A novel way to massively improve the SQ of computer audio streaming

Marcin_gps · May 23, 2017

On 21.05.2017 at 2:57 PM, romaz said:

Adnaco makes the JCAT USB card and I have looked at it. I believe not all regulators on this card are linear. The SOtM card uses one switching regulator out of necessity while the rest are linear but Lee did his best to filter out its negative impact. If you are using a high quality PSU like the LPS-1 or if all you have is the LPS-1, then I would probably ask Lee to remove the first stage regulator so that you can power it directly with 5V instead of 9V but then take care to use a well insulated (and as short as possible) DC cable.

There are no switching power supplies on the JCAT USB Card FEMTO

BR,

Marcin

Marcin_gps · June 7, 2017

On 5.06.2017 at 3:37 PM, greenleo said:

JCAT mentioned that they're going to introduce one. But no sign yet.

Oh, it is coming very soon - still in June!

On 5.06.2017 at 6:02 AM, ElviaCaprice said:

Hi Larry,

Not just JCAT, but any audiophile USB pcie card. I can't make any sense of your attempt here, other than you used an old JCAT card with an outdated driver? How could it sound worse?

If jumpers on the card were set properly then the only explanation that comes to my mind is that the dropouts were caused by USB selective suspend option which is enabled by default in Windows to save power when a USB device is not used.

Regarding sound, I'd try with native MS driver. The optional NEC/Renesas driver is brighter and thinner sounding.

Regards,

Marcin

Marcin_gps · June 9, 2017

9 minutes ago, Em2016 said:

Hi Marcin

Can you share some details about this.

Is it going to be a high end switch (i.e. multiple ethernet ports) or a device with a single ethernet input and a single ethernet output?

And what features will it have? Linear regulators, re-clocking, signal integrity regeneration etc?

Cheers!

Sean

Hi Sean,

It is a a dual-port 1Gbit PCI Express network adapter with femto clock using ultra-low noise linear power supplies exclusively. Similar design to our JCAT USB Card FEMTO only for Ethernet.

Best regards,

Marcin

Marcin_gps · June 9, 2017

2 hours ago, AmusedToD said:

Hi @Marcin_gps,

Will it be possible to install the network adapter in an Intel NUC?

It's a bit tricky, but possible: http://www.virten.net/2015/09/adding-a-second-nic-to-a-5th-gen-intel-nuc-or-other-pcie-cards/

Regards,

Marcin

Marcin_gps · June 10, 2017

On 9.06.2017 at 10:17 AM, Em2016 said:

Hi @Marcin_gps

Can you kindly share some details about this.

Is it going to be a high end switch (i.e. multiple ethernet ports) or a device with a single ethernet input and a single ethernet output?

And what features will it have? Linear regulators, re-clocking, signal integrity regeneration etc?

Cheers!

Sean

Final pre-production units arrived. Coming soon to PC near you

Marcin_gps · June 10, 2017

4 minutes ago, pam1975 said:

Will it come with low profile bracket as well?

what price will you be selling it at?

Both low-profile and full-height laser cut brackets will be included.

The price will be similar to the JCAT USB Card FEMTO.

Marcin_gps · June 11, 2017

1 hour ago, greenleo said:

Can it be powered externally?

Yes - via DC barrel jack or LP4 molex connector.

Marcin_gps · June 13, 2017

On 11.06.2017 at 5:36 PM, Cooler said:

I talked to @Marcin_gps

if nic will work on gigabit speed with two ports, it needs 2A.

If i stay with seasonic, is j2 good enough, or what would you suggest? And what do you mean under "12v mobo"?

Typ current is 1.5A. Max current: 1.9A (depending on operation condition) – I would say if somebody has 1.5A PSU then he can try to use it. If buy a new one then it is better to buy >=2A.

Marcin_gps · June 13, 2017

2 hours ago, greenleo said:

The clock is is an atomic clock, right?

