Hi all,

Just out of interest, does anyone know if the Beosound 5/5 Encore is able to play 24bit/192kHz FLAC files (eg files from Linn Records)

 

Cheers

 

BillC

Hi,

From personal exeprience and beocare answer, here is the answer.

The Encore read files with a maximum of 16 bits 44 kHz. If you have a 48kHz, it will be downgraded, but more than 16 bits the MOTS process will stop (crash) and will be unable to finish the track analysis. I spend hours to detect the faulty tracks in my library.

The track will of course not be readable.

I think the beomaster 5 can read 24 bits.

Eric

Hmm. Ok, so you just convinced me NOT to buy an Encore... Sorry B&O, my money was ready, just waiting for the BeoNet>ML adapter, but :

1. No gapless playback (in a "audiophile" product)

2. No support of HD files (in a "audiophile" product)

Just makes me think that B&O is NOT going the right way. What's next? A player that only supports MP3 and not lossless? I was seduced by the Encore, it's modern thinking, the fact that it can use a NAS and not a stupid old overpriced PC ala BM5, the MOTS function. But finally, it just seem to be a piece of cr*p.

erandlux - thanks for your prompt answer.

I was about to get a white Beosound 5 Encore as a nice Christmas gift to myself until this. Honestly, I love the fact that Beosound 5 Encore has a beautiful physical front end and works with modern non B&O storage solutions (NAS etc). 

I'm afraid I'm in the same boat with mbee - ie no Beosound 5 Encore purchase.

My deal breakers are:

1. lack of support for HD file;

2. ambiguity about two way remote ( via Beo 6 or iPad app) - yes its odd but a 2 way remote would be very useful

It looks like I'm back into research mode. Linn players are well crafted and give wonderful sound, its a pity they don't come with a beautiful physical front end like the Beosound 5/5 Encore. I wish B&O and Linn would have collaborated together for a digital music player.

I guess its too much to ask for a firmware upgrade that would allow the Beosound 5 Encore to play 24bit/192kHz files??? Or maybe thats reserved for the much more expensive Beosound 5...

 

 

 

 

my BS5/BM5 cannot play 192/24bit files. dead silence. can any of you play these?

BS5 definitely plays 192kHz 24bit FLAC

BS5E definitely does play 96kHz 24bit FLAC (no sound with 192kHz)

for sure the MOTS calculation takes longer. Often if a 24bit file is choosen as start for MOTS, it keeps on playing 24bits files

To be really honnest with you guys, i really hesitated between the LINN majik DS and the beosound 5 encore, since price is equivalent.

I went to my Linn Dealer to listen, have a look at the Ipad interface (called kinsky)' and was really confused because it was damned good.

The only point, is that I wanted to keep my BL4000' and was not able to test them via the line connection of the Linn majik DS.

After weeks of nigtmare, forums, web browsing, I went back to my BO dealer and bought the Encore. I was aware of this limitation, for me and my BL4000' a FLAC file of 16 bit is sufficient since it is the CD equivalent. I do not have the audio installation to appreciate a studio master record.

But what a disapoitment when i tried to use it, nothing was functionning, album where displayed more than once, album cover where not dispayed, MOTS was not running, during weeks,....

I solved most of the problems (some with the help of the forum), by hacking my NAS drive to install the new twonky 6 version, retaging files, replacing album cover, a lot hours spend to have it up and running.

Beleive me guys, I really hesited to give it back to the shop.

Time passed, and now all this is just bad "souvenirs", i am actually really happy with it, sounds great, look great, and in the next future, will be connectable with the new coming products, since BO really wants to go for digital music as my dealer told me.

If you still hesitate to buy the Encore, consider those points :

Do you want to browse your misic with an ipad from your chair ? Dont' buy it, it is not possible to have the Encore act as a music renderer

Do you want to use real HD tracks, or audio master ? Don't buy it, go for a Linn product.

Do you want a good working product that can be connected to your old BO ? Buy it, i have it connected to my BM7000.

Conclusion :

The Encore is a great product, his potential is just not used yet, but it will come.

The key if you decide to buy it is the tagging of your file, bad tagging gives you more than for other products, and because of this wheel system navigation, a really bad experience, that was my case at the beginning, but it is not anymore.

Hope this will help you all to take the right decision....

here is the french answer of beocare to my problem of the Encore about the file limitation :

La seule restriction est la résolution et fréquence d'échantillonage qui doit être maximum de 16 bits / 44 KHz. Si le fichier a une fréquence de 48 KHz il est lu mais la fréquence est automatiquement abaissée à 44 KHz. Au dessus il peut ne pas être lu et également poser des problèmes pour l'analyse MOTS.

It confirm what I just said before, only 16 bits, but maybee they are wrong. the fact is that after removing the only album I had in 24 bits, everything worked fine.

Thank you for detailing your carefully considered journey 

erandlux:

Do you want a good working product that can be connected to your old BO ? Buy it, i have it connected to my BM7000.

how did you achieve this ?

