Phous Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 Yes, the Thesycon driver is needed only for >96 kHz files. If you're using the SOtM USB card, that should render moot the USB 2 v. 3 issue. I'm not sure whether the SOtM card will affect whether or not you'll need the Thesycon driver. I suggest using the Ayre website info and Chris' JRiver set-up info. If you have any problems or questions, just call Ayre. They have top-shelf customer service (but they don't do e-mail). The following is the response from sotm. I will post again when they reply. "Thank you for the detailed explanation, I understood well. In this case , the tX-USBexp driver has to be updated, and we’re waiting for TI’s answer, since this driver is release by TI chipset. We already reported this issue to TI, and it will take time to get the answer from them, can you please understand this situation? Once a new OS such as windows 8 releases, it always has the compatibility issue, and it needs time to solve it, so I need your favor to wait until then. We’re going to post up the classe cp800 dac on the compatibility issue lists with tX-USBexp, and update the new driver news shortly. We’ll keep supporting you this matter, if you need any help from us, please email me back. Thank you very much. Best Regard, May Park Tel : +82-41-576-7663 www.sotm-audio.com" Link to comment
Mike Gillespie Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 Phous, can you give us the emal for May Park at SOtM? Thanks. MG555 Link to comment
Norman Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 Phous, can you give us the emal for May Park at SOtM? Thanks. Interesting. An update the tX-USBexp driver could very well be the solution. Unfortunately, it seems that the existing driver (the one that currently ships with the SOtM card) works with some DACs and under some conditions. I suppose that's to be expected. Also, in response to beetlemania: thank you for your suggestion to contact Ayre. When I get my DAC (I hope this weekend), I'll do some testing and then call them. If they don't know already, they, too, will be interested in getting to the bottom of the problem using the SOtM card in the Zuma. Thanks all. Link to comment
Phous Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 Phous, can you give us the emal for May Park at SOtM? Thanks. It is the contact us address off the web site incase I mis type it here: [email protected] Please post any results here so we can share the knoweldge. Link to comment
scraps@midnight Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 Hi Folks, I bought a Zuma from Andrew at SGC which I received a couple days ago. It will not recognize my external hard drive via eSATA. I use a OWC Mercury Pro Elite case with a 4TB Deskstar drive. I can tell it sees the case, it shows up in device manager, but I can't see the drive anywhere. If I connect via USB it recognizes the drive and functions without issue. I've been talking with Andrew who has been great to work with but neither one of us can get what's up. I'm going to get another eSATA device when I get a chance to see if it recognizes that but I have my doubts. So my question is has anyone else had any issue with eSATA drives being recognized? I have had a chance to play it connecting my library via USB and it sounds fantastic. I was very skeptical about this being worth the move from my laptop server I had been using and man was I wrong. Just using a $2 USB cable that came with my drive it sounds impressive. Significant increase in clarity, dynamics...very nice. I'm anxious to get a better USB cable and this eSATA thing worked out to see what it can really do. I had been using an Acoustic Revive SPS and did not even think about not being able to use a 2 connector USB cable with this. It pained me to list that cable for sale this morning, heck of a cable! One more question....I use a Berkeley Alpha USB, should I keep the power switch on the sotm USB card on or off? Thanks! Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted February 1, 2013 Author Share Posted February 1, 2013 Hi Folks, I bought a Zuma from Andrew at SGC which I received a couple days ago. It will not recognize my external hard drive via eSATA. I use a OWC Mercury Pro Elite case with a 4TB Deskstar drive. I can tell it sees the case, it shows up in device manager, but I can't see the drive anywhere. If I connect via USB it recognizes the drive and functions without issue. I've been talking with Andrew who has been great to work with but neither one of us can get what's up. I'm going to get another eSATA device when I get a chance to see if it recognizes that but I have my doubts. So my question is has anyone else had any issue with eSATA drives being recognized? I have had a chance to play it connecting my library via USB and it sounds fantastic. I was very skeptical about this being worth the move from my laptop server I had been using and man was I wrong. Just using a $2 USB cable that came with my drive it sounds impressive. Significant increase in clarity, dynamics...very nice. I'm anxious to get a better USB cable and this eSATA thing worked out to see what it can really do. I had been using an Acoustic Revive SPS and did not even think about not being able to use a 2 connector USB cable with this. It pained me to list that cable for sale this morning, heck of a cable! One more question....I use a Berkeley Alpha USB, should I keep the power switch on the sotm USB card on or off? Thanks! Hi Scraps - I've been thinking about this one further. The answer may have to do with enabling / disabling UEFI in the BIOS if the 4TB drive works via USB but not eSATA. Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted February 1, 2013 Author Share Posted February 1, 2013 Also the Alpha USB requires power from the SOtM card. Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
