Testers wanted

[d6jg]

The new hardware has been live for getting in for 36 hours and I’ve obviously been monitoring what’s going on. I’m really pleased with the SQ especially as I know that it would be easy to improve it a little further but as far as I am concerned the FLAC stream sounds pretty damn good with zero burps during my monitoring.

I have been surprised how good it sounds on my Kitchen Echo Show using Phil’s Alexa skill.

I’ve kept an eye on listener levels and I know that a number of people have popped in and out. We could really now do with some feedback on the SQ as listeners hear it if people have any.

[Redrum]

Can't remember whether it was you or someone else who commented on the volume level - but it has been boosted up to try to match other stations

it was me early on....

Travelling early in the am tomorrow, then looking forward to a weekend of listening! Thanks for all the effort you put in to sharing your collection with us Jim. Still wondering how you got access to allot of my library

Jim

[RobbH]

I've been listening to the flac stream for the past hour. I am not the most critical judge, but I have found the sound quality very good, indeed. I have also thoroughly enjoyed the mix. I do notice that the metadata consistently leads the audio by about 50-60 seconds. I'm playing it on a group player, and some members of the group use the Airplay bridge, all of which adds some delay to the audio, but I don't think it's even close to that much. I am using Paul's Radio Now Playing plugin.

[ian_heys]

Can't remember whether it was you or someone else who commented on the volume level - but it has been boosted up to try to match other stations

Don't think it was me, but it sounds fine on the flac stream.

[ian_heys]

I've been listening to the flac stream for the past hour. I am not the most critical judge, but I have found the sound quality very good, indeed. I have also thoroughly enjoyed the mix. I do notice that the metadata consistently leads the audio by about 50-60 seconds.

I'm noticing this to. Listening on a single piCore player.

[kidstypike]

I'm noticing this to. Listening on a single piCore player.

+1

[ModelCitizen]

You asked about sound quality.

I've just spent an hour or so playing the flac stream and comparing the tracks with my local versions.

I was using:
Naim NDX streamer (LMS via UPnP)
Recently serviced Naim olives and Shahinian Arc speakers

I realise that this is going to be a bit inconclusive but thought it worth posting.

Two reasons for it being inconclusive:
1) My own versions of the tracks consisted of MFSL remasters, PBThal 24-96 needle drops and ripped CDs
2) I don't generally listen to radio on this system (even tidal) because the sound quality is always less impressive than playing local files.

Observations:

The stream played flawlessly.
There was no album art (Material skin on Android mobile and Squeezebox Touch controller)
The sound was a fair bit quieter than any of my local files and a little quieter than the radio stations I (quickly) tested it against
In comparison to my local files the sound was flat, set back, bland and lacked presence.

The best sound comparison would probably be against the PBThal 24-96 vinyl rips as these are needle drops (like Juke radio tracks?) from excellent equipment (and personally I suspect the 24-96 encoding adds little).
Adjusting for volume difference I tried three of these against the tracks played on the radio station and the above still applied, the radio sound was flat, set back, bland and lacked presence. This difference marked, not subtle.

But as I say radio generally seems like that when compared to local files, even normal Tidal files.

Can I ask, do you use any volume levelling (i.e. replay gain etc)?

Anyway, I enjoyed the music so thanks. I'd be very interested to hear some more modern electronic music and try a sound quality comparison

[Heuer]

I have been comparing JR with Radio Paradise and Radio Blues on my office system (DAC32 > AE1 Actives) and I am finding the sound somewhat compressed and flat. The soundstage seems to be behind the speakers and there is a lack of bass compared to the other two streams, both of which are very good indeed. Same on our kitchen system (Touch>E30>Arcam Solo>Anthony Gallo Micro's+Sub).

Not compared the SQ to my local music as yet.

[slartibartfast]

FWIW I just used Audacity to record U2 Pride (in the name of love) from Juke Radio and my CD rip. I normalised both to 0dB peak then calculate replaygain values of both.
Juke Radio -5.49 dB
CD rip -5.51 dB
That suggests no compression is being applied to the radio stream.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

[d6jg]

You asked about sound quality.

I've just spent an hour or so playing the flac stream and comparing the tracks with my local versions.

I was using:
Naim NDX streamer (LMS via UPnP)
Recently serviced Naim olives and Shahinian Arc speakers

I realise that this is going to be a bit inconclusive but thought it worth posting.

Two reasons for it being inconclusive:
1) My own versions of the tracks consisted of MFSL remasters, PBThal 24-96 needle drops and ripped CDs
2) I don't generally listen to radio on this system (even tidal) because the sound quality is always less impressive than playing local files.

Observations:

The stream played flawlessly.
There was no album art (Material skin on Android mobile and Squeezebox Touch controller)
The sound was a fair bit quieter than any of my local files and a little quieter than the radio stations I (quickly) tested it against
In comparison to my local files the sound was flat, set back, bland and lacked presence.

The best sound comparison would probably be against the PBThal 24-96 vinyl rips as these are needle drops (like Juke radio tracks?) from excellent equipment (and personally I suspect the 24-96 encoding adds little).
Adjusting for volume difference I tried three of these against the tracks played on the radio station and the above still applied, the radio sound was flat, set back, bland and lacked presence. This difference marked, not subtle.

But as I say radio generally seems like that when compared to local files, even normal Tidal files.

Can I ask, do you use any volume levelling (i.e. replay gain etc)?

Anyway, I enjoyed the music so thanks. I'd be very interested to hear some more modern electronic music and try a sound quality comparison

I have been comparing JR with Radio Paradise and Radio Blues on my office system (DAC32 > AE1 Actives) and I am finding the sound somewhat compressed and flat. The soundstage seems to be behind the speakers and there is a lack of bass compared to the other two streams, both of which are very good indeed. Same on our kitchen system (Touch>E30>Arcam Solo>Anthony Gallo Micro's+Sub).

Not compared the SQ to my local music as yet.

Yes there is Replay Gain in play.
On the SQ being flatter than local FLACs - part of the audio chain as it stands is digital to analogue then back to digital. This is the current situation due to a number of reasons and it’s not going to be the case long term - which is why I know the SQ can be easily improved.
About 40% of the stuff played is from needle drops at 16/44.1.
On the 50-60 second out of sync cover art up date. At present Paul’s Radio Now Playing has no means of “timing” the tracks because we don’t currently provide it. This will be changed in due course so in future changes will be more accurate.
NB to get cover art you need the Radio Now Playing plugin.