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Silvers and Dos2 migration - idiot needs advice
#1
Hi All,
Sorry if this is the wrong place to post but new to forum and really not a devialet tech geek.

I have a single silver(bloody expensive wifi speaker but just so beautiful in my eyes that I had to have one, I mean come on! Bouncing bass speakers!!) and Spark for a few years now and not really had any problems but the wife has just surprised me and brought me another silver as I kept whinging about not having stereo. So I went looking to buy a dialog and have fallen into this pit of DOS2 migration which apparently means I don't need the dialog anymore.

I don't plan to have a multi-room setup so do I migrate the silvers to DOS2 and not buy the dialog as it will be technically easier to setup?

I'm a little gutted that apparently the software won't support streaming services like Deezer, et al, anymore as I was planning on using such a thing when I got stereo but from what I understand I will still be able to use them albeit through some other third-party app, is this right and will I be able to get FLAC fidelity levels?

The interweeb is full of discussions on this and the problems with the migration so I'm very nervous about doing it but my experience with software changes like this is that the older software systems will not in the end be supported so going the new route is generally the best of a bad lot albeit a pain for a while.

Sorry if this is a bit ramshackle but any advice would be appreciated.
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#2
I would avoid DOS given the grief many have reported. Spark isn’t ideal but it works ok and you can access Tidal etc.
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#3
After the update to DOS 2 the result may vary from a + to a -
Another point to consider in your case is that you don't have the Dialog and your current setup and now limited.
Now things are pretty clear to me, the Phantom need an extra compatible hardware ( UPNP or Optical) to recover what has been removed or to enhance the service.
Please excuse my poor reputation
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#4
Welcome to the forum.

Suggest staying with DOS1 until you need to migrate. You will need a Dialog but you should be able to get one here at a very cheap price, maybe even free?, from someone who has migrated.
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#5
That's a nice present from your partner there !

You are in a tough spot decision wise - if you can get a dialog cheap then at least you can put off any decision temporarily - many of the complaints about DOS2 are concerned with the need to have multiple apps for differing functions - radio stations, local streaming etc and these issues are not going away anytime at all. I believe Devialet have stated their intention to concentrate on sound quality etc and become agnostic about the actual source of the music so the radio functionality in Spark is not coming back which is a shame IMHO. Spark wasn’t perfect but it was nice having one application for everything I needed.


I have just faced the same issues as you myself and I went with DOS2 because I had Classic Phantoms (not Silvers) which benefited from the upgrade to 2000w and of course if you don't mind Airplay quality its quite possible to stream music wirelessly to DOS2 albeit you will need different apps for different internet radio stations and it will use the battery life in your phone and if you move out of range the music stops. I don’t believe Airplay supports flac quality levels ?

I already had a server running Plex so I use the IOS App ‘MConnect’ to play higher quality local music to my Phantom’s via UPNP – this works well but Plex has dropped support for Internet Radio (no idea why!) and as yet I haven’t found a solution that works as well as Spark did. I’m using various apps for radio output using Airplay – not ideal for me.

Does anyone know of a solution to listening to internet radio via UPNP that works - I have tried various solutions but nothing worked as it should have?


Looking on the positive side its a difficult decision but either way you can look forward to some great listening and they are rather nice to look at Smile!

kantblue

PS I will keep looking and let you know if I find an app that replaces everything Spark did!
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#6
(12-Feb-2020, 10:17)kantblue Wrote: Does anyone know of a solution to listening to internet radio via UPNP that works - I have tried various solutions but nothing worked as it should have?
MinimServer with Minimstreamer:
https://minimstreamer.com/userguide.html...%20streams

Please note that Minimstreamer will soon be based on an initial licensed plus annual fee, both of them relatively small (and worth it for what it can do and the support provided by author).
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#7
Hi Snoopy8

Thanks for your reply - I've got further with Minimserver + Minimstreamer than with anything else.

Its working fine with my locally organised music and its kind of working with the radio but if I follow the instructions at https://minimstreamer.com/naim/bbcradio.html and create a single file with all the BBC stations listed when I play these using MConnect it plays each station in the list in turn for a few seconds each. I guess I could simply list each station as a seperate file - but I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong?

How do you organise your radio stations - have you come across this?
Also what format should I be looking at for best quality eg HLS or DASH as both seem to play?

Cheers
kantblue
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#8
(12-Feb-2020, 16:29)kantblue Wrote: How do you organise your radio stations - have you come across this?
I have only briefly played with it but not done any serious listening. Suggest you post on the MinimServer forum. Simon, the author, is active and helpful.
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#9
Thanks everyone for your replies. I bit the bullet and just went the DOS2 route as like had been said I had a simple setup and preferred the ease of stereo pairing with the new OS and saved myself the cost of the dialog - went and wasted it on a branch stand! So pretty!!
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#10
(12-Feb-2020, 10:17)kantblue Wrote: That's a nice present from your partner there !

...


Looking on the positive side its a difficult decision but either way you can look forward to some great listening and they are rather nice to look at Smile!

kantblue

PS I will keep looking and let you know if I find an app that replaces everything Spark did!

Thanks for the reply KB,

Yes it was but I think for my 60th it was worth it.  Smile

This may well be off-topic but it is my thread  Blush

As I said I'm a complete noob audiophile and with all this wireless digital stuff so if you don't mind could you answer a couple of questions for me. 

I've heard that the sound would be even better if I could play CD's or at least the FLAC files of my CD's through the phantoms rather than just the Spotify tracks, is this true?

If so could you give me a clue how I go about streaming the files from my network to the phantoms if I decide to rip them all to a networked hardisk. I I'm a windows 10 user.

Given that presumably this'll be through the wifi or bluetooth would that defeat the object of sound quality? So would I need to physically connect the phantoms in some way to the network?

One last thing, my phantoms appear to be paired for stereo now but would it be better to physically connect them or is this wireless setup ok?

Sorry if these are such simple questions but I really need an idiots guide to this stuff.

Many thanks for any reply.

P.S. Or if you could just point me to some links or threads that might answer my questions that would be great.
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