Ok here goes: One mans experience and opinion about the over sampling ripping of ALL HIS CDs ...

[Bill Ferris]

It doesn't happen too often, but it does indeed happen. I've tried JRiver over and over, and I just......don't......like it. Old Winamp fan, and habits die hard. I'm sure Winamp could be part of it. I also CHOSE Win 7, and use a Meridian Direct DAC.

I suppose having nearly 27,000 songs and almost 600 gb of music could be the issue? Honestly, it's not that big a deal, but I would like to run it down. Thanks for the tips, and suggestions.

And Bill Ferris, we need more peaceful, understanding folk here, so I attempt to lead by example. Seems you're off to a great start as well. This, to me, is the essence of AK - group participation in a shared pleasure.

As I've said before, it ain't a potato sack race.

Peace, everyone.

Thank you Sir, and good luck on resolving your music computer issues.. I wish I could be more helpful.
But after investing a good bit of research, time and money into it.. I found my answer which now has excluded computer music streaming!!

I setup the OPPO 103 to load & run my 316 Gig worth of music usb flash drive & toggle random and let it run.
I never know what`s going to play next--- it might be Miles, Strauss, Van Halen, or other scores of artists and their songs..
Warts and all, as I not a big fan of everything they offer, but it sure keeps it interesting !!

And I don`t have screw with it after I set it up.. 24/7 my OPPO faithfully churns out what I put in. while providing me with a subjectively higher SQ then any computer setup here with the same exact music on them has..

The OPPO 103, has in reality become a pricy usb to coax based S/PDIF converter, but that`s fine with me for gives me what I want and still retains it`s optical capability if desired..

Take care folks and enjoy the Memorial weekend.. It`s after drink thirty HERE and I`m already late!!
Kind regards, OKB

 

[onwardjames]

I'm resurrecting this thread because I'm at wits end.

My Meridian Direct DAC will NOT switch from 44.1 ......ever. If I go to the sound tab, and change the setting to 24/192, I can get Music Bee to play the tracks, you see the led's dancing, but no sound comes out, and this is the ONLY instance where the 1x, 2x and 4x light on the Meridian actually changed.

Nothing else has worked, and I feel that all those HD Tracks I have downloaded are only playing in 44.1.

Anyone have any tips?? I've used Music Bee, Winamp, VLC, and I just cannot get anything to work. Computer is a 2013 Dell running Windows 7.

Come to think of it, I had this same issue with my Dragonfly DAC. Should change colors when a new sampling rate plays, but it never ever did.

I'm all out of answers.

 

[+48V]

Nothing else has worked,

You didn't mention what "else" you've tried. So I'll start with the most rudimentary question...

Do you have the latest driver for your Direct installed? Looks like v3.34.1 is most recent.

 

[Bill Ferris]

I'm resurrecting this thread because I'm at wits end.

My Meridian Direct DAC will NOT switch from 44.1 ......ever. If I go to the sound tab, and change the setting to 24/192, I can get Music Bee to play the tracks, you see the led's dancing, but no sound comes out, and this is the ONLY instance where the 1x, 2x and 4x light on the Meridian actually changed.

Nothing else has worked, and I feel that all those HD Tracks I have downloaded are only playing in 44.1.

Anyone have any tips?? I've used Music Bee, Winamp, VLC, and I just cannot get anything to work. Computer is a 2013 Dell running Windows 7.

Come to think of it, I had this same issue with my Dragonfly DAC. Should change colors when a new sampling rate plays, but it never ever did.

I'm all out of answers.

Just a thought Tim, have you gone to Dell`s site to check to see that your drivers are up to date, especially the audio ones ?
And any that might be needed for your usb to DAC, if used..
My Peach tree usb to S/PDIF converter needed the higher resolution bit rate driver down loaded from the company`s site.

I don`t have any high res rips on my Win 7/free upgrade to 10 2010 Gateway lap top, but I can up/over sample play back of the 44.1 music in the sound settings, via the task bar`s speaker icon, on the fly, and after a brief drop out of the sound, windows indicates ok, no problem, and my DAC indicates the higher bit rate with audio output.

