Cocktail audio x50

and Apple App Store. Enjoy it for X12, X30, X40, X50,

N15, N15D and X35

X35 models to support MQA playback soon .

● 200Watts Class D amplifier built-in

● DSD is supported

for audiophiles who have already external DAC and Amplifier

● High quality USB Audio Class 2.0 Output

● I²S Out x 2(HDMI, RJ45)

● Full aluminum chassis with CNC cutting

● High performance USB DAC(Digital to Analog Converter)

● 2.5" HDD or SSD storage deck is ready

● Native DSD file playback

● 'Roon Ready' is supported

Server and more

● ES9018K2M Sabre³² Reference DAC built-in

● 5" TFT LCD on the front

● Native DSD file direct playback

● Phono Input for connecting turntable directly

CD Ripper and more

● 100Watts Class D amplifier built-in

● Recording with max 192Khz sampling rate

● 60Watts Class D amplifier built-in

● Supports Online Music Services like TIDAL, Deezer,

Cocktail audio x50

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Cocktail Audio X40 Music Server

Over the past few years, the vast majority of my music purchases -- and I’m not alone in this -- have been of downloadable files rather than discs. Nonetheless, I still have a substantial collection of discs that I continue to listen to. On the home-theater side, most audio/video receivers now include the ability to play music files -- including high-resolution FLACs and, in some cases, DSD files -- from USB keys and network storage devices. Two-channel integrated amplifiers and receivers still, generally, eschew such features. Thus, connected to my amplifier are a disc player and a computer.

Designers of music servers are now combining these functions in a single source component that can handle both file- and disc-based digital music. In 2012, I reviewed a music server from Autonomic Controls and was less than impressed, especially at the price. In fact, I remained unconvinced of the usefulness of the product category. The competition, or more accurately the baseline of comparison, is not simply other audio components of the category, but a computer. To replace a computer, a music server must be able to play all relevant formats, quickly, and get out of the way, and do all of this more elegantly than a computer. And the sound quality needs to be more than an afterthought.

Over the past few years, Korea’s Novatron has released four music servers under the brand name Cocktail Audio: the X10, X12, X30, and X40. They share a core of features, particularly those related to ripping and organizing music, along with an interface for playback, a headphone output, lines in and out, Ethernet connectivity, and USB host ports. However, the feature sets vary with the price.

The X10, starting at $580 USD (with 2TB hard drive), is a compact component measuring 7”W x 3.9”H x 5.9”D with a 3.5” screen, a CD drive, a ripper, a music database, a hard-drive caddy, USB and network playback, and Internet Radio based on Reciva’s system. It also has an optical output capped at 24-bit/96kHz, a headphone amp, and a power-amp with speaker spring clamps that outputs 30Wpc into 8 ohms.

The X12 ($699), the same size as the X10, upgrades that model’s spring-clamps to binding posts, bumps the screen size to 4.3”, replaces a fan with passive cooling, and can pass 24/192 PCM from its optical or coaxial outputs, or decode it with its Cirrus Logic CS4351 DAC.

The X30 ($1695), a full-size audio component at 17”W x 3.9”H x 12.7”D, received much praise at its launch. It has a 5” screen, the ubiquitous Burr-Brown PCM1792A DAC, an FM tuner, optical and coaxial inputs, the addition of an AES/EBU digital output, HDMI output for its graphical user interface (GUI), and an increase in amplification to 50Wpc.

New in 2014, the X40 ($2695), which is the same size as the X30, is marketed as a true audiophile component that can play DSD64/128/256/DXD and PCM up to 32/384, and that boasts a Sabre ES9018K2M DAC, a moving-magnet phono stage, and balanced analog outputs on XLR connectors. In contrast to its less-expensive siblings, the X40 has no built-in amplification.

My review sample of the X40 arrived in a cloth bag and double-boxed. Included were a remote control, a power cord, an FM antenna lead, and a data disc containing a copy of FreeDB, software for tagging the contents of CDs ripped when offline. (When connected to the Internet, the X40 will directly consult the online version of FreeDB.) What I first noticed as I set up the X40 was how nice it looked -- its 12mm-thick faceplate of brushed aluminum exuded quality. Also on the front are a slot-loading CD-ROM drive, a headphone jack, a USB Type A port, a 3.5mm Auxiliary input, an On/Standby button, and buttons for menu navigation: Input, Return, Stop, Menu. At either end of the front panel is a 1.5”-wide knob: Mute/Volume on the left, and OK/Pause/Scroll on the right; the knobs turn smoothly, with detents. To the right of the disc slot is the 5” LCD screen, with a resolution of 800x480 pixels.

On the rear panel are the phono ground, the power-supply switch, and the grounded IEC connector. The power supply is rated for 80W, similar to what one finds in small-form-factor computers. The balanced (XLR) and unbalanced (RCA) analog audio outputs are widely spaced -- I had to peel back the molding of my unbalanced interconnects to separate the ends. The digital outs comprise TosLink, coaxial, and AES/EBU (XLR). There are TosLink and coaxial digital inputs, a moving-magnet phono input, and an analog line in. All RCA connectors and XLR pins are gold plated. The FM antenna connector is of the push-in rather than screw-in type, so I had to adapt the screw-terminal lead of my Fanfare antenna. An HDMI video output is provided, but this is for only a larger screen display; it does not pass along audio signals. The X40’s GUI can be displayed on its front panel or on an external TV, not on both simultaneously. Unfortunately, every time I tried to toggle to display on my television, the X40 froze -- or so I thought. It turned out that the X40 was just very slow: 46 seconds to switch to sending a 720p signal via HDMI, and 62 seconds to switch back. For most of my listening, I used the front-panel display.

The X40 connects to a network via a gigabit Ethernet port or optional Wi-Fi USB adapter; I plugged the Ethernet into a nearby 100-megabit switch, which proved fast enough for playback from my Synology networked-attached storage (NAS), but I swapped in a gigabit switch for transfers of larger clumps of data (e.g., entire albums). The X40 can serve as an UPnP media server and renderer. I was able to access and mount as read-only the X40’s Music Database share, which contains the music files, by simply accessing the Uniform Naming Convention (UNC) \\X40 in Windows. As it is read-only, a way to load music (such as eClassical downloads) is to mount the X40’s My Recordings folder (which is writable) and copy the music there. The X40’s Import function copies from storage to the Music Database. In my setup, I download to my PC’s hard drive and run Microsoft’s SyncToy to push new music files to a “music” share on my NAS. I also have this action set to run weekly in Windows Task Scheduler. (In Linux, one can similarly set up rsync and crontab.) I then pushed files to the X40 from my NAS and imported them to the Music Database for playback. It’s a roundabout procedure, but it worked.

The rear panel has two USB Type A host ports and a hard-drive caddy for connecting storage. The caddy supports 3.5", 2.5", and SSD drives with SATA data and power connectors, much as in a laptop computer. The X40’s bottom plate is vented; it has no fans. The only noise is the occasional sound of the hard drive seeking from the Seagate SATA 400GB DB35.3, which StorageReview.com has rated in the middle of the range for idle noise, at around 40dB. While I could hear the X40’s hard drive from across the room -- it added 2dB to my room’s level of noise, as measured at my listening chair with Smart Tools’ Sound Meter for Android -- the noise was not distracting when playing back music.

The X40’s innards consist of a MIPS 700MHz processor, LG Super Multi DVD Writer GA50 (slot loading), a variety of custom PC boards, and a toroidal power supply that would be more at home in an audio component than a computer. All in all, Cocktail Audio’s X40 is a well-put-together component that offers the user plenty of flexibility in use.

The X40 is a complex device, but I got started with it without too much trouble. I began by plugging in its power cord and Ethernet cable, and connecting its unbalanced analog output to my NAD C 356BEE integrated amp. Eventually, more for testing than for daily use, I added connections for digital in/out and my turntable. As delivered, the X40 could serve as one’s sole digital source, with the caveat that it can’t support high-resolution discs, such as DVD-Audio or the DSD layers of SACDs. Unlike with some solutions, you don’t have to connect the X40 to an external display or control it with a mobile device or PC. In fact, the X40 could be used in a computer-free household -- just add amp and speakers.

The boot-up process took about a minute, during which the X40 displays an image of a martini glass, as a reminder that it’s made by Cocktail Audio. Given that this boot time is much longer than that of any of my recent computers, I tested how much power the X40 would use if I left it on at all times, and whether leaving it in Standby or Sleep would shorten the startup time. According to a Kill-a-Watt, the X40 used no power in Standby or Sleep but between 14 and 20W when on, depending on whether the disc drive was active. Startup from Sleep still took a minute. Given its thirst for juice, I decided that I could wait a minute for the X40 to boot.

