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MARANTZ GUIDE TO PC-AUDIO | NA-11S1 | 05.2013 | 1www.marantz.eu

Contents:

• Introduction

• Digital Connections

• Audio Formats and TAGs

• System requirements

• System Setup for PC and MAC

• Tips and Tricks

• High Resolution audio download

• Audio transmission modes

Introduction

As you know, in recent years the way to listen to music has

changed. There has been a progression from the use of physical

media to a more digital approach, allowing access to unlimited

digital entertainment content via the internet or from the library

stored on a computer. It can be iTunes, Windows Media Player or

streaming music or watching YouTube and many more. The com-

puter is a centre piece to all this entertainment.

The computer is just a simple player and in a standard setup the

performance is just average or even less.

But there is also a way to lift the experience to a complete new

level of enjoyment, making the computer a good player, by giving the

responsibility for the audio to an external component, for example a

“USB-DAC”. A DAC is a Digital to Analogue Converter and the USB

terminal is connected to the USB output of the computer.

Doing so we won’t be only able to enjoy the above mentioned

standard audio, but gain access to high resolution audio too,

exceeding the CD quality of 16-bit / 44.1kHz. It is possible to enjoy

studio master quality as 24-bit/192kHz recordings or even the

SACD format DSD with a bitstream at 2.8MHz and even 5.6MHz.

However to reach the above, some equipment is needed which

needs to be set up and adjusted. This document will guide you

through this journey to PC-Audio. It will provide you with the

information you need to get a good understanding for the topic.

As a reference product we will use the Marantz Reference Network

Audio Player NA-11S1 with USB-DAC.

White paper

MARANTZ GUIDE TO PC-AUDIO

Summary of content (13 pages)

PAGE 1
White paper MARANTZ GUIDE TO PC-AUDIO Contents: Introduction • Introduction As you know, in recent years the way to listen to music has changed. There has been a progression from the use of physical media to a more digital approach, allowing access to unlimited digital entertainment content via the internet or from the library stored on a computer. It can be iTunes, Windows Media Player or streaming music or watching YouTube and many more. The computer is a centre piece to all this entertainment.
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White paper The NA-11S1 has been designed to give you access to a wide range of music from a variety of different sources such as: • Internet Radio via your internet connection. • all your music stored on a PC / Mac or NAS (network attached storage) drive through to your home computer network. • (stream) your music stored on an iDevice or in an iTunes library by using AirPlay. • files stored on a Smartphone, USB stick or a Portable Hard Drive via the front USB-A connection.
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White paper Audio Formats and TAGs Let’s first make a quick review of the most used audio format. For this we need just to step back to the original digital audio source on the market, the CD. To get the analogue audio signal stored on a CD it needs to be digitized and this is done with a technology called PCM signal (Pulse Code Modulation). For the CD the PCM signal is fixed to a 44.1 kHz sample frequency and 16bit resolution, so it is often referred to 44.1 kHz/16bit.
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White paper usB-B ConnECtIon In dEtAIL systEm rEQuIrEmEnts High End audio dAC mode through usB-B port. In order to enjoy the best sound we will now explain how to make it happen. First of all this port is using the most advanced technologies to get the best sound from your audio files. There is no limitation by the NA-11S1 audio DAC, as it handles 2ch PCM and DSD by DoP provided by the PC / MAC.
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White paper different than it was initially. In addition, there are various interference phenomena due to the mixer that allows different programs to play sound at the same time (mail coming in when you listen to music for example) and it’s also related to the environment and highly disturbed electrical computer. The goal is to use the Bit –Perfect mode also known as “Bittransparent” mode. This means that all the data of the audio file is exactly the same as received in the NA-11S1.
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White paper Attention Wasapi is designed to work with Windows Vista and higher, but doesn’t work on Windows XP. For Windows XP Kernel streaming needs to be used. But note; it doesn’t support dsd over doP. AsIo is means Audio Stream Input / Output and is another method to bypass the Audio Mixer and in addition the Kernel but we won’t go into detail here. This mainly covers the PC.
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White paper 4. Setup jRiver Media Center Open your Media Player and select tools à and Option This will open below setup window Select Audio then on the right Output Mode Here you have to change the Mode to Wasapi Event Style. In case of Windows XP please select Kernel Streaming. This is to bypass the Windows Audio Mixer. www.marantz.eu MARANTZ GUIDE TO PC-AUDIO | NA-11S1 | 05.
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White paper Now click on the line just under: Output setting mode. This will open a new window In this setup box please select Marantz NA-11S1 as Audio device. All outputted audio signals will be now send to the USB output to which the NA-11S1 is connected to. The NA-11S1 is now your soundcard for all music playback via the Media Center player. Buffering: This doesn’t need to be changed, however if you experience drop outs while playing back your music you can try to improve by adjusting the buffer size.
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White paper For DSD streaming (DoP Mode) one more setting is required. Please note this is only possible for Windows Vista and newer operation systems. Windows XP doesn’t support this. For Bitstreaming option please select Custom… Just Select DSD over PCM only, as we don’t want to send any multichannel as Dolby Digital to our stereo player NA-11S1. Please note the detail and check DoP format is on DoP and not on Legacy. Enjoy Select PC input on NA-11S1 and start the music track on the Media Player.
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White paper sEtuP For HIGH End AudIo WItH AudIrVAnA on mAC 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. A setup box with general setting will be opened. USB driver installation Connect NA-11S1 by USB cable to the PC Install Audirvana Setup Audirvana Enjoy Attention it is MAC iso PC this time. NOTE: Screen shots on your MAC might look different depending on software version. However setup will be similar as described here. 1.
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White paper On the Active Audio Device select DSD over PCM standard 1.0 This will authorise DoP functionality so now let’s have a look on this screenshot for a final check: At the top, USB High Speed Audio is selected. Active audio Device is on the USB High Speed Audio plus Native DSD over PCM (DoP) is activated and, as you can see, all the formats that can be streamed are now shown in green And we also have the Exclusive Access mode (hog mode) and the Integer mode activated.
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White paper Tip And Tricks to get the best from your USB-DAC 1. 2. 3. Select a good USB cable (sound will be strongly influenced by the USB cable; interference & noise) USB-Cable: Not longer than 5m, and the quality of shielding will also have some influence on the sound quality. Test several cables to optimise performance. Try adding a Ferrite Core as used on some network cables. We strongly recommend you to add a Ferrite Core on your network cable to minimize noise interferences.
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White paper Audio transmission modes Looking for bit perfect sound! – Audio transmission modes explain in details Windows: direct sound Windows: ASIO and ASIO4ALL ASIO means Audio Stream Input / Output and is another method to bypass the Audio Mixer and in addition the Kernel, to let the media player directly talk to the USB-DAC. ASIO was built for XP but it works on all OS. ASIO was created to overcome the USB Audio 1.1 limitations. On USB 1.