I was just curious and played around with it, to see if there was any sonic difference, and to make sure that if I ever wanted to play a Pure Audio BluRay in the lap top that it would handle it..
Just a thought/suggestion Sir.
I wish you luck/success in resolving your situation..
Take care.
Kind regards, OKB

 

[onwardjames]

You didn't mention what "else" you've tried. So I'll start with the most rudimentary question...

Do you have the latest driver for your Direct installed? Looks like v3.34.1 is most recent.

Last night, after downloading everything I could from Meridians website, I got music bee to actually play my 96kps24bit War the world is a ghetto. When I switch back to 44.1, the light stays on 4x, but there is a serious
Improvement. Don't know if I did what I should have, but it sounds glorious now, even on basic stuff. I must have been in 44.1 the whole time.

I want to say what I downloaded was 3.7? It was some file installer designed designed to see which Meridian program you have and if you had the latest drivers. Apparently somehow I got it to work.

Just a thought Tim, have you gone to Dell`s site to check to see that your drivers are up to date, especially the audio ones ?
And any that might be needed for your usb to DAC, if used..
My Peach tree usb to S/PDIF converter needed the higher resolution bit rate driver down loaded from the company`s site.

I don`t have any high res rips on my Win 7/free upgrade to 10 2010 Gateway lap top, but I can up/over sample play back of the 44.1 music in the sound settings, via the task bar`s speaker icon, on the fly, and after a brief drop out of the sound, windows indicates ok, no problem, and my DAC indicates the higher bit rate with audio output.

I was just curious and played around with it, to see if there was any sonic difference, and to make sure that if I ever wanted to play a Pure Audio BluRay in the lap top that it would handle it..
Just a thought/suggestion Sir.
I wish you luck/success in resolving your situation..
Take care.
Kind regards, OKB

Thank you Bill. You would think I would have this licked as I've been using computers ever since Windows 311. I'm not sure how I overlooked this. All I know is that my McIntosh speakers have never sounded this good.

 

[Bill Ferris]

Last night, after downloading everything I could from Meridians website, I got music bee to actually play my 96kps24bit War the world is a ghetto. When I switch back to 44.1, the light stays on 4x, but there is a serious
Improvement. Don't know if I did what I should have, but it sounds glorious now, even on basic stuff. I must have been in 44.1 the whole time.

I want to say what I downloaded was 3.7? It was some file installer designed designed to see which Meridian program you have and if you had the latest drivers. Apparently somehow I got it to work.



Thank you Bill. You would think I would have this licked as I've been using computers ever since Windows 311. I'm not sure how I overlooked this. All I know is that my McIntosh speakers have never sounded this good.

Very good Sir; I`m glad, that in some small way, my suggestion/s were helpful for you, and you`re most welcome..

Now enjoy your new found & experiencing higher SQ ripped music listening pleasure..

Take care Tim, and have a great weekend.

Very kind regards, OKB

 

[onwardjames]

Thanks, Bill! I have noticed that the apodising filter that Meridian crows so much about, well apparently it wasn't doing much in my previous setup. Now the sound is much improved.

I spun some cassette-ripped and battered vinyl flac files that I had ripped thru it, and even THOSE sound better.

I told the wife it was like having a 440 under the hood, and only being able to use Reverse.

Again, appreciate the tutelage, everyone.

 

[Bill Ferris]

Thanks, Bill! I have noticed that the apodising filter that Meridian crows so much about, well apparently it wasn't doing much in my previous setup. Now the sound is much improved.

I spun some cassette-ripped and battered vinyl flac files that I had ripped thru it, and even THOSE sound better.

I told the wife it was like having a 440 under the hood, and only being able to use Reverse.

Again, appreciate the tutelage, everyone.

Yes Sir.
And I`m still learning my self..

Mercy Sakes this digitizing/ripping music situation, and its learning curve for max SQ that can be milked from it..

 

[dewdude]

I used to upsample all my stuff using SSRC to 96/24.

This was not a quality increase...it was out of necessity.

I feel if one feels the need to upsample...such a task is better suited to be done by software during playback....doing it before hand just serves as a way of wasting space.

I will also say as modern DACs have matured...the need to do so has disappeared. Most of these things are converting to delta-sigma at some poit internally....so you have conversion after conversion.

I'm more of the opinion of keeping conversions down to a minimum.

