Trouble Connecting To Roon Core : A Solution

If you are having difficulty obtaining or maintaining a connection with your Roon Core using a mobile device you may find my experience helpful. 

I have both an Android phone (LG V30+) and an Apple IPad Pro which suddenly and for no clear reason would not consistently connect to my Roon Core which is located on a Windows 10 PC. The library is on a Synology Raid NAS. By way of contrast, the Sonos control software on the same devices has never had connection problems and music from the same file source broadcasts to the Sonos satellites very reliably. Also, the Roon software on the PC itself has had no problems with connecting.

After exploring various possible solutions including disabling Norton 360, I discovered that setting the PC to a fixed IP address was the solution. Since doing this, my controlling devices have been finding the core with minimal delays. There are still brief lags which I do not have with the Sonos Controllers but the main thing is ROON now works!

If only Roon would integrate Deezer, I could drop using the Sonos software for the most part….

If you wish to try this, you can easily find instructions on how to set a fixed IP address on YouTube. I also decided to set a fixed IP address for my NAS but that in itself did not solve the issue. It was only once the PC with the Roon Core was set that things stabilized….

#rooncore  #roon #rooncoreconnection  #roonconnection  #cantconnecttoroon


Update post - Easter --- Roon on my Android phone continued working until just before Easter and then stopped for no apparent reason for three days. On Easter Sunday it suddenly started working again for the whole day but from Easter Monday it has no-longer worked. During this whole time, Roon on my iPad has been working fine on the same network.... Go figure....

It is now May 2020 and a new Roon update has been installed. It seems a little more reliable but still not perfect. The troubleshooting continues!

It is now June 2020  and Roon has been running reliably for several weeks and the solution related to Norton 360 and its firewall. Only when I granted public network access did the problem go away... I had previously tried disabling the firewall to no avail.... This is why I had previously discounted it as the problem.... But now both the LG and the iPad connect reliably every time... provided of course the Roon core is up and running... It easy to forget if the computer needs a restart for some reason....

I would like to share this review of my favourite headphones... the NAD VISO HP50

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/headphones-reconsidered-nad-viso-hp-50-mr-speakers-ether-ii.27512/

Talking Adelaide Architecture

The evolution of our suburbs continues, sometimes with striking developments like the new zinc clad “A”-shape geometric modernism in Baliol St. College Park but more frequently with bland boxiness and beige rendering that smothers the earth and pays no heed to energy efficiency. Is this the suburban landscape we want? Is it the suburban landscape we deserve? How much should be left to the individual’s requirements and how much influence should planners have? Where do individual’s requirements, community standards and planning needs intersect and how much should they be allowed to diverge? Is there an Adelaide aesthetic to be proud of? What will a future version of Adelaide: Light and Stone look like?

I don’t always find it easy to decide if a new building has a good aesthetic, or even an old building for that matter! So I have been thinking about my personal values for a while, particularly as I accumulated photos to include in Adelaide: Light and Stone.

Deciding if a building is good is not always a straightforward decision and goes beyond personal preference. For me, a building can work because it is interesting rather than beautiful. Sometimes when it contrasts with its surroundings rather than blending in.

For now, I have adopted the approach of looking at a building and imagining making a postcard to send to friends overseas. Would I choose to include the building or would I go out of my way to avoid including the building as part of the image? This certainly brings a finer focus to the decision making…. And sadly, as I walk around our streets, the answer is too frequently “avoid”. Frequently not because the building is astonishingly ugly, but because it is depressingly bland (although one could argue the difference!).

So when you are thinking about constructing a new building or just painting your existing one, use some ruthless honesty and try imagining it on a post-card. Is this an image that stirs emotion and admiration from the viewer? Enough to make a stranger want to visit your city or suburb? If it doesn’t, is there an alternative affordable alternative? It does not have to be an expensive solution. It could be a change of colour or the plants in the garden. Take some inspiration from places you have visited and why you enjoyed looking at the buildings. Why you might have photographed them! Together we can create an environment we enjoy living in and one that we are proud to display to visitors.

