Playground for practical listening exercises

[tokenbrit]

On first listen I prefer S. It's a smooth enjoyable ride!
After listening a few more times I like A better. Turns out the ride with S was too smooth.

I was beginning to think I had gone mad (or my phone has ;) At least I had some (temporary) company in the madhouse... Agree though that A is the sAne choice :)

[springwood64]

On first listen I prefer S. It's a smooth enjoyable ride!
After listening a few more times I like A better. Turns out the ride with S was too smooth.

I was beginning to think I had gone mad (or my phone has ;) At least I had some (temporary) company in the madhouse... Agree though that A is the sAne choice :)

Damn, I'm still lost in the madhouse. Will listen again....

[tokenbrit]

On first listen I prefer S. It's a smooth enjoyable ride!
After listening a few more times I like A better. Turns out the ride with S was too smooth.

I was beginning to think I had gone mad (or my phone has ;) At least I had some (temporary) company in the madhouse... Agree though that A is the sAne choice :)

Damn, I'm still lost in the madhouse. Will listen again....

ASsuming I didn't mix up A & S, S felt more together on first listen on my phone. On subsequent listens S didn't come across as well for some reason, possibly as simple as I was wrong. Otherwise something changed - I do wonder what Google does to the clips - but there's been strong consistency in the voting since...

Do the clips sound consistent with what you uploaded, and do they capture what you're hearing in the room?

[matthias]

Damn, I'm still lost in the madhouse. Will listen again....

I am curious about the disclosure A and S.......

[springwood64]

Do the clips sound consistent with what you uploaded, and do they capture what you're hearing in the room?

On first play in the room I was surprised at the apparent improvement I heard, and as a result I expected to prefer S when listening to the clips. I gave them a quick listen before sharing them.

I'll have a closer listen again to check if the clips are consistent with each other, and to check my preference.

[springwood64]

I am curious about the disclosure A and S.......

If I can try your patience, I'd like to do one more experiment first. I'll get another clip done on Thursday.

[springwood64]

If I can try your patience, I'd like to do one more experiment first. I'll get another clip done on Thursday.

It turns out that I can't do the experiment I planned.

A: All devices on the same subnet, with Amplifi HD Router as DHCP gateway, the Amplifi Alien for Källa in Bridge Mode. The network looks like this:

ISP Router <-> Amplifi HD Router and DHCP Gateway (main Wifi) <-> Amplifi Alien Router in Bridge Mode (HiFi wifi) <-> Källa/Netgear/Mac Mini/iPad

All devices connected to the Amplifi HD and the Amplifi Alien can see every other device on the network.


S: The Amplifi Aliens in Router mode, with Källa, Netgear switch, iPad Mini and Mac Mini all on the same dedicated subnet:

ISP Router <-> Amplifi HD Router and DHCP Gateway (main Wifi) <-> Amplifi Alien Router and DHCP Gateway <-> Källa/Netgear/Mac Mini/iPad

Devices on main wifi cannot see devices on hifi wifi and vice versa.

I wanted to try connecting the Amplifi Alien Router direct to the ISP router instead of the Amplifi HD:

ISP Router -> Amplifi HD Router and DHCP Gateway (main Wifi)
ISP Router -> Amplifi Alien Router and DHCP Gateway (or in Bridge Mode) -> Källa

However when I set this up, playing music from internet on Källa suffered a lot of intermittent dropouts. Playing CD from my Mac Mini on Källa had no such problems, so there must be some sort of conflict causing packet loss.

[matthias]

Thanks Pete,
this is what I thought, I am pleased with this result.
It might be interesting (if possible) to compare to Fredrik's config with Alien router and Alien meshpoint.

[springwood64]

The network dropouts bugged me so I finally resolved it and can now do the additional test, with both Amplifi networks connected direct to the ISP router.

If you're interested, it appears that the Amplifi Alien Mesh device somehow connected to the Amplifi HD router. I proved this by powering down the Amplifi Alien Router. Despite no apparent connection reported by the Amplifi app or Netanalyzer, music still played (with lots of fitful dropouts). I resolved this with all round factory resets of all the Amplifi devices.

[springwood64]

Which do you prefer?