When the X40 is ready, its screen displays icons for Setup, Music DB, Playlist, i-Service, CD Play/Rip (grayed out if no disc is inserted), FM Radio, Browser, and Input. i-Service accesses the three Internet streaming services -- Reciva, Simfy, and Qobuz -- while Input switches among the digital inputs, phono in, and analog line in. As measured with Audacity’s Contrast routine, the built-in phono stage has a relatively high noise floor. I wanted to compare the X40’s built-in phono stage to my Cambridge Audio Azur 540P phono preamplifier, but when I connected the Azur to the X40’s analog line input, I heard nothing. Connecting a CD player, SACD player, or tuner also produced no sound -- clearly, the analog line input was not working. Browser accesses the Recordings folder on the X40’s internal hard drive (i.e., recordings made from FM radio and the various inputs, not ripped music), connected USB devices, network shares, and UPnP servers. My Synology DS211j NAS had both Samba and DLNA servers running, but the X40 was able to connect only to the DLNA; I was able to connect to the Samba server via Android, ChromeOS, Linux, and Windows devices.

To load the Music DB, I inserted Anat Cohen’s Notes from the Village (CD, Anzic ANZ-1302) and was presented with a list of the disc’s tracks. At that point one can play the album or, by pressing Menu, rip it to Music DB. I’d previously, in the Setup menu, set the X40’s default ripping format to FLAC; other choices are WAV, MP3, OGG, and ALAC. The X40 took 9:29 to rip and compress the CD -- much slower than the 2:21 it took Exact Audio Copy to rip and compress to FLAC on my computer. Nonetheless, ripping on the X40 is very simple and straightforward. Music can also be imported from the internal hard drive (such as recordings from the FM tuner or turntable), USB (flash drive, or self- or bus-powered hard drive), or CD-ROM. Importing from a UPnP source is not supported. I was able to import a FLAC rip of Patricia Kaas’s Tour de Charme (16/44.1 FLAC, Sony) from a bus-powered USB hard drive in just under two minutes. Importing across the network would be a very useful feature to include in a software update. As it is, one would need to copy files to \\X40\LocalStorages\hdd1\My Recording, then import them to the X40’s local hard drive. Having the X40 suck files in from a NAS would be more convenient.

Backup, too, was slow. I did a full backup of the 187GB stored on the X40’s internal hard drive to a USB hard drive using the Cocktail’s backup utility, and it took 28 hours, 39 minutes (the front panel includes a timer) -- a rate of 1.81MB/s when USB 2.0 can, in theory, transfer at 60MB/s. I popped out the X40’s internal drive and connected it to my Windows computer using the same Vantec USB 2.0 drive adapter, and transferred data at 24MB/s; hooking up a SATA cable would be even faster. Fortunately, the X40 uses a standard file system that both Windows and Linux can read, and lists files by album and track title. I recommend performing backups using a computer. One could even map the X40’s Music DB share to a drive letter and schedule a backup task -- in Windows, I like SyncToy for this -- to copy over the network. Still, over a 100mbps network, it was relatively slow at 4.8MB/s.

The X40 offers several ways to browse music that have been loaded into the database. While falling short of the multiplicity of choices SoundStage!’s Vade Forrester enjoyed with the Digibit Aria, what the X40 provides will meet most users’ needs. The eight browse options for the music database, called Display Modes, are selectable in Setup: Track Title, Album, Artist/Track, Artist/Album, Genre/Track, Genre/Album, Composer/Track, Composer/Album. The Composer option -- not found in all such products -- is especially helpful for browsing recordings of classical music. Of course, the organization is only as good as the metadata, which relies on FreeDB and manual changes made by the user. These edits to the tags -- title, artist, album, composer, year, genre -- can easily be made on the X40 itself by connecting a USB keyboard.

One problem I’ve always had with music servers is their scalability: It’s easy to manage a few albums, but how well does a server deal with hundreds? By offering a variety of browsing mechanisms, the X40 scales fairly well, showing eight items per screen and scrolling fluidly -- but there’s no way around the fact that large collections will require a lot of scrolling. For such collections, controlling from an iOS, Android, or Web app is a good choice. Cocktail recommends PlugPlayer for iOS, and PlugPlayer or BubbleUPnP for Android. The X40’s built-in Web server provides a Web-based interface with the media library. Then the user can browse, search, and filter the list by Track Title, Artist, Album, and Genre -- and, surprisingly, by Track Number, Year, Time (duration), and Bitrate. Cocktail Audio, if you’re reading this: Composer, format, and sample-rate fields would also be useful. When a track has been found, a menu button brings up several options, including start play, add to queue, add to a playlist, edit tags, and trigger filters, to find tracks that match the selected track’s artist, album, genre, or composer. I often built a queue or playlist from my Chromebook, then switched to the X40’s infrared remote to control playback.

The X40 is a new product, but with the X30 Cocktail has established a good track record for issuing firmware updates, with three releases in the last year for fixes and enhancements. This is essential -- a product with so many features is bound to have problems that need to be addressed. If you’ve ever spent any time reviewing the changelog notes in firmware, OS, or software updates, among the most common are “stability improvements” -- boring but essential. While the X40 was rock solid during playback, there were several scenarios in which it would freeze, mainly while I was navigating the menu and/or switching out of playback.

For example, after playing a 16/44.1 FLAC album for half an hour from my NAS, connected by Ethernet over a 100Mbps network, I pressed Stop on the X40’s remote to switch to another album. The X40 promptly froze, and its screen blanked out to a dull gray -- but the playback did stop. Other buttons, of Cancel, Back, and Power, had no impact, whether pressed on the remote or on the front panel. After several minutes of waiting, the only escape was to turn off the X40 using its rear-panel power switch, which can’t be good for the internal hard drive. I experienced the same problem when stopping Internet Radio playback, though sometimes it was merely slow -- it took ten seconds to halt music playback from Naim Records’ Internet station. Controlling playback off of the local hard drive was always responsive.

Using the Cocktail X40’s digital output, I was able to compare its Sabre ES9018K2M DAC with the Cirrus Logic CS4398 DAC in my integrated amp. This was my first experience with the Sabre chip, but I’d been impressed with Sabre’s ES9023, used in the Resonessence Concero DAC. The X40’s digital output can be set to resample signals of any resolution up to 192kHz or pass it along. I selected pass-through, which includes DSD -- which, like many DACs, my amp’s DAC doesn’t support. Another useful option would be to distinguish PCM from DSD: “Pass-through PCM and convert DSD to 192kHz PCM.” My Sony BDP-S590 BD player uses a similar logic. When I listened to the Quartetto Italiano’s recording of Schubert’s last four string quartets (16/44.1 FLAC, Philips), the X40 offered greater clarity and a sense of a third dimension to the soundstage. Although there was less punch in the forte passages, there was greater control and separation. Switching to the digital output stripped the far left and right extensions from the soundstage. The tonalities of the violins, viola, and cello also became less distinct. Only when I switched back to the Cocktail’s Sabre was I able to be sure that the Quartetto Italiano was using mutes in these performances. Each step higher in Cocktail’s product line provides a better DAC, and part of what one pays for with the X40 is its quality of digital-to-analog conversion. And remember, it was listening through the X40’s unbalanced outputs that so pleased me. The X40 also provides balanced outputs, for those with amps that can accommodate it.

With hi-rez recordings, such as guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli’s Swing Live (24/96 FLAC, Chesky), the X40 presented a precise image of an ensemble arrayed across a live stage. Peter Appleyard’s vibraphone resonated musically in “Lester Leaps In,” with a natural rate of decay following each stroke. Throughout the album, the solos were handed off fluidly. The X40 exuded clarity, detail, and precision, all while maintaining a tone that was neither too bright nor too warm. This was particularly evident with clarinetist Allen Vanche’s stratosphere-scraping solos and the well-controlled patterns of Bernard Purdie’s tom-toms. Throughout, this recording was rendered in an engaging manner; the advantages of hi-rez recordings were unmistakable.

Listening to Tor Espen Aspaas’s recording of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No.32, Op.111 (DFF/DSD64, 2L), and using the X40’s built-in DAC in both cases, level matched on my easy-to-drive Grado SR80 headphones, the X40’s headphone output, while quite powerful, was less crisp and well defined than the headphone amp built into my NAD integrated amp. Each keystroke had a bit of haze and sounded less lifelike, particularly in the midrange, which sounded plasticky; and in the low range, the X40 boomed. The NAD delivered somewhat more dynamic range -- the X40 was never able to get down to “dead quiet.” At the end of each track or album or playlist, an annoying click was audible through headphones directly connected to the X40, though I never heard this through speakers or an external headphone amp. While the X40’s headphone amp is serviceable, the X40 should be paired with an external headphone amp.

