TOPIC:

Hello,

I am very interested in the SHD or SHD Studio device. They could be exactly what I am looking for: To connect my active speakers that offer an AES/EBU input.

I have some questions left after searching the forum:

1) Are the digital outputs volume controlled via the remote control? (My speakers do not have a volume control, so the streaming device has to do this.)

2) What is the maximum supported quality when streaming from NAS and from Qobuz? Are 192kHz flac files in 24bit supported?

3) Which frequency and bit depth do have the outputs from the SHD devices? What is the maximum and can it be configured to 96kHz/24bit? (I think this is what my speakers need as input.)

4) Does the streamer support the openhome standard? If yes does it work to stream from qobuz via BubbleUPnP or the lumin or kazoo app?

5) What is the power consumption of the SHD and of the SHD Studio? a) when playing and b) in idle mode. (and maybe c) does it offer a standby mode?)

Thank you
Gert

1) yes, it's meant to use as pre amp.
4) yes, that's the way I use the SHD Studio with Bubbleupnp.

2) Yes but they are converted to 96kHz.
3) They are always 24/96.

5) a) and b) undocumented, c) yes with recent firmware

Thank you for all the answers! This all sounds good.

jaaptina wrote:

1) yes, it's meant to use as pre amp.
4) yes, that's the way I use the SHD Studio with Bubbleupnp.

Does this work gaplessly? (from qobuz as well as streaming from a NAS?)

And does the volume control from the BubbleUPnP app does work? And also the in track navigation (kind of "fast forward" and "backward")?

Thanks again
Gert

Hi,
I recently started using Bubble Upnp with a Primare NP30 (which I’m considering swapping for an SHD). At first there were gaps. You have to go into the settings of the bubble app where you will see the SHD as one of the available Renderers. Go into its settings and select gapless playback.

SHD Studio plays gappless streaming from nas as well as streaming from Qobuz and Tidal.

With Bubbleupnp fast forward and backwards work very well using the trac slider. I don't use the bubbleupnp volume control. It does not respond nicely.

Streaming sound quality of the SHD Studio is great. Don't underestimate that part.

asx77 wrote:

Hi,
I recently started using Bubble Upnp with a Primare NP30 (which I’m considering swapping for an SHD). At first there were gaps. You have to go into the settings of the bubble app where you will see the SHD as one of the available Renderers. Go into its settings and select gapless playback.

Hello asx77,

you cannot compare the behaviour of another streaming device to the SHD devices. In my understanding it works like this:

If the gapless playback option in the BubbleUpnP app makes a difference with the Primare streamer, this shows that the playlist is not managed inside of the streamer, but instead inside the bubble app. So the bubble app always has to tell the streamer which track is going to be played next. Therefor the streamer has to support a special UPnP method call, IIRC it is "SetNextAVTransportURI". If this method is implemented and working correctly you can enable the gapless playback in the BubbleUPnP App and gapless playback should work fine. If the method is not implemented you can get track advancing errors, so e.g. the same track would be played multiple times or playback stops after a track.

If the streamer manages the playlist itself, this usually is implemented via the openhome extension of UPnP (or in a proprietary way, that only works with the manufacturer's app). In this case the bubble app sets up the streamer's playlist, but the streamer handles the playback on its own. So it easily can pre buffer the next track and start it immediately on finishing the previous track.

If your streamer supports openhome can be checked by using the linn kazoo or lumin app. If they see your streamer, it is using openhome.

Hmmm... ok now I’m intrigued.

I tried the Kazoo App and the Primare doesn’t appear so from what you say this means it doesn’t use Open Home standard.

I loaded a few tracks into a playlist. With the first track in the playlist playing, I not only closed Bubble but turned off the tablet. The streamer moved onto the next track... and gaplessly.

So I guess this means the playlist is stored by the Primare NP30 but in a proprietary way.

Every day is a school day!

asx77 wrote:

I loaded a few tracks into a playlist. With the first track in the playlist playing, I not only closed Bubble but turned off the tablet. The streamer moved onto the next track... and gaplessly.!

It is a good idea to test it this way. But it is not enough to check if the second track is played. Because the second one is already announced by the bubble app via the SetNextAVTransportURI method, so the streamer does know about the first and second track. You need to wait if the third track is going to be played.

If you turn off the gapless option in the bubble app it should not announce the next track so playback should stop after the first track in your test.

Hi again!
So I tried with bubble and yep, once the app was closed down track 3 in the playlist didn't play. Also With bubble left on, the playlist stops after the 5th or 6th track - possibly due to inactivity of the tablet but a bit annoying if every now and again I have to remind the tablet and bubble I'm still in the room! Maybe there is something in the settings I can fiddle with to stop that. I'll look.

When I use the Primare app however I have none of the above issues... I can turn the tablet off completely and the playlist runs all the way through so clearly a difference on how playlists are stored. Sadly the Primare app has stopped being supported - which means it only works on an old Android tablet I have. If it stops working then it's bubble. If I can't use bubble then it's a £250 upgrade to get Primare's Prisma upgrade.

But I am seriously considering an SHD so all the above could be a mute point if bubble/volumio behave themselves!

asx77 wrote:

Also With bubble left on, the playlist stops after the 5th or 6th track - possibly due to inactivity of the tablet

This is a little bit offtopic to my own thread questions, but there are two things that you can do: Configure the bubbleUPnP to not being power managed by android. Otherwise it will be forced to sleep and cannot announce the next track to your streamer. Depending on your android version and your device vendor there are different options. Especially Huawei devices are known to have a very restrictive power management and you have to configure (disable) it in two or three settings for an app.

The better solution would be to install the Bubble UPnP server on a NAS or a PC or a raspberry pi, etc. This can be configured (by setting one checkbox) to manage the playlist for your streamer via openhome. So the playlist is stored in the server and the server tells your streamer each track to play. The advantage: No power management problems. And as long as your NAS is connected via wire you do not get wifi problems that also can be a reason for not working track advancing. Also the bubble upnp server can be configured to transcode a stream to wav that maybe will enhance sound quality when streaming qobuz flac, depending on your streamer.

Yes we have - sorry about that. Yes battery saver on bubble app was the issue so that's resolved. I'll look into the Bubble server suggestion too. Thanks

Regarding my question "5) What is the power consumption of the SHD and of the SHD Studio? "

I can give the values for the SHD Studio:
After starting up it took 4.8W. After playing about an hour the average was at 5.1W with max. peaks at 5.5W. It did not make a difference if music was playing or the device was doing nothing.

I do not know how exact my Watt meter ist, but it is said to be quite accurate even at low Watt values.

Does anybody can meter the values for an SHD (not the Studio)? The would be interesting, because I still cannot decide between the SHD and the SHD Studio.

gbr wrote:

Regarding my question "5) What is the power consumption of the SHD and of the SHD Studio? "

I can give the values for the SHD Studio:
After starting up it took 4.8W. After playing about an hour the average was at 5.1W with max. peaks at 5.5W. It did not make a difference if music was playing or the device was doing nothing.

I do not know how exact my Watt meter ist, but it is said to be quite accurate even at low Watt values.

Does anybody can meter the values for an SHD (not the Studio)? The would be interesting, because I still cannot decide between the SHD and the SHD Studio.

Would you mind checking what the power consumption is once you've completed the 'Power off?' option achieved by pressing and holding the control knob, and releasing it when this option appears? Thanks.