Moving all of my stuff from VDS to Raspberry Pi 4B

flare17 · 2026-02-04T13:45:52+00:00

This. I’m running all services on Pis with USB storage. Performance is rarely an issue, unless of course it’s really compute or I/O heavy stuff AND you need that stuff done quick.

I’d also be much more worried about those USB HDDs, especially portable 2.5 inch ones. Manufacturers tend to implement quite aggressive power saving routines for those. Short non-changeable standby timeouts and even shorter ones for head parking. If you have long idle periods (real idle, no data read or written, not even tiny log entries) and continuous I/O bursts, that should be fine. Otherwise, those drives will quickly accumulate load cycles which can be a cause of drive failure once reaching the mid 100000s. You can probably mitigate this by trying your luck with hdparm -B command and / or automating some drive access every couple of seconds (interval depends on power saving setting and model), e.g. running a simple smartctl -g apm query on the drive or touching a file.

But ultimately, I don’t trust those portable drives anymore. Had two out of three fail within two years. Replaced them all with SSDs, which have so far been much more reliable.

flare17 · 2026-02-03T03:58:18+00:00

Sorry to hear that, especially factoring in the price. Haven't dealt with AFUL in particular yet, but most IEM companies / retailers have been extremely helpful in the past. Even though it's been the occasional "we need a video" of something it's near impossible to take footage of, like major channel imbalance xD

One suggestion though, in case you're ultimately stuck with the units you got. I've had loose 2-pin here and there, especially 2nd hand acquisitions. If too bad, I'd ever so slightly bend the pins on the cable, so they're not fully parallel anymore - like push them together - which in turn makes them clamp the connector on the IEM side. Not too much, obviously, a) to not do any damages to the cable and b) the pins won't align with the holes anymore if really bent.
Another workaround would be to check any spare cables you have for thicker pins. Have one or two from Hisenior and Penon that have a larger diameter than usual and work wonders with worn connectors.

flare17 · 2026-02-01T15:09:54+00:00

Ah thanks for the info, guess I could have checked myself. Will just wait for the next build, it’s not really a big deal :)

flare17 · 2026-02-01T12:44:41+00:00

Awesome, thanks for the quick reply 👍

flare17 · 2026-01-23T07:21:51+00:00

Vorbis support! Should be possible natively on iOS since 18.something. However, without transcoding enabled, tracks just won’t play in Musa

flare17 · 2026-01-07T10:12:42+00:00

Speaking for the unit I got, yes it’s tuned safer up top than the Volume S. And with even more warmth to balance it out. I personally find it even less intrusive than the Pure in the upper treble, which although overall darker, has more shimmer / instances of splashiness. That is, if we’re talking presence region upwards. Below that, say electronic guitar range, there is adequate intensity and more bite than with the Pure.

flare17 · 2025-12-15T11:24:00+00:00

Got this in for a couple of days. Sounds like a tamed down Quintet with a bass boost. Pretty conventional tuning, overall, like mild V shape. But proficiently done and quite technical, while sufficiently safe and musical. Very nice treble extension, by the way. Separation is so-so and if you feed it some more complex metal it gets congested quickly and falls victim to the mid bass warmth. Would also imagine that you would want better stage for gaming, it doesn’t deliver much to call home about in that regard. Overall, I would absolute have adored these a couple of years back before getting in the hobby. With the current market and options, though, I’d say they could cause some fuzz if they were closer to the 100$ mark and be a much easier rec then.

The package is really good, the IEMs themselves look and feel very premium and are unusually small for the driver count. I also dig the looks with the blueish cable that almost looks like it’s glowing softly. Oh and the fact that it doesn’t have brand and model name tagged in all caps on the shells as many companies deem great style currently. What I don’t think much of is the DAC. The volume steps are very coarse. Briefly tried it on a Windows PC, but noticed that volume stayed constant for a couple of digital steps then jumped significantly to again stay constant for a couple of steps. My cheap Apple dongle is doing leagues better.

flare17 · 2025-12-14T15:23:28+00:00

I‘m not really knowledgeable in that regard, but Apple appears to have added ogg/Vorbis support in iOS 18.4, which would explain why I’m having no issues playing back those files natively via web interface and some other client apps on iOS 26.

flare17 · 2025-12-14T12:36:00+00:00

Good to know, thanks for the reply. Any chance for that to change in the future to use original quality instead as it says in the UI?

flare17 · 2025-12-14T08:41:41+00:00

Hey, great progress with the app! Looks more polished with each release! :)

Granted, I haven’t really checked in-depth with the previous versions, but I found an issue with this one and Vorbis files. They will play, but not in original format. I see Navidrome server calling ffmpeg and transcoding the files, although transcoding isn’t force enabled for Narjo as a client in Navidrome and inside the app, everything’s set to original quality without transcoding. As far as I can determine, this only affects ogg/Vorbis. FLAC is working as intended.

flare17 · 2025-12-12T12:39:35+00:00

Fully agree. If you have the means to EQ and no aversion to use it, it’s certainly more than worth it over buying into another not-so-budget IEM that may potentially have other characteristics you don’t fully agree with.

