Javier
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Post by Javier on Aug 23, 2014 12:34:07 GMT
In the specs they say they are using "Twin Wolfson WM8740 DACs" and according to this part's data sheet it tops at 192KHz, that could be a give away of real capacity. Maybe they process at 384K and then downsample to 192K at the very last moment before sending to the DAC ICs?
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Crispy
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Post by Crispy on Aug 26, 2014 20:09:40 GMT
Jeff, I have been having a look at the V2 and I for one will not be selling my V1, then have to buy the V2 at £700 or more? What I can make out is the V2 has a new Arm Cortex A8 Processor which is supposed to be 4 times quicker? A new streaming module processor @ 600MHz over the V1 266Mhz. Onto the bit that confuses you - plays sample rates of up to 24/192 from ethernet, wifi or usb hard drives - then it is upsamples to 24/384. Front and rear USB ports are now USB 2 (you would have thought they would have gone USB 3) absolutely no difference in the case that I can see. So that's what I make of it, no significant improvements to want me to go out and swap the V1. (BTW CA say the V1 cannot be upgraded) Regards Chris
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 26, 2014 22:55:44 GMT
Onto the bit that confuses you - plays sample rates of up to 24/192 from ethernet, wifi or usb hard drives - then it is upsamples to 24/384. Thanks Chris, even a dunderheid like me understands that!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 26, 2014 23:00:23 GMT
What I can make out is the V2 has a new Arm Cortex A8 Processor which is supposed to be 4 times quicker? A new streaming module processor @ 600MHz over the V1 266Mhz. O.K., I understand this as well Chris. What you are basically saying is that Cambridge Audio have found some slightly smarter, slightly quicker, magical music pixies, and put them in the V2.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 26, 2014 23:12:39 GMT
Jeff, I have been having a look at the V2 and I for one will not be selling my V1, then have to buy the V2 at £700 or more? I think I will order one from C.A. (from my local Richer Sounds) on the understanding that it's on home demo and that I may well be bringing it back if, after A-B-ing it side-by-side with my V1, I can't hear a real improvement. I will be able to set both up on my network, fed into different inputs on my amp, so that I will be able to toggle between them, almost on the fly, and A-B them that way. If I hear an improvement, I will keep the V2 and sell the V1, but, if not, then the V2 will be going back, and I'll wait for a more comprehensive upgrade to the Stream-magic before upgrading. Edit:- Chris, I don't know how you're getting on with your SM-6, as I know you are, at the moment, using it mainly via it's USB ports, but I love mine so much I've just about forgotten what a kerfuffle playing individual CD's was. It helps of course that I've been using a file-based system in my car for the last three or four years. I ripped all my favourite albums (around 20 GB's worth) to 320 CBR. No CD's littering up my car! Think I'll do a wee video show'n'tell in the very near future . . .
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2015 1:24:30 GMT
Up-date, concerning the V2:- after seeing a few reviews and especially the Review and Measured Performance sections of Hi-Fi World, I decided not to even bother auditioning this player. I have a subscription to Hi-Fi World and its a mag I respect. Their review (of Vol. 24, No.11, January 2015) basically said the differences between the V1 and V2 were as follows- 1. Native support for Spotify. 2. Faster microprocessor and DSP, so "searching and browsing through music -collections and radio-station lists are speedier". 3. USB ports are now 2.0 compliant for more responsive browsing. 4. 24/192 is now playable over ethernet. 5. New Stream Magic Lite app. ( Don't even go there!! ) Nothing I could see about improved sound quality. Cambridge's own PR puff talked about even less jitter, but since I couldn't hear any in the V1, I wasn't overly impressed about there being supposedly less in the V2. For me the absolute clincher was this paragraph in Martin Pipe's review, "All of the original Stream Magic 6's key features - selectable digital filters, 24-bit/384kHz upsampling by Anagram Technologies, Wi-Fi, unbalanced/balanced analogue outputs, the ability to store internet radio stations as 'presets' for quick recall, dual Wolfson DACs and front-panel LCD screen are retained. So too is the digital pre-amp mode . . ." That is just exactly the features of the V1. 