FAQs

DS Troubleshooting

Some points may also be listed in the DS troubleshooting section,

What is a DS player?

A DS player is an open digital music player from Linn. It is a source product, like a CD player, but rather than retrieving music from a CD, it retrieves music from a standard Ethernet network.

Can the DS player play multi-channel files?

No, the Klimax DS, Akurate DS, Majik DS, Majik DSi, Sneaky Music DS and Sekrit DSi are stereo only.

What Linn PreAmplifiers can the DS products control?

Bute and Cara software can control:-

• Klimax Kontrol
• Akurate Kontrol
• Majik Kontrol
• Majik-I
• Kinos
• Kisto
• Unidisk SC
• Classik Movie (from 2006 manufacture)
• Classik Music (from 2008 manufacture)

Some of these products may need their software updated to allow the DS products to control them.

Earlier Linn pre-amplifiers cannot be controlled by the DS products

What makes the DS players open?

They have open standard interfaces as follows:

• Standard Ethernet input, and standard audio outputs
• Support the open UPnP AV 1.0 specification for control
• Support for open file formats (e.g. FLAC)
• It is possible, and actively encouraged by Linn, for individuals and third parties to write applications that utilise the DS.
  

How does music get onto a standard Ethernet network in the first place?

From a network attached hard drive. This may be within a standard PC or Mac, or can be a dedicated device called a NAS, which stands for Network Attached Storage. For data security and data availability a low-power dedicated NAS is recommended.

How do I get my music onto a NAS?

Using ripping software - see here, or use a ripping service

Will downloaded music play on the DS players?

Yes, so long as it is not protected by Digital Rights Managemant (DRM) restrictions and is in one of the supported formats, or transcoded to such a format

What are the DS (Playlist) and (UPnP AV) sources on Kinsky Desktop

The Linn DS product can be controlled by standard UPnP AV controllers (such as Cidero, Windows Media Player12) or UPnP controllers that work with Linn extensions.

The Linn extensions  (Playlist), allows the Linn DS to store the playlist in the Linn DS rather than the playlist residing in the UPnP controller, this allows greater flexibility (mulitple UPnP controllers plus the ability to switch off these controllers and still have Music playing).

Using a standard UPnP controller will only allow only one control device to relaibly control the DS. And, it may cause pauses between tracks as the standard UPnP controller tells the DS the next track to play. (This may cause audible delays between gapless tracks with some controllers). If the standard UPnP controller loses ethernet connection at any time, this can cause the DS to stop after playing its exisiting track and NOT continue to the next track. (The UPnP controller may have lost the Linn DS ethernet broadcast that the present track is finished and is left awaiting information on the next track for playing).

Can the NAS be used for other purposes?

Yes. The NAS can be accessed and used by any ethernet connected device.

Should the NAS be backed up?

You should back up all your data. RAID, which is built into many NAS devices, protects against the failure of a single drive ONLY. A full backup should be created using a USB attached external drive or similar, and kept synchronised with the NAS.

Does the NAS have to be in the same room as the DS player?

No, as long as both the NAS and the DS player are connected to the same Ethernet network, the DS player will retrieve music from the NAS.

What should I do if my CD collection is too big to fit on one NAS?

Add more or larger drives to the NAS, or use multiple NAS devices and split collection across them.

Can I create a DS player multi-room system?

Yes. You can have several DS players running from one NAS, with concurrent, independent access to the stored music.

Should I use wired or wireless Ethernet?

Wired. There is no guaranteed quality of service over wireless networks. When streaming music the information must arrive at the DS player in a predictable way to avoid audio drop-out.

How should I control a DS player?

There a variety of options dependent on personal hardware and software preferences

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Can other UPnP controllers operate the DS players?

Yes, so long as they conform to the UPnP AV specification, although with a reduced feature set.

What audio formats do the DS players support?

DS products support FLAC, WAV, AIFF, Apple Lossless (ALAC) and MP3. Linn recommends FLAC. AAC will be supported as of Cara release.

DRM protected files cannot be played on the DS products

Why does Linn recommend FLAC?

1. FLAC is a free open format. It is non-proprietary, which means your music collection is safeguarded for the future, can be played through any open digital music player, and is not tied to a particular manufacturer or product. The specification is published for all to see. In contrast, SACD has failed to achieve significant success because it requires proprietary music content and disc players with proprietary hardware inside.
2. FLAC allows even better than CD quality encoding and decoding. Linn Records (http://www.LinnRecords.com) provides studio master quality downloads in FLAC, at the same quality as SACD.
3. FLAC supports metadata, or tags, so that useful information about a piece of music can be stored with the music; for example, album, artist, genre, cover art, sleeve notes, etc. User interfaces can make good use of these tags. Here are programs that support tag editing: Windows OS: mp3tag: http://www.mp3tag.de/en Mac OS X: Tag: http://sbooth.org/Tag/
4. Because it is open and free, there are an extensive set of players, tools, transcoders (to convert between other formats and FLAC), tag editors, and other programs for FLAC.

Do I have to use a NAS or can I use my existing PC/Mac hard drive?

You can install a UPnP Media Server on your existing PC/Mac and use your existing PC/Mac hard drive if you wish.

Can I run a UPnP server as SqueezeCenter on the same NAS?

Yes, you can, and they can both access the same audio files.

Additionally you can use SqueezeCenter and Squeezeboxes to control and media-serve your DS players using the SkweezyDs plugin

Does the DS work with an Apple Mac?

The DS is a high performance audio product which is designed to operate without the need for a desktop computer.

If you wish to use your existing Apple equipment to control your Hi-Fi, you can find some hints and tips here: DS And Apple

How do I set up a Computer Network?

This should be done by someone with a sufficient level of I.T. training, ideally a professionally trained I.T. specialist. The people involved should be proficient in a minimum of :

• Networking e.g. http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/netgeneral/

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk389/tk214/tech_digest09186a0080091a86.html

• Network devices e.g. http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Ethernet-

Networking-Basics-Part1.html

• TCP/IP networking e.g. http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/tcpip.html

• Firewalls, their configuration and importance

http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Firewalls-101.html

• What cables to use e.g. http://www.mohawk-cdt.com/tech/instguides-utp.html ,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10BASE-T

Where can I get training on Computer Networks and Ethernet systems?

There are many training courses on networks and Ethernet systems to suit your requirements. Different levels of training are available to match the complexity of the systems that you will be designing or supporting. This can be via online training courses e.g.

• http://training.mikrotik.com/course/category.php?id=2
• http://www.intelligentedu.com/newly_researched_free_training/Networking.html

It is also possible to attend training courses in person at local technical colleges and universities.

What are the firewall settings required for LinnGui/LinnConfig operation

For firewalls which support 'exceptions-by-program' (such as Windows Firewall on XP and Vista), add the executable to the exceptions list. However where the firewall requires setting of absolute port addresses for exceptions the following ranges are required

• Port 1900 on 239.255.255.250 (UDP)
• Ports 47832 to 47932 (TCP)
• Ports 49832 to 49932 (TCP)