How to get a warmer sound?

[stretchneck]

Hi,

Very impressed with the functionality of Moode, works perfectly for me and the Tidal intergration is great - but how can I achieve a warmer sound in Moode?

I have tried various pieces of software including, Roon and Audiolinux.   Moode sounds very similar to Audiolinux in my opinion (similar linux underpinnings I guess) - but it's much easier to use.

It doesn't sound quite so warm and analogue like as my present reference 'Euphony Audio' (Trial version) however - I think they do something to warm up the sound in their playback engine, but I don't know what it is.  Detail retrieval is about the same between Euphony and Moode.

It has been suggested to me that Audirvana imparts more of a warm sound as well, but I'm yet to try this.

Any tips?

[grasshopper]

Maybe you need to play about with the EQ settings in MoOde. Personally I dislike any EQ changes, I disable them all, on my amp also. I find the sound very good personally, so it's likely personal preference IMO.

[Skip Pack]

Maybe you need to play about with the EQ settings in MoOde.  Personally I dislike any EQ changes, I disable them all, on my amp also.  I find the sound very good personally, so it's likely personal preference IMO.

Echoing grasshopper, I tried EQ several versions ago and found it degraded the SQ, though the balance was changed appropriately.

If you are using SoX resampling, try the 'Medium' quality setting. I strongly prefer that to the the 'better' settings which test better in a standard analytic. I suspect that the low-level harmonics are nicer at the 'Medium' setting. If you are not using SoX to upsample to the highest rate your DAC accepts, give it a try.
When trying it, also compare the output at 24 bits to the output at 32 bits. The data should be the same, but interactions with DACs are sometime mystical from a user's point of view All of these things are variable by system combinations and generaliztions often (usually?) fail.

[CallMeMike]

snip..................... Very impressed with the functionality of Moode, works perfectly for me and the Tidal intergration is great - but how can I achieve a warmer sound in Moode?............... snip ................... Any tips?

Have you tried Edward's tweaks... ?     http://moodeaudio.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=749

Also have you considered that your particular DAC chip and its implementation may be the cause of a more 'clinical' sound (to your ears)? In an audiophile's paradise one should have the possibility to test a range of DAC devices now and then...   After the said test the decision would boil down to which of the two makes more financial sense: change the DAC or purchase the perfect audio player...

[stretchneck]

Thanks for the feedback - I have tried using the predefined filters, and counter intuitively, the 'hi-boost' filter is the one which has provided the most benefit to me on some tracks (probably because I can't really hear much over 16kHz). I feel that the sound quality is now very close to my existing benchmark system.

So I think the answer is some mild equalisation.... and also upsampling (my benchmark, Euphony, upsamples everything to the maximum rate of my DAC 24/384).

So I now have a problem with SOX settings - I change them in MPD, and press save/set however they never make any difference - everything is always fixed at 24/44.1, even when I have selected 24/384 in the SOX settings. I know this to be true because my Naim DAC V1 displays the current bitrate. I have tried restarting as well. What am I doing wrong?

I'm using Allo USB Signature with Moode.

[Tim Curtis]

I quick test on my SIG + Katana rig and I'm not seeing an issue. I have both SoX Resampling and Graphic EQ on.

   

Post a screen shot of Audio info while one of your tracks is playing.

[stretchneck]

I've found the issue - SOX upsampling doesn't work via Squeezelite.  Squeezelite only gives me 24/44.1.  If I just play one of the radio stations directly in Moode then full 24/384 is achieved.

Naim V1 is designed to work with Linux, but I guess Moode isn't yet fully compatible with it?

[TheOldPresbyope]

I've found the issue - SOX upsampling doesn't work via Squeezelite.  Squeezelite only gives me 24/44.1.  If I just play one of the radio stations directly in Moode then full 24/384 is achieved.

Naim V1 is designed to work with Linux, but I guess Moode isn't yet fully compatible with it?

SoX is implemented in the MPD subsystem. The Squeezelite renderer bypasses MPD (notice the renderer setup option "restart MPD"?).

[Tim Curtis]

To add to what @TheOldPresbyope posted, the other Audio renderers are playback systems that are separate from MPD which is the primary playback system in moOde.

Code:

Other Audio Renderers

Bluetooth      Client -> Moode Bluetooth renderer --or-- Moode MPD -> Bluetooth receiver
Airplay        Client -> Moode Airplay renderer
Spotify        Client -> Moode Spotify renderer
Squeezelite    Client -> Moode Squeezelite renderer

Both Airplay and Squeezelight renderers have their own resampling options that are available in their Config screens. Airplay bit depth and sample rate can be selected from dropdowns. Squeezelight resampling is set via command line parameters in the "Other options" field. I think the Squeezelight Git repo has information on how to configure resampling.  I don't recall if Airplay or Squeezelite use SoX for its resampling.

Note, there are two MPD DSP operations that also apply to Airplay and Spotify renderers. See below.

Code:

DSP Operations

Volume ctl:     MPD
Resampling:     MPD
Polarity inv:   MPD
Crossfade:      MPD
Crossfeed:      MPD
Parametric EQ:  MPD, Airplay, Spotify
Graphic EQ:     MPD, Airplay, Spotify
Replaygain:     MPD
Normalize vol:  MPD

[Tim Curtis]

Also, @stretchneck your screen shots revealed some bugs in Audio info. Fixed for upcoming 6.4.1 update :-)