1. I don't use Spotify so difference 1 is useless to me. 2. Searching and browsing through music -collections and radio-station lists was already fast enough for me, there appeared to be absolutely no lag between button-press and action. 3. My browsing was already super-responsive, whatever USB class is used (1.0?) 4. I can't tell the difference between 24/96 and 24/192. Am I deaf? Are my ears not 'Golden?' Don't care! 5. New (improved) app? Ha-ha, ha-ha, Ha-ha, ha-ha, Ha-ha, ha-ha, Ha-ha, ha-ha, Ha-ha, ha-ha, Ha-ha, ha-h, Ha-ha, ha-ha, Ha-ha, ha-ha. Checking the "Measured Performance" section for both players was quite revealing. Hi-Fi world measure all the kit they receive on the same Rohde & Schwarz UPV audio analyser, so the V1 and V2 were measured in the same way, using the same parameters, on the same rig (and by the same person - Noel Keywood, the magazine publisher). The results were as follows :- V1 specs
Frequency response (-1dB) 2Hz-40kHz Distortion (24bit)-60dB 0.04% Separation (1kHz) 135dB Noise (IEC A) -114dB Dynamic range (24bit) 114dB Output (phono/XLR) 2.1/4.2V V2 specs
Frequency response (-1dB) 4Hz-40kHz Distortion (24bit)-60dB 0.04% Separation (1kHz) 111dB Noise (IEC A) -114dB Dynamic range (24bit) 116dB Output (phono/XLR) 2.1/4.2V As you can clearly see, the V1 and V2 were identical when it came to distortion and noise, with the V2 having slightly better DR, and the V1 having much better separation and very slightly better FR. I think I will definitely wait for a Stream Magic 7, which hopefully will be comprehensively better than the Stream Magic 6 V1. I get the feeling (maybe wrongly) that the V2, is a stop-gap, while they develop the Stream Magic 7, maybe with a Sabre dac on board??
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Crispy
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Post by Crispy on Mar 16, 2015 21:22:56 GMT
Up-date, concerning the V2:- 5. New (improved) app? Ha-ha, ha-ha, Ha-ha, ha-ha, Ha-ha, ha-ha, Ha-ha, ha-ha, Ha-ha, ha-ha, Ha-ha, ha-h, Ha-ha, ha-ha, Ha-ha, ha-ha. Ha ha ha ha - you make me laugh Jeff I Haven't tried it and I don't think I will bother either I think I will definitely wait for a Stream Magic 7, which hopefully will be comprehensively better than the Stream Magic 6 V1. I get the feeling (maybe wrongly) that the V2, is a stop-gap, while they develop the Stream Magic 7, maybe with a Sabre dac on board?? Sounds like a sensible move Jeff and they will have to improve the sound by quite a margin to get me to change
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 21, 2015 23:36:42 GMT
I think I will definitely wait for a Stream Magic 7, which hopefully will be comprehensively better than the Stream Magic 6 V1. I get the feeling (maybe wrongly) that the V2, is a stop-gap, while they develop the Stream Magic 7, maybe with a Sabre dac on board?? I've saw on Hi-Fi World's "coming-up-next-month" blurb that they're going to review an Azur 851N. This still doesn't seem to be a 'Stream Magic 7'!! According to the CA website the 851N adds :- 1 - native support for Spotify 2 - native 24/192 playback 3 - Apple Airplay support 4 - DSD These all seem to be (slight , as far as I'm concerned) 'improvements' to the original StreamMagic 6 (V1). This new Azur 851N still uses the heart and soul of the SM6, the Anagram Technologies AFT2 24 bit/384 kHz up-sampling circuit. The rest seem to be fiddling around the edges. 1 - Spotify - don't use it. 2 - native 24/192 - can't tell the difference between 24/96 and 24/192 3 - Apple Airplay - Apple, Ha-ha,Ha-ha,Ha-ha,Ha-ha,Ha-ha,Ha-ha,Ha-ha,Ha-ha,Ha-ha. 4 - DSD - Not interested. So you can see that Cambridge Audio will have to come up with a genuine upgrade, and not just adding on some extra capabilities that probably should have been there in the first place. Earlier I said "I think I will definitely wait for a Stream Magic 7, which hopefully will be comprehensively better than the Stream Magic 6 V1. I get the feeling (maybe wrongly) that the V2, is a stop-gap, while they develop the Stream Magic 7, maybe with a Sabre dac on board??" Well, the V2 does appear to have been a stopgap - while they developed the Azur 851N. But it still uses the exact same DAC (excellent though it is) as my SM6 V1. I will not accept anything CA release as a true upgrade till they change the 'heart and soul' of the player, i.e. the DAC. And it would have to be something special to better the Anagram Technologies ATF 24/384. The Sabre 9018 or 9023?
