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Rael Imperial Aerosol Kid
12-12-2011, 11:01 AM
I know this is a little off-topic...
I guess that some of us play High Def tracks from computer files. Can you tell me what I need to get HD tracks from my computer to my network-enabled receiver?
I have been using iTunes but I don't believe it can handle HD.
I'd rather not pay the $700 for the Amarra software that Stereophile recommends.
thanks!

noddin0ff
12-12-2011, 11:28 AM
iTunes can support and play HD formats. I have many Apple Lossless files encoded at 24bit/96kHz. The specs say it supports rates up to 192kHz. And, if you use a digital out (I've only tried the optical out) you can transmit HD to a DAC or receiver. However, there is a paucity of info on whether HD is supported wirelessly over AirPlay.

It seems that there should be such support since Movies can flow over airplay with full 5.1 AC3 Passthrough from itunes to AppleTV boxes to receiver. I've seen comments that the ATV supports 24/96 audo files from iTunes and since that would be internet enabled transfer to the ATV, I would have to bet that 24/96 is supported. I'll see if I can figure this out, I'm not sure my receiver will tell me the resolution of what it's being fed, but if it does it's an easy answer for you.

Slosh
12-12-2011, 01:42 PM
Air Play plays everything at 16/44.1 regardless of the actual bit depth/sample rate. Apple TV is the same, except plays everything at 16/48. I haven't checked in a while but I believe Slim Server is limited to 24/48. Your best bet is to connect an external hard drive directly to your receiver if possible.


And, if you use a digital out (I've only tried the optical out) you can transmit HD to a DAC or receiver. This will limit you to 24/96 stereo.

noddin0ff
12-13-2011, 07:44 AM
What Slosh says is likely correct. I sent a 24/96 file to ATV > HDMI > Receiver and it says it's being fed a 48Khz file. I can't get a bit depth. I suspect that 24bit could be supported only because ATV has the audio option of 'auto' or '16bit' (for compatibility with some TVs according to the menu) suggesting non-16bit formats exist in its world.

And Slosh is correct about the 24/96 limit on using the optical out.

Slosh
12-13-2011, 02:22 PM
I've been toying with the idea of getting a Netgear NeoTV 550 (it's inexpensive). While it is more geared toward video, as the name would suggest (BluRay ISO, .mkv, etc. plus it has Dolby TrueHD and DTS-MA pass-through via HDMI), it is the only digital media AV receiver I have found that can play hi-res multi-channel FLAC bit-perfect and gaplessly (although gapless only when you play entire albums). I'm hoping a firmware update will allow it to play playlists gaplessly as well, then I'll pull the trigger on one.

Slosh
12-13-2011, 02:30 PM
You can try dBpowerAMP's Asset UPnP server (it's free). I'm not sure if it's bit-perfect. Foobar2000 also has a free UPnP server that you can look into.

Rael Imperial Aerosol Kid
12-14-2011, 12:16 PM
thanks for the info NoddinOff and Slosh!

Slosh
12-20-2011, 08:58 AM
FWIW, I have a NeoTV550 on its way. It was only $95 from B&H Photo and should be here today or tomorrow. I'm going to be using it connected directly to a USB hard drive (nothing but FLAC files on it). I have a couple of dozen hi-res stereo rips (up to 192kHz). I haven't ripped any multi-channel tracks off of my 5.1 DVD-As yet (out of hard drive space) but will as soon as I get another HDD.

I'm going to be using this thing for BluRay too. I've read conflicting reports whether or not this will work will external BD ROMs, but even if it doesn't it does plays BluRay ISOs with full menu navigation and DTS-MA and Dolby TrueHD bit-streaming via HDMI.

Swish
12-20-2011, 04:23 PM
....so I can save files to a flash drive and just plug into the Oppo and away I go.

Slosh
12-22-2011, 07:46 AM
I got to play some with my new NTV550 yesterday and overall it's a pretty impressive device, especially for $95! :) My first pleasant surprise was it has no problem streaming 1080p .mkv Bluray rips over my old 802.11g WLAN. Now, I have the NTV connected directly via ethernet to router (it has no onboard wi-fi of its own), but the router is pulling files over wi-fi from my computer. I thought I would need 802.11n to handle that much bandwidth. Cool, that means I won't have to buy another USB or eSATA HDD to connect directly to the NTV.

All of my FLAC files play flawlessly, including 24/192 DVD-Audio rips. I can confirm every format/bit-depth/sample rate is indeed bit perfect (my Onkyo TX-SR805 shows you what sample rate it's receiving). Also it does indeed playback FLAC gaplessly (something no other similar device can do) but only when you play albums sequentially. This should be an easy firmware fix. The user interface is pretty slick too. It displays the album art, song title, album title, release date, and time remaining while playing, and does so for the previous and next track as well. When browsing albums (or movies) you get a thumbnail cover art view (or just a simple text list if you prefer.) Browsing is by artist, genre, album, year, etc. Being a video-centric device you would expect some issues with audio playback and there are. The biggest head-scratcher is it only plays m3u playlists randomly :confused: Having to recreate all of my playlists on the NTV itself will be a big PITA, but this is something that should easily be fixed with a firmware update. Also playlists you create on the device itself don't play gaplessly. This usually isn't a problem but sometimes I like to put consecutive tracks from gapless albums in playlists (Abbey Road, etc.)

There's also a video streaming option in the main menu but when you click it it says coming in a "future firmware update". I'm assuming this if for Netflicks HD, Amazon Prime, etc.

zolarsystem
12-22-2011, 11:15 AM
Sounds impressive Slosh. I am a 2ch guy and want to know if there is a sonic difference when playing 24/192 back as a 'DTS bitstream' format vs a 'LPCM' format, talking 2ch only?

Slosh
12-22-2011, 12:42 PM
Sounds impressive Slosh. I am a 2ch guy and want to know if there is a sonic difference when playing 24/192 back as a 'DTS bitstream' format vs a 'LPCM' format, talking 2ch only?No, it sounds exactly the same because it's lossless compression. The NTV550 will also work with 24-bit/192kHz .wav files. I can change it to output as LPCM if I want, but since my receiver decodes DTS-MA and Dolby TrueHD there's no need. It outputs FLAC as LPCM. I haven't tried its analog outputs but I can't imagine the internal DACs can be anything special given the price.

Slosh
12-24-2011, 05:35 AM
I got to play some with my new NTV550 yesterday and overall it's a pretty impressive device, especially for $95! :) My first pleasant surprise was it has no problem streaming 1080p .mkv Bluray rips over my old 802.11g WLAN. Now, I have the NTV connected directly via ethernet to router (it has no onboard wi-fi of its own), but the router is pulling files over wi-fi from my computer. I thought I would need 802.11n to handle that much bandwidth. Cool, that means I won't have to buy another USB or eSATA HDD to connect directly to the NTV.
Oops, a slight correction. 1080p rips w/lossy DTS/Dolby core tracks plays fine over my 802.11g network if no other computer is using it. Soon as my girlfriend or daughter turn on their laptops it gets choppy. I don't currently have any 1080p rips w/lossless DTS/Dolby to try but I suspect my wi-fi won't have sufficient bandwidth for those. Also I have an uncompressed ISO of the new Wish You Were Here Blu-ray from the box set (sounds great, BTW). This has uncompressed 24/96 LPCM tracks (stereo, 4.0, and 5.1) and is definitely too much bandwidth for 802.11g. No matter, I'll just pick up another USB HDD after the holidays and connect it directly to the NTV550 rather than having to upgrade my wi-fi network.