Also..by oversampling i assume you mean 192khz. 192kbps is a bitrate usually used for MP3. 192ksps (kilo samples per second) would also be acceptable.

 

[dcgibby]

Here's a link to the most comprehensive discussion of hi resolution audio (above 16/44) that I've come across yet. https://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html
I have downloaded hi resolution files (from HD Tracks mostly), and to be honest, I doubt if I could tell the difference. So why do it? Because it's there and it might make a difference. Dumb I know, but we all have the hope that the next DAC, the high quality interconnects, dare I say it, the uber expensive speaker wire will result in chills during your next listening session. Not to mention the (possibly misplaced) sense of pride in having the best available.

 

[Bill Ferris]

FWIW, along the lines of over/up sampling the playback of 44.1 music files.
I have, in the past, tried toggling my OPPO 103`s S/PDIF(which is sent to my DAC) sampling rate while playing 44.1 WAV. ripped music from a flash drive, and there is a change in the SQ, that is arguably smoother sounding & more dynamic(at least to me) .
My DAC(Grace Design M 920) does not offer any ability to change inputted sampling rates, but merely decodes what is sent to it and reports that rate on it`s LED indicators.

I don`t run the OPPO 103 at any higher rate than 16/44 after experimenting for a week, or so, with it`s higher up sampling rates, as there was something about the up-sampled sound that kind of sounded surreal, unnatural, with some of the rock recording`s from the seventies that were a little gritty to begin with could sound fatiguing, but really high quality one`s sounded pretty good though ..

However, I have recently(a little over a week ago) purchased a new OPPO UDP-203 to replace the WAV. music playing 103 in my sunroom , and as a backup for my rack mounted HT`s 203, and have not tried experimenting with it's S/PDIF output over sampling rates yet.

Here is a picture of my current WAV. ripped music playback setup with a usb 3 to SATA adaptor connected to a 960 Gig SSD(out of sight and not shown in this picture )that`s soon to be replaced with a 2 Terabyte Corsair SSD that I just purchased..

I hope to be able to purchase a OPPO UDP-205 soon, if I can, and have registered on their site.

Kind regards, OKB

 

[awillia6]

Blind test or sighted?

 

[Bill Ferris]

Blind test or sighted?

Well awilla6, I was not blind, since I was standing in front of my sunroom`s DQ 10`s while selecting the OPPO`s up sampling, with no preconceived expectations of SQ improvements, or degradations..
Nothing more than an experimental curiosity, as stated above.
And, as I also stated above, I returned the OPPO 103`s S/PDIF setting back to 16/44.1 after running it at various higher sampling rates for 16hrs a day for a week as heard through 4 different room`s stereo`s throughout the day..

I`m pretty much a homebody and at home for 99% of the day/evening.
And these decades old, and in proper working order, familiar stereo systems were unchanged in any manner from before going to ripped digital music to present, so I have a pretty good sense of their SQ and any changes thereof.

Take care.
Kind regards, OKB

 

[awillia6]

For a minute there, I thought you might have something going other than psychoacoustics. Alas, the quest continues...

 

[Bill Ferris]

For a minute there, I thought you might have something going other than psychoacoustics. Alas, the quest continues...

More than likely, the psycho aspect, than not !! + HA !!

Thanks for your interest Sir.

OKB

 

[fredgarvin]

It's best to ignore the troll, Bill. Hmmm, should one plug his ears when watching upsampled DVD's?

 

[Bill Ferris]

It's best to ignore the troll, Bill. Hmmm, should one plug his ears when watching upsampled DVD's?

I guess that will work..

 

[onwardjames]

For a minute there, I thought you might have something going other than psychoacoustics. Alas, the quest continues...

That's a bit of a backhanded insult, isn't it? Very unbecoming, sir.

 

[Bill Ferris]

That's a bit of a backhanded insult, isn't it? Very unbecoming, sir.

It didn`t bother me at all Tim.

BTW. how are you enjoying your better sounding playback rips, now that you seemed to have unleashed them from your computer ?
Just curious, my friend.

Take care Sir. and have a great weekend.
Kind regards, OKB

 

[onwardjames]

Bill, I am having a BALL! Everything just sounds better. I think I had the actual beta software powering that Meridian.

She sings to me sweetly now. Have a great weekend yourself!