scraps@midnight Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 Thanks for the info, Chris. I went into BIOS and enabled UEFI (in boot which is the only spot I see it), no luck. Still will not see my drive via eSATA. Any other ideas? Link to comment
scraps@midnight Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 Also not sure it has to do with size. I put a 2TB drive in the case and it reacted the same way. Argh. Link to comment
scraps@midnight Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 Update: It's the OWC case. I bought a cheap enclosure from Microcenter, popped a drive in and it saw it right away via eSATA. I guess now I am curious if anyone else has tried the OWC Mecury Pro Elite enclosure with this computer via eSATA. I have another one but it's not here. I'll be able to try it in a week or so to see if it is a defective case or a compatibility issue with all of them. Link to comment
Mike Gillespie Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 The Zuma build sounds fantastic but I would love to see the original description changed so that future builders don't have to read through all the comments to figure out what tweaks are necessary to get the Zuma built following the original design instructions. We've found two issues needing tweaks: 1) 12V DC cable of the picoPSU-150-XT (white/black) -- 2 inches too short to reach the back wall of the case where the outlet has to be. We had to solder another few inches of wire 2) the 4 pin Molex computer power supply cable from the Mobo to the SOtM USB is too short by about 4 inches. We got a male/female extender here: Amazon.com: 4 Pin Molex Male to a 4 Pin Molex Female Power Cable: Electronics Anyone else have any tips for the basic build using all Chris' instructions? Thanks. MG555 Link to comment
Peter J Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 Update: It's the OWC case. I bought a cheap enclosure from Microcenter, popped a drive in and it saw it right away via eSATA. I guess now I am curious if anyone else has tried the OWC Mecury Pro Elite enclosure with this computer via eSATA. I have another one but it's not here. I'll be able to try it in a week or so to see if it is a defective case or a compatibility issue with all of them. I'm using that case, two of them in fact, on my just now Carbon build. I ripped onto it via USB on my desktop, and have played back with no problems via eSATA. It shows up on system and network. Perhaps a bad enclosure? OWC was helpful (albeit not overly knowledgeable) the on time I called. Silver box with blue light > smaller silver box with tiny lights > black box with blue display > black and silver box with glowing glass > reddish brown boxes > living room Link to comment
Peter J Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 Can someone tell me if the SOtM card shows up in your device manager window and if so what is it referred to as? I'm trying to troubleshoot a problem. Thanks! Silver box with blue light > smaller silver box with tiny lights > black box with blue display > black and silver box with glowing glass > reddish brown boxes > living room Link to comment
scraps@midnight Posted February 2, 2013 Share Posted February 2, 2013 I'm using that case, two of them in fact, on my just now Carbon build. I ripped onto it via USB on my desktop, and have played back with no problems via eSATA. It shows up on system and network. Perhaps a bad enclosure? OWC was helpful (albeit not overly knowledgeable) the on time I called. Thanks Peter, this is VERY helpful to me and strongly suggests it's a bad enclosure. I have another that I can get here in a few days so that will be very telling. It's amazing how these enclosures are built compared to the cheap one I got at Microcenter for troubleshooting. They really are quality products. Link to comment
scraps@midnight Posted February 2, 2013 Share Posted February 2, 2013 One more comment about this, the thing that I do find strange is my laptop will see that drive in the OWC enclosure via eSATA but the Zuma does not. I guess that is the part that baffles me. Link to comment
Peter J Posted February 2, 2013 Share Posted February 2, 2013 One more comment about this, the thing that I do find strange is my laptop will see that drive in the OWC enclosure via eSATA but the Zuma does not. I guess that is the part that baffles me. I agree, that seems weird. If it doesn't show up in device manager or on your network when hooked to Zuma, I would suspect a port problem. Is this a motherboard port or some additional equipment? Silver box with blue light > smaller silver box with tiny lights > black box with blue display > black and silver box with glowing glass > reddish brown boxes > living room Link to comment
