Announcing dCS Mosaic!

AMP · May 9, 2019, 7:19am

dCS is pleased to announce that at Munich HIGH END we will launch dCS Mosaic, a powerful new music streaming platform for all current dCS streaming products.

dCS Mosaic is a bespoke collection of hardware and software modules which, when combined, provide listeners easy and intuitive access to their digital music. Streaming audio has been a core technology of dCS products since the release of Vivaldi, but Mosaic represents a leap forward in terms of functionality, performance, and user experience.

Mosaic represents a leap forward in terms of functionality, performance, and user experience. A key element of the product launch – and the one that will benefit every dCS customer – is the dCS Mosaic Control app. Conceived from the ground-up as a truly cross-platform solution, dCS Mosaic Control is a single, unified interface to any current dCS product using a mobile device running iOS or Android.

While the TIDAL streaming music service has long been available to dCS customers, dCS Mosaic will allow listeners to take advantage of the high-resolution offerings of Qobuz as well as the massive catalogue of CD-quality music offered by Deezer. The addition of a library of internet radio stations and podcasts from around the globe enhances the new service offerings with a wealth of content sure to please any listener.

· All owners of current dCS products (Vivaldi 2.0, Vivaldi One, Rossini, Bartók, and Network Bridge) can take advantage of the advancements of dCS Mosaic
· dCS Mosaic is available through a simple firmware update along with an app download from the App Store or the Google Play.
· dCS Mosaic 1.0 is available today (9th May 2019) at 9:00am GMT at no cost to existing customers and will begin shipping with new products at the same time.
· Attendees of the annual HIGH-END show in Munich (9th – 12th May) will have the opportunity to experience Mosaic first-hand in the dCS room (Atrium 4.2, room F209) and the dCS headphone listening stations (Hall 4, booth N09).

What is dCS Mosaic?

dCS Mosaic is a carefully assembled collection of hardware and software modules which, when combined, provide a listener easy and intuitive access to a vast catalogue of digital music. Whether it’s high resolution files on the listener’s own server or an internet radio station broadcast from a distant land, dCS Mosaic removes all of the associated technical complexity and ensures that the music one loves is only a few convenient taps away.

To familiarise you with the naming convention of the Mosaic components a brief description of each is included below.

Component	Description
dCS Mosaic	dCS Mosaic is the product name for the audio streaming and networked control functionality of dCS products.
dCS Mosaic Control	dCS Mosaic Control is the name of the new dCS unified music management and control app. It supports both iOS and Android devices.
dCS Mosaic Processor	The dCS Mosaic Processor is the physical hardware component and associated software that is installed in the dCS product to provide streaming functionality.

What does dCS Mosaic do?

dCS Mosaic is an extensive suite of technologies that work in unison to remove the complexities associated with multi-format and multi-source streaming audio. Key features include:

Browse a variety of streaming media sources via an intuitive interface in order to find digital music content.
Perform content searches based on artist, album, track, or playlist name.
Interact with advanced features provided by some streaming services such as favourites, playlists, and enhanced metadata.
Add tracks from any source to a unified playback queue which can be reordered at will.
View detailed information about the currently playing track including metadata, artwork, playback position and media format.
Perform basic playback functions such as play/pause, skip forward/back, shuffle, and repeat.
Conveniently manage the basic audio settings of a dCS device such as volume level, mute, and phase.
View and manage all settings related to the digital signal processing being performed by the dCS device.
View and manage the complete configuration of the dCS device.
Control all accessible dCS devices from the dCS Mosaic Control app.
Utilise Roon as a media management platform with Mosaic as a Roon Ready zone.
Cast content to dCS devices using Airplay and Spotify Connect.

Specifications

Supported dCS Products

dCS Mosaic Processor 1.0 is available as a firmware update and is supported on the following dCS products with the minimum firmware revisions listed.

dCS Product	Minimum Firmware Revision
dCS Network Bridge	Main Board 1.02
dCS Bartók	Main Board 1.00
dCS Rossini	Main Board 2.00
dCS Vivaldi One	CB: 1.11, FP: 1.10, IB: 1.10
dCS Vivaldi Upsampler 2.0	CB: 2.10, FP: 2.10, IB: 2.10

Supported Control Devices

The dCS Mosaic Control app is available for the following mobile devices.

