SOtM smS-200 unveiled at Munich Hi-End

[guerph]

Yes, this will work but understand that just because it's an LPS, that doesn't mean it will sound great or better. Just like with the microRendu, the best PSUs are those with very low output impedance. If the company doesn't know the output impedance of their PSU, then it's a crapshoot. As I've asked around, most PSU makers can't provide output impedance values either because they don't own measuring equipment or else they never considered impedance to be an important spec. If the response is the latter, consider looking elsewhere. My HDPlex, for example, sounded no better than my iFi. Same with my Teradak. Most battery supplies don't have low impedance. The LPS-1 would be the exception based on what I am hearing with my LPS-1. Vinnie Rossi's supercapacitor-based supply should provide similar performance and his supplies can be ordered at 9v. 9v supplies seem to sound better than 7v supplies, everything else being equal. Paul Hynes provides impedance measurements for his supplies and I can vouch for the supremacy of his SR7. He makes a more affordable SR5 and SR3 also.

 

FYI: output impedance less than .008 Ω

 

 

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[romaz]

FYI: output impedance less than .008 Ω

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<8 milliohms is good but over what frequency range? According to John Swenson, good output impedance shouldn't just be limited to 20Hz to 20,000Hz but well beyond.

[romaz]

FYI: output impedance less than .008 Ω

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Paul Hynes' SR5 and SR7 supplies measure to <3 milliohms (0.003 Ω) from DC to 100KHz and this is what John Swenson had to say about it with regards to the mR. There's no reason this shouldn't apply equally to the sMS-200:

"Those specs are very good and should do very well with a microRendu. 3mohm from DC to 100KHz is superb and covers the range that I consider the most important for a supply for the microRendu."

 

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f26-sonore-sponsored/sonore-microrendu-27389/index50.html#post534304

[romaz]

Good point

 

I've tried the Acoustic Revive LAN isolator (not the 1G version) with Jplay to good effect in the past but the FMC are less costly:-)

 

Sound per UKP or Euro also comes into the equation.

 

But

 

As you say FMC need extra PSU and are no free lunch.

 

Swings and roundabouts.

 

The SMS200 was a birthday present which I could justify on cost grounds (with plenty of pretty pleasing)but the UR was a non starter price wise for me.

 

So the idea of a competition (this Vs that style) maybe interesting and fun but is irrelevant for some like myself with less deep pockets.

 

Yes cost was a factor for me.

 

The Iso cat 6 does look interesting and if you or anyone else has experience of one I'd love to have your thoughts.

 

The SMS200 is really good out of the box and the add-ons maybe just squeezing a little more juice from it.

 

It's all good

Here are my experiences. I currently own an SOtM iSO-CAT6, dCBL-CAT6 as well as a pair of TP-Link FMCs with the receiving end powered by an LPS-1. I further own a Paul Pang Ethernet Switch with TCXO clock (ethernet Regen, if you will) powered by an LPS-1. Cumulatively, they all make an impact but in my system, that impact, while meaningful, is not large. My system may be different from most and so YMMV. My Chord DAVE DAC which also serves as my headphone and speaker amp has galvanic isolation at the USB input. Having tried an Intona Industrial USB (galvanic) isolator and not having detected any difference at all, I have deemed that the Chord DAVE's galvanic isolation is of very high quality and so all of these upstream network isolation devices might not have has much impact in my system as other systems.

 

Anyway, I have looked at the individual impact of the above components and have deemed that some have greater impact than others:

 

FMC with receiving end powered by LPS-1 > Paul Pang ethernet switch powered by LPS-1 > dCBL-CAT6 ethernet cable > iSO-CAT6.

 

With the iSO-CAT6 specifically, I barely hear any improvement. I could easily live without this device while the dCBL-CAT6 seems to make more difference (smoother sound). I have also compared the SOtM dCBL-CAT6 against a Blue Jeans Cables CAT6A, AQ Diamond CAT7, AQ Vodka CAT7 and Supra CAT8 and all of these cables sound great with the Blue Jeans CAT6A sounding a bit more closed in than the rest. I will be testing the new WireWorld Starlight CAT8 but thus far, there isn't much difference among ethernet cables with the sMS-200 when fronted by the FMCs and Paul Pang switch.