Despite the few problems described above, I was, on the whole, very impressed with the Cocktail Audio X40. This was the first music server I’d encountered that convinced me of the usefulness of this product category. In the X40, Cocktail has paired the ease of use of an audio component with the scalability of a computer. The X40’s GUI and display work well for pulling together collections of files from various sources -- rips and downloads, local or on the network -- and it can play directly from a CD, FM radio, or a connected turntable. I’ve never seriously considered ripping all my CDs -- it would be a big project -- but with the advantages in organization of the X40’s Music DB, I’d likely do so if I owned one. In the X40, one gets a ripper, a server, a renderer, a tuner of both Internet and FM radio, and an excellent DAC, all tied together with a well-thought-out user interface. What’s not to like about that?

Speakers -- Wharfedale Diamond 8.2, PowerCube 10 subwoofer
Headphones -- Grado SR80
Analog sources -- Goldring GR1 turntable, Rega Research RB100 tonearm, Goldring Elektra cartridge; Cambridge Audio Azur 540P phono preamplifier; Sangean HDT-1 tuner
Digital sources -- Music Hall MMF CD-25 CD player; Pioneer DV-563A DVD/SACD/CD player; Sony BDP-S590 BD player; Roku XDS; Intel H61 desktop (2.6GHz, 8GB RAM, Crucial SSD) running Windows 8.1 Professional (64-bit), foobar2000, with Realtek ALC887 DAC/optical output (WASAPI/ALSA drivers); Synology DS211j SMB/DLNA server
Amplifier -- NAD C 356BEE with MDC DAC2
Antenna -- Fanfare FM-2G
Television -- Panasonic TC-P50S30
Remotes -- Logitech Harmony Smart Control; Samsung Galaxy Player 5 (Android 2.3); Asus Nexus 7 (Android 5)
Power conditioner -- APC Line-R LE1200

Cocktail Audio X40 Music Server

Warranty: Two years parts and labor.

Novatron Co., Ltd.

Room 1607, 13 Heungdeok 1-ro, Giheung-gu, Yongin-si

Phone: +82 31-898-8401

Fax: +82 31-898-8413

Audio Plus Services

156 Lawrence Paquette Industrial Drive

Champlain, NY 12919

Phone: (800) 663-9352, (450) 585-0098

Fax: (866) 656-0686

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Cocktail Audio X50 User Manual

Related Manuals for Cocktail Audio X50

Summary of Contents for Cocktail Audio X50

Page 2: Table Of Contents

Page 3: Table Of Contents

Page 4: Table Of Contents

Page 5: Table Of Contents

Page 6: Table Of Contents

Page 7: Important Safety Instructions

exposure less than a minute. The higher decibel ranges are offered for those that may be experiencing some hearing loss. Over time your hearing ‘comfort level’ adapts to higher volumes of sound, so after prolonged listening, what sounds ‘normal’ can actually be loud and harmful to your hearing.

Page 9: Product Overview

1. Product overview 1-1. Front View ① Volume/Mute Knob ⑨ OK/PAUSE/SCROLL knob ② Power/Standby button ⑩ DAB+/FM button ③ Power/Standby Indicator ⑪ RETURN button ④ USB Host port ⑫ STOP button ⑤ Remote control receiver ⑬ MENU button ⑥ CE Eject button ⑦.

1-3. View of Remote Controller and each key’s function POWER: Power ON/OFF i-SERVICE: Go to i-Service screen DAB: Go to DAB+ screen HOME: Go to home screen SEARCH: To pop up search menu Alphanumeric: Enter number & alphabet/ Seek at Playing Screen mode .

Page 11: Prepare

2. Prepare 2-1. Check the contents of X50 package ⑥ FM Radio Antenna ① X50 unit ⑦ DAB Antenna ② Remote controller + AAA batteries x 2EA ⑥ Screw to install storage ③ Power cord ④ Manual ⑤ FreeDB Data CD <NOTICE>.

Page 12: X50 Purchased Without Storage

2-4. X50 purchased without storage. You need a 3.5” or 2.5” SATA hard disk or SSD, and install it into the X50 like below picture and format it. For formatting of the installed storage into X50, please refer to the 4-7-7. Format Storage (Page 40) 2-4-1.

Page 13: How To Connect For Non-raid System

Storage #2 Storage #1 2-6-1 How to connect for non-RAID system <NOTICE> non-RAID system is default: All X50 units will be shipped with non-RAID system 1) How to connect each cable -. Cable to Storage #1 to Connector #3 -. Cable to Storage #2 to Connector #2 -.

Page 14: How To Connect For Raid System

After switch setting, you need to activate RAID according to the below procedures ① Set RAID mode as you want ② Make X50 Power Switch at rear ON ③ Power X50 ON with RAID Switch pressed. ④ Keep RAID Switch pressed until.

Page 15: Explanation For Each Mode Of Raid

RAID Switch Blinking LED 2-6-2-3 Explanation for each mode of RAID 1) BIG mode: -. Need to install two storages to work properly -. Two HDDs will be concatenated and presented as a single disk -. For example, if install 500GB HDD and 250GB HDD, it will recognize as 750GB single disk. 2) RAID-1 mode(Mirror): -.

Page 16: Turn On And Start

3-2. Turn ON for normal use Switch the unit on at the rear of the X50. The power LED will be ON with green color. Power it on using the remote control or the power button on the front of the X50. The power LED color will be changed to blue and start booting –.

Page 17: Setup

4. SETUP Go into SETUP menu with remote controller. You can select each item with the arrow key and confirm it with the OK button. 4-1. Music DB Select the Display Mode and confirm with the OK button. 4-1-1. Display Mode You may set one of ten(10) options, see below.

Page 18: Track Numbering

‘Rename, Delete, Copy to DB, or CD ripping’ etc. If there are errors in the Music DB, the X50 may not play the files properly or may not rip CDs properly. The Music DB Recovery function will help to clear these problems.

Page 19: How To Run Music Db Recovery Function

4-1-5-3. To create ‘Recovery MM-DD hh-mm’ folder automatically on HDD (or USB) During Music DB Recovery run, the X50 creates a ‘Recovery MM-DD hh-mm’ folder automatically on the internal HDD (or USB). The checked files or album folders will be stored (moved) there.

Page 20: Importing Files From The 'recovery' Folder To The Music Db Again

4-1-6. Backup 4-1-6-1 How to do Backup X50 offers two backup methods. One is 'Background backup', the other is 'Interactive backup'. ※ Background backup: You can do other works like playing even in backup processing. ※ Interactive backup: You can't do anything in backup processing.

※You need an external USB hard disk drive which has a bigger capacity than the Music DB. ① Go to SETUP > MusicDB > Backup ② Confirm 'Backup' with OK key ③ Dialog window will show up like left picture. "Do you want to backup by Background Mode? ④.

Page 22: How To Check Backup Progress And Result

4-1-6-2 How to check backup progress and result ※ While backup in progress ① Go to SETUP > MusicDB > Backup ② Place the cursor on the 'backup' ③ Press MENU key ④ You can choose 'State of Progress' or 'Backup Result' ※.

Page 23: Restore

4-1-7. Restore You can restore the backup data in the Music DB of the X50. ① Connect the backup device to the USB host port of the X50. ② Go to the Music DB of SETUP and select Restore, and confirm it with the OK button.

Page 24: Audio Format (audio Rip Format)

【 TIP ① 】 The time required to rip a CD to MP3 format based on each quality level option is shown below. Option of quality level Normal playing time Required time to convert to MP3 Excellent X 1.5 (150%) The time required to Best X 1.08 (108%)

Page 25: Freedb Install

4-2-4. FreeDB Install You can install the FreeDB data to the storage of the X50 as a FreeDB data (DVD) is supplied by the manufacturer. Once you install the FreeDB data to the X50 the inserted CD information (metadata like title, album name, artist, etc) will be displayed on the X50 screen without network connection.

Page 26: Usb/hdmi Audio Out

[ Cover & List ] [ Music info ] [ List Only ] 4-3-2. USB/HDMI Audio Out When USB DAC or HDMI audio device is connected to X50 USB Audio Out, the connected devices will be listed here. You may select it here.

Page 27: Dsd Native

4-3-3. DSD Native in ON mode, X50 will send out DSD native signal when playing DSD file. in OFF mode, X50 will convert DSD signal to PCM by software. ※ Default: ON 4-3-4. Digital Out Volume ※ Variable: You can control volume for Digital Out with ※.