A: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2MF9oMLkZL16eN4NA
S: https://photos.app.goo.gl/omgpgHVXZ9mUjzXW9

Now S2: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ap4h7ULveW9Kqbyj8

ISP Router <-> Amplifi HD Router and DHCP Gateway <-> main Wifi
ISP Router <-> Amplifi Alien Router and DHCP Gateway <-> Källa

[tpetsch]

"S2" is now less coherent than "S", The music sounds very clear but the band interplay just isn't making as much sense making the overall performance more difficult to follow.

[tokenbrit]

ISP Router <-> Amplifi HD Router and DHCP Gateway <-> main Wifi
ISP Router <-> Amplifi Alien Router and DHCP Gateway <-> Källa

For clarification:
Each Amplifi with Ethernet connection to the ISP router?
No WiFi 'hop' between Kalla & ISP router; just LAN via the Alien?
Separate WiFi from Alien & HD (& ISP router?) with control point connected to Alien?

It feels like the music gets progressively less accessible with S/S2 - better balanced in A

[matthias]

A>S>S2

[springwood64]

For clarification:
Each Amplifi with Ethernet connection to the ISP router?
No WiFi 'hop' between Kalla & ISP router; just LAN via the Alien?
Separate WiFi from Alien & HD (& ISP router?) with control point connected to Alien?

It feels like the music gets progressively less accessible with S/S2 - better balanced in A

ISP Router <-Ethernet-> Amplifi HD Router and DHCP Gateway :>> main Wifi
ISP Router <-Ethernet-> Amplifi Alien Router and DHCP Gateway <- 5GHz/2.4GHz Mesh -> Alien Meshpoint <- 2m BJC -> Netgear <- 2m BJC -> Källa

[tokenbrit]

ISP Router <-Ethernet-> Amplifi HD Router and DHCP Gateway :>> main Wifi
ISP Router <-Ethernet-> Amplifi Alien Router and DHCP Gateway <- 5GHz/2.4GHz Mesh -> Alien Meshpoint <- 2m BJC -> Netgear <- 2m BJC -> Källa

Thanks for clarifying.

[tokenbrit]

Since you have Alien Router & Meshpoint, is there a reason not to try the recommended setup for reference & comparison against your changes: ISP router <-> Alien Router < mesh > Alien MeshPoint (to switch+Kalla) for HiFi, and WiFi, or have you already tried that? Clip A was HD-Alien 'hybrid' so apologies if I missed the comparison against the simple, reference setup...

[springwood64]

Since you have Alien Router & Meshpoint, is there a reason not to try the recommended setup for reference & comparison against your changes: ISP router <-> Alien Router < mesh > Alien MeshPoint (to switch+Kalla) for HiFi, and WiFi, or have you already tried that? Clip A was HD-Alien 'hybrid' so apologies if I missed the comparison against the simple, reference setup...

I guess that differs from my S2 set up in that I would remove the HD mesh entirely and configure all devices to use the Alien WiFi ?

[tokenbrit]

I guess that differs from my S2 set up in that I would remove the HD mesh entirely and configure all devices to use the Alien WiFi ?

I’d be more inclined to reset & reconfigure the Aliens to the current WiFi SSID & password rather than have to configure all devices but, in principle, yes…

My reasoning is that the clips and my experience suggest the music doesn’t necessarily improve with added network separation and complexity, so why not start with the simplest setup as a known reference, and compare from there. Maybe try clips between that and A, if you’re curious - no need if you’re happy with A, but worth going in the opposite direction from S & S2, as a test, if you are curious/not entirely happy.

[matthias]

I agree with tokenbrit, if there is a pattern then the most simple network for all wifi devices (without any subnet for Källa only) is the best.
But I think that Alien router and Alien mesh point is superior to HD, so I would not use any HD devices.
This configuration might be even more musical than clip A.

[ThomasOK]

A does it for me as well, just more enjoyable.

[springwood64]

Testing something else. Which do you prefer?

C: https://photos.app.goo.gl/65xXc3KFVbNqSurw5
S: https://photos.app.goo.gl/hzLwTpfxfr71uo4M7

[Charlie1]

S has a nice chilled out quality but C is making quite a bit more musical sense to me so I’d go for that.

[Whatsmynaim]

I pick C.

[lejonklou]

C for me too.

[matthias]

C for me