[Lebouwsky]

Here are my experiences. I currently own an SOtM iSO-CAT6, dCBL-CAT6 as well as a pair of TP-Link FMCs with the receiving end powered by an LPS-1. I further own a Paul Pang Ethernet Switch with TCXO clock (ethernet Regen, if you will) powered by an LPS-1. Cumulatively, they all make an impact but in my system, that impact, while meaningful, is not large. My system may be different from most and so YMMV. My Chord DAVE DAC which also serves as my headphone and speaker amp has galvanic isolation at the USB input. Having tried an Intona Industrial USB (galvanic) isolator and not having detected any difference at all, I have deemed that the Chord DAVE's galvanic isolation is of very high quality and so all of these upstream network isolation devices might not have has much impact in my system as other systems.

 

Anyway, I have looked at the individual impact of the above components and have deemed that some have greater impact than others:

 

FMC with receiving end powered by LPS-1 > Paul Pang ethernet switch powered by LPS-1 > dCBL-CAT6 ethernet cable > iSO-CAT6.

 

With the iSO-CAT6 specifically, I barely hear any improvement. I could easily live without this device while the dCBL-CAT6 seems to make more difference (smoother sound). I have also compared the SOtM dCBL-CAT6 against a Blue Jeans Cables CAT6A, AQ Diamond CAT7, AQ Vodka CAT7 and Supra CAT8 and all of these cables sound great with the Blue Jeans CAT6A sounding a bit more closed in than the rest. I will be testing the new WireWorld Starlight CAT8 but thus far, there isn't much difference among ethernet cables with the sMS-200 when fronted by the FMCs and Paul Pang switch.

 

Thank you for your input. Did you review the performance of the Sotm iso cat6 filter as a stand alone improvement in ethernet signaling? Or did you review it in combination with the FMC's and pp switch. I can imagine the infuance of any ethernet filtering after fiber to ethernet conversion will become smaller.

 

The reason I ask is because at this moment I'm not very enthousiastic in ethernet signal improvement by introducing complex and expansive fmc's-switch-psu's configurations that may become unnesesarry when development continues at this pase (that is a guess).

 

At this moment I'm more interested in call it passive filtering if you will, Sotm provides them with the iso cat6, but there are also equal industrial filters. They are all plug and play and dont require psu's.

 

Above is just my opinion right know with the limited knowledge I have about this subject, feel free to shoot.

 

 

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[romaz]

Thank you for your input. Did you review the performance of the Sotm iso cat6 filter as a stand alone improvement in ethernet signaling? Or did you review it in combination with the FMC's and pp switch. I can imagine the infuance of any ethernet filtering after fiber to ethernet conversion will become smaller.

The reason I ask is because at this moment I'm not very enthousiastic in ethernet signal improvement by introducing complex and expansive fmc's-switch-psu's configurations that may become unnesesarry when development continues at this pase (that is a guess).

 

At this moment I'm more interested in call it passive filtering if you will, Sotm provides them with the iso cat6, but there are also equal industrial filters. They are all plug and play and dont require psu's.

 

Above is just my opinion right know with the limited knowledge I have about this subject, feel free to shoot.

 

 

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I hear what you're saying. I don't want a complex setup either but because I own all of these things and because I have found that none of them cause harm, I have kept them in. I have assessed the impact of the iSO-CAT6 paired with the dBL-CAT6 cable and with no other network add ons. With or without the iSO-CAT6, I can barely detect a difference. Considering the cost of this item, I do not consider it a good value at all. SOtM's dBL-CAT6 ethernet cable makes much more of an impact compared against the Blue Jeans CAT6A and is a better deal than either of the AQ ethernet cables. The Supra CAT8 is probably the best deal. Once I add the FMCs and the Paul Pang switch, these differences become quite small. Again, YMMV, but if I were to start from scratch, I would get a pair of FMCs, an LPS-1 to power the receiving end and a Supra CAT8 and be done with it.