Adelaide: Light and Stone Calendar

In addition to the book, there is now an Adelaide: Light and Stone calendar available from redbubble. It features a few new photos that don't appear in the book as well as some that do in smaller formats as well as a number of feature photos... Redbubble calendars are of lovely quality both in terms of the printing and the paper. You can decide which date they start at too!

ADELAIDE: Light and Stone promotional release for locally printed version

The 200 beautiful photos of the City of Adelaide and environs in this engaging book have been taken by local photographer Paul Weston during the past fourteen years. The book is a totally local product, being printed by Openbook Howden at St Marys.

The collection started from a simple premise of displaying the city and region at its natural best. That is, whenever the LIGHT is right and often this is at night!  The book itself began more recently, when Paul could not find a suitable gift for an overseas student who had been staying at his home. The result is a photographer’s personal view of what people love about Adelaide.

Images have been arranged to take the viewer on a journey from the Adelaide Hills, down into the heart of the city, its beaches and parks and out into the surrounding countryside. There is also an architectural journey in time, from contemporary iconic structures to those of early Adelaide when the city had more STONE buildings than any other Australian state capital. Local stone was a more available building material than timber and it features heavily in this book.

Another feature of this book is the use of multiple small photos to create an immersive and rewarding experience. The effect is stimulating and satisfying, like a degustation meal at one of Adelaide’s fine restaurants!  

ADELAIDE: Light and Stone is a compact, lightweight (375 gms) quality product making it the perfect gift for the traveller or coffee table book for home and office.

Adelaide - Light and Stone in stores in Adelaide

Now available at Booked in the North Adelaide Village, Dymocks, Glenelg and City, Imprints in Hindley Street, Urban Cow and Streetlight both in Vaughan Place and Dillons in Norwood. In the hills at Stirling in Matilda Bookshop and at Hahdorf in Storison. Please message me from Facebook if you can't get a copy. Facebook Link . (At Dymocks in the city, its upstairs near the Special Orders counter.)

Adelaide - Light and Stone is now on Facebook!

Keep up with the latest!  Go to Facebook! See where you can buy a locally printed version in Adelaide!

ADELAIDE - Light and Stone NOW AVAILABLE FROM BLURB - SOON IN ADELAIDE BOOK STORES

My new photo book Adelaide - Light and Stone is now available in Hard and Soft Cover versions through Blurb. A great gift idea for anyone who enjoyed their time in Adelaide! ........ "Local photographer Paul Weston takes you on a tour of Adelaide’s architectural history, Botanic Gardens, beaches and countryside, all of which define its unique character. See Adelaide afresh, by both night and day. Enjoy the familiar scenes and discover the obscure to develop a sense of what defines this city. Planned by Colonel William Light and built largely in sandstone and bluestone upon Kaurna country, Adelaide is indeed a city of Light and Stone."

I am pleased to announce the e-publication of my new photo collection - Adelaide Light and Stone

Here is the link http://au.blurb.com/ebooks/631848-adelaide I can't seem to get the preview working as for the Niagara book....

More thoughts on Mojo

Why does the Chord Mojo sound so damn good? Its developer, Rob Watts says it is about interpolation filters and transients … May be.  I do wonder however, if there is other processing going on that he is not admitting to.  I mean, a faithfully produced sound wave is a sound wave, is it not? Yet different DACs do sound different!

I have spent a little time analysing the sound from the Mojo and comparing it with the inbuilt  DAC in my Cambridge CXA60 amplifier using a CD source. Perhaps not a fair comparison, you may suggest in view of the price differential, but instructive none the less.

First there is the sound level out-put to consider. This is certainly higher than through the inbuilt DAC .  Perhaps this is to be expected since the Mojo is a headphone  amplifier as well as a DAC. So the first thing you have to do is volume match when doing an A/B comparison. A bit tricky when switching back and forth.

Once I have approximated the level, I still notice that the sound has more dynamism or punch, has broader sound stage, the positioning of voice and instruments more defined and the tonal qualities detailed and natural with a clean clear finish.  There is a sense that the voice or soloist jumps out at the listener, grabbing your attention. It is as if the music is saying “hey listen to me, don’t I sound good!?” And so you keep listening, even to what is previously familiar.