Page 28: Dsd Via IВІs Out

In OFF mode, X50 will convert DSD signal to PCM by hardware 4-3-8. Gapless Play The X50 supports gapless playback function for MP3 files, WAV, FLAC and DSD files only. ※ Default: ON 【 TIP 】 LAME-encoded MP3 files only supported ※.

Page 29: Network

4-4. Network ※ Make sure your Ethernet cable or a USB WiFi dongle is connected. Select Network and press the OK button. ① Select Network and confirm with the OK button. ② Select Wired Setup or Wireless Setup and confirm it with OK button.

Page 30: Wireless Setup

4-4-2. Wireless Setup. The X50 offers two kinds of method for wireless network connection 4-4-2-1 Open SSID ① Select ‘Wireless Setup’ and confirm with OK key. ② Select ‘Scan Ap List’. All AP available will be listed up. ③ Select proper AP and confirm with OK key.

Page 31: Wifi Repeater Roaming Function

※ Default: OFF <NOTICE> In case that Wake ON LAN is set as ON, X50 Power LED on the front will stay as Blue even though you power it off by remote control or front power button. 4-5. Network Service Select Network Service and confirm with the OK key.

Page 32: Samba Server

4-5-1 Samba Server If you would like to see the folders on the X50 hard disk through your network connected PC you can set up the following: ① Select Samba Server and confirm with the OK key. Set Samba Server as ON, see below ※.

1) How to add ‘shared folder’ ① Go to Browser and click 'NET' when network is enabled ② Click 'Add share' and the below screen shows up ③ Click the Server (Workgroup＼Server), then you may get workgroup and server as below. ※.

Page 34: Web Server

4-5-3 Web Server With the Web Server function of the X50, you can enjoy the following functions: Add album cover art to all albums stored (ripped) in the X50 Music DB through Internet.  Edit ID3-tag information of each song .

Page 35: How To Start Webinterface

4-5-3-2. How to start WebInterface The X50 WebInterface is available in two formats; one for PC (tablet PC also), the other is for smart phones. ① You can get the IP address of your X50 from SETUP. (SETUP / Network / Network Info) ②.

Page 36: Upnp Server

<NOTICE> Please click the items marked with quadrangle. Then, you may see various functions 4-5-4 UPnP Server If you have a device (like a PC) which supports UPnP client protocol, you can play music stored in the X50 Music DB through the UPnP device. Default setting for UPnP Server is ON, see below.

Page 37: Ftp Server

OFF if needed ※Default: ON 4-6. Internet Service X50 integrated Online Music Services into its software. So, you can play Qobuz, TIDAL, Deezer with X50 directly if you subscribe for those service and put their user name and password here properly.

Page 38: System

【 TIP 】 For detailed explanation of Auto Play function, refer to 18-13 Auto Play (Page 85) 4-7-3. Resume Play When you boot up the X50, it will automatically resume playing the music in the Music DB, Browser or i-Radio from where it was last stopped.

Page 39: Play In Browser

4-7-6. HDD Sleep You can make X50 HDD go to sleep mode by this setting. There are five (5) options like OFF, 10 Min, 20 Min, 30 Min and 1 Hour. During the selected time, if no access to HDD, the HDD goes into sleep mode.

Page 40: Format Storage

USB storage, you can try this function to remove some error in file system of storages. Select File System Fix and confirm with the OK key. 【 Caution 】 We recommend you NOT to run this function if the file system of the X50 hard disk has no problems.

Page 41: Alarm

Alarm is set as ‘after 2 days from now’. 4-7-11. Auto Shutdown The X50 will be powered off automatically at the assigned time and date. ① Go to SETUP and select System. ② Select Auto Shutdown and confirm with the OK key.

Page 42: Scroll Speed

④ You can set the time on the X50 ⑤ Once the time is set move cursor onto the OK icon and confirm with the OK key. ※ NOTE: Use the arrow key (UP/Down) to change the values. Use the arrow key (left/right) to move the cursor.

Page 43: Time

① Select Time Set (Internet) and confirm it with the OK button. All the time options will be displayed as below. 【 TIP 】 Make sure that the X50 is connected to network (internet) before you try time setting by.

Page 44: Time Set (manually)

② Input your time manually and select OK to confirm it with OK button. 4-9. Firmware You can check the current firmware version of your X50 and install the updated new firmware. Select Firmware and confirm with the OK key. 4-9-1. Current Version You can check the current firmware version as shown below.

Page 45: Update Automatically (automatic Firmware Update By Network)

Select OK and confirm with the OK button. The X50 will reboot automatically to update the X50. 4-9-3. Update automatically (Automatic Firmware Update by network) The X50 will automatically update the firmware through the network. If you don’t wish this done automatically you can change the setting to OFF, see left.

Page 46: Check Now For New Firmware

CD metadata server provided by the company with which we contracted for that service. 6. CD Loading (Ripping) All music that you load (rip) onto the X50 will be stored in hidden folder (the name of the folder is .DB), that cannot be seen.

Page 47: Ripping All

④ Select one of five (6) options (WAV, ALAC, AIFF, MP3, OGG, FLAC) and press OK button. Then, the below screen is displayed. The X50 retrieves each information (title, artist, etc) from the CD metadata server ⑥ Move the cursor onto the CD icon like below.

Page 48: Ripping Track

⑩ Select one album art for your CD and confirm it with the OK key. ⑪ The selected art will be downloaded. ⑫ You will be prompted OK/Other/Cancel. ⑬ Select OK to confirm. The confirmed art will be placed onto the CD icon.

From here, next procedures are same as the ‘Ripping All’ 【 TIP ③ 】 When a CD is inserted into the optical drive, the X50 loads (rips) the CD to a WAV format first, even if the MP3 option was chosen. The X50 then converts the WAV file into MP3 format afterwards in the background.

⑩ After entering the info, select OK and confirm it by pressing the OK button. ※ NOTE : You can edit tag information for loaded CDs in Music DB of the X50 easily through WebInterface.

※ NOTE: If you wish to check the information and the status of the conversion process for the whole of the Music DB of the X50, go to the home screen. Place the cursor on the Music DB icon and Press the INFO key.

Page 52: How To Use The Music Db(database)

You can see the loaded music format is still WAV not MP3. To rip CD within short time, once X50 will rip CD into WAV format first, and then, as background job, it will convert WAV format into the format you selected. Converting lead-time will be almost same as actual playing time.

【 TIP ② 】Pressing the INFO key will change the screen as follows; [ Playing Screen ] [ INFO Screen ] [ Title List Screen ] 【 TIP ③ 】 On the album list screen, press the MENU button on the remote control, to show other categories such as artist/track list, artist/album list, genre/track list, genre/album list or titles, see below 【.

Page 54: Search Function

7-3. How to manage Music DB The X50 allows you to manage the Music DB. You can delete or rename albums, artists and genre. You can export music from other storage devices (USB memory sticks or other hard disks) to Music DB folder.

Page 55: Cover Art

④ Select Delete or Rename and confirm with the OK button. ⑤ Select OK and confirm with the OK button. 【 TIP ⑥ 】 You can also run this function for the artist list and the genre list by using the same procedure. 7-3-2.

Page 56: How To Export Music From The Music Db To Other Storage Devices

③ You can edit Album name(60 Jahre Bravo Hits - 01) to target one(60 Jahre Bravo Hits) including other items. ※ If you press OK key when the cursor is in album name, the 'Album Help" screen will show up. You can select target album here ④.

Page 57: Creating .m3u And .pls Files When Exporting

7-3-5. Creating .M3U and .PLS files when exporting When you run 'Export Song' function, X50 will create .M3U file and .PLS file also in the target folder. For playlist icon on the home screen, you can export it to outside like USB.

Page 58: History Function

7-3-6. History function You can list a maximum of 10 recently played songs from the Music DB using this function. ① Go into the Music DB ② Press the MENU key ③ Select ‘History’ and confirm with the OK key, as shown in the screen shot on the left.

Page 59: Editing The Tag Information Of The Music In The Music Db

③ Using the remote control or USB keyboard you can edit the information. ④ Select OK and confirm with the OK button. 【 TIP 】 You can edit loaded CDs in the Music DB of the X50 easily using the WebInterface. Please refer to the X50 – WebInterface User Guide.

Page 60: Data Cd Direct Play

9-3. In the case that you have installed the FreeDB data onto the storage of the X50 If you installed the FreeDB data onto the storage of the X50, it will work just like the X50 is connected to a network (Internet). The X50 displays the CD information from the FreeDB data installed on the storage.

Page 61: Playlist

【 TIP 】 If you wish, you can import the music on the CD to the Music DB of X50. Press the MENU button on the remote control when on the music list and select Import to DB and confirm with the OK button.

