AC Filtering, Grounding Boxes, Linear PSU and Balanced Power.

[YashN]

I have three of these. They are very good, not great, but good. Voltage adjustment is a bit wobbly. They are low drop devices which is nice.

I see a couple of things to be aware of regarding these little boards, now that I have actually worked on researching, building and refining a regulator circuit:

 

First, as already mentioned, it is possible they go with the App Note or default schematics in the datasheet. As we know, this is often far from the best way to use the chip for our purposes.

 

Secondly, with the very low target noise and great performance (PSSR, stability) we're looking at in these applications, say Line-Level regulation for my case (the DAC), the actual circuitry (including Grounding, RFI/EMI) and PCB traces become an Engineering challenge, to such an extent that it can actually make or break a regulator board compared to its avowed purpose and best implementations.

 

Thus, there is a good chance these boards, which are readily available, aren't really that optimised.

 

NB: I'm not saying the chips themselves are bad, but that making a really good implementation is quite a complex affair.

 

NB2: We can also get lucky and get a really well-made and well-optimised affordable circuit if we look long enough, one day: there are a lot of talented individuals where these boards are being made, they have refined their facilities for board fabrications as well. Finding them might not be that easy though.

 

So, I'm not too surprised by your findings, @lmitche, thanks for sharing.

[YashN]

Just got word that my DIGITUS OM4 cable have been shipped...so not too far until I can evaluate it all!

Listening to Justice album "Woman" and enjoying myself!

Just heard that my birthday present was marked as 'delivered' but nothing was received here. Probably another mess up by Canada Post or people passing by on the street steal my packages...

 

I like Justice's "Cross". Haven't really heard their subsequent material.

[Cornan]

Just heard that my birthday present was marked as 'delivered' but nothing was received here. Probably another mess up by Canada Post or people passing by on the street steal my packages...

 

I like Justice's "Cross". Haven't really heard their subsequent material.

Postal mess-ups are annoying if anything! ? I hope you'll get your birthday present any day soon...and happy birthday BTW! ??

 

 

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[Middy]

21st is a big day for a young man so have a great day ?

 

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[YashN]

Thanks guys.

 

Been working on enhancing the basic circuit design with a couple of new ideas which are quite promising, and perhaps a third iteration I am thinking of but which I yet have to model.

 

Potentially, this brings us is some extreme results in some areas, and we perhaps lose some performance in others.

 

I may also get some boards with newer regs that I may also do some comparisons with, which will certainly be very interesting.

[Cornan]

Thanks guys.

 

Been working on enhancing the basic circuit design with a couple of new ideas which are quite promising, and perhaps a third iteration I am thinking of but which I yet have to model.

 

Potentially, this brings us is some extreme results in some areas, and we perhaps lose some performance in others.

 

I may also get some boards with newer regs that I may also do some comparisons with, which will certainly be very interesting.

 

I am always interested in new & promising ideas!

Please share more details when you feel that you're ready.

 

I got my unregulated battery supply in the post today. Looking good. If I am lucky I might receive the fiber-optic all cable tomorrow so I can start evaluate everything. Fingers crossed.

I have been ordering so many things lately that I lost track on all expected deliveries! ? I am currently upgrading my secondary system as well plus preparations for a galvanicly isolated linear lab PSU for my router. Had to go through it again to refresh my mind. Realized that I had completely forgot that I had ordered a new XLR cable set for my active speakers which is on the way from Hong Kong. I am getting old! ?

Anyway, hopefully the orders will calm down by beginning of next month when I order the lab PSU from Elfa.se and a pair of DH-Lab cables from @TubeMan.

 

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[YashN]

I am always interested in new & promising ideas!

Please share more details when you feel that you're ready.

 

For now, just Wow!!

 

Overall impressions: the soundstage is just larger, much more micro-detail, especially the mid-range, bass expansion and dynamism although I do get the impression on some tracks that attack rapidity is lacking. Expansion in high regions.

 

Peter Gabriel's "Mercy Street" was moving.

 

Definitely the impression of a darker background. Here again, lower noise and output impedance has apparently increased perceived power.

All right, cake and champagne time for birthday boy, as he deserves it.

[Cornan]

For now, just Wow!!

 

Overall impressions: the soundstage is just larger, much more micro-detail, especially the mid-range, bass expansion and dynamism although I do get the impression on some tracks that attack rapidity is lacking. Expansion in high regions.

 

Peter Gabriel's "Mercy Street" was moving.

 

Definitely the impression of a darker background. Here again, lower noise and output impedance has apparently increased perceived power.

