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My situation requires a Vortexbox that can output digital audio on SPDIF, preferably at rates up to 24/192.  An internal PCI device is preferred to a USB converter.

Does the pre-built Vortexbox appliance allow installation of a PCI card?  If not, then I will build a system. What is a recommended PCI card that supports Linux with SPDIF @ 24/192?

The Vortexbox will be located at the DAC location and only play files that are present on the local drive.  It will not be possible to connect via Ethernet so a wireless option is necessary.  I have seen a bridged router recommended by Andy in another thread.  Is that the best wireless solution for simply connecting to the internet for metadata?

I will use an Apple iPad for a controller.  Will this be able to directly control a player app on the Vortexbox?  What is the difference in the new Vortexbox player and the Squeezeslave player?

This is my first post here.  I look forward to having a good time with Vortexbox!!

Thanks!

Post edited 4:55 pm – July 14, 2010 by yeswork

Hi,

I have a turtle beach USB toslink/optical device attached to my Vortexbox.  It works great, but is not wireless.

FYI -  from  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spdif

"A common use for the S/PDIF interface is to carry compressed digital audio as defined by the standard IEC 61937. This mode is used to connect the output of a DVD player to a home theater receiver that supports Dolby Digital or DTS surround sound. Another common use is to carry uncompressed digital audio from a CD player to a receiver. This specification also allows for the coupling of personal computer digital sound (if equipped) via optical or coax to Dolby or DTS capable receivers. This only supports stereo sound, unless the personal computer supports Dolby Digital Live or DTS Connect

S/PDIF is used to transmit digital signals of a number of formats, the most common being the 48 kHz sample rate format (used in DAT) and the 44.1 kHz format, used in CD audio. In order to support both systems, as well as others that might be needed, the format has no defined data rate. Instead, the data is sent using biphase mark code, which has either one or two transitions for every bit, allowing the original word clock to be extracted from the signal itself.

S/PDIF is meant to be used for transmitting 20-bit audio data streams plus other related information. To transmit sources with less than 20 bits of sample accuracy, the superfluous bits will be set to zero. S/PDIF can also transport 24-bit samples by way of four extra bits; however, not all equipment supports this, and these extra bits might be ignored, since electronics are practically limited to 120 dB (20-bit) of dynamic range anyway."

If you are really set on wireless, there are wireless USB toslink – s/pdif devices, that claim to be 24/96 KHx.  the POPPULSE Wireless USB to SPDIF PC Link For example http://cgi.ebay.com/POPPULSE-W…..ltDomain_0

Have not tried the POPPULSE but have seen claims it works with Linux.

Good Luck!

Andrew said:

3. We don't support squeezslave. It's buggy and only supports 44.1k music.

Our VortexBox has SqueezeSlave:

[vortexbox.localdomain ~]# service squeezeslave status
Squeezeslave (pid 1860) is running
[vortexbox.localdomain ~]#

SqueezeSlave works perfectly with all 50,000 or so of the FLAC and MP3 tracks on our VortexBox.  We can play the same music from SqueezeSlave and other players.  The other player (VB-Player?) does not work with other players playing the same tracks.

Why do you not support SqueezeSlave and what are the specific bugs in the current version that make you to not support SqueezeSlave?

Andrew said:

To answer a few more of your questions.

1. The best wireless solution is a gateway such as http://astore.amazon.com/vort-…..B001KUV49U

2. The iPad makes a great controller

3. We don't support squeezslave. It's buggy and only supports 44.1k music.

This is exactly what I had in mind.  It looks like a better solution for adding a wireless access point than bridging another router.  Thank you!

I have a USB DAC that supports 24/192 files, plugged into the vortexbox. This goes to my headphones.

I think you have to get a Touch if you want to play 24/192 files to your stereo.  But if you look on the slimserver forums you will find it needs some tweaking to work.

You can get a USB DAC which would then output a signal into your amp.

I'm not sure about your USB spec comment but that's due to my own ignorance. You may find this interesting

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/m…..ce_usb.htm

Doing a quick look on the website I used to buy both DAC's they now sell the M2Tech Young USB DAC which states

Input sampling frequencies (kHz): 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 192, 352.8*, 384* (* USB only)