So what makes this happen? I can’t help but think there is more going on than simply more faithful reproduction of waveforms.  I wonder if other processing such as dynamic range enhancement and phase and frequency adjustments are being applied to the output. These were long ago applied by those seeking a more realistic experience from the old analogue audio equipment. We had “dbx” dynamic range enhancers, audio equalizers to compensate for deficiencies in speakers and room acoustics, and phase shifters to create a more 3D sound experience.  It only takes a small adjustment in decibels to change our perception of sound so minimal tweaking of the amp output signal could do wonders…

At the end of the day though, it probably does not matter as I love it and the accolades for the musical sound that Mojo produces roll in…. It truly is a wonder, but there is still part of me that wonders too.....

Some links to Chord interviews if you are interested...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10k_yMHCncY

http://www.the-ear.net/how-to/rob-watts-chord-mojo-tech

Got my (Chord) Mojo goin' and I'm gone baby, gone real bad.....

Well it's been a while with my CXA60 amp and the audiophile in me has been getting restless. I quickly decided the Schiit Bifrost 4490, which I had upgraded from the Uber was a better DAC than the Wolfson WM8740 that is built into the CXA60, but it is convenient to use the Wolfson with the TV and the Bifrost for music. Just for the convenience of switching with the remote. The Bifrost seems to have a bigger sound stage and a softer upper range.

But then I read John Darko's review of the Schiit Gungnir Multibit (http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2016/01/zesty-and-sweet-the-stunning-schiit-gungnir-multibit-dac/) and I began to think about spending over A$2000 on an upgrade.... How much do I value my marriage? But wait, the Chord Mojo (http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2016/02/chord-electronics-mojo-lost-found/) is a whole lot cheaper and he rates it up there with Gungnir.... (http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/the-darko-dac-index/) And so do many others! (http://chordelectronics.co.uk/mojo/#nav-reviews , http://www.stereophile.com/content/chord-electronics-mojo-da-headphone-amplifier#XrV15eiY4du1u5rG.97  and just google it!) And you can use it as a portable with up to 10 hours of playing time or you can use it as a desktop with your computer or with your lounge room system. One wonders about the long term reliability of the battery, but I had to audition a Mojo, which I did through headphones (NAD Viso HP50) at VAF in Adelaide and then I had to bring it home.

I have in the past sat around analysing DACs for their subtle and not so subtle differences. No such problem with the Mojo! The differences are are simply there.. right in you face in a dramatic and even astounding way. The dynamism, the imaging, the clarity and the detail bring the music to life. It's just brilliant sound. At first I wondered if it was all too much, but the clincher for me was that I would soon give up on comparisons and simply listen. Even to very familiar music, to the end. Spotting the difference between sources, CD, Sonos Connect or whatever is much more of a challenge than the difference between the Mojo and my other DACs. This is, in my opinion an improvement worth paying for. Now if I want to listen at home or at work with headphones, I can have a wonderful sound quality with me....  Maybe one day I will have the spare cash for a Gungnir, or a 2Qute but for now I don't feel deprived.... I've got my Mojo going!

What makes a good HI-Fi sound from me....

For me, a good Hi-Fi system sounds like a good curry tastes. A good curry has a well-balanced spiciness with rich complex flavours and enough chilli to bring it all to life. Not enough fresh spiciness (read nuance, detail etc) and you have a bland unengaging presentation and with too much chilli (read punchiness or bass), the subtleties are drowned out by the heat. Each to their own, but that’s how I like it.

The new Cambridge CXA60 amplifier played through my "Adelaide Speakers", reviewed previously, comes close to this ideal.... for now....

Upgrading Windows 10 from 32bit to 64bit - Cherchez le pilote graphique (The graphics driver!)

Having been an Adobe Lightroom user for many years and becoming frustrated with the lethargy of Win 7, 32bit and also not being able to upgrade to the latest version of Lightroom which only runs on 64bit OS, I bit the bullet and took advantage of the free upgrade path to Win 10, 32bit and then did a clean install of Win10 64bit.

I followed the readily available guidelines carefully and decided to install the new 64bit image on a clean SSD drive so I could keep my old SSD should there be any serious dramas. All seemed to go to plan until I had to restart the PC when re-installing Lightroom, after which I encountered the black screen of death!