All right, cake and champagne time for birthday boy, as he deserves it.

 

Cake, champagne & a successful hifi tweak. What a great way to spend the birthday! ??[emoji4]

 

Since I have a lot of tourmaline & clear quartz laying around since all my previous DIY grounding box attempts years ago I am thinking of building two new boxes for my active speakers. I will make them fairly nice looking (with a soft container) and put them on top of the speakers so they could potentially serve three purposes. External grounding (tourmaline & copper), stabilization (weight) & micro vibration damping (clear quartz).

 

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[YashN]

Cake, champagne & a successful hifi tweak. What a great way to spend the birthday! [emoji4]

 

Another gift for birthday boy! (by birthday boy himself too, who also played the part of Father Christmas!).

 

Fortunately, Amazon agreed to re-send the package, and today I managed to grab it from the mailbox outside before somebody else did (probably what happened to the last packet) and this is in:

 

 

[Cornan]

Another gift for birthday boy! (by birthday boy himself too, who also played the part of Father Christmas!).

 

Fortunately, Amazon agreed to re-send the package, and today I managed to grab it from the mailbox outside before somebody else did (probably what happened to the last packet) and this is in:

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]32374[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]32375[/ATTACH]

 

Great present & a great album! I have been listening to Oxygene 3 for the past month back & forward to my day job! You're worth it!

 

I also got a bit lucky today. Received my Digitus OM4 cable by the post. Installed it. Disappointed. No change. Checked again. On wireless! ? Reinstalled. Checked again. On wireless. Checked again. No signal. Fuck. Something wrong with my DIY cables. Changed cables to a Cat 5E at router end and a Audioquest Cat 7 with taped barrels at streamer end. Checked again. Not a difference. Maybe better...maybe for worse...I cannot tell? Changed the regulated battery from uphill FMC to downhill and vice versa. Better! ? Aah. now it sounds a tad better than wireless actually. Continue to listening to a lot of familiar tracks. Actually better than I thought initially. Blacker background. Pronounced. More relaxed. Yes, more relaxed is the right word for it! I feel more calm listening to familiar tracks...but NOT a huge difference. Damn DIY cables! ? I'll have to buy a RJ45 checker to find out were I did wrong. Same colour wires & twisted wires makes it a headake to sort out otherwise.

Bottom line. I am happy. Just not as happy as I hoped for...but I am a bit more relaxed...and I am happy about it! ?

I got to get that @%#&! cables right now so I can tell if it makes a difference or not.

 

Btw. Cannot try my uPowers linear regulated battery output either just yet. Still waiting for my second USB>DC2,1/5,5mm to arrive.

 

If I was unclear. I will definately keep the FMCs. They didn't exceed my expectations but they did improve over wireless which was the important thing to me. Thanks @scan80269 and @austinpop for convincing me to give it a try even if I was a bit sceptical!

 

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[Cornan]

@YashN

If you want another present you should wish for this

 

 

John Hopkins "Insides" is a really great album! Would be on my top 10 "to have list"! Go get!

 

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[Cornan]

Another one would be this album:

 

 

King Creosote "Astronaut Meets Appleman"

 

No need to say it's great!

 

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[austinpop]

Great present & a great album! I have been listening to Oxygene 3 for the past month back & forward to my day job! You're worth it!

 

I also got a bit lucky today. Received my Digitus OM4 cable by the post. Installed it. Disappointed. No change. Checked again. On wireless!  Reinstalled. Checked again. On wireless. Checked again. No signal. Fuck. Something wrong with my DIY cables. Changed cables to a Cat 5E at router end and a Audioquest Cat 7 with taped barrels at streamer end. Checked again. Not a difference. Maybe better...maybe for worse...I cannot tell? Changed the regulated battery from uphill FMC to downhill and vice versa. Better!  Aah. now it sounds a tad better than wireless actually. Continue to listening to a lot of familiar tracks. Actually better than I thought initially. Blacker background. Pronounced. More relaxed. Yes, more relaxed is the right word for it! I feel more calm listening to familiar tracks...but NOT a huge difference. Damn DIY cables!  I'll have to buy a RJ45 checker to find out were I did wrong. Same colour wires & twisted wires makes it a headake to sort out otherwise.

Bottom line. I am happy. Just not as happy as I hoped for...but I am a bit more relaxed...and I am happy about it! 

I got to get that @%#&! cables right now so I can tell if it makes a difference or not.

