totaldac D1 server

[Confused]

You didn't fancy the shiny silver version then? Might clash with the Dev's black chrome I guess?

[IanG-UK]

This looks to be a nice unit but if one advocates the minimalist box approach of Devialet this effectively adds three boxes, the D1 server, some sort of memory unit and a CD player/ripper. I'd guess what would appeal to a lot of Devialet owners is a single unit - rather like a MacBook Pro but stripped of all the peripheral stuff except internet radio and with user configurable storage. Indeed, if Devialet believe that the Mac gear which they always use is something which can be improved, it would not surprise me to see a Devialet source of this shape at some stage. Which many of us might like! The fact that Devialet stick with the Mac gear and do not use what is regarded as "audiophile" stuff suggests that either they are wholly happy with the Mac approach or will be developing something better themselves rather than latch on to what might become competitor devices.

So beware with your buying habits if you think this might happen! You might need to sell it quickly.

[GuillaumeB]

This looks to be a nice unit but if one advocates the minimalist box approach of Devialet this effectively adds three boxes, the D1 server, some sort of memory unit and a CD player/ripper. I'd guess what would appeal to a lot of Devialet owners is a single unit - rather like a MacBook Pro but stripped of all the peripheral stuff except internet radio and with user configurable storage. Indeed, if Devialet believe that the Mac gear which they always use is something which can be improved, it would not surprise me to see a Devialet source of this shape at some stage. Which many of us might like! The fact that Devialet stick with the Mac gear and do not use what is regarded as "audiophile" stuff suggests that either they are wholly happy with the Mac approach or will be developing something better themselves rather than latch on to what might become competitor devices.

So beware with your buying habits if you think this might happen! You might need to sell it quickly.

Hi Ian - I already had the MiND 180 with a NAS and of course my Macbook Air, so from my perspective it's not really adding any boxes (well as long as you don't include the d1's external power supply ).

From my perspective an external renderer actually simplifies things and is more convenient, and for me this is the best I've heard. By a long chalk!

Guillaume

[PhilP]

Hi Guillaume,

Did you ever try using Qobuz with the Totaldac server? What level of integration do they support - it's not clear from their web-site.

Did you buy the Totaldac? You obviously loved it so I sort of assumed that you would

Thanks,

Philip

[Patatorz]

Qobuz is managed in the TTD with a new "image" for the TTD cubox. You need to,have also ipeng7 installed on your iPad and configure the Qobuz plugin of iPeng

[GuillaumeB]

Hi Guillaume,

Did you ever try using Qobuz with the Totaldac server? What level of integration do they support - it's not clear from their web-site.

Did you buy the Totaldac? You obviously loved it so I sort of assumed that you would

Thanks,

Philip

Hi Philip, yes I bought it and no I haven't yet tried Qobuz streaming with it yet. I'll try and get to it ASAP and report back. To be honest I've just been too busy playing music to test anything lately. It's that good.

Guillaume

[Confused]

Hi Philip, yes I bought it and no I haven't yet tried Qobuz streaming with it yet. I'll try and get to it ASAP and report back. To be honest I've just been too busy playing music to test anything lately. It's that good.

Guillaume

Any plans to loan it to interested forum members? (you might not ever see it back though)

[PhilP]

Hi Guillaume,

Did you ever try using Qobuz with the Totaldac server? What level of integration do they support - it's not clear from their web-site.

Did you buy the Totaldac? You obviously loved it so I sort of assumed that you would

Thanks,

Philip

Hi Philip, yes I bought it and no I haven't yet tried Qobuz streaming with it yet. I'll try and get to it ASAP and report back. To be honest I've just been too busy playing music to test anything lately. It's that good.

Guillaume

Congratulations on your purchase - as you imply, it's great when you finally 'complete' a system and can then just listen to music with no nagging doubts that there's something that you really need to change.

I had a look through the TD user guide which is now up on their website and I think you will probably have to access Qobuz using the iPeng plug-in or the LMS plug-in which sounds a bit of a pain. I must admit that I'm really looking for tighter s/w integration in a streamer - I think only the Aries and NAD M50 offer this and both have downsides. The Aries perhaps doesn't offer the best sound quality whilst the NAD includes an optical drive for ripping and I'm not keen on having that type of device integrated into a hifi component. I will persevere with iTunes/AIR for now and revisit the streamer question later. Hopefully Qobuz will still be around by then - as a back-up I have signed up to try TIDAL when they launch next month.

[GuillaumeB]

Email just received from Vincent Brient at Totaldac, lots of new firmware versions and support now for UPnP and Airplay!:

Dear d1-server or d1-integral user,

New softwares are available for the microSD which is inserted in the d1-server or in the d1-integral. So an upgrade is possible, but not mandatory.
The d1-server user's guide explains how to write a software on a microSD card, it is not just a copy.
http://www.totaldac.com/fichiers/d1-server_user%20guide.pdf

This one is a software for MPAD only (so no Ipen8, no airplay, no upnp) and with some track pre-loading, so it sounds different, focused on resolved on balanced systems.
So it doesn't require Ipeng8 to be installed. It can be used to read local files only, not for internet radios for example.
This link was already given on the last e-mail about software upgrade.
This software is given by default when a d1-server is ordered.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/tvs96o22d6qx6hs/Cubox-MPD0.17-6-only-32k-oct30.img.rename_to_zip?dl=0

This one is also a software for MPAD only (so no Ipen8, no airplay, no upnp) but without track pre-loading, it sounds smooth. It is useful when the system requires a smoother sound.
So it doesn't require Ipeng8 to be installed. It can be used to read local files only, not for internet radios for example.
This link was already given on the last e-mail about software upgrade.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/epbeb0s8crfrwkd/Cubox-MPD0.17-6-only-short-oct30.img.rename_to_zip?dl=0

This one is compatible with MPAD and upnp/DLNA (new!) and Airplay but not for Ipeng8.
So it doesn't require Ipeng8 to be installed.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mqypbn87lwirqfa/Cubox-MPD_0.17-6-UPNP_IpengOFF_AIRPORT-2014dec19.rename_to_zip?dl=0

This one is the d1-server microSD software with all functionalities MPAD, Ipeng8 with Qobuz and Tidal (new!) and more, Airplay, upnp/DLNA (new!).
So it requires Ipeng8 application on Ipad to free the audio path for MPAD:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mxrzfxwdv5i7nx3/Cubox-MPD_0.17-6-UPNP_ISO_Ipeng_AIRPORT-2015jan8.rename_to_zip?dl=0

Best regards,

Vincent Brient
Totaldac

[PhilP]

It's impressive that Vincent has been able to develop so much new software. I guess his team is a little smaller than Devialet's but UPnP, Qobuz and Tidal are all there - wow !

I hope that Dialog/Spark will deliver similar functionality but suspect that Totaldac may still win in terms of sound quality