④ Enter a playlist name and select OK. Confirm the selection with the OK button. The album list is then displayed in the Music DB, as shown below. 【 TIP ② 】 You can add music to a playlist by track or by album. ⑤.

Page 63: Shortcut To Add Song(s) In Musicdb To Existing Playlist

[ Playing Screen ] ① Press the PLAYLIST key whilst in ‘Playing Screen’ mode as shown above. ② Select the playlist you would like to add the song to. ③ Confirm with the OK key and the song will be stored in the selected playlist. 11-1-3.

Page 64: How To Change Song Position In A Playlist

11-1-5. How to change song position in a Playlist ① In a Playlist, select a song or songs with RIGHT arrow key. ② Move the cursor with UP/DOWN arrow key to the place where you want to move the selected song/songs.

Page 65: Advanced My Playlist (virtual Playlist)

Server/Client, you can enjoy various Music Streaming functions with the X50. 12-1. UPnP Server/Client and Samba Server/Client function You can use the X50 together with various kinds of devices that support UPnP Server/Client or Samba Server/Client. If the devices are connected to the X50 through the same network, you can.

Page 66: Multiple X50's On The Same Network

Place the X50 with the storage (music server) in your living room. A second X50 (without storage) is placed in room #1 or room #2. You can then play files from the X50 (music server) on the X50s without storage, see schematic below.

Page 67: I вЂ“ Service

13-1. Internet Radio 13-1-1. How to play the Internet Radio. You can enjoy many internet radio stations. The X50 Internet radio is based on the Airable server. It provides many stations by genre, by country, etc. 【 TIP 】 When the i-Service icon is highlighted the X50 is successfully connected to the network.

Page 68: Recording From The Internet Radio

※ NOTE 1: We recommend NOT to record continuously for over three (3) hours. ※ NOTE 2: Space required for recording in MP3 format: 1 hour(54MB)/2 hours(108MB)/3 hours(162MB) ※ NOTE 3: X50 will record i-Radio by the formats like MP3, AAC or ASF according to the station’s streaming format.

Page 69: How To Record

[ Playing ] 13-1-4-2. Where is the recorded file stored ? The X50 creates a [IRadio Recording] folder on the hard disk automatically when recording has started. All recorded files are stored in the IRadio Recording folder, see below. 13-1-4-3. The recorded file name structure The station will show the music title, see below, the recorded file name will be the music title.

Page 70: How To Edit The Recorded File

13-1-4-4. How to edit the recorded file You can edit the recorded file easily with the file management function. Place the cursor on the recorded file and press the MENU button to run the following functions: [ TAG Edit ] [ Import to DB ] [ Copy File ] [ Move file ].

Page 71: How Does The Reservation Recording Start

3 M ) X50 will start booting up automatically at 3:57PM (3 minutes before set time 4:00PM)  X50 will start playing the station at 3:59PM (1 minute before set time 4:00PM). Volume is  set as ‘Mute’ automatically.

Page 72: Fm Radio

※ NOTE: Make sure to install the FM Radio antenna properly first. ① Select FM Radio icon to start FM Radio ② X50 will seek all stations available ③ Select one station and confirm it with OK key. ④ It will start playing as below.

Page 73: How To Record Fm Radio

15-1. How to play DAB+ ① Select DAB icon to start ② X50 will seek all stations available like below screen <NOTICE> DAB signal is affected very much and easily by neighboring obstacle like wall. So, you need to remove surrounding obstacle to receive DAB signal better.

Page 74: How To Record Dab

PCM, PLS, M3U, etc. ① Insert the data CD into the X50. ② Select the Browser icon and confirm with the OK button. You will see the data CD. Select the music you would like and play using the OK button.

Page 75: File Management

17-2. File Management function 17-2-1. Accessing information on the HDD, USB, folder or file. Place the cursor on each drive and press the INFO key. The information is displayed as shown below. To check the information folder, place the cursor on the folder and press the INFO key. To check the information on a file, place the cursor on the file and press the INFO key.

Page 76: Tag Edit

17-2-2. TAG Edit This function is only valid for files not for folders or disks. Place the cursor on the file you would like to edit and press the MENU key. Select Edit Tag and the edit screen is displayed, see below. 17-2-3.

Page 77: Copy Files

17-2-4. Copy Files You can copy files or folders by following the procedure below: ① Place the cursor on the file or folder you would like to copy ② Press the MENU key and select Copy Files. The screen below is then displayed. From here, refer to 7-3-4.

Page 78: Pls Or M3u Files With Internet Radio Stations

If you wish to play an individual internet radio station using the X50, you will need to create a PLS or M3U file and put the file(PLS or M3U) onto the storage or USB host of the X50. Once you have created the file you can play the station through the X50 Browser, see example below.

Page 79: Create Folder

③ Set 'Playing Section' as mentioned on the 7-3-8. Set ‘Playing Section’ to play it repeatedly (Page 58) ④ Press MENU key to show up POPUP ⑤ Select 'Cut to Wave file' and confirm it with OK key ⑥ Progress message ⑦.

Page 80: Extra Function

③ After setting, you may save and exit using any key 18-2. External Screen If you want to use an external screen like TV, monitor, etc as a bigger screen for X50, please connect external screen to X50 HDMI Out.

Page 81: Listing By Text Or Album Cover Art

18-4. Listing by Text or Album cover art You can list up all information (like album, title, genre, artist, etc) on the screen of X50 by text or album cover art. You can select one of text mode and album cover art mode easily using TEXT/ART button of remote control.

Page 82: Resume Play

⑤ Select Delete and confirm with the OK button. 18-7. Resume Play When you boot up the X50, it will automatically resume playing the music in the Music DB, Browser or i-Radio from where it was last stopped. Select Resume Play and confirm with the OK key.

Page 83: Changing The Play Mode

⑤ Repeat All: Play all music in an album or in a folder in sequence and repeatedly 18-10. Alarm set You can set six (6) alarm settings on the X50. ① Go to Alarm at SETUP, and confirm it with the OK key. The following screen will appear.

Page 84: Auto Shutdown

① Press the SLEEP button on any screen (except setup), the popup Sleep Off/Sleep 10Min/Sleep 20Min/Sleep 30Min/Sleep 1Hour/Sleep 2Hour/Sleep 3Hour is displayed. ② The X50 will be set as per the last popup NOTE: Sleep icon will show up after setting. ※ NOTE: ※.

Page 85: Auto Play

18-13. Auto Play When the power is ON, Auto Play function allows the X50 to boot up and start playing automatically the song in the Auto Play folder in the Playlist on the home screen. ① Navigate to the Playlist to Auto Play.

18-16. How to rip (convert) the edited file into other formats (MP3, FLAC or Ogg) and load onto the Music DB ※ NOTE: Before trying to convert the recorded file you should edit the recorded file first. ① Place the cursor on the edited file, and press the RIP button on the remote control.

19.Specification Model name Remarks CPU: Dual Core ARM Cortex A9 running at 1.0GHz Host CPU & Main Memory: DDR-1066 1GByte Memory NAND Flash 8GByte CD Player Type Front Loading Supported CD, CD-DA, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R/RW media Display 7.0" TFT LCD(1,024 x 600pixels)(* able to connect to ext. screen via HDMI out) Interface Key &.

Page 88: Troubleshooting

2-2. Check for interference from other IR sources 2-3. Reduce the distance between the remote control and the X50. 3. The X50 does not display the network-shared folder on your PC 3-1. Check the network connection status between the X50 and your PC 3-2.

6. The disc is skipping 6-1. Check for scratches or dirt. 6-2. Make sure that the X50 is on a firm surface and not subject to vibrations. 7. There is a hum coming from the speaker. Make sure that all cable connections are secure.

Cocktail audio x50

● DDR-1066 1GByte Main Memory and 8GByte Nand Flash Memory

● High speed internal data processing for backup, copy, etc

● RAID storage for up to 12TB storage expansion

● Hi-res 24bit/192Khz WAV, FLAC files are also supported

● Customized Remote Control App for iOS and Android

● HDMI Out Connector for an external screen as GUI screen

● DAB+/FM Tuner built-in

● Versatile software functionalities

● CD Ripping capability with CD metadata and album cover art

● 'Airplay' function will let you play music in iOS devices via X50.

● Soptifiy Connect is supported

streaming playback and control remotely via network

● I²S Out x 2 (HDMI, RJ45)

● 12V Trigger IN/OUT

● USB Audio Class 2.0 Output for connecting to USB DAC

● USB Host 3.0 x 2 at rear

● USB Host 2.0 x 1 at front

※ In countries where DAB is not available, the X50 DAB+ doesn't work.

including: iPhone, iPad and Android

smartphones and tablets with customized App, NOVATRON MusicX

You can record iRadio music also with high qualtity of audio via the X50's recording function

Connect to your TV to view bigger GUI or a slideshow of photos while listening to your tracks

3.5"/2.5" Hard Disk or SSD

If needed, you can set two storages with RAID system for mirroring mode or big mode.

