Deezer Hi-Fi Confusion

So last week I bit the bullet and decided to take advantage of B&O's offer of Deezer Hi-Fi. I found it quite difficult to upgrade from Premium to Hifi but in the end it all seemed to go through and I now see in my Deezer account setting that I have Deezer Hifi Subscription and my monthly invoice has changed from premium to hifi.

 

How do I tell that my B&O product are using FLAC files as their source? I have seen in other threads that in the B&O app above the album artwork it read "Deezer - FLAC", mine does not. When using my Moment it doesn't brand anything as FLAC or Hifi. 

All of my B&O products are up to date including my phone, and iPads. my B&O app last updated three days ago to version 1.3.

I would have thought they would have been some kind of confirmation that the products where playing a FLAC source.

 

My Hifi compatible products are - Beosound Moment, Beovision Eclipse, Beoplay A9, Beosound 1 & Beoplay A6. Non are giving me any feedback to suggest they are playing FLAC files.

 

Any help from the B&O community would be great!

 

http://archivedforum2.beoworld.org/forums/p/26602/227756.aspx#227756

I think the Moment needs to be beta version 2.2 ? To support FLAC.

You don’t have to select the Deezer format you want on the device, if the subscription is HiFi then capable device will play FLAC.

If your A6 is at the latest software level, then it must show Deezer FLAC above the album cover in the now playing screen of the app (that must be at the latest version too)

For the BS Moment you need the 2.2 beta version to see the FLAC attribute on the JukeBox but I’m convinced that it plays FLAC even if not showing it.

I have a beta version of Deezer running on a MacBook. I have a wireless connection to a BeoSound Essence Mk2. The software version of the Essence is 1.1517474.98801383. The Essence is connected to a pair of BeoLab 5's. I have three different audio quality options in Deezer. Standard 128kb/s, Better 320kb/s and HiFi 1 411kb/s 

I have toggled between the three setting and have to be honest and say I can't tell the difference. I think I can hear a slight difference between 128 and 320 but its so tiny it could be in my imagination. No difference between the Better and HiFi setting. 

The Lab 5's make almost anything you play on them sound amazing so maybe the HiFi rate just isn't necessary. I would be interested to know if anyone can hear a discernible difference between each of the settings. 

 

 

David :

I have a beta version of Deezer running on a MacBook. I have a wireless connection to a BeoSound Essence Mk2. The software version of the Essence is 1.1517474.98801383. The Essence is connected to a pair of BeoLab 5's. I have three different audio quality options in Deezer. Standard 128kb/s, Better 320kb/s and HiFi 1 411kb/s 

I have toggled between the three setting and have to be honest and say I can't tell the difference. I think I can hear a slight difference between 128 and 320 but its so tiny it could be in my imagination. No difference between the Better and HiFi setting

Hi David - I agree that BL5s are wonderful, however I wonder if your experiment is valid (of course I may have understood).

Let’s set aside the use of beta software and assume there are no bugs

It sounds like you are Airplay-Ing or Bluetooth-Ing from the MAC to the Essence ?

There have been discussions on the forum over the years about whether AirPlay(1) is degrading the quality of the sound - and many recommend wired connections to help ensure no compromises on the signal path.

I believe once the signal arrives at the Essence it’s DSP is invoked - of course if the signal from the Mac was pure analog then the DSP in the chain would be the Mac’s not the Essence’s - the Essence would pass the signal straight through.

A better path would be optical out of the Mac and into the BL5s - in that situation I believe the DSP housed inside the BL5 is used.

I believe I could discern the difference between vanilla Deezer and the HiFi version. And certainly my network groans a bit under the difference.

And I believe what Deezer HiFi is delivering is superior to a CD on the BeoSound 4.

Today I have moved to a pure optical chain from my Core (which accesses Deezer directly over the Internet) to my BL20s. Of course the 20s are nowhere near as good as your 5s.

For testing I have been using a “HiFi audiophile” playlist on Deezer. So far I am very pleased with the quality - I believe my BL20s are expressing more bass than when Core was wired by PL cables (and where the Core’s DSPis used). The resequenced (I am only listening to songs / artists / recordings I am familiar with).

One other test I did is use Geoff Martin’s recommended “Bird on a wire” as a first test. I found that I had to remove the volume limit (72) as for that recording I need to go up to about 80.

I hope this helps your own investigations ...

That sounds like a good reason why I cant hear any difference.

How should I go about getting optical out of my MacBook and into my BeoLab 5's 

My MacBook is a MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015)

Should I use a USB to TOSLINK or SPDIF out of the headphone jack? 

Hi David,

An optical to co-axial digital converter should allow you to take the digital signal straight into the Beolab 5s for the best sound quality.  I see that I have an email from you today, so I will send you an email reply with details of a converter to make this possible, please let us know how you get on!

Kind regards, Steve.