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Stream-IF User Manual 

 

13 

PREPARING YOUR TABLET AND CONNECTING IT TO STREAM-X 

 

Any Apple iPad or Android tablet can be used to control Stream-X. The Apple iPad Mini is recommended for 

best ease of use. To use the tablet it is necessary to download and install an app from a 3rd party vendor 

(ConversDigital). The Stream-X uses the DLNA protocol and so most DLNA controller can connect with 

Stream-X. But we have worked with this 3rd party vendor to also include features that are not supported in 

DLNA and so we recommend strongly to use that 3rd party app by ConversDigital.. The following apps are 

available depending on tablet and desired features: 

 

1. 

mconnect Control HD

: this free app can only be used in landscape orientation. It does not support 

iPhone. This app gives you all the features that Stream-X is capable of and also offers you the most 

comprehensive user interface with the most important functions are accessible on a single page. 

This app also incorporates features that are not supported in the standard DLNA protocol, such as 

firmware update and complete set of features for all streaming services. 

 

2. 

mconnect Control

: this free app is functionally the same as mconnect Control HD, but it only runs in 

portrait mode and is also supported on the iPhone. Since it supports smaller screens of phones it has 

a layered user interface where various features are in separate pages.  

This app also incorporates features that are not supported in the standard DLNA protocol, such as 

firmware update and complete set of features for all streaming services. 

 

3. 

mconnect Player

: there is also a Lite version. These are general purpose DLNA apps and are, 

therefore, not free or come with advertising. They do not support our additional features and only 

support limited streaming services. While they work fine with Stream-X we highly recommend you use 

either one of the 

mconnect Control

 apps. 

 

Follow these steps: 

 

1.  Connect your tablet or phone to the internet. 

 

2.  Launch App Store (iPad) or Play Store (Android) and search for "mconnect Control". 

 

3.  Install either "mconnect Control" or "mconnect Control HD". 

 

4.  Check that your tablet is connected to the same network as Stream-X 

 

5.  If not done so already, power on your Stream-IF (select STREAM-X input). After a fresh power up, it 

may take a few seconds to start. Just wait until the front panel indicates a valid sample rate. 

 

 

CONTROLLING STREAM-X

 

 

In the following guideline we will use the mconnect Control HD app. Follow these steps: 

 

1.  Connect your tablet or phone to the internet and make sure it is on the same network as Stream-X. 

 

2.  Launch App Store (iPad) or Play Store (Android) and search for "mconnect Control". 

 

3.  Install either "mconnect Control" or "mconnect Control HD". 

 

4.  If not done so already, power on your Stream-X (select STREAM-X input). After a fresh power up, it 

may take a few seconds to start. Just wait until the front panel indicates a valid sample rate. 

 

5.  Launch the mconnect Control app. The following screen presents itself: 

 

 

Summary of Contents for Stream-IF

Page 1: ...Version 1 0 Stream IF Streaming and USB Interface USER MANUAL ...

Page 2: ...Stream IF User Manual 2 ...

Page 3: ...ership you register your Playback Designs product by sending us a copy of your sales receipt your name address city state zip code phone number email address and your dealer s store name we will extend the warranty to 3 years Playback Designs will pay for return shipping charges domestically back to the owner when the product is sent to Playback Designs within the first 30 days after purchase and ...

Page 4: ...240V USB cable PLINK optical cable User manual Registration If you purchased this product from a dealer please take a moment and send us an email to info playbackdesigns com so we can register you for the warranty Installation Do not place the interface over an amplifier or any other equipment that generates heat ...

Page 5: ...orkstation that was developed by the founder of Playback Designs during the development of the SACD and DSD formats PLINK does not use the same media as TosLink but it is based on a much higher quality and lower jitter media that is used for very high bandwidth communication links where receivers require an extremely low jitter signal for reliable decoding For PLINK we use a much lower bandwidth p...

Page 6: ... Classic or Sonoma PLINK input and output can be set individually by pressing the standby button while the display is in settings mode flashing The Classic format is used for the 5 series products and also the IPS 3 if it hasn t been upgraded yet The Sonoma format is used on all newer products from Playback Designs Input selection cycles through three input choices USB Stream X PLINK inputs Standb...

Page 7: ...main output of the Stream IF and supports multiple audio formats natively for PCM and DSD PLINK IN This connection can be used in connection with the recording capability of the USB interface For instance you can connect the PLINK output of the MPT 8 MPS 8 or MPS 5 products to this input to record via USB anything played on these machines NETWORK The internal Stream X module uses this connection t...

Page 8: ...s you to record any digital audio through its bidirectional USB Audio interface For this purpose Playback Designs offers an easy to use software application that can be installed on any Windows PC Download it from www playbackdesigns com and refer to its user manual for more details USB POWER PLAYLINK COAX IN IN OUT OUT OUT NETWORK RST Playback Designs STREAM IF PLINK cable connected to PLINK inpu...

Page 9: ...y the manufacturer that cause such dropouts and others are user installed with additional software that do not allow flawless real time playback of audio Fortunately there is a free utility software that allows you to test your PC for real time capability 1 Go to http www resplendence com latencymon and download the utility program LatencyMon There is also a good description of the program and som...

Page 10: ...Hz and convert all your songs to this rate before playing them out through USB This will result in degraded performance You can manually select the sample rate in the Audio MIDI Setup utility to correspond with the native sample rate of the song but this can be a tedious process if your library contains songs with more than 1 sample rate Alternatively 3 rd party plug ins for iTunes exist that auto...

Page 11: ...ATING It is important that at this point you no longer touch the system nor your PC nor the remote don t change the input don t turn the power off Go have a glass of Playback Designs wine because it will take about 2 minutes for this to finish 6 Once playback has finished the front panel will return to either normal display or it will say FAILURE A failure can happen when you didn t follow the ins...

Page 12: ...and depending on your NAS or DLNA server DSD files may not play correctly through Stream X Supported network protocols DLNA UPnP Roon Supported streaming services Tidal Qobuz Deezer vTuner CONNECTING STREAM X TO YOUR NETWORK USB POWER PLAYLINK COAX IN IN OUT OUT OUT NETWORK RST Playback Designs STREAM IF Network Connect this to your network router and make sure it is connected to the internet and ...

Page 13: ...te pages This app also incorporates features that are not supported in the standard DLNA protocol such as firmware update and complete set of features for all streaming services 3 mconnect Player there is also a Lite version These are general purpose DLNA apps and are therefore not free or come with advertising They do not support our additional features and only support limited streaming services...

Page 14: ...at there is a USB stick connected directly to the Stream X module Streamer USB connector on back panel In this case the Stream X module acts as a server Tapping on any of these lines will allow you to select any song that this particular storage device contains In this list you can also see a list of computers and other DLNA or UPnP servers with storage that might contain playable audio files The ...

Page 15: ...o Playlist button on upper right corner You will be prompted to select an existing playlist or to create a new one 4 On the next page you will be able to select the songs in the queue that you want to transfer into the playlist When done with your selections press the DONE button in upper right corner 5 Select Favorites view and My Playlists under favorites There you will see your playlist you jus...

Page 16: ...aylist from the list and the next page will show you the contents of your playlist 7 In this page you can edit your playlist by pressing the EDIT button or you can add more tracks by pressing the PLUS button Add to Playlist button Edit button ...

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