I will cut the long story short by saying that after many re-starts and attempts to repair  the installation I noticed,  following one of these re-starts that the mouse pointer was present on the black screen. A quick Google on my tablet alerted me to the possibility of a graphics driver issue. Indeed the mouse pointer seemed to be able to go well beyond the edges of the monitor.

The solution involved pushing the set-up button on the monitor following which I discovered that the "real" windows desktop existed as a pip in a corner of a large black area. By enlarging the pip I could work with is as normal and was able to update the graphics driver and then set the monitor to its normal mode of operation.

Since then Win 10 64bit has been fine and with 16gig of RAM on board I am very happy! But what a lot of messing around and tearing hair out! Be warned!

Best of luck
Paul

ps, I had never used a pip on this PC previously.

Digital Music and Related Discussion Links

In this post I am going to list some links to pages which discuss digital music issues and which mostly seem to speak with authority and sense.... To begin with is an interesting article debunking the value of  24-bit/192kHz music downloads. It is entitled "24/192 Music Downloads ...and why they make no sense".    http://xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html .   The bottom line seems to be, many so called HD music files sound better because they originate from different mixes/masters of the original. Not because the format is inherently better than a CD. A good CD recording will sound as good as any, played back on good equipment.

A simple but clear article on the topic appears on the What HiFi web site...
http://www.whathifi.com/blog/high-res-audio-the-science-behind-the-numbers

Here is a case in point... the new Beck album on HDTracks ... Oh dear, where is the honesty and transparency?
http://archimago.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/follow-up-anomalies-in-becks-morning.html

This article also provides many links to other pages including a topic I have raised before... "The Loudness Wars" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war . A layman's description of the process of remastering recordings which often seems to produce louder but not necessarily better CDs, MP3s etc may be read at http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/remaster-cds-dvds.htm 

Here is another comparison of cheap vs expensive HDMI cables... guess what?
http://www.tested.com/tech/3329-the-difference-between-cheap-and-expensive-hdmi-cables/

The question as to whether mains cables can block out RFI from domestic Audio equipment is discussed in the following article http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/cables/mains/StringTheory.html


To be continued....

Using Windows 7 with System Image Restore to migrate to a SSD - A little clarification... Then Do It!

Replacing my SATA C: drive on my Windows PC with a Solid State Drive (SSD) has probably been the single most cost effective improvement I have made to this system. The machine is vastly more responsive in almost every respect. Even Web pages seem to load and display faster. What was sluggish and at times irritating is now nimble and a pleasure to use. As an objective indicator, the Windows satisfaction / performance index previously rated the machine at 5.9 which was also the Hard Drive index. It is now rated at 7.2 and the Hard Drive index is 7.9!

However, upgrading to an SSD drive by migrating my C: drive from the original 500GB SATA disk to the new 256GB SSD has also been one of the more frustrating processes I have encountered.  Even though the C: partition occupied only 200GB of the 500GB disk and there was only about 160GB of data in that C: partition. (The remainder of space was allocated to the D: drive.)

A clean install of Windows on the new drive is the recommended approach, but of course that means hours of re-installing your programs… if you can. Fortunately, there are some excellent guides on how to “clone” your Windows / boot drive to SSD but it took me a week of evenings at the computer to finally succeed. There are some reference links at the end of this blog.

I first tried Nero Back-it-Up to create a boot DVD and drive image but the restore was to no avail. I still don’t know what the problem was. I then read that it is usually fine to use the built in Windows 7 repair Disk and imaging facilities. You can buy other software, but why not use what is free? Well it worked, but with a caveat. Even though Windows prompts you to specify which partitions to include in the image to be copied, it still assumed I was copying a 500GB drive rather than a 200GB partition to  the new 256GB drive. Thus when, I tried to copy the image to the SSD drive, I received the message “no suitable disk available”. No other information, which I think is a bit poor. The work around was to back up the data on the  D: partition and to delete the D: partition, making it unallocated space. Then create the image of the C: partition and Master Boot Record. This was acceptable to the Windows imaging program. Ah, the relief!

