Maestro, new music platform to compete Roon etc

[DaveC (David Cressy)]

I love my Master Clock connected to Maestro

[glevethan (Gregg)]

I have my Vivaldi Master clock performing duties directly connected to JPlay

[Pdave]

@Frankie67

My first impression was actually very positive — to my ears it sounded better than Roon and possibly even better than dCS Mosaic, which I didn’t expect.

I’ve contacted support a couple of times but haven’t received any response so far, which is disappointing.

First, glad to hear you are seeing an uptick in sound quality too.

Normally the support is very responsive (I created two tickets that got solved within immediate reply and solved within days). I’d suggest anyway to contact them so you can take advantage of the 30 day trial period. This is currently in beta, so Maestro on their own says they appreciate the community input, and are even extending trial time over the 30 days depending on stability of the software for a user.

Did you receive feedback in the meantime? Are you on Windows or MacOS, and what version are you using?

[RobW (Rob)]

Paul McGowan seems to respond pretty quickly to questions and complaints about his maestro experiment on PS Audio’s forum…

[Frankie67 (Franco Agopyan)]

@Pdave

First, glad to hear you are seeing an uptick in sound quality too.

Normally the support is very responsive (I created two tickets that got solved within immediate reply and solved within days). I’d suggest anyway to contact them so you can take advantage of the 30 day trial period. This is currently in beta, so Maestro on their own says they appreciate the community input, and are even extending trial time over the 30 days depending on stability of the software for a user.

Did you receive feedback in the meantime? Are you on Windows or MacOS, and what version are you using?

Thanks for following up. I’m on the latest macOS version as well. Paul did get back to me quickly, which I appreciate, but unfortunately he wasn’t able to fix the issue. At this point I’m starting to consider quitting, as it’s been pretty frustrating not being able to get things working properly despite the support.

[Pdave]

Well in its current state the software is not 100% stable, though to me the advances in sound quality vs others are already worth it. That is on trial, and thus ok. Fixes are in general progressing quickly, so if you get a few more days time that should do the trick. Otherwise returning in June is of course another option.

[TheFlash (Nigel of Reiki Audio)]

@Pdave

the advances in sound quality vs others are already worth it

We need to be clear here, don’t we, what we mean by “others”; we mean Maestro vs Audirvana or Maestro vs Roon. We don’t mean Qobuz Connect and other similarly architectured (UPnP) products which already “never touch your audio stream”.

[Pdave]

Yes in general. Though strange thing is, Maestro sounds different than Qobuz Connect. Don’t know why and what Maestro is making different. Curious to know how others perceive the difference.

[glevethan (Gregg)]

@Pdave

Maestro sounds different than Qobuz Connect

For me that is not a good thing.
I would tend to hold up Qobuz Connect as the reference point by which others should be judged.

[TheFlash (Nigel of Reiki Audio)]

@Pdave

Maestro sounds different than Qobuz Connect.

This is a strange one. While I have never been an it’s-all-in-the-mind-unless-you can-show-me-the-proof kinda guy, I do like at least a theory before I’ll give stuff a shot… and quite how two platforms which never touch your audio stream can sound different completely stumps me.

I guess if you hear it, you hear it, I just can’t see how.

[glevethan (Gregg)]

The developer of JPlay just posted this on the WBF forum:

“The claim that Maestro app never touches the audio stream is not true”

[PAR (Pete)]

@glevethan

The claim that Maestro app never touches the audio stream is not true”

Interesting. However does he provide any reason for this opinion or is it just an assertion ?

[glevethan (Gregg)]

Single sentence assertion

[PAR (Pete)]

Thanks Gregg. It is hard to accept an unjustified assertion. It becomes impossible to accept if it has also been made by a commercial competitor of the subject.

I cannot tell if it is correct or incorrect. There is currently just nothing to go on.

[glevethan (Gregg)]

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/roon-alternatives.39102/page-5#post-1128968

An explanation was just posted by the JPlay developer in post #83

Beyond my pay grade to assess the validity

[PAR (Pete)]

Thanks again Gregg but I cannot read the link unless I register as a WBF member which I am not about to do.

Could you provide a precis ?

[glevethan (Gregg)]

Quote from Marcin (developer of JPlay)

They create a local server (proxy). So the streaming is not coming from Qobuz directly to your renderer, but is first downloaded to a PC/Mac.

Once again, beyond my pay grade, however JPlay simply sends a command to Qobuz (or Tidal etc.) saying

“Send this song DIRECTLY to Vivaldi (or Lumin,Linn,Naim etc.)”

as opposed to what Marcin the developer claims - which is Maestro directing the file to FIRST arrive to a PC/MAC and THEN making its way to the Vivaldi (Lumin,Linn,Naim etc.)

I guess he is implying the PC/MAC can potentially alter the file before sending it in to the DAC/Renderer.

[PAR (Pete)]

Thanks again.

As you mention, there may be a further assertion that Maestro’s local server alters the file. Perhaps @Anupc might like to comment as he has much knowledge in this area.

[RobW (Rob)]

I think I’ve read that there is work in progress to make it possible to ‘remaster’ music to your own preference/choice ‘within’ maestro before it is forwarded. Direct traffic jams by Qobuz of course excludes this, probably because of that…

[RobW (Rob)]

Paul McGowan named it ‘Prism DSP’ :

Timeline for Prism DSP which will be a real game changer allowing folks to remaster individual tracks or whole albums or whole systems should be live sometime in late May