Based on high performance hardware specification and advanced commercial version of file system, you can enjoy high speed backup performance. Also, you can do other works like file playing even in backup processing if you set 'Background backup' mode.

The X50 is based on whole CNC-cutting aluminum casing with 12mm front cover and 8mm chassis. And its die-cast aluminum feet including full aluminum chassis provide rigidity along with additional resistance from external vibrations.

Подробные сведения о Cocktail Audio X50 All-in-One HD Musikserver Ripper Streamer FM DAB+ XLR 2xHDD

Подробнее о программе «Лучший продавец» — открывается в новом окне или вкладке

Постоянно получает самые высокие оценки покупателей
Быстро отправляет товары
Заработал репутацию продавца, предоставляющего прекрасное обслуживание

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Cocktail Audio X30 review

The Cocktail Audio X30 is a great idea: a high-res streamer, server, CD player and digital amplifier all wrapped up in one box.

It can also stream songs from your smartphone or tablet, play internet and FM radio, and record tunes at the press of a button. Just add speakers.

Ripping CDs

Cocktail Audio X30

The first thing you’re going to do with the Cocktail Audio (after turning it on and admiring that bright blue cocktail logo on the display screen) is rip all your CDs.

The X30’s main aim is to store your CD collection in one place, and it does so seamlessly. Ripping a CD is fast and quiet (unlike on the smaller X10), plus you can listen to stored music while ripping.

You can also select individual tracks to rip, instead of the entire CD, rename tracks and create playlists. It's swift and easy to customise each album or track with the bulky but useful remote control at hand.

You’ll also need to be connected to the internet to get all the metadata on a CD, so make sure the X30 is always online.

It’s worth noting that you can’t play the CD itself while ripping it, and you can’t change tracks or start playing a track (if you aren’t already) when in the ripping status screen.

You can’t return to the menus, either, but you can at least change the volume. It’s an irritation, but you can solve the problem by having an album or playlist queued up when ripping CDs in bulk.

Cocktail Audio X30

Connect the X30 to your home network, via either wired ethernet or the supplied wireless dongle, and the X30 turns into a streaming machine.

If you already have music files stored on a NAS device you’re in luck. The X30 will stream from connected NAS devices (via the Browser folder), as well as from any other DLNA-compatible smartphone or tablet.

It sounds like a wonderfully versatile system (and it is), but it’s tricky to actually get streaming. There’s no dedicated app, so Cocktail Audio suggests a variety of generic third-party apps, none of which worked well enough for us.

It requires much patience and many false starts, and can be a frustrating experience.

We hope Cocktail Audio develops its own app, but in the meantime, we’re sticking with hard-wiring our smart devices to the unit’s 3.5mm input for convenience.

The network connection is also crucial for streaming the X30’s internet radio service, which offers a multitude of stations you can scroll through according to country or genre.

Sound quality takes a predictable dip in quality compared with ripped CD tracks, but it retains the same tonal characteristics.

Format support

Cocktail Audio X30

The Cocktail Audio X30 supports most popular audio formats, from compressed MP3s to high-resolution WAV and FLAC files up to 24-bit/192kHz. Other formats include AAC, Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WMA; DSD support is still pending.

Also, before you start ripping CDs, you can choose the type and quality of file you want them stored as, as well as the bitrate for the MP3s and also a ripping speed.

A rule of thumb, fast ripping speed equals lower-quality resolution. Since the X30 is pretty swift at ripping CDs no matter what the speed set, we’d always aim for the highest quality setting with WAV.

We wouldn’t compress files into MP3s, as not only does the audio quality suffer, but the X30’s storage options are large enough anyway to store hundreds of CDs.

From a 500GB to 2TB hard drive, or up to a 500GB solid-state drive, there’s a huge amount of storage on offer.

Our review sample’s 2TB hard drive can reportedly store around 2600 CDs, or 5200 FLAC files, or 20,000 MP3 files in 320k. That’s a lot.

More after the break

Recording feature and user interface

Cocktail Audio X30

One nifty feature of the X30 that’s rarely seen on other streamers or servers is the recording feature.

You can record from internet radio, your smartphone-stored tracks and even from your vinyl records to fully digitise your entire collection.

It records instantly at the press of a button on the remote, and is automatically saved in the Browser menu.

With all its features and options, the Cocktail Audio X30 could easily be the most convoluted and frustrating piece of equipment to operate.

But we were relieved and surprised to find that it is fairly straightforward – after a quick perusal of the manual, of course.

The menus and controls are responsive and easy to navigate, with only minor hiccups such as lag in operation.

We like the large 5in colour interface on the front panel. While it’s not as sophisticated as some, the display is nevertheless easy to read from a distance.

It’s not a particularly high-res screen (800 x 480 pixels) but the writing and artwork are displayed clearly.

The remote control is a big and bulky affair that has a button for nearly every feature of the X30. Instead of fiddling with the control knob and buttons on the front panel, the remote lets you rip CDs or record songs with a single button press.

It may look dated, but it gets the job done.

Cocktail Audio X30

The X30 houses a 50W per channel amplifier under its sturdy metal chassis, with a decent spread of digital and analogue connections.

The coaxial and digital connections (input and output) all support files up to 24-bit/192kHz, as does the AES/EBU output.

A pair of line-level outputs is available if you want to connect an existing amplifier to the streamer, while three USB ports (two at the back, one in front) are there for playing high-resolution files or for attaching the included wireless dongle.

Speaker terminals, line-level inputs, an FM radio tuner (the antenna is included), and an ethernet port can also be found on the back panel.

On the front panel, there’s a 3.5mm input for hard-wiring your smart device, and a 6.3mm headphone port.

Cocktail Audio X30

Now that all the features are dealt with, it’s time to tackle the Cocktail Audio X30’s most crucial function: sound.

And this is where its major flaw is exposed because, despite all its fancy features, the X30 isn’t really that interesting a listen.

There’s nothing unpleasant about the sound by any means – a decent amount of detail, punch and the ability to go loud is all on the cards here.

But there’s no real engagement beyond the surface detail; the X30 doesn’t seem able to dig out the subtleties of a song, and is content to deliver a superficial summary.

There’s impact and decent clarity, but the dynamics aren’t fluid, and the overall sound is rather one-dimensional.

Cocktail Audio X30

The Dead Weather’s intricately arranged 60 Feet Tall sounds flat and emotionless, with no build-up of tension in this brooding song. The X30 doesn’t time particularly well, either.

Eminem’s The Way I Am has a good amount of bite and attack, but we’d like a touch more precision and agility to get the full impact of that punchy rhythm.

High-res performance

High-res files have a touch more detail and openness to them. You can hear the rough edges of Lorde’s vocals on Royals (on a 24-bit/48kHz file), but there’s still a lack of dynamic subtlety to the track.

You’ll also need to turn up the volume quite high to get any real sense of punch and excitement.

If this review were based on the X30’s features set alone, then it would get a solid four stars.

Despite some operational hiccups, the sheer versatility of the X30 is impressive and clearly its biggest attraction.

Nothing else we’ve reviewed so far has come close to the combination of amp, streamer and server here offered by Cocktail Audio.

We’d be worried, though, about recommending this as your sole music system, as it simply doesn’t sound good enough. You’d be buying the X30 for its features, not for its sound quality

And for £1000, we could easily point you in the direction of far more exciting, involving and interesting hi-fi set ups.

Cocktail audio x50

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Cocktail Audio X50

The CocktailAudio X50 is a complete element of digital hifi. In terms of these devices, they've been consistently moving away from analog interfaces. Of course, the X50, like its siblings X30 and X40, is also capable of ripping and importing a wide variety of music formats. Since the evolution still won't come to a halt with Cocktail Audio, the X50 has been upgraded in some aspects from the X30 and X40. These are most notably the 7 inch display, 2 hard drive inserts, the aluminum lid and side panels, the faster processor and USB 3.0.

Database-supported music server
7 inch display
HDMI output to output the menu on an external screen
Support for 2x 3.5 inch and 2.5 inch hard drives and SSD
Dual Core Cortex A9 1 GHz ARM processor
FM + DAB + radio receiver
Multiple digital outputs
High-quality metal case with 12mm thickness, milled aluminum front + aluminum lid and side parts

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I had not heard of Cocktail Audio before beginning work on this review, but my initial research into its X10 system piqued my interest. Cocktail Audio appears to be a subsidiary of Novatron, a Korean audio component company. The X10 system I reviewed was equipped with an internal 2TB hard drive and retails at $580. An extra $80 doubles the capacity to four terabytes. For reference, a 2TB drive will hold about 2,600 CDs stored in the uncompressed WAV format and approximately 30,000 CDs when compressed to 128k MP3 files.