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2015 0:08:28 GMT
Had to fit a new Nordost interconnect to my Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6 (V1)today, and had to switch off and unplug it from my power conditioner. When I reconnected it, and powered up, it offered to upgrade my firmware.
Upgraded without a hitch and have been playing flawlessly since around 8pm tonight.
I think this is very good service from Cambridge Audio, providing a firmware update for a product released three years ago.
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Post by Deleted on May 28, 2015 22:53:00 GMT
Well, the V2 does appear to have been a stopgap - while they developed the Azur 851N. But it still uses the exact same DAC (excellent though it is) as my SM6 V1. I will not accept anything CA release as a true upgrade till they change the 'heart and soul' of the player, i.e. the DAC. And it would have to something special to better the Anagram Technologies ATF 24/384. The Sabre 9018 or 9023?So the July issue of Hi-Fi World dropped on my mat today and I had a good read of Cambridge's new 'Flagship' 851N streamer. Everything I said in the last two or three posts was absolutely true, and TBH, I'm beginning to get a little disappointed in C.A. Since the Stream Magic 6 , we've had the 'improved' "CXN", and the 'improved "Stream Magic 6 (V2), and now the 'Flagship' "Azur 851N", and none of them are significantly better in sound quality than the original Stream Magic 6. Noel Keywood does the technical measurements of the kit that passes through Hi-Fi World, and this is the last paragraph of his "Measured Performance" section. "The Azur 851N streamer measured well all round, although it does not significantly improve on the preceding Stream Magic and is behind Sabre32 DAC equipped market leaders"
I absolutely love the SQ of my SM6 and have been really happy with it for nearly two years now. Want to know what it sounds like? Read all the hi-fi puff in any magazine about the SM6v2, or the CXN or now the flagship 851N, because they're all the same! How can Cambridge Audio expect people like me to 'upgrade', if the player I buy isn't an upgrade but the same internals in a slightly different box and with a few different features? Disappointing.
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Crispy
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Post by Crispy on May 29, 2015 7:50:10 GMT
I absolutely love the SQ of my SM6 and have been really happy with it for nearly two years now. Want to know what it sounds like? Read all the hi-fi puff in any magazine about the SM6v2, or the CXN or now the flagship 851N, because they're all the same! How can Cambridge Audio expect people like me to 'upgrade', if the player I buy isn't an upgrade but the same internals in a slightly different box and with a few different features? Disappointing. Likewise Jeff, but I am not too disapointed I would rather spend my money on music than to continually keep upgrading for very little improvement Thanks to you I'm happy with the SM6V1 - switch on, select the tracks using my phone, press play and enjoy the music from an excellent sounding player
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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2015 1:31:52 GMT
Hi Chris, noticed a couple of firmware upgrades/updates when I switched on my SM-6 over the past few weeks, and just went with the flow and up-graded without even bothering to check the release notes on the up-grades. Apologies if you’ve already updated, but in case you haven’t . . . S.M. 6 V.1 has now lost Sirius XM and Aupeo!, because those streaming services are closing. S.M. 6 V.1 has now gained Spotify Connect. S.M. 6 V.1 has now gained “support for USB browsing via the Cambridge Connect app”. This bit made me think of you, since IIRC, you were streaming from a HDD attached via the USB connection, rather than a NAS, as I do. Unfortunately, to utilise this new control system, apparently you will have to download and use the new, and frankly ghastly Cambridge Audio “Connect” app. It’s the all-new, shiny, modern, much-better-than-our-last-effort, control app. In reality, it’s only very slightly less crappy, rubbishy, and useless than their last app. Which still makes it absolutely sh*t! I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, because it is genuinely puzzling. This is a company that consistently and repeatedly produces “Giant-killer” products. Products that regularly perform way above their price-point. So they dive into the emerging streaming market with a fantastic bit of kit, the Stream Magic 6. Incredible versatility, incredible sound-quality. And all for the measly price of £700. Then