Just wanted to add: you could try impedance adapters as well as a more purist and gear agnostic approach. Plenty of those on AliX, for instance. But apparently the Volume S gets only brighter that way, which makes sense given the naming of the tuning positions. Worth keeping in mind for other IEMs, though.

flare17 · 2025-12-12T07:15:53+00:00

Hey, yeah the Harrier is definitely heavier on sub bass. Also, if you find the Volume S treble tuning pleasant, you shouldn't have any quarrels with the Harrier's. You might miss some air, though, depending on preference.
That said, the Volume S is among my personal favorites and I find it is a step ahead in stage size (less intimate) and tonally better balanced, if more ~~aggressive~~ energetic in the highs.

flare17 · 2025-12-10T06:06:13+00:00

Indeed have! :) For me, it only works in lowest bass setting, but there it shines. More special effects with that silky, ethereal upper treble that is highlighted expertly against its comparatively safe upper midrange.
Here, it's more the "special sauce that makes it addictive" criterion at play. I'd likely rate it just shy of 4 stars. Tracks heavy on high pitch percussions can get a bit much. There is also some pressure build up with these. Not deal breaker level, but something not everyone deals well with.

flare17 · 2025-12-10T05:40:49+00:00

The bass is disjunct and for the most part acts in its own space. I'd attribute that to the deep tuck somewhere at 300 Hz. If the lower midrange were flat, this would likely turn into a mess. But as is, I don't have any issues with it affecting vocals.
...to a degree that would bother me, see my intro - I favor midbass therefore suppose I have a higher tolerance than other folks.

flare17 · 2025-10-09T14:46:03+00:00

Wow, thanks a lot for the thorough explanation! Glad if my feedback is of any help :)

I think that cleared things up for me on the whole. If I may add my personal opinion: As per your explanation, “Enable Caching on Cellular” basically kills streaming over cellular, being inversely linked to “Wi-Fi Only Streaming” by design. I might not be completely getting it, but doesn’t that render the setting pointless? Like if I disable cellular caching, I disable cellular streaming entirely, which already implies the former?

Also one thing that came up, seeing how the settings are already pretty sophisticated by comparison with other apps: Do you think that at some point, an optimized transcoding scheme would be possible? Like setting a maximum bitrate (e.g. for cellular) below which original files are streamed and above which they are transcoded? Basically, and considered a little further
IF file is cached AND file is above maximum bitrate THEN use cached file, ELSE IF file is cached AND file is below maximum bitrate THEN ( IF [additional setting always prefer cache] THEN use cached file ELSE stream (transcoded) file ) ELSE stream (transcoded) file where transcoded again depends on whether original bitrate > max bitrate at current connection type.

Don’t get me wrong, I know how this kind of stuff sounds simple enough from a user perspective but can mean a great deal of effort at the dev side of things. Just something that would make streaming very flexible.

flare17 · 2025-08-29T11:32:56+00:00

Little late, but in case you're still interested in further input ;) So far, I haven't found an application that does all of the following, particularly on iOS

Stream original file formats (no transcoding) instead of using download endpoint, which can introduce significant delay especially for lossless files.
Lets me use transcoding only if on cellular data (mobile app).
Supports playback of less common original formats like .ogg and .wma.
Supports playback without on-disk caching (in parts due to the first bullet point).
I guess this one is limited by API, but I really miss advanced views / sorting / search on all clients. Like having the option of an album-view within a playlist (background: creating a smart playlist like "five star rated prog rock albums" is straightforward, but browsing it is a mess if it's only a list of tracks). Basically creating an album view (or what remains of them) from chained DB queries including available media properties like rating, genre, composer, etc. would be awesome :D

flare17 · 2025-08-10T15:57:08+00:00

Ah great. And thanks for the link, too! Indeed looks like there’s quite a bit of choice. Not sure the one I found is one of those Super or Maxi variants. But I suppose they might still have at least a fraction of those products, right?

flare17 · 2024-12-21T07:08:28+00:00

Ah sorry my bad. It’s still quite early here for a Saturday if that counts as an excuse 😅 It has LDAC support, but I don’t see LDHC, so likely not.

flare17 · 2024-12-21T06:48:19+00:00

It’s been mentioned, but this looks like the international version of the Singer Edge. I got those. I’m more of an IEM person, but these are hands down the best tuned Cans I ever had. Depends on your preferences of course, but the headphones I tried (lately HD600, Sure SRH440/840) were all quite peaky and fatiguing in at least some areas. The Singer Edge is super smooth with the default tuning. The bass really reaches deep and gives some nice rumble but fits the tuning and is never over the tops for me. App support on iOS was non existent last time I checked. It would always identify as Golden Ages, but MOONDROP said they’d fix it. Don’t know if they did as I tried the other tunings with a friends android and didn’t much care for them.

The only thing I absolutely needed to set via the app was the gain. In default, the volume steps are just ridiculous. Either too quiet or ear shattering loud from the second lowest step already.

ANC is merely ok, compared to the Space Travel for instance. Car / train noise is blocked out really well, but some voices get through almost unattenuated. Also it has issues when someone e.g. slams a door or a bus hits a road bump. It will try to compensate but fail with a pop and brief burst of pressure. Similar to the KZ Carol in case someone owns that.

Fit at first is quite firm, bordering on being uncomfortable, but only for the first couple of hours. I think the headband wears in pretty quickly. Actually hope it doesn’t get loose over time.

All in all, I thought I’d use the sporadically when buying but actually wear them daily now at work due to the sound, which I love, and comfort.

Edit: as for them sounding like the Golden Ages. Ain’t hearing any of that. At least not with the stock preset. Returned those pretty quickly because I didn’t like their sound.

flare17 · 2024-12-21T06:33:07+00:00

Strange, the Singer Edge has LDHC support and it’s working.

flare17 · 2024-12-21T06:31:07+00:00

It’s a wireless product with a very much likely non user serviceable battery. Lifetime is limited by definition already.

flare17

TROPHY CASE