 

Btw. Cannot try my uPowers linear regulated battery output either just yet. Still waiting for my second USB>DC2,1/5,5mm to arrive.

 

If I was unclear. I will definately keep the FMCs. They didn't exceed my expectations but they did improve over wireless which was the important thing to me. Thanks @scan80269 and @austinpop for convincing me to give it a try even if I was a bit sceptical!

 

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Hi Micael,

 

Well, that is at least encouraging news. I'm not clear what PSes you're using to power the upstream FMC (router end) and the downstream FMC (Aries Mini end)? It sounds like you might have a better BPS waiting to go on the downstream FMC, which can only help.

 

Also - I hate to mention it - but on my particular setup, the MC100CM's didn't give as much of an improvement as the MC200CM's. Completely opposite to scan's results, I know. Trust me, I sympathize, as I now have two MC100CM paperweights in my listening room!

 

I always think of our tweaks as a treasure hunt. Other people give clues and findings, but each person's treasure is different, so the clues are only a guide, not a magic key!!

 

Good luck.

[Cornan]

Hi Micael,

 

Well, that is at least encouraging news. I'm not clear what PSes you're using to power the upstream FMC (router end) and the downstream FMC (Aries Mini end)? It sounds like you might have a better BPS waiting to go on the downstream FMC, which can only help.

 

Also - I hate to mention it - but on my particular setup, the MC100CM's didn't give as much of an improvement as the MC200CM's. Completely opposite to scan's results, I know. Trust me, I sympathize, as I now have two MC100CM paperweights in my listening room!

 

I always think of our tweaks as a treasure hunt. Other people give clues and findings, but each person's treasure is different, so the clues are only a guide, not a magic key!!

 

Good luck.

 

With the best option (available) I was already using the 7,4-8,4v unregulated battery supply downhill (close to Aries Mini) and the regulated 5v TP-Link Vivid 6700mAh uphill (close to router). In the meantime I have been experimenting further. Removing and adding several things. Guess what? Everything sounds much better without the Supra F-CON. The Axing on its own sounds better now! Axing & Supra F-CON was better together with wireless. Now Axing improves FMCs much better on its own. No downsides. Everything just got "crystalized". Enhanced hights without egde or harsh treble. I wonder why? Things like this can drive me nuts...but at the same time (very oddly I must say) inspires me! It is a very clear improvement without faults. There must be a obvious reason to it. Why, why, why? Grounding? DC noises? Arrrgh! ?

 

I cannot say that the MC200CM is better or worse before I try...but with the Axing only, the router external grounding and MC100CM is sounds pretty amazing. I'll have to change my previously secret rating for the MC100CM from strong 3 stars to strong 4 thanks to the abscent of Supra F-CON!

Thinking about it the Supra F-Con which is a ground isolator might counteract the improvements made by my Entreq Minimus router grounding. Obvious right!? ?

 

Anyway, next step is to make my DIY 100Base-TX wire in a working condition before I decide to switch to MC200CM. My intuition tells me that there will be no need for that...but my logic tells me that I might be wrong! ?

 

 

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[Cornan]

I just found out an interesting thing. Wood is actually piezoelectrical! Since Entreq only uses wood boxes for their ground boxes I'll guess that means that the container of ground materials needs to be piezoelectrical for best result!? Hmmm? Not many soft materials with that kind of properties around that is easy to find. Maybe a microfiber tablet tablet leather pouch that I saw on eBay? I intend to use 2,5mm pure copper wires in a spiral shape inside the pouch with tourmaline sand, clear quartz sand, rose quartz stones and shopped off 5mm pure copper wires for my initial experiment. A soldered silver wire from the 2,5mm wire will go through the centre of the closed pouch to the RCA sockets of my active speakers. If anyone spot a fault in this design please let me know!

 

My plan B is a aluminium case with copper plate in a V-shape connected to a DC2,1/5,5mm socket at the case & a DC to RCA cable. However, this will require some hard metal drilling and will not be as optimal for micro vibration damping as the microfiber leather. Descitions, descitions, descitions....

 

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[Cornan]

Here is a couple of pictures of my current FMC setup

 

 

If you cannot translate these pictures into common sense...just ask me!

 

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[austinpop]

Since I know that austinpop have ordered two DC blocker I have asked him to try them on each end of his SAT cable as well to see if that theory holds true. Would be very interesting to know since that would also further explain why the router is that noisy...ie. not only to the AC mains.

 

Well, I finally got to try the Pico VBC-HRL DC blocker.