FEMTO clock. Same as on the JCAT USB Card FEMTO only different frequency - Ethernet runs on 25MHz while USB on 24MHz

Best regards,

Marcin

Marcin_gps · September 25, 2017

5 hours ago, lateboomer said:

I read that jcat femto net card is developed from Intel i350t nic card.

I wonder we could hack the Intel nic card to provide lps to it.

It uses i350 ethernet controller, but it's a proprietary design, not a modified intel card.

Best regards,

Marcin

Marcin_gps · November 19, 2018

On 11/14/2018 at 8:29 PM, RickyV said:

Is there a website? @lmitche

Other questions i have are:

Is it possible in AudioLinux to configure a m.2 slot to accept a jcat usb Femto card?

@Marcin_gps

Is a NUC best in a two pc set up or can it be one nuc, without ssd, only music from tidal or a nas?

For now I prefer a one nuc setup what media player s.w is there to choose from?

Thanks

Rick ?

It shouldn't need any special configuration, it should work out of box with an m.2 -> PCIe riser cable

Regards,

Marcin

Marcin_gps · November 19, 2018

4 minutes ago, Narcissus said:

@Marcin_gps good to read your valuable posts. I remember way back in 2013 at the Jplay forums you were one of the first ones to advise using a dual PC setup.

Thanks. Now with JPLAY FEMTO, single PC sounds better than dual PC setup back there.

Regards,

Marcin

Marcin_gps · November 19, 2018

1 hour ago, TubeMan said:

there's nothing special about Jcat NIC driver,
It a standard Intel T350 NIC from start,
So it works flawless in AudioLinux

Correct.

btw - It works plug&play in QNAP NAS models that have a PCIe slot too

Marcin_gps · November 21, 2018

On 11/20/2018 at 4:22 AM, Narcissus said:

Cool, will Jplay FEMTO work on Audiolinux? I'd be keen to give it a listen, the timing is perfect as I'm trying to ascertain buying a new player SW for Audiolinux.

No, it's a software for Windows

Marcin_gps · March 26, 2019

9 hours ago, romaz said:

The key to the JCAT card is that it can be independently powered. When powered by an SR4, this card is incredibly good. When bus-powered, it's just ok. There's no way to independently power the Ethernet ports on a motherboard.

Plus there are no switching power supplies on the card which means that the effect of your pristine external LPS is not destroyed

Regards,
Marcin

Marcin_gps · May 3, 2019

Hello Guys,

Just a quick update: both JCAT NET Card FEMTO & JCAT USB Card FEMTO are back in stock and all pre-orders will ship on Monday.

Thanks to @romaz & @austinpop reviews there was a huge demand for the cards.

BTW - if anyone is in Munich next week for the High End show and has any questions or just want to say hi, please visit Hall 2, Booth E01. I will be there

Regards,

Marcin

Marcin_gps · May 7, 2019

8 hours ago, mourip said:

Can you describe your current system for us?

All orders have been picked up by UPS. You should see tracking updates now in the UPS system.

Regards,

Marcin

Marcin_gps · August 21, 2019

18 hours ago, seeteeyou said:

Could @Marcin_gps please kindly chime in? Many thanks.

I could only find their SODIMM version but NOT the DIMM ones we're looking for

http://eflash.apacerus.com/spec/DRAM/75.CA4GJ.G010B SA-B Indus. HF.pdf

http://eflash.apacerus.com/spec/DRAM/newnew75.B93GJ.G010B DDR4 SODIMM 2400-17 512x8 4GB SA-E Indus. HF.pdf

Let's take a look at the prices of SODIMM flavor for now, make sure that we're staying away from Mouser once we could get our hands on the DIMM counterpart

https://www.memory4less.com/apacer-8gb-sodimm-pc19200-75-ca4gj-g010b

https://www.memory4less.com/apacer-16gb-sodimm-pc19200-75-da4gj-g010b

https://www.soselectronic.com/products/apacer/75-b93gj-g010b-307859

https://www.soