Recent Issue w/ Logitech SBT - Spotty App

jdjohn

Anybody else run LMS and the third-party Spotty app on their SBTs? @msg I've noticed for a few days now there is a problem in the 'Genres & Moods' part of Spotty. The playlists are now empty. I can navigate through the genres fine and get to the various playlists, but they won't actually play, and if I try to look at the songs in the list, it says 'Empty'. All other functions in Spotty seem to still work fine. Anyone else notice this???

msg

Hey Jody. Shoot, I haven't updated LMS in a couple of weeks. Last time I did, I think I noticed this, though.

I think I just had to sign back in through the plugin setup? Then again, I vaguely recall that the Spotty plugin may have been missing, altogether, when I first upgraded LMS, which was what got me back into the Settings to see what was going on. I think I may just have had to remove it and reinstall it? I was just reviewing my note in Evernote for that update, and I didn't note the issue specifically.

Nothing special otherwise, and I'm pretty sure it was back to normal after the R&R.

jdjohn

Thanks, Scott, all good now Wow...my version of Spotty was like 1.2.X, so while re-booting LMS, I was able to update to 2.7.4.

Now it's time to properly try the DAC on this PSA Sprout

msg

Niccce! Yeah, I think LMS said "nope" to my old version of Spotty, too. I don't change my plugins unless I have to.

The one thing I can't figure out though is this business of the Ogg Vorbis to Flac conversion when using Spotty - have you seen this? Jumps up from 320k to 700k+

Curious to hear your impressions there with the Sprout.

jdjohn

Honestly, I had to look up Ogg Vorbis just now Are you downloading songs/albums from Spotify and converting to FLAC?

The Sprout just continues to impress. It's DAC sounds better than the SBT internal DAC...maybe not saying a whole lot, but the point is: Sprout's DAC sounds good. I've moved it to drive a pair of Infinity Column II floorstanders, and it does so with ease. These are very bass-heavy speakers, but it is controlled quite well by the little Sprout.

Hmmm...I could probably set up a comparison of the Sprout vs the PSA Stellar Gain gear with some effort.

msg

Yeah, I don't know much about that format either, except remember seeing it from years back when I was playing around with linux.

No, I'm not downloading them to my knowledge, they just stream like this.
Does yours not look like this in the browser?

msg

Great first impression feedback on the Sprout.

jdjohn

Ahhh...gotcha. I control mine exclusively from the touch-screen, so don't see that. But I did just find that screenshot on my PC, and do see the same thing. So you're saying that the 705kpbs is fluctuating on you? Does it change during songs, or between different songs?

Yeah, with the Sprout I'm hearing little sixteenth and eighth notes that I never noticed before, and also some subtle background sounds/effects. For reference, the previous setup was the SBT analog outputs going into a MAC1700 receiver aux inputs, and through the same Infinity speakers. So yeah, the Mac receiver is a little warmer and a little slower, but man...the TUNER on that Mac!

msg

It's not changing, but it used to say the 320k that Spotify offers. I have no idea how it's even converted to flac, where that's controlled, or whether it's an option. It's shruggy anyway, sounds good to me.

good question though, and I just checked. It's consistently 705k.

I've read people say the DAC in the SBT was pretty good, so those are some sweet bonus improvements you're seeing with the Sprout. Sounds like a bit of a sleeper.

What do you listen to with the tuner? I keep an old B&K tuner in the main space 2ch for occasional local public radio programs. There's just a life and body to some radio broadcast stuff that I really enjoy. Kinda like the vinyl experience in its own way.

jdjohn

Maybe Spotify Premium upped its game without telling us. Agreed that it sounds good...very good IMO. I'm fighting the switch to Tidal as long as possible.

The enhanced digital-out applet for the SBT works quite well IME. I've used digital export via coax-out into line-stage preamp w/DAC for awhile now. First it was a Peachtree NovaPre w/DAC, and now PSA Stellar Gain Cell Pre/DAC. I think both were an improvement over the SBT's on-board DAC, so I basically use the SBT as a streamer/server.

For the tuner, I usually listen to public radio classical. I hate commercials...I feel insulted...so the lack of commercials, plus just plain good music, keeps me engaged. I would be remiss not to mention the MAC1700 receiver also has an excellent phonostage.