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BBC Radio 3 Testing FLAC streaming
#1
I thought this looked interesting, and something you can try for ***FREE*** (UK only)

http://www.kirkville.com/bbc-radio-3-tes...streaming/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/taster/projects/rad...side-story

EDIT:

I have just given this a quick try. Sounded pretty decent, if you like dreadful organ music (no offence meant to those that do!).  I have only listened to the first few minutes because I have other things to do this evening.  Whilst the sound quality sounded good, there were some very strange noises / sounds that could be heard, but I think these were part of the recording.  For the record, the little Devialet display was indicating 44.1kHz, so it appeared to be working as advertised.  Very promising I have to say.  I'll give this a more thorough test when I have some time. It would appear from the good people over at CA that this can work outside of the UK also.

EDIT of my EDIT:

It actually runs at 48kHz. Yes, the Dev's display was showing 44.1kHz, but that was because I very rarely use AIR and I had forgotten that my soundcard settings were set at 16/44.1......
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
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#2
It works here in Australia
                                                    Lifetime Roon, Mac mini, int. SSD, ext. HDD, tv as monitor, key board and track pad on bean bag as remote,Devialet 200, Od'A #097, Blue jeans speaker cable,                                     
                                                                                                                                                                            Dynaudio C1 MkII.
                                                                                                                                                                              Jim Smith's GBS.
                                                                                                                                                                        Northern NSW Australia.
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#3
Is it only Pim who's tried this?  This seams a shame, as it is the UK BBC licence fee payers funding the project!  I spent a bit of time listening more carefully to this today.  I think it is impossible for me to draw any definitive conclusions to how good or bad it sounds in relative terms, it is not the kind of music I would typically listen to and I have no direct references as a comparison.  Having said that, I think I can conclude that in absolute terms it does sound pretty decent.

One observation I can make is that during the musical performances I was generally very impressed with the quality of reproduction, clarity and resolution were good throughout the frequency range, decent dynamics and so on, all reasonably impressive.  However, during the studio discussions I did not think it sounded so good, a case of there being a degree of sibilance in the voices.  Maybe bad microphone implementation in the studio?  I am not sure.

During the performances though, no obvious negatives stood out, so it was a case of being able to listen to the music undistracted by any such niggles.  Personally I would have to say well done to the BBC for trying this kind of thing.  A national broadcaster having a go at simple 'hires' streaming, without any of the MQA folding and deblurring confusions, this has to be commended in my opinion.  I wonder if they will ever extend the trial to 24/192 or similar?

EDIT:  It also occurs to me that I have been listening to this via AIR for a couple of hours now, not one drop out, crackle or anything else, in this regard all is 100% perfect!
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
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#4
Thanks for the reminder; I'd meant to try this but had forgotten. Will give it a whirl now...
Roon (Mac Mini), Wilson Benesch Full Circle, Expert 1000 Pro CI, Kaiser Chiara
Warwickshire, UK
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#5
[quote pid='60343' dateline='1491997274']
Hi

I am listening at this moment to a  Schumann song using a proxy in Europe so it is available not just in UK. Sounds good but would need to record the same thing from the FLAC source and standard Radio 3 to compare.


Very interesting step towards the future.
[/quote]
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#6
I thought it was worth reviving this thread because from tonight (14th July) the BBC will be extending these 'experimental' flac 16/48 broadcasts to cover the BBC Proms.  

When I tried the original BBC flac streaming via AIR I found the sound quality to be quite impressive with some material, the BBC Proms recorded live would be well worth trying I think.

Might also be of interest to a few 'Expert' owners that are miffed that they cannot enjoy the Devialet 'live on Phantom' events?  At least the BBC are looking after the Expert owners! Sad
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
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#7
Another bump to the thread, especially to Minimserver users.

I have just spent the last two nights thrilled by the SQ of the Proms provided by the BBC taster 48kHz stream.

I wasn't going to bother because initial indications suggested you needed to listen through the Firefox browser and my Windows pc is not connected to my audio system.

However, to the credit of the creator of the Minimserver media server, Simon Nash, a modification to his Minimstreamer extension allows the DASH encoded stream to be sent as FLAC to my Auralic Aries (or Oppo bluray player) and it sounds wonderful.

He has now made the instructions, to achieve this, available on his websites' forum, see below.

BBC Radio 3 Concert Sound via Minimserver
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