There are a number of other issues to address if you are planning to proceed with this upgrade and they are well addressed in the excellent articles below, and elsewhere. I hope my small contribution helps clarify for you what was somewhat unclear for me.

References

Recovering Windows 7 with System Image Restore Disks: http://archive.benchmarkreviews.com/?id=439&Itemid=72&option=com_content&task=view

Migrating to SSD:

http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2011/12/ssd-migration-made-easy-in-windows-7/

http://www.howtogeek.com/97242/how-to-migrate-windows-7-to-a-solid-state-drive/

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976

What the ?????

Wow, where did those figures come from? Normally my Flickr views average around 40 to 50 but over the weekend things went crazy. There is no clear reason for this but most of the photos that rated highly were from our travels in Spain and Setenil in particular. The referrals seemed to be mainly form Flickr so I am assuming one of their APIs was responsible. If this were to continue I will hit 100k views in no time... Puzzling but kind of nice. Hmmm.

Adobe's Head In the Clouds

So Adobe wants you to rent its software and space to save and share files in "the Cloud" or the "CC" as they call it.....

So how much more are you willing to pay for your photo processing software... that you don't own... that you are forced to rent for a regular fee whether you use the software or not... that could be withdrawn from your access at any time and  for reasons beyond your control ... that could escalate in price at any time ...  that is vulnerable to cyber attack, beyond your control.... that leaves you without recourse to editing features should you terminate your lease, or your lease be terminated...   ???

How much more are you willing to pay ... someone other than Adobe, who puts their customer first?


Actually, I just had a thought which might help with an aspect of this problem should Adobe persist with their plans. Many of us hobbyists primarily use Lightroom and only resort to Photoshop occasionally for special jobs. We really like what Photoshop provides with its layers, intelligent fills, panoramas etc, but we only use it infrequently and can't really justify the expense of regular upgrades. What if we could rent use of Photoshop by the hour or even the minute. Just pay for the time you are actually using the software. If this was done at a reasonable rate, I think many would take up the option..... Still others will probably be happy to stick with an older version of PS until they find a satisfactory alternative... The door seems to be open for another software developer....

Schiit Bifrost Uber Upgrade - First Impressions

Well I bit the bullet based on some favourable remarks about the new sound and encouraging descriptions of the installation process on Head-Fi and I went ahead and ordered the so-called Uber upgrade for my Schiit Bifrost DAC.

The Schiit web site describes the upgrade thus "This DAC/Analog upgrade card improves the sonic and measured performance of Bifrost, using a discrete, direct-coupled gain stage from Gungnir. This discrete stage is more sophisticated than the base Bifrost, with a more complex topology, and DC servo to eliminate capacitors in the signal path. The Bifrost Uber Analog card can be ordered with any new Bifrost at a cost of $70, or purchased as an upgrade for $100."

I was not altogether unhappy with the existing sound of the Bifrost and I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Further, I had to consider the added cost of postage to Australia, which reduces somewhat the bargain nature of this upgrade. So it was with some uncertainty about the worth of it all, I followed the instructions here http://www.head-fi.org/t/661444/schiit-bifrost-uber-analog-upgrade/15 and regarding the screws, here http://www.head-fi.org/t/661444/schiit-bifrost-uber-analog-upgrade/60 to insert the new board which arrived promptly and in good order today.

Thanks to "toschek" and "sceleratus" descriptions, I managed to install the board easily within 20 minutes (including time to find the right screwdriver!). Yes, the little LED lights were tricky but they actually slid into the holes with a minimum of fuss once I held the boards at the right angle.

I know I should give the new board some time to "mature" but I could not help myself. The music came on. I can't do an A/B comparison but I think some differences were immediately noticeable. The sound was smoother and fuller. That was even without sitting down to contemplate. Once I did, I came to appreciate that an initial perception of  fullness was more about a better defined sound stage with instruments sounding balanced and "more in their places". There is also a greater sense of richness which may reflect a more detailed presentation but certainly a little less harshness in the upper registers..... Some have mentioned better bass extension but of that I am uncertain. I would rather say, "a little thicker", if that makes any sense. Overall the sound seems more coherent, detailed and smoother but still with the characteristic energy that I liked about the Bifrost before. A few more hours of run-in will be interesting.