they ham-string it with a control app which is absolutely rubbish for all the reasons I’ve noted before in the earlier part of the thread. Although a Cambridge Audio fan, I find it embarrassing that a third-party developer (Bubblesoft in this case) can produce an infinitely superior control app which is actually generic, and not bespoke for the Cambridge Audio platform!! And let’s not diminish the importance of the control app. Like the remote control for a CD player, it’s how you ‘interface ‘with the kit. Imagine you buy a brilliant-sounding new CD player, but the remote control sometimes works, sometimes doesn’t. Sometimes it ‘Plays’ when you press ‘Play’, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes when you press ‘Next’ it simply stops working and won’t start again till you remove the batteries and reset the unit. How annoyed would you be? Then imagine you could get a “One-For-All” type remote control from E-Bay for £3.50 which would control your fantastic sounding CD player perfectly. That is the analogy that applies to the Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6. It apparently doesn’t seem to bother CA as they continue to bring out “up-dated”, and (one would think) “improved” control apps. It’s actually re-arranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. For example, here is one of the up-grades - “Rename "Idle Mode" to "Standby Mode" , yet the app continually crashes after just a few keystrokes and mode changes! You would think that they would concentrate on actually getting it to work first before they start mucking around with the details! Talk about trying to run before you can walk? BTW, I notice in the hi-fi mags that they’ve recently went all upmarket and now brand themselves as simply “Cambridge” – a bit worrying I feel. Hope this might be of some help/interest . Anyway, rant over. Cambridge Audio SM-6
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Crispy
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Post by Crispy on Jul 15, 2015 20:15:21 GMT
Hi Chris, noticed a couple of firmware upgrades/updates when I switched on my SM-6 over the past few weeks, and just went with the flow and up-graded without even bothering to check the release notes on the up-grades. Apologies if you’ve already updated, but in case you haven’t . . . S.M. 6 V.1 has now lost Sirius XM and Aupeo!, because those streaming services are closing. S.M. 6 V.1 has now gained Spotify Connect. S.M. 6 V.1 has now gained “support for USB browsing via the Cambridge Connect app”. This bit made me think of you, since IIRC, you were streaming from a HDD attached via the USB connection, rather than a NAS, as I do. Unfortunately, to utilise this new control system, apparently you will have to download and use the new, and frankly ghastly Cambridge Audio “Connect” app. It’s the all-new, shiny, modern, much-better-than-our-last-effort, control app. In reality, it’s only very slightly less crappy, rubbishy, and useless than their last app. Which still makes it absolutely sh*t! I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, because it is genuinely puzzling. This is a company that consistently and repeatedly produces “Giant-killer” products. Products that regularly perform way above their price-point. So they dive into the emerging streaming market with a fantastic bit of kit, the Stream Magic 6. Incredible versatility, incredible sound-quality. And all for the measly price of £700. Then they ham-string it with a control app which is absolutely rubbish for all the reasons I’ve noted before in the earlier part of the thread. Although a Cambridge Audio fan, I find it embarrassing that a third-party developer (Bubblesoft in this case) can produce an infinitely superior control app which is actually generic, and not bespoke for the Cambridge Audio platform!! And let’s not diminish the importance of the control app. Like the remote control for a CD player, it’s how you ‘interface ‘with the kit. Imagine you buy a brilliant-sounding new CD player, but the remote control sometimes works, sometimes doesn’t. Sometimes it ‘Plays’ when you press ‘Play’, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes when you press ‘Next’ it simply stops working and won’t start again till you remove the batteries and reset the unit. How annoyed would you be? Then imagine you could get a “One-For-All” type remote control from E-Bay for £3.50 which would control your fantastic sounding CD player perfectly. That is the analogy that applies to the Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6. It apparently doesn’t seem to bother CA as they continue to bring out “up-dated”, and (one would think) “improved” control apps. It’s actually