video only.
Careful when you shop for this stuff!

This always works pretty much no matter what:
Any computer made since 2000 with USB or firewire.
Any USB or firewire connecting audio interface with the # of outputs you need.
USB or firewire cable.
Hit play on your favorite media player app.

There are a few HDMI connecting audio interfaces on the market these days. (This is the style you can't find any good options for!) Just avoid HDMI if you value your sanity and wallet! So much of the "copy protection gone wild" crap in play. (ie. If you can't even play it, you can't copy it.)

The last hardware upgrade I needed was a bluray drive (internal SATA) in 2010. That was around $200 back then. More like $50 now. The last software upgrade needed for a new format was to fully decode the dts2496 format. (This one was/is a ringer. Most software and many hardware players only decode the core dts and deliver a significant fidelity reduction.) ffmpeg has the codec now and just works.

Hard drives are hard drives. Build a NAS or just build storage in a local workstation. Keep a 2nd backup copy minimum.

This stuff can all be DIY and just kept straightforward.

The AVR seems consumer friendly. Everything bundled into one box.
Not so friendly when just one of those things breaks and you have to throw the rest of the perfectly good pieces out and buy everything all over again! Or have to start over because a new format came along.
AD and DA converters are the expensive bit. One of them anyway! It's literally the component putting analog waveforms back together from the digital data. An all or nothing kind of step!
So you buy an AVR with expensive DA converters and then you buy a bluray player also with expensive DA converters. Then you choose the ones that might be a little better between them. The other set just sit there and never get used. Wait... what?!

Modular is better:
Computer -> interface with DACs -> amps & speakers

 

[Ron Wagstaff]

I go the cheap route as well when it comes to ripping blue rays. I use an internal BR burner with a USB adapter kit. The adapter kit includes a separate power supply. It isnt pretty, but i store it out of site until needed. And cheap... under $100 total.
burner
adapter

What Sony player do you own. Some are capable of ripping SACD.
see here. look for an updated list toward the end of the thread

Yes that a good idea, the SATA drives are a fair bit cheaper and I already own an adapter, used for reading hard drives. Presumably there's nothing like it to read SACDs.

My Blueray player is the Sony BDP-S350. Pretty basic.

 

[Neil Palfreyman]

I don't know what extension deltas are.

The way the DTS codec works is that there is always a 24/48k "lossy" core included in the audio stream, for backwards compatibility.

The higher resolution DTS stream typically (but not always) found on a DVD is 24/96k. This is lossy but not as lossy as DTS 24/48k. It's encoded as the usual 24/48k lossy core plus "extension deltas" that are used by any AVR that supports 24/96k (yours does) to "rebuild" a higher quality audio stream from the lossy core using the information found in the deltas

The lossless DTS-HD Master Audio often found on Blu Ray works in a similar way.

The possible issue is that ripping a DTS 24/96k stream may just rip the 48k core, and there's an audible quality difference between DTS 24/48k and DTS 24/96k.

There are several threads on QQ about this, but I'm not certain if there's a definitive guide on how to do it with ffmpeg?

 

[jimfisheye]

There are several threads on QQ about this, but I'm not certain if there's a definitive guide on how to do it with ffmpeg?

ffmpeg -i input_file.dts output_file.flac

No other arguments or flags needed.
Note: Output straight to flac. If you choose wav, NOW you need more flags because wav defaults to truncate to 16 bit. Apparently because the original wav format was 16 bit? Insidious little ringer there!

 

[ubertrout]

Yes that a good idea, the SATA drives are a fair bit cheaper and I already own an adapter, used for reading hard drives. Presumably there's nothing like it to read SACDs.

My Blueray player is the Sony BDP-S350. Pretty basic.

You should consider the replacing it with the Sony BDP-S6700. Will play any file format you throw at it, including multichannel FLAC and DSD files, and it costs under $100. It will even play SACDs, and I think can be hacked to rip them too. And you can connect a USB drive to it too if you want.