Mobile Device	Minimum Hardware	Minimum OS
Apple iPhone	iPhone 5S	iOS 11.x
Apple iPod	iPod touch 6th Generation	iOS 11.x
Apple iPad	iPad Mini 2	iOS 11.x
Android Phone	N/A	Android 6.x
Android Tablet	N/A	Android 6.x

Supported Media Sources

dCS Mosaic is suite of tools designed to alleviate the complexity of digital audio streaming so a dCS customer can simply enjoy listening to music. In order to provide an uncompromising user experience, we have limited our official support to the following media sources detailed below. Other combinations of apps and sources may work, but they are not directly supported by dCS.

dCS Mosaic supports digital music streams from the following sources when the dCS device is controlled with the dCS Mosaic Control app:

UPnP (in conjunction with Minimserver)
USB storage attached to the dCS device
Deezer Hi-Fi
Qobuz
TIDAL
Internet radio
Podcasts

In addition to the above, the following streaming sources are supported without the use of the dCS Mosaic Control app:

Airplay
Spotify Connect
Roon

Supported Media Types

Files and media streams in the following formats are fully supported by dCS Mosaic:

Stream Format	Stream Type
PCM (lossless)	WAV, AIFF, FLAC, ALAC
PCM (lossy)	MP3, AAC
DSD	DFF, DSF
MQA	FLAC with proper MQA tagging

Specific Exclusions

The following features may have been available in past dCS streaming offerings but have been excluded from the first release of dCS Mosaic. The status of these features is detailed below.

Control of a dCS disc transport is not available in version 1.0 via dCS Mosaic Control. App control is still available using the legacy dCS app for your device.
Grid-based browsing is not available in Mosaic 1.0.
On-device stored playlists are not available via the dCS Mosaic app. Legacy playlist support is available via the legacy app.
Navigation bookmarks are not available in Mosaic 1.0.
Mosaic does not support TiVo / Rovi enhanced metadata.
Mosaic does not support OGG or WMA file formats.

Some of these features may be planned for future development and others will sunset with the retirement of the legacy dCS apps.

Want to know more?

You can find out more information on dCS Mosaic at our community forum site:

dCS Mosaic Announcement

dCS Mosaic Documentation

dCS Mosaic FAQ

Rene_de_Vreng · May 9, 2019, 8:52am

Great news from a great company

Patatorz · May 9, 2019, 12:12pm

Thanks a lot for the continuous improvement

Cooler · May 9, 2019, 2:02pm

Interesting, it looks like you created a roon competitor.
Is that possible to use roon together with mosaic?
What’s the benefit for users to use mosaic instead of roon?

Ermos · May 9, 2019, 7:26pm

The unofficial start of the Mosaic project was the development of the new Roon module that dCS released in early 2019 so it’s safe to say that you’ve been benefiting from Mosaic for months.

When Mosaic Control was conceived, a requirement was that it be possible to switch between Roon (library management, playback) and Mosaic Control (settings management) with as little disruption as possible. That means that you can launch Mosaic Control and navigate to the dCS Processing Platform settings page (upsampling, filters, and mappers), use Roon for playback, and then go back to Mosaic Control at any time in the future and have the settings page instantly available.

From: https://dcs.community/t/mosaic-faq-i-use-roon-for-playback-is-there-anything-in-mosaic-that-will-benefit-me/374

Hasan_Latif · May 9, 2019, 10:29pm

Hi, a question please for anyone with experience in DCS network bridge setup.

I’m currently using a Macmini as my music server with bridged ethernet connections between the DCS and my cable only (no wifi) modem. I run Roon Server on the Macmini. My Roon Endpoint is a DCS Network Bridge.

Would I be able to do without the Macmini if I connected my external hard drive directly to the DCS Network bridge with USB? And used DCS Mosaic on an iPad only to drive music from my hard drives and QOBUZ without the Roon app at all?

And should my sound quality improve this way?

Will I still need Roon?

Thank you

AMP · May 10, 2019, 5:09am

This is possible, but I wouldn’t recommend it. That interface was designed to handle a flash drive with some files on it. It was not designed to handle a large drive with thousands of files on it. Furthermore, when using the USB interface on your bridge you won’t get:

Metadata – you’ll be browsing the folders on the drive and when it file a played Mosaic Control will display the filename, not the album / artist / track tags.
Album artwork – You won’t see any artwork thumbnails while browsing
Searching – You can’t search for files on the USB interface.