[Lebouwsky]

I hear what you're saying. I don't want a complex setup either but because I own all of these things and because I have found that none of them cause harm, I have kept them in. I have assessed the impact of the iSO-CAT6 paired with the dBL-CAT6 cable and with no other network add ons. With or without the iSO-CAT6, I can barely detect a difference. Considering the cost of this item, I do not consider it a good value at all. SOtM's dBL-CAT6 ethernet cable makes much more of an impact compared against the Blue Jeans CAT6A and is a better deal than either of the AQ ethernet cables. The Supra CAT8 is probably the best deal. Once I add the FMCs and the Paul Pang switch, these differences become quite small. Again, YMMV, but if I were to start from scratch, I would get a pair of FMCs, an LPS-1 to power the receiving end and a Supra CAT8 and be done with it.

 

Since Sotm advices so and different users like you have confirmed this, I guess the conclusion is that the sms200 benefits from ethernet signal improvement and that it can not be totaly left over to the device itself.

 

Leaves us with the question about signal improvement of the USB output......

 

 

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[phusis]

Using the SOtM iSO-CAT6 as a LAN-isolator with the sMS-200, and found the inclusion of the former to improve/differ sonically in ways I find meaningful; a more stable, tightly knit (i.e.: less "hollow") presentation with an added sense of presence - and slightly smoother as well (without smoothing the sound as such). Overall the sound gained more substance and density, which to me is the natural presentation.

 

Thinking about USB-isolation as well, and which way to go here. Either the Intona (industrial) or SOtM hub seems an interesting route into this, but for some reason I'm inclined more towards the Intona as is - don't know why..

[Lee Henley]

Ive been looking at the SMS 200 to use in conjunction with my mac mini. Ive been running Roon and HQ Player on the same mac and have managed to upsample PCM to DSD 128 and Im quite happy with the sound quality. I was contemplating using the Mac Mini to run HQP and the SMS 200 to run Roon.

 

Am I correct in thinking that my Dac would be connected to the SMS 200? If so does the Mac Mini connect to the network via Ethernet to enable HQ Player to encode the tracks and the get played back through the SMS200 which is also connected to the network via Ethernet?

 

Any help much appreciated

 

Lee

[shoom]

Great Posts guys

''’Yes, this will work but understand that just because it's an LPS, that doesn't mean it will sound great or better. Just like with the microRendu, the best PSUs are those with very low output impedance. If the company doesn't know the outputimpedance of their PSU,’’

Interesting

I’m a DIY kind of guy and when power supplies are needed I tend to build my own and just a look at the pretty average commercial offerings (no names) I find it makes sense.-0

Building something with low OP impedance over a wide frequency range is certainly a challenge for me. A shunt springs to mind but at the sort of current delivery required it’s going to be big, hot and impractical. So I may do a read around to find something that fits the bill. Maybe a cap multiplier may work well may not? I’ll give one a try.

I did find my humble efforts so far to have made some difference but errrr well I still wonder if there is more to be had.

Plenty to think on.

‘’Paul Hynes provides impedance measurements for his supplies and I can vouch for the supremacy of his SR7.’’

Yes I’ve read some really nice comments about PH’s work and now he’s sorted out his delivery times they look like a safe bet and good value. I would also be interested in trying one of Long Dog Audio’s PSU’s from MCRU here in the UK. I’ve built some of Nick’s tube amps in the past and like his work in that regard.

‘’My system may be different from most and so YMMV’’

Yes very good point. It’s worth pointing out that some of these things may be system dependent and are all personal takes. It’s great to read what others have found which really helps when thinking on things to ‘’try’’.

‘’there isn't much difference among ethernet cables with the sMS-200 when fronted by the FMCs’’

Been there and done that.

I've also found that with FMC’s (IFI powered) fitted the differences between ethernet cables becomes almost undetectable. Which is nice because a pair of FMC tend to cost less than most special cables. So now I have just a short run of Supra cat8 (small world) between switch and SMS200.