• how are they wired together
• how are they controlled 

The Encore is linked to the BM7000 via his powerlink socket to the tape 1 entry of the BM.

I used for this a specific powerlink cable (don't ask me more, my dealer built the cable....)

The controlling issue is a bit more tricky. I use a beo4.

I have to first power on the Encore via the link-CD function, and then turn un the BM 7000 via the A.mem button.

I would have excpected that both system, turns on at the same time, if you have any ideas, they are welcome.

For sound control, same issue, if i am on the link-cd, i can control volume of the Encore, and if I am on the A.mem, i can control the volume of the BM7000.

Not really practical or within BO spirit I agree, but seems to be the only solution to share the beolabs between my CD6500, the Encore, and the BM7000 that also control the television (non BO)

I understand the difficulty of comparing the Beosound 5 and the Beosound 5E to other audiophile players because you want as many features as possible at a reasonable cost.  The music I put on my Beosound 5 is Flac at 24/96 which is as good as a CD and sounds great. I have a lot of B&O products and wanted to have a music player that goes with my system.  I bought BS5 when it was first introduced and was somewhat disappointed.  B&O did resolved most of the things that I perceived as problems like not supporting Flac.  Probably in the next six months, they and others will support Apple lossless which many owners are requesting.  Not implementing two way support for Beo6 is still a problem.  There should also support remote apps from Apple and others.

Many of my audiophile friends think 24/192 flac is not good enough.  They want the emerging standard for DSD audio supported on audiophile players and of course the price goes up significantly.  There are some DSD audio download sites but there was nothing I thought was interesting.

erlandlux, Your conclusions are very good and quite sound.  Good luck!

erandlux:

The Encore is linked to the BM7000 via his powerlink socket to the tape 1 entry of the BM.

 

I used for this a specific powerlink cable (don't ask me more, my dealer built the cable....)

 

 

The controlling issue is a bit more tricky. I use a beo4.

 

I have to first power on the Encore via the link-CD function, and then turn un the BM 7000 via the A.mem button.

 

 

I would have excpected that both system, turns on at the same time, if you have any ideas, they are welcome.

 

For sound control, same issue, if i am on the link-cd, i can control volume of the Encore, and if I am on the A.mem, i can control the volume of the BM7000.

 

 

Not really practical or within BO spirit I agree, but seems to be the only solution to share the beolabs between my CD6500, the Encore, and the BM7000 that also control the television (non BO)

 

 

there is a Powerlink switch box created by Ulf (Kiener) www.ulf-kiener.de - Bang&Olufsen, scroll to "2audiomaster im Linksystem"

This little box has two PL inputs (the first is master, second slave) and a single PL out for your Beolabs.

Connect PL out of your BM7000 to the first input and PL out of your BS5E to the second input, Now set your BS5E to A.OPT4.

Pressing LINK-CD will activate BS5E and your Beolabs, BM7000 is in STDBY mode. Volume control works via BS5E.

Now, pressing CD or TV will activate your BM7000 (A.OPT2) and will switch PL out to your BM7000. Volume control works via BM7000.

The box just switches between two Powerlink sockets depending on 5V signal on PIN 4.

Maybe your dealer - or Ulf - can make a box for you...(?) Ulf Kiener is a Beoworld member mainly in the german forum.

Or keep your setup and make a Powerlinksplitter that combines PL out of your BS5E and A.TAPE2 in AND PHONO in of your BM7000.

If you press N.MUSIC BS5E will start up (in N.MUSIC mode) and BM7000 will start up and open A.TAPE2 socket. Pressing N.RADIO will start BS5E and activates PHONO socket of your BM7000 (and your Beolabs). Pressing CD or TV should stop BS5E and the BM7000 will switch to CD or TV...

BM7000 should be set to A.OPT2 and BS5E set to A.OPT1 (?)

I never tested this setup, but should work.............

Stefan

 

Carolpa:

BS5E definitely does play 96kHz 24bit FLAC (no sound with 192kHz)

for sure the MOTS calculation takes longer. Often if a 24bit file is choosen as start for MOTS, it keeps on playing 24bits files

So... If you are correct, it could be ok for me (as I hear the difference between 16 and 24bit, but for me, 96kHz vs 192kHz is just inaudible and belongs to the same things as cable discussions on audiophile forums).

BUT : if you are correct, we are talking of a company that doesn't have any knowledge of what its products can do. That's really a shame. How long B&O can survive by doing this?

If B&O doesn't know anything about electronics, they can just do like B&W : build wonderful speakers and docks... Which are compatible with any player...

I wanted to buy an Encore for Christmas, so now I will not buy it, just wait to see what B&O, Linn and the others will do.