re-arranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. For example, here is one of the up-grades - “Rename "Idle Mode" to "Standby Mode" , yet the app continually crashes after just a few keystrokes and mode changes! You would think that they would concentrate on actually getting it to work first before they start mucking around with the details! Talk about trying to run before you can walk? BTW, I notice in the hi-fi mags that they’ve recently went all upmarket and now brand themselves as simply “Cambridge” – a bit worrying I feel. Hope this might be of some help/interest . Anyway, rant over. Cambridge Audio SM-6Thanks for that Jeff, only just come back from Hoilday in Greece so got a lot of catching up to do. I will upgrade the firmaware on the SM6 and I have already downloaded the Connect app for my phone, so lets hope it performs as better than the S**T cambridge SM app It will be great to control the player from my phone instead of the remote which is all I have been using, thats if it does recognise the USB disks? Which I have some doubts! Anyway I am short on time at the moment catching up with jobs, but I will let you know how I get on. Thanks again Jeff
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 26, 2015 2:46:07 GMT
Went to upload a new album tonight, Keef Richard's "Crosseyed Heart" (excellent BTW), and found I could not access my Synology NAS. I got the message "Your account has been disabled. Please contact the administrator". A bit worrying since I am the administrator! I hit the forums and found out that Synology, famous for their brilliant kit, customer support and product backup (I'm still getting updates for a nearly 3 year old NAS!) had scored a massive own goal. They ship their NAS's with a default username "Admin", and blank password to gain access via the interface. Now I know we should always change default passwords to our own, especially with an Admin account, but I, like thousands of others it seems, didn't bother. So it seems Synology got wind of this, and for our own safety, decided to issue an update which disabled access to all Admin accounts with a blank password.
Now with something as drastic as this you might imagine they sent repeated emails warning of the change? Did they message all users with dire warnings that unless they password-protected their accounts they would be locked out? Did they send 36-point, Times New Roman, Bold, screaming Red warnings?
Did they F**K!
What they did was include it in an automatic up-date. Some people went to bed after accessing their NAS and got up next morning locked out. First I knew about it was tonight, and apparently the update was issued on the 17th Nov.
BTW, the update to change your NAS to 'auto-update' was included in a previous up-date. Really quite poor, and out of character for Synology. It doesn't affect anyone from listening to their music (or other content) on their NAS's, and indeed I'm enjoying a Japanese female jazz pianist ATM, but it does affect some functionality. More so the more you have used the amazing features of this NAS, eg. remote access to all your music from any other IP address, sequential album uploads to different locations etc. In my case I only upload/download albums, which I am still able to do (as a workaround) by accessing the "Music on Diskstation" folder via "My Network Places" on my Acer Windows XP notebook.
The solution is apparently to do a 'Reset' of your NAS which will keep all your data, but restore your NAS to default settings. So any little customisations you have applied like scheduled deletions, backups, port forwarding, etc. etc, will have to be re-done. No biggie perhaps, but if only they had properly warned people in the first place. If they had warned me that I would be locked out unless I applied a password, I would certainly have applied one, but I never even got a warning.
I started using my Synology NAS in September 2013, and it has worked flawlessly, for 3 or 4 hours, 3 or 4 days a week, since then. It's still working fine, doing what it does best, delivering high-quality streams, first time, every time, (I'm listening to 'Late Home Tonight - Pt. 1' from Waters's Amused To Death as I type), but it's still an embarrasing error from a normally exemplary company.
P.S. I'll do a reset tomorrow - and all will be well.
P.P.S. - Fingers crossed!!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 26, 2015 10:43:40 GMT
Good luck Jeff! You'd think with the number of owners affected they would have rolled back the changes and then given people 30 days warning to set a password. Poor show and a lack of forward thinking on Synology's part. ps. just as well it wasn't your porn collection!
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