Peter J Posted February 2, 2013 Share Posted February 2, 2013 I agree, that seems weird. If it doesn't show up in device manager or on your network when hooked to Zuma, I would suspect a port problem. Is this a motherboard port or some additional equipment? I may have an answer to this, I just now experienced the same thing on my Carbon build. Are you comfortable with a little minor change internally on your Zuma? Silver box with blue light > smaller silver box with tiny lights > black box with blue display > black and silver box with glowing glass > reddish brown boxes > living room Link to comment
scraps@midnight Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 Peter...pm sent. Link to comment
Mike Gillespie Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 I know on a normal computer it's best not to use a USB bus for more than 1 item - eg, my usb dac so I use a firewire hard drive for my music files. But on the Zuma server I'm using the SOtM USB card (externally powered by the SOtM battery). My question is: with the Zuma, the USB bus issue wouldn't apply, right? Plugging my DAC into the USB Sotm would be on a separate bus than the usual USB bus attached to the motherboard so there would be no restrictions, right? I could use a usb 3.0 hard drive for music storage and attach it to one of the motherboard USB 3.0 ports without any effect on SQ. Thanks. MG555 Link to comment
Jotave Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 I am using the Zuma with Playback Designs MPD-3 replacing a Macbook Pro. Amazing the improvement I got. Thanks Chris for all the support. Playing DSD files is the nirvana. Playing less resolution files using the Berkeley Alpha USB is almost perfection. I sent an email to Berkeley asking for Windows 8 drive for Alpha. Michael gently email me the drive that is already on test. I installed easily and it is working great. I suppose it will be ready for downloading soon. I connected my MPD-3 dac to the Sotm card, then the Alpha USB to the other USB on the Sotm card. When I play DSD files I select the PC option on MDP-3 remote and on JRiver I select the MPD-3 ASIO drive. When I play lower resolution files I select AES on MPD-3 remote and Alpha USB ASIO drive on JRIVER. I have to use 2 USB cables for that, but it saves me from moving the USB B connector from MPD-3 to Alpha USB. Link to comment
scraps@midnight Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 Mike: The way I understand it, it's still better to use eSATA even though your SOtM card separates the USB because the motherboard USB port is still using USB protocol which is not ideal where as the eSATA is treated like an internal drive for the most part. Whether that is audible or not I don't know. Jotave: I was confused by your post (although share your enthusiasm for sound quality!). You said you plug the Alpha USB into the other USB on the SOtM card....isn't there only 1? I ask because I wanted to use an Acoustic Revive SPS USB cable with 2 output connectors but figured I could not because the SOtM card only has 1 port. I LOVE this cable so would be thrilled if I could use it. Link to comment
Jotave Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 Jotave: I was confused by your post (although share your enthusiasm for sound quality!). You said you plug the Alpha USB into the other USB on the SOtM card....isn't there only 1? I ask because I wanted to use an Acoustic Revive SPS USB cable with 2 output connectors but figured I could not because the SOtM card only has 1 port. I LOVE this cable so would be thrilled if I could use it. Yes, you're write. My mistake, the second cable is connected to a USB port that is just down the SOtm, so I thought that there was two USB from the SOtm. Link to comment
Mike Gillespie Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Mike: The way I understand it, it's still better to use eSATA even though your SOtM card separates the USB because the motherboard USB port is still using USB protocol which is not ideal where as the eSATA is treated like an internal drive for the most part. Whether that is audible or not I don't know. Thanks, Scraps. I'll see if I hear a difference. MG555 Link to comment
scraps@midnight Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Just a quick update to the issue I posted earlier, I did get my other OWC enclosure here and it also will not get recognized when connected via eSATA. Argh. I was hoping maybe it was just that first enclosure but there appears to be a consistent compatibility issue. Peter J did email me and shared that he has this happening as well and in his troubleshooting linked it to the SOtM card. If he disconnects the SOtM card so the motherboard can't see it then it will recognize a drive in his OWC enclosure via eSATA. I am going to try this too just to be consistent but say it does happen here also...then what. Not sure what the fix is other than toss all these OWC's which of course are the ones I prefer:) Link to comment
Mike Gillespie Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 Scraps, dumb question... What are you putting in the OWC case? Your music storage drive? Or, are you booting from an OWC enclosed drive? Thanks. MG555 Link to comment
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