‘’Using the SOtM iSO-CAT6 as a LAN-isolator with the sMS-200, and found the inclusion of the former to improve/differ sonically in ways I find meaningful; a more stable, tightly knit (i.e.: less "hollow") presentation with an added sense of presence - and slightly smoother as well (without smoothing the sound as such). Overall the sound gained more substance and density, which to me is the natural presentation.’’

Interesting take and another valid approach to network isolation.

BTW there are some pretty interesting network isolation threads over in the Networking Forum if anyone is interested in further reading.

‘’Thinking about USB-isolation as well, and which way to go here. Either the Intona (industrial) or SOtM hub seems an interesting route into this, but for some reason I'm inclined more towards the Intona as is - don't know why..’’

And the rabbit hole opens J

Even more variables than network isolation and maybe more dependent on the DAC used.

I have the REGEN and used with my WaveIO (shunted) Buffalo3 Legato which draws no power from Vbus I’ve not heard so much difference between REGEN in or out. I’m going to re visit this option when time allows just to be sure.

But with my buss powered IFI IDAC2 I’ve found the difference a little more obvious.

Horses and coursesJ

When I first raised the use of FMC it was really intended as an ‘’option’’ that people may wish to try if interested.

But

To be clear. IMHO the SMS200 sound is very good out of the box and the add-ons may be just the sugar coating with cherry on top.

I like sweet but others may not or hear no change at all which is fine

Maybe finding out with our ‘’own ears’’ is all part of the fun.

 

[firedog]

Ive been looking at the SMS 200 to use in conjunction with my mac mini. Ive been running Roon and HQ Player on the same mac and have managed to upsample PCM to DSD 128 and Im quite happy with the sound quality. I was contemplating using the Mac Mini to run HQP and the SMS 200 to run Roon.

 

Am I correct in thinking that my Dac would be connected to the SMS 200? If so does the Mac Mini connect to the network via Ethernet to enable HQ Player to encode the tracks and the get played back through the SMS200 which is also connected to the network via Ethernet?

 

Any help much appreciated

 

Lee

 

Yes. Mac Mini running Roon/HQP>ethernet to router or switch

SMS-200 in HQP NAA mode connected to ethernet router or switch; SMS-200 USB out to DAC

 

BTW, in this configuration you can run RoonServer on your MAC/server instead of full fledged Roon. This is full Roon functionality, but without the GUI on the server. You control it with Roon running as a control app on a phone, tablet, or laptop. The advantage of this system is that the Roon overhead on your server is less.

[ducatirider]

I was wondering if anyone compared the NAS to direct USB hard drive. After all Ethernet is collision based. All that traffic would be eliminated.

 

 

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[doraymon]

The following email correspondance took place between me and May from Sotm:

 

Me: Hello May,

 

Thank you for your mail. It is stated the sms200 is galvanicly isolated. Is that correct?

 

And a divice that reclocks the USB output, is that also implemented in the sms-200, like the microrendu has?

 

I'm aware of the situation: if the sms200 includes these features it would both be positive advertisement for the sms200, but it would perhaps bite other products from Sotm.

 

Sotm: Hi Lebouwsky

 

Not at all, this is my job to support all our customers, feel free to ask me with any question, even though I’m worried a bit since English is not my mother language so there might be misunderstanding;).

 

 

 

We don’t use the galvanic isolated technic on sMS-200. This technic is VERY useful for some product ranges which don’t need to care about jitters, but audio products are the most sensitive on jitters and such reason we don’t use galvanic isolated technic, it degrades sound quality so we use our own technology to improve sound which we have been applied to our tX-USB, tX-USBexp and all our other product range

 

 

 

The iSO-CAT6 is a LAN signal isolator to enhance audio sound quality by using the specially designed filter which isolates LAN signal and blocks noise.

 

 

 

and we do have a device which reclock the USB output, it names tX-USBUltra. it has newly developed sCLK-EX board installed. The tX-USBhubEX which I had mentioned earlier is the audio grade USB hub which reduce noise and improve sound quality.

 

Here I link those mentioned product for yoru better understanding.