Cocktail Audio describes the X10 as a HiFi Component & Music Streamer. CD Audio, LLC, the United States distributor, states that the X10 is "The Next Generation in CD Ripping." Both descriptions are accurate but do not fully describe the X10's capabilities. The X10 is a network audio player that has a slot-loading compact disc drive, an internal hard drive, and a 30-watt-per-channel stereo amplifier. All you have to add is a pair of speakers (it is designed for eight-ohm speakers), and you've got a complete digital music system that can play CDs, as well as locally stored music and network-streamed music files and Internet radio. That's a lot of functionality provided by the X10 for its $580 price point.

The price is not the only thing that is small about the X10. The device is also diminutive in size, measuring roughly seven inches wide, six inches deep, and four inches high. A 3.5-inch color LCD screen below the CD-loading slot dominates the glossy black front panel. A row of eight buttons on the top of the unit provides basic control functions, but the full-functioned remote is needed for full access to the X10's controls. Build quality seems to be a step above the mass-market mid-fi units that populate the big-box stores. The chassis' sides and top are made out of a fairly attractive matte-black plastic with silk-screened labeling on the top. The back panel is densely populated with numerous connectors, including spring-loaded speaker connections, two USB Type A and one USB Type B port, Ethernet, a Toslink audio output, and headphone and eighth-inch stereo jacks for line in and out. The rest of the small back panel is occupied by a power input for a cord that contains an inline power supply, a power switch, and a fan vent.

The included remote control is a fairly conventionally styled plastic unit with directional cursor buttons in the center. The buttons are small and not backlit, but they are clearly labeled. With regular use, it became apparent to me that their functionality had been well thought out.

CDs can be ripped into any of several formats chosen by the user. Those looking for maximum capacity can choose low-resolution MP3 files. Personally, I opted for FLAC, which offers full resolution with some space saving. The X10 system can handle audio files in the following formats: MP3, FLAC, WAV, WMA, M4A, AAC, OGG, PCM, M3U, and PLS, with resolutions up to 24-bit/96-kHz. The X10 can be connected to your network via the Ethernet port mentioned above or via an included WiFi antenna that plugs into one of the Type A USB ports. When connected to a network, the X10 can access Internet radio and the Simfy music streaming service (but not Spotify or Pandora), play music files from other servers on the network, or act as a server to other devices such as Sonos. The X10 is Samba- and UPnP-capable for network audio playback. A Web interface allows for control and editing of audio files and playlists when the X10 is connected to a network. Do not despair if you do cannot or simply do not want to connect the X10 to a network, as the USB ports allow for the import and export of audio files via external USB drives. The X10 even comes with the FreeDB database on CD (updates available) that can be loaded onto the unit so that the metadata can be accessed for CDs being ripped without an Internet connection.

In line with the X10's clock radio size, it has sleep and alarm functions, and the front display can even be configured to be an easily read clock.

The Hookup

The X10 is pretty much a standalone system, so my physical connections were limited to the speakers. I connected an Orb Audio Classic One speaker system. This system features a pair of passive, softball-sized spherical satellite speakers and a powered subwoofer. I used the included WiFi dongle to connect to my network and obtain Internet access, but you can easily use an Ethernet cable if you prefer.

The X10 comes with a setup wizard and a quick start guide that got me to ripping CDs onto the internal hard drive in just a few minutes. As I mentioned above, I selected the FLAC format for my ripped audio files.

When I added the X10 to my network, I inadvertently connected it to a secured portion of the network that had Internet access but could not access my main server. This made it frustrating to try to play music off my server: I could see that the X10 was on the network, but it could not access my server. Once I recognized the problem, which was no fault of the X10's, the fix was quick.

Click over to Page Two for Performance, The Downside, Comparison & Competition, and Conclusion.

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Cocktail Audio X40 HiFi Music Streamer and CD Ripper

Network Player, CD Ripper with DSD/DXD Support and Built-in Phono Preamp

If you thought that Cocktail Audio’s X30 gave you the whole cocktail of audio entertainment, wait until you take a taste of the X40’s features. The X40 is a revolutionary hi-fi component consisting of an all-in-one smart HD music server, network streamer, CD ripper, and more. It comes with 4GB of built-in memory, and you can add your own internal hard drive for other storage options.

The X40 also provides a built-in ES9018K2M Sabre32 Reference DAC with support for high-resolution DSD/DXD files, a MM moving magnet phono stage, and even an FM radio tuner. Unlike the X30, it does not include an onboard integrated amplifier section, which makes it the ideal source component for audiophiles to connect into their existing power amp, receiver, or powered speakers. Easy-peasy!

High-quality Audio Performance

The X40 offers 32-bit, 384 kHz resolution using an extremely powerful ES9018K2M Sabre32 Reference DAC with XMOS 32Bit/500MIPS Digital Signal Processor. It the X40 supports a wide range of digital file formats. It plays DSD64 (2.8224MHz), DSD128 (5.6448MHz), DXD (24Bit/352.8KHz), up to 32Bit/384KHz PCM signal including HD FLAC (24Bit/192KHz), HD WAV (24Bit/192KHz), APE/CUE, WAV, FLAC, ALAC, AIFF, AIF, AAC, M4A, MP3, WMA, Ogg Vorbis, PCM, M3U, PLS, and more.

The CA X40 can play back multiple tracks with no gap between them. This is a useful function for fans of operatic or classical music, which is composed of multiple tracks.

The CA X40 includes a recording function for analog sources via its line-in RCA input and MM moving magnet phono input. The built-in phono preamp sounds great and allow you to record your LPs at 192 kHz, 96 kHz or 48 kHz sample rates and even edit them after recording. Using the RCA analog inputs, you can record other analog material such as your favorite cassette tapes up to 24-bit/192 kHz sound quality.

High-speed Optical Drive for Ripping CDs

For fast CD ripping, the CA X40 uses a front-loading optical disc drive (ODD) with 24x high speed. It can rip a CD with a 60-minute playing time CD in less than 10 minutes. Once it's done ripping, the X40 will catalog your CD collection by album, artist, genre, and year, and will also store all ripped CDs into the music database. The X40 provides various encoding options for ripping. Choose FLAC, ALAC, WAV, MP3 or Ogg.

Balanced and Unbalanced Analog Pre-Outs

In addition to its digital connections, the X40 gives you high quality analog pre-outs for playback through your AV gear. The unbalanced RCA outputs offer a dynamic range of -120 dB and THD+N (Max 2Vrms, Stereo) of 127 dB DNR. The balanced AES/EBU XLR outputs provide a dynamic range of -120 dB and THD+N (Max 4.5Vrms, Stereo) of 127 dB DNR.

For an intimate listening experience, the high quality headphone out with 1/4” jack provides 500mW+500mW at 1KHz, 32 ohm, 0.1% THD.

Multiple Digital Inputs and Outputs

The CA X40 offers a variety of digital audio inputs and outputs for connection to other audio devices. The three digital outputs consist of Toslink optical, coaxial, and AES/EBU XLR, which support up to 24-bit/192 kHz. This means the X40 can be used as an audio server and source device if you wish to use an existing external amplifier and/or DAC. The dual digital inputs (Toslink optical and coaxial) mean the CA X40 can be used as a DAC with other digital audio sources. It also has three USB Host ports for use with external drives.

Connect to Your Network

The CA X40 features GigaFast Ethernet LAN for a wired network connection and USB host ports (one on the front, two on the rear) for the optional 801.11b/g/n WiFi USB dongle or other external USB devices.

A built-in Web Interface (Web UI) for various web browsers, such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari allows the management and controlling of the music collection on the X40, such as adding album covers, creating playlists, playing internet radio, editing metadata, displaying the collection, and much more.

Using the Ethernet connection or the optional WiFi dongle allows you to connect the CA X40 to your home network to access tens of thousands of internet radio stations (Reciva). Online music streaming services like Spotify and Rhapsody will be added at a later date.

Intuitive Front Panel Controls and LCD Screen

Intuitive front panel controls provide quick access to basic functions such as power, volume/mute, OK/Pause/Scroll, and four menu keys for the GUI of the full-color 5" LCD screen. The input selector key allows you to seamlessly switch between input devices and also features a mute mode that can be toggled at the push of the volume knob.