 

It's very hard to tell, since the amount of time it takes to put it in place at my cable modem at the other end of the house is non-trivial, doing A-B comparisons is challenging.

 

I want to say it made a small improvement, but I cannot say with any certainty. Certainly, it's a small change. But then, perhaps other isolators like the Baaske are already doing the job!

 

Here's the picture:

[YashN]

@YashN

If you want another present you should wish for this

John Hopkins "Insides" is a really great album! Would be on my top 10 "to have list"! Go get!

 

Sounded a bit harsh and unmelodic for my liking.

 

I'm more inclined to be tripping to this:

 

[Cornan]

Well, I finally got to try the Pico VBC-HRL DC blocker.

 

It's very hard to tell, since the amount of time it takes to put it in place at my cable modem at the other end of the house is non-trivial, doing A-B comparisons is challenging.

 

I want to say it made a small improvement, but I cannot say with any certainty. Certainly, it's a small change. But then, perhaps other isolators like the Baaske are already doing the job!

 

Here's the picture:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]32385[/ATTACH]

Since you have two. Can you try the HRL in each end of the same cable as well (ie. Uphill & downhill the same Ethernet cable). I know you've got a complicated network. Try to add them at different location as well. My guess is that one must be at the service providers first input and the other one were it matters most (could be close to router or at the closest Y-split for example).

 

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[Cornan]

Sounded a bit harsh and unmelodic for my liking.

 

I'm more inclined to be tripping to this:

 

I think you might "force" yourself to listen. IME the music that grows slowly last longer!

 

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[austinpop]

Since you have two. Can you try the HRL in each end of the same cable as well (ie. Uphill & downhill the same Ethernet cable). I know you've got a complicated network. Try to add them at different location as well. My guess is that one must be at the service providers first input and the other one were it matters most (could be close to router or at the closest Y-split for example).

 

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OK I will try that tomorrow. For now, I had to take it out, because my internet service was a bit flaky. I can't tell for sure if it was the VBC-HRL that caused it. Could be a coincidence.

 

Since I canceled my CATV service a long time ago, the Y-split prior to my cable modem may or may not be redundant. I don't need the split per se, but on the other hand, it may be providing a signal attenuation to my cable modem.

 

I'll try whatever experiments work.

[Cornan]

OK I will try that tomorrow. For now, I had to take it out, because my internet service was a bit flaky. I can't tell for sure if it was the VBC-HRL that caused it. Could be a coincidence.

 

Since I canceled my CATV service a long time ago, the Y-split prior to my cable modem may or may not be redundant. I don't need the split per se, but on the other hand, it may be providing a signal attenuation to my cable modem.

 

I'll try whatever experiments work.

 

The possibillities that the DC/ground isolators is doing similar things tjat copper ethernet that fiber-optic thernet is possible. Moving the HLR further uphill could help more than closer to FMCs...and might explain why my Supra F-CON is now collecting drawer dust despite previous top notch acheivements. [emoji848]

 

 

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[austinpop]

The possibillities that the DC/ground isolators is doing similar things tjat copper ethernet that fiber-optic thernet is possible. Moving the HLR further uphill could help more than closer to FMCs...and might explain why my Supra F-CON is now collecting drawer dust despite previous top notch acheivements. [emoji848]

 

Hmm, well, we'll see.

 

It's dark now, but tomorrow I plan to look at the junction box where the CATV enters the house. It's possible I may be able to patch in the HRL at this entry point, rather than after another 50 ft of RG6 cable to my wiring closet.

 

No guarantees, but I'll keep you posted.

 

P.S. Luckily I'm in Austin, where the weather temps tomorrow may be as high as 25C. I'm sure Sweden is just a tad cooler.

[Cornan]

Finally I got one of my DIY 100Base-TX cables working. The Deltaco tool-free RJ45 plugs (which I'll have to use at router end and Aries Mini end due to limited plug space) are a pain to assemble with my 22awg silver wires. Still haven't got the other one close to my router working yet. I gave up after 3 hours fiddling.

 

 

Since I use router grounding I connected my Audioquest forest at the router end, ie. no galvanic isolation between router and FMC.

 

Impressions? Well, Agnes Obel's track "Fuel to Fire" just jumped out of the closet! Sounds way more natural now. More like she is singing in a chapell actually. I like it a lot!

When I have regain some of my lost nerves I will finalize the second DIY cable as well. I'll just have to! This sounds way too good to be neglected.

 

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[Cornan]

Wow! Listening to one of my all time favourite albums Blue Hawaii "Untogether" and my neck hair is killing me! ?

 

 

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