 

tX-USBhubEX : tX-USBhub – SOtM – English

 

sCLK-EX : sCLK-EX – SOtM – English

 

tX-USBUltra : sorry that the information hasn’t been updated yet. tX-USBUltra – SOtM – English

 

 

 

Thank you very much

 

Best regards, MAy

 

 

 

 

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Now I am even more confused.

If SOtM claims you need to add an ethernet filter upstream the sMS-200 and a USB reclocker downstream, than I wonder what is the added value of the sMS-200 itself??

I thought this is exactly what the sMS-200 did, taking a signal from the Lan, galvanically isolate it, reclock it (reduce jitter) and send it bit perfect to the DAC through USB.

 

Can someone help me clarify please?

[ducatirider]

I just got my unit. Plugged it in and set up the web browser. I'm using dlna and Jriver For some reason the volume control doesn't work. Any thoughts? Stone cold sounds promising.

 

 

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[shoom]

''Now I am even more confused.

If SOtM claims you need to add an ethernet filter upstream the sMS-200 and a USB reclocker downstream, than I wonder what is the added value of the sMS-200 itself??

I thought this is exactly what the sMS-200 did, taking a signal from the Lan, galvanically isolate it, reclock it (reduce jitter) and send it bit perfect to the DAC through USB.

 

Can someone help me clarify please?''

 

I'm not sure that SOtM are claiming that you ''need'' to use additional devices LAN or USB wise. They just list some ''optional'' extras which ''may'' further improve the sound.

 

That was my take anyway.:-)

[Lebouwsky]

Now I am even more confused.

If SOtM claims you need to add an ethernet filter upstream the sMS-200 and a USB reclocker downstream, than I wonder what is the added value of the sMS-200 itself??

I thought this is exactly what the sMS-200 did, taking a signal from the Lan, galvanically isolate it, reclock it (reduce jitter) and send it bit perfect to the DAC through USB.

 

Can someone help me clarify please?

 

Same here, I thought the sms200 did all that. Maybe it does, but not fully 100% or it doesn't at all. There are two ways to look at it: it is disapointing and value can be questioned, or it is promissing because it seems to sound really good out of the box and there's room to improve. I like to think in option 2.

 

One can wonder what the added value of the sms200 is when compared to, lets say, a raspberry pi 3. It seems the value of the sms200 is there, and if it does, it is added in the proces between the ethernet signal and the USB output without the filtering (which makes sence right)

 

Time will tell soon, because right now I use a hummingboard edge (an expensive pi) with volumio, regen and a schiit gungnir dac and the sms200 is in the drawer waiting to be compared.

 

 

 

 

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[Peter_T]

I just got my unit. Plugged it in and set up the web browser. I'm using dlna and Jriver For some reason the volume control doesn't work. Any thoughts? Stone cold sounds promising.

 

You are correct : no volume control with the JRMC DLNA server. For JRMC the SOTM200 is not a local zone, so you cannot set audio properties. Jriver refers you to the settings of their DLNA server and that one does not deal with volume settings. So you have to use the volume knob on your amplifier.

[shoom]

''Same here, I thought the sms200 did all that. Maybe it does, but not fully 100% or it doesn't at all. There are two ways to look at it: it is disapointing and value can be questioned, or it is promissing because it seems to sound really good out of the box and there's room to improve. I like to think in option 2.

 

One can wonder what the added value of the sms200 is when compared to, lets say, a raspberry pi 3. It seems the value of the sms200 is there, and if it does, it is added in the proces between the ethernet signal and the USB output without the filtering (which makes sence right)

 

Time will tell soon, because right now I use a hummingboard edge (an expensive pi) with volumio, regen and a schiit gungnir dac and the sms200 is in the drawer waiting to be compared.''

 

Good questions

And maybe SOtM’s would care to join the discussion

As I understand it the added value bits are about optimisation of board layout, optimised PSU (regs), XO and of course software. I’d also assume that LAN and USB have also had some attention paid implementation wise.

