How a network switch affects audio playback – An extreme deep dive!
For the past few weeks / months, your author has locked himself in a measurement room with lots of switches and loud measuring equipment. This, in order to do some research on the influence of network switches on audio clocks. Will we succeed in finding “proof”?
How to create a great network for streaming audio?
Check out a sneak peek of this content! Alpha Audio has been heavily involved in streaming audio for (well over) a decade. Once started with a Logitech Squeezebox and – yes – a Sonos Zoneplayer (later Connect), we have now arrived at two Metrum Acoustics Ambre’s and a homebrew streaming-pc and some Bluesound solutions. All […]
Streaming systems – order in the chaos!
Anyone searching for what streaming systems (protocols) are all about, will have a splitting headache within ten minutes. There is, in fact, a great deal of systems and protocols…. or so it seems. But know that many “custom” systems are a derivative of another, existing technology. We list all the major, relevant streaming protocols for […]
A ‘quick and dirty’ test of media software – ROON – JRiver – Foobar – WMP
Does a software package (mostly server software) influence the sound? We think it is an interesting question. Because you would think it does! But how? We start our search with a test that keeps it simple for now. We play the same file through various packages and record it through a digital loopback in Adobe […]
Alpha Office Update – Our measurement setup
Those of you who follow Alpha Audio on Youtube and Facebook will have noticed that we recently became the proud owners of a Prism dScope III and a Rigol digital scope. Your author has been busy for a couple of years saving up the financial means and the necessary knowledge to make the right choices. […]
Make your own high-end network cable – shield it baby!
We’re back in the swing of things with networking. A short while ago we looked at a total of ten network plugs to determine how they install. We haven’t gotten around to a listening test yet, but that’s still to come if all goes well. Before we start that, however, we wondered: what if we […]
Why a good switch does matter for streaming audio
Keeping an open mind is important. Both in our lives and in our profession. If we as a human race don’t keep an open mind, we are basically at a standstill, as we would be dismissing everything we don’t know. However, at Alpha Audio we also think it is important to understand things. We like […]
Audible differences Codecs – MP3 – AAC – Ogg – FLAC
After the story about audio codecs, we felt strongly about putting them to the test. What do they sound like? What are the differences? And how can we easily demonstrate that? And of course: let you hear it. We grab our reference track and get to work with Foobar and Adobe Audition!
From AAC, DSF and Flac to Mp3, Ogg Vorbis and WAV – Codecs
We stream a lot. Especially among you – the readers – streaming has become very common. We hardly ever think about what format we are streaming. AAC? ALAC? WAV? FLAC? We list these formats for you. Because one codec really isn’t the other!
Get the best sound quality from Foobar 2000
Those who work a lot on the PC will find it useful to be able to play music on the PC in a decent way. Now there are – not entirely surprisingly – countless media players. From the built-in media player to very decent paid options. We choose one of the more popular packages: Foobar […]