Mosaic is not a music server so if you want all of the benefits of a richer browsing experience you’ll either need to use Roon or UPnP.

No. Assuming that you’re playing the same file you should experience no difference.

That is totally up to you depending on your needs and preferences.

No, we enhanced functionality in our product. Our intention is not, and will never be, to create anything that competes with Roon. Our specialty is creating products that excel at playback to the highest levels of quality. Roon excels at creating a rich browsing and music discovery experience. The two are very different.

Let me make something 100% clear. We consider Roon to be one of our most important partners and we have no intention of ever attempting to get into library management in any way shape or form.

Mosaic supports a number of different streaming inputs and Roon is one of them. Our goal is to ensure that each one of those inputs has the highest levels of performance and user experience. At the start of this year we implemented a new Roon module which significantly enhanced the user experience for our customers usng Roon. With Mosaic we have done the same for the other streaming inputs that we support.

For the record, Mosaic is my baby and I’ve worked non-stop for the past two months to make sure that it was ready for release on the planned date. I am extremely proud of what we accomplished and am already planning the next release to make it even better. Having said that, when I sit down to enjoy music at home I use Roon as the rich browsing experience that it provides is the one that I prefer. We have no intention of supplanting Roon and we are going to make sure that our products work equally well for those who use Roon and those who don’t.

Cooler · May 10, 2019, 10:48am

Hi @AMP, I’m still confused a little bit as a roon user. I used few times a native (old one) dcs bridge app. In that scenario i could just connect bridge to my router and select Tidal in native app and play some music.

No computer (roon server) and roon are required. But the app was so unstable and ugly that ive never come back to it again. I use roon at home, in the office and bought at the end a lifetime license.

But as i understood correctly with mosaic app i can do the same, as i did with old bridge app, to eliminate computer (roon server) and connect bridge directly to router and stream Tidal/Qobuz and use mosaic app as im using roon now. Is that correct?

If yes, there is another question. Will bridge sound better with router - bridge - mosaic - qobuz or with router - nuc (roon rock) - bridge - roon - qobuz?

RobertS · May 10, 2019, 10:11pm

My dCS Network Bridge has a Main Board version 1.01. How to I update it to the required 1.02?

AMP · May 11, 2019, 8:44am

The initial startup process for Mosaic Control will make sure that you have the correct software revisions installed on your Network Bridge. If the versions are out of date then the app will walk you through the update process.

There are more details here:

Keith_Yeung · August 20, 2019, 3:40pm

Hi Andrew

I m currently using NB connecting Vivaldi DAC with dual AES

May I know the proper setup for my mosaic in IPad to control my Vivaldi DAC as currently the Mosaic just recognised my NB but not the DAC

Regards

AMP · August 20, 2019, 3:48pm

There isn’t any sort of communications link between the Network Bridge and the DAC so there’s no way for Mosaic to know what DAC is connected nor send any control commands to it.

In your case the only thing that Mosaic can control is the Bridge itself.

Keith_Yeung · August 21, 2019, 1:04am

Thanks for your prompt reply, Andrew

Then I stick to the old method for filters etc

ryan_stratton · August 24, 2019, 4:07pm

The difference in sound quality is startling for me even just streaming via airplay from my phone. I can play back local files from my phone to the Rossini and when I switch over to the mosaic app it’s like a whole new world of sound opens up. Is this possible? What is going on here? Airplay has always been such a disappointment compared to the sound of Roon but this is way better. If I start playback from the iPod player and select airplay via the Rossini then go to the mosaic app the same file is there. Stop and start playback and magic happens.

AMP · August 24, 2019, 4:35pm

What you are seeing is simply the metadata provided by the AirPlay source. There’s no file transfer happening at all so what looks like a file in Mosaic Control is just a representation of the AirPlay stream. Furthermore, the transport buttons (play / pause / skip) in mosaic just relay commands back to the AirPlay sender (your iPod in this case). There is no difference between tapping those buttons and tapping the same buttons on your iPod.

No part of the AirPlay implementation has changed in Mosaic so I can’t explain what you are perceiving.