So let’s take another look at their web siteJ

‘’We have the most special and unique original technology made by our own such as

Ultra low noise regulator, Ultra low jitter clock, active noise canceler, multi

stage regulation and the other leading edge original technology, these have

been proved by tX-USB, tX-USBexp, SATA Filter and etc from the moment when they

revealed in this industry and they can’t be easily copied nor reproduced by

others. These are applied to all our products, and they present the most

detailed and high quality sound and it is the key feature that why our products

are different with others. As it has been mentioned above, the most special and

unique technologies have been applied to all SOtM products as well as the

sMS-200. It make sMS-200 presenting the most attractive sound quality compared

to others in the same price range products on the market, actually we sure that

there is no one in the same price range with such high quality audio product in

current market.’’

My way into these sort of low power end points (NAA) came through trying a PI2 with HQplayer NAA and then a Cubox I.

To my ears the SMS200 sounds better than both of those units.

 

But others may have a different take.

I’ll look forward to your thoughts re the Hummingboard.

 

[firedog]

I think the idea is that a device like the SMS-200 adds value by eliminating many of the noise issues - or most of the noise - that is associated with a PC/server playing back music files to a USB DAC.

 

That doesn't mean it eliminates ALL of them. Given a quieter source-output- either via USB or ethernet or both - you will get even better results than via the SMS-200 without additional devices.

 

The Lan filter and USB card are both add-ons that result in even less noise being fed to the SMS-200 or output from it, and the idea is that the result using the SMS-200 will then be even better.

 

A parallel situation exists with the Uptone Regen and Sonore microRendu: they work even better when fed clean power, even though part of what they do is clean up the power.

[firedog]

I was wondering if anyone compared the NAS to direct USB hard drive. After all Ethernet is collision based. All that traffic would be eliminated.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Computer Audiophile

 

No simple answer to this. USB has it's own disadvantages, especially most USB hard drives-which tend to be fairly noisy electrically and with noisy wall wart PS's.

Each method could be either better or worse, depending on the specific setup and specific HW.

[Peter_T]

I just got my unit. Plugged it in and set up the web browser. I'm using dlna and Jriver For some reason the volume control doesn't work. Any thoughts? Stone cold sounds promising.

 

To add to my previous post : If you want digital volume control (risk of sound degradation) you can use the Squeezelite mode of the SOTM200, use LMS as server and use the free Squeezelite app as controller. (works on my Ipad, don't know about Android phones/tablets)

[tedwoods]

Some interesting points have emerged out of this discussion. Of course, we mustn't forget that the SMS200 offers its superb sound, versatility and top end performance for very modest expenditure. I think that building around a main device by means of add-ons like a better power supply or such is both clever and desirable. Personally, I use it with Supra cat8 cables without any other isolation, a typical modem/router powered by an i-fi power supply, and with an s-booster (on loan, while waiting for sotm's own power supply) and used as NAA for Hqplayer, the sound is spectacular. I have also tried the i-fi ipurifier2 after it and noticed no difference in sound, so I guess sotm must be doing something right. Only other add-on is a v- bus2, since my DAC doesn't require the 5V bus.

 

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[ducatirider]

To add to my previous post : If you want digital volume control (risk of sound degradation) you can use the Squeezelite mode of the SOTM200, use LMS as server and use the free Squeezelite app as controller. (works on my Ipad, don't know about Android phones/tablets)

 

Thank you. I prefer not to use Squeezelite because it doesn't work with DSD. What's odd to me is that my SMS-100 volume control works over DLNA and jrmc. The skinnier o/s does result in a more detailed sound though.

 

 

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[ducatirider]

You are correct : no volume control with the JRMC DLNA server. For JRMC the SOTM200 is not a local zone, so you cannot set audio properties. Jriver refers you to the settings of their DLNA server and that one does not deal with volume settings. So you have to use the volume knob on your amplifier.

 

I have an SMS-100 which works with jrmc/jremote volume control. So that led me to think maybe my sd card needed an update.

 

 

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[Peter_T]

I have an SMS-100 which works with jrmc/jremote volume control. So that led me to think maybe my sd card needed an update.

 

I had the SOTM100 last year on loan for a fortnight, and decided that it was not as good as my old setup. I don't remember having problems then with the volume control with JRMC DLNA/Jremote : if so, we should ask May from SOTM about a possible update for the DLNA part of the SOTM200?