Using its HDMI output, you can use an external big screen, such as a monitor or TV, as its GUI screen. You can also view a photo slideshow while you're listening to music. The CA X40 supports various picture file formats like JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF and BMP.

App for iOS and Android

With the help of a free app, you can control the CA X40 using a smartphone or tablet PC. Cocktail Audio recommends ‘Eyecon’ for Android and ‘Sitecom media controller' for iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod).

Add Your Own Hard Drive for Digital File Storage

For storing digital music files, the CA X30 supports a 3.5” SATA hard disk or a 2.5” SATA hard disk or solid state drive (SSD) as storage. A customized storage drive bay drawer allows quick and easy installation. If you install an SSD as storage, the X40 will offer noiseless operation, as it has no cooling fan.

Currently, the CA X40 supports up to 4TB with a 3.5" hard disk, up to 4TB with a 2.5" hard disk and up to 4TB of SSD.

Rugged and Durable Casework

The CA X40 front panel is 8mm thick aluminum with CNC cutting and metal chassis. The die-cast aluminum feet provide rigidity along with additional resistance from external vibrations.

Overview

Versatile network solution for hi-res streaming playback and file management
Playback of DSD64 (2.8224MHz), DSD128 (5.6448MHz), DXD (24Bit/352.8KHz), up to 32Bit/384KHz PCM signal including HD FLAC (24Bit/192KHz), HD WAV (24Bit/192KHz), APE/CUE, WAV, FLAC, ALAC, AIFF, AIF, AAC, M4A, MP3, WMA, Ogg Vorbis, PCM, M3U, PLS
24-bit/192 kHz WAV/FLAC and full range of hi-res audio file formats
ES9018K2M Sabre32 Reference DAC built-in
XMOS 32Bit/500MIPS digital signal processing unit
High-speed optical disk drive for quick CD ripping
Phono INPUT (Moving Magnet) for turntable
Load your vinyl and cassette tape collections to the X40 in 192kHz sample rate
Music Streaming Services like Qobuz, Simfy and Internet Radio.
UPnP Media Server & Renderer for streaming playback and control remotely via network.
5 inch full color TFT LCD for intuitive GUI
HDMI Out connector for using an external screen like TV as its GUI screen
Supports up to 3.5" SATA hard disk 4TB, 2.5" hard disk and SSD
Toroidal transformer minimizing idle noise
FM Radio Tuner built-in
Recording with hi-res 24bit/192KHz sample rate
Provides the customized Web Interface (WebUI) for remote control and MusicDB management
Works with various free apps available at app stores
Rugged chassis construction with 12mm thickness aluminum front
Versatile software functionalities

Host CPU and Memory

Embedded: 700Mhz MIPS
Main Memory: (4Gbit, DDR2 800Mhz)

CD Player

Type: Front Loading
Supported media: CD, CD-DA, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R/RW

Interface

5" TFT LCD(800x480 pixel) on the front
External screen like TV may connected through HDMI connector
Remote Control
Customized Web Interface (Web UI) for Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari
Free UPnP app available in app store or market for iOS and Android

Analog Connections

Balanced Line Out x 1: L & R XLR
Unbalanced Line Out x 1: L & R RCA
Headphone Out: 6.35mm jack on the front
Line In x 1: L & R RCA
Aux In x 1: 3.5mm Phone Jack on the front

Digital Connections

Toslink Out x 1: Sample Rate up to 24-bit/192 kHz
Coaxial Out x 1: Sample Rate up to 24-bit/192 kHz
AES/EBU XLR Out x 1: Sample Rate up to 24-bit/192 kHz
Toslink In x 1: Sample Rate up to 24-bit/192 kHz
Coaxial In x 1: Sample Rate up to 24-bit/192 kHz
MM phono input
HDMI out (video only) x 1: for GUI or for photo slide shows

Network/Hard Drive Connectivity

3 x USB host ports
Wired: Giga Fast Ethernet(10/100/1000Mbps) LAN
Wireless (optional): 801.11b/g/n WiFi using optional USB dongle

Power Supply

Audio Power Supply: Toroidal transformer, 75W

Supported Storage

Removable storage tray drawer is provided for adding optional HD storage
Hard disk, 2.5” SATA, up to 4TB
Hard disk, 3.5” SATA, up to 4TB
SD, 2.5” SATA, up to 4TB

Analog Connections

Line Out (L & R RCA): Dynamic Range : 127 dB(2 V rms, Stereo) THD+N : 0.0004%
Line Out (L & R XLR): Dynamic Range : -120dB THD+N (Max 4.5Vrms, Stereo), 127dB DNR
Headphone Out: 500mW+500mW@1Khz, 32 ohm, 0.1% THD
Line In x 1: 2V rms
Aux In x 1: 800mV rms
MM phono in: 7.5mV sensitivity

Digital Connections

Toslink Out x 1: Sample Rate up to 24-bit/192 kHz
Coaxial Out x 1: SPDIF 75 ohm RCA, Sample Rate up to 24-bit/192 kHz
AES/EBU XLR Out x 1: 110 ohm, Sample Rate up to 24-bit/192 kHz
Toslink In x 1: Sample Rate up to 24-bit/192 kHz
Coaxial In x 1: Sample Rate up to 24-bit/192 kHz

General

Dimensions (without feet): 17.1" wide, 12.8" deep, 3.5" high
Dimensions (with feet): 17.1" wide, 12.8" deep, 3.9" high

Does everything I needed and more: streaming, ripping, storing, etc. Backup is simple as is downloading artwork. Sound is excellent. The only negatives are no built-in bluetooth, the remote is poorly laid out, and smartphone app isn't here yet --they say soon.

For what this little gem can do. there isnt anything out there you can compare it to until you triple the price. I find that the Sabre DAC is the star here as it does bring the sound up to audiophile quality. Silky smooth and detailed while never appearing forward or etched. Although it had some minor bugs, the firmware update addressed most of them, The learning curve is quick and easy while the feature set is top notch. Spotify was added recently to services which was a needed boost. Tidal anyone? It may not be the best, but it is the best at this price level. Listen and see for yourself. Highly recommended. Enjoy.

This is a great piece of technology that offers tremendous versatility, good sound quality, at a decent price point. On it, I have ripped some 700 titles from my collections of Vinyl, CDs, and SACDs, and am very pleased with the how easy it is to use, as well as its sound quality. There were three other piece of gear I considered before deciding on the x40. The Sooloos Music Server System, NAD M50 with M52 vault, and Sony HAPZ1ES. All of these are easy to run and sound great, but with an extensive record collection containing many titles that are not available on CD. The x40s ability to rip vinyl directly to it, is what sold me. The second consideration was space in my rack is limited, so trying to place a two piece solutions would have been too much a hassle. I was looking for a one box solution that could do it all, and with x40 I got it. Sound quality of the x40 is very similar to HAPZ1ES and M50, its presentation is not as crisp and punchy as these two, but very accurate and velvety smooth, with not a trace of grain or tininess. It especially excels at intimate acoustic and vocal recordings. giving them a depth and richness that is wonderful to listen to. Nonetheless, I make no allusions, it is not capable of the same degrees of inner detail, separation, nor slam that an Ultra-High End Digital Player is capable of. Bass from it is tight and has weight, but it just does not deliver the same amount of punch that my Compact Digital Player is capable of. That being said, the x40 is less than half the CDPs price. So obviously, my comparisons here are far from scientific and in a true double blind listening test, I wonder if I would really be able to pick out the x40 from my CDP. So take my nitpicking with a grain of salt. There are some considerations about the x40 I do feel worth mentioning. The first being. unlike, the other products mentioned here, with x40 you have to purchase a hard drive and install the music DB software yourself. This is not hard to do. However finding a suitable drive that works well with it took some experimentation. Even the highest end platter drives. are noisy, vibrate like hell, and generate lots of heat. Thus the ideal choice is a Solid State one, right? However, there is no ability to run a 3rd party trim command with the x40; Which you need to do frequently in order to maintain a SSDs performance, so I had concerns about a $500.00 plus SSD turning into a dog. Thus I installed a number of different platter drives, Which as mention earlier, either ran too hot, or too noisy I finally settled on a hard drive that is specifically designed for Digital Video Recording/Surveillance Systems. For about $150.00, I wound up with a drive that has large storage capacity, low vibration/noise, and designed to run in an environment like the x40s. where there is no internal cooling. The one I settled on works wonderfully, with no noticeable lag, and plus more storage than what is currently available on a SSD. The last concern, is the x40s entry into the US is new, so out of the box it is more compatible with services that are based in the Europe. Currenly, there is no access to Spotify or other US based streaming services. That is supposed to change with some future firmware update, but with no date announced on the factory website, who knows when that will be?

понедельник, 18 декабря 2017 г.