I did a short comparison with the aging NAD CD541 player and the comparative lack of harshness in the Bifrost was very noticeable.

In short, I think it has been a worthwhile upgrade. Cost wise, I suppose you will have to weigh it up for yourself once you factor in oversease postage (if that applies), but if you were buying a new unit, the Uber would definitely be the way to go.

Equipment used - NAD c541 CD transport, coaxial connection to the NAD 355BEE Amplifier , Ascension floor standers by Adelaide Speakers.

Friday update: The update has had some days to settle in now and sounds very nice... was there a little harshness in some recordings before??? Can't find it now, or was it my imagination? The words coherent, stable soundstage, detailed, smooth still apply and also apply to the wi-fi streamed mp3/4 files coming through my Sonos network.... Still plan to review the Chameleon vs Bifrost comparison when I have time (See previous post for updates).... Sit back, enjoy the music!

Labelling Containers in Australia

Tonight on the Australian ABC consumer affairs program “The Checkout” there was a presentation on how the cleaning power of “Preen” pre-wash had changed (diminished ), along with a change in the chemical formula. It was pointed out that not even the active ingredients are listed on the container.

This interested my wife as today she had a discussion at a supermarket when purchasing “finish rinse aid” for dishwashers which also gives no indication of the active ingredients, let alone the carrier... The bottle indicates that the “rinse aid” is potentially poisonous and recommends actions in the event of swallowing.  However there is no indication as to what the harmful ingredients are.

I do not believe this is a satisfactory situation. Much has been made of the importance of food labelling and I feel this concern should be extended to other substances used in the home. Labels should include a comprehensive list of active and non-active ingredients as well as their percentages.

Not only does this to allow consumers to make informed choices, both when comparing different brands as well as comparing old and new versions of the same product. It also may help avert a disaster by allowing the correct treatment for misuse or ingestion of the agent.

I think Australian Choice, who support "The Checkout", should extend their food labelling campaign to include all packaged chemical based agents used in and around the home, and elsewhere.

Sendkeys Programming Alternative

Like a number of programmers, I have been disappointed that Sendkeys (the command which allows a programmer to emulate from within their code, keystrokes on a PC ) generally no longer works under Win7 due to security restictions (UAC). Although I have found it a bit flaky, I have used it for some time under WinXP when opening another program from Paradox10, to enter user name and password information as well as search criteria which is then applied. Recently my work changed our operating system to Win7 and I had to return to entering the data manually. However, you may be interested to know that I have discovered a Sendkeys emulation executable which so far seems to be more reliable than Sendkeys itself.


You need to download the skeys.exe file from Michel Claveau to your :Work directory (or where you wish to cite it) . I found it at http://www.mclaveau.com/batch/util.html#315 . The information is in French but I think it is clear enough. An example of how to code with it is at http://www.theusenetarchive.com/usenet-message-re-sendkeys-8166395.htm but here is an excerpt.

“One main difference is, that you can't use multiplier like {DOWN 4}, you'll
have to substitute this by {DOWN}, {DOWN}, {DOWN}, {DOWN}. You'll have to
start it with execute(...) from within OPAL.

Example: ... ;some code of my custom method, not shown here incl. vars declaration.
;stKeyString holds the command-string
stProgZeile=getAliasPath(":work:")+"\\skeys.exe "+stKeyString

TRY
;Parameter: const programName String [ , const wait Logical [ , const
displayMode SmallInt ] ] ) Logical
if NOT execute(stProgZeile, loWait) then fail() endIf
RETURN TRUE
onFail
errorShow()
RETURN FALSE
endTRY

HTH
Egbert”

You will note that there a few small differences in the way you code with this version of Sendkeys compared with the original… eg some of the ”abbreviations” and the multiplier issue…

My other problem needing to be solved as part of this was how to activate a check box by simulating a left mouse click… Again, many have asked this question, but I could not find the answer until reading this http://support.microsoft.com/kb/126449 . Sure enough, {Space} does the trick! I guess you all new this!

I have had no problems with this since I have had it up and running under Win7 but please let me know if you have any troubles.

Regards

Paul