Last note, if any guy from B&O read this thread : B&O want to sell the Encore as a lower-spec BS5 (no support for Beo6, no HD files and all the limitations)... That's a mistake : the Encore is made for the people who know computers, who already own a NAS and understand that a NAS with all the medias from the house (accessible through any DLNA product such as network players or TVs) is the way to go.
Even if the BS5 was at the same price than the BS5E, I would NOT buy one : I do not want to have an old-school computer with its single hard drive running constantly for my music collection, as I will always have my 2-disc (5 discs is planned) NAS running for all the files of my house.
I have heard that it's the same problem with the BS5 app : they don't want to release it because they fear that people will not buy a Beo6 anymore!! That's TOTALLY STUPID! A Beo6 can help browsing quickly in an album, a playlist or something, it can control the volume quickly, while one could not even unlock the iPad and launch the App. This iPad app is here to do more complicated stuff like searching for a file with the full keyboard, making playlist, searching for something on Spotify (when B&O will support it, or another)... Those things are born to be used together, depending on what the user wants to do.

mbee:

BUT : if you are correct, we are talking of a company that doesn't have any knowledge of what its products can do.

I used a BS3 for over a year with a dvd-dvda-sacd player (hdmi connected), before B&o said it could handle multichannel pcm! 

Mbee,  I would like to add a few items of interest.

192/24 flac does sound better.  It has more depth and almost sounds like an LP depending on the recording.

B&W is more that just high quality speaker company, they also own Classe' audio which make expensive audiophile 2 channel and home theater systems.  They are based in Canada.  Their products are not only beautiful but sound amazing.

Some manufacturers have made music servers and then withdrew the products.  Most audio manufacturers regardless of their prices are having a difficult time deciding how to approach this market and all have limitations.  They have to use imbeded processors just like B&O for flexibility and updates.  The unknown for all these companies is trying to figure out what Apple and to a lesser extent Amazon and Google will actually do over the next 2 or 3 years.

An interesting approach to this is being done by a French company called Devialet.  Their product design is almost like a Beomaster 7000 and it includes a programmable HD processor with WIFI and a programmable Phono LP input.  The ampifier is an inbuilt class D two channel amplifier.  It is beautiful but costs $15000 USD.

I am going to stay with Bang and Olufsen for the time being.  However B&O better move quickly.  Technology and the recession has brought about a rapidy changing situation.

 

linder:

192/24 flac does sound better.  It has more depth and almost sounds like an LP depending on the recording.

earlier quote: Flac at 24/96 which is as good as a CD 

1. this raises the question. what if the LP is made from a digital domain source of f.e. 192kHz 24bit?

can the LP be better than the original?

2. CD = 16bit/44.1kHz therfore 24bit/96kHz does contain more information and is more accurate sample of the original

Carolpa:

linder:

192/24 flac does sound better.  It has more depth and almost sounds like an LP depending on the recording.

this raises the question. what if the LP is made from a digital domain source of f.e. 192kHz 24bit?

 

can the LP be better than the original?

Probably not.  I have some RCA Living Stereo LPs which do sound warm and vibrant.  The SACD versions sound about the same.  I also have a few newly recorded LPs which don't seem to sound better.  It is a mixed situation.  Why do I buy LPs?  Probably because I think it adds an extra dimension and charm to my B&O system.  I started buying LPs about 8 years ago and have enjoyed them.  I love classical music and have been able to acquire music on LP than is not on CD through the magic of Ebay.  HD audio files though is the future.  If I was planning a new system now, it would be based on a music player like Beosound 5, Linn, Cary audio and others.  The one box with everything inbuilt.

 

Thanks a lot Stephan, i wrote an email to Ulf, I will also ask my dealer.

Do you own such a box ?

No, I don`t have such a box. But Ulf and I talked about it, he made several modifications on my system - especially on my old AV9000 system.

We also have a stb with a special Beo controller made by Ulf. The PL switch box is not too difficult to built, it`s just a good idea.

Stefan

BillC:

Just out of interest, does anyone know if the Beosound 5/5 Encore is able to play 24bit/192kHz FLAC files (eg files from Linn Records)

 

 

Hi Bill,

The BeoSound5 Encore can play the following formats natively:

MPEG1 & MPEG2, Audio Layer 3 (.mp3)
- all valid bit rates incluing VBR
- 16, 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1, 48 kHz

Windows Media Audio - Standard (.wma, .asf)
- all valid bit rates incluing VBR
- 16, 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1, 48 kHz

Windows Media Audio Lossless (.wma, .asf)
- 44.1, 48 kHz
- 16, 24 bits

MPEG2 & MPEG 4 Advanced Audio Codec profiles: LC, HE-AACv1, HE-AACv2 (.m4a, .mp4, .aac)
- all valid bit rates incluing VBR
- 16, 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1, 48 kHz

Free Lossless Audio Codec (.flac)
- 16, 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96 kHz
- 16, 24 bits

Uncompressed Linear PCM (.aif, .aiff, .wav)
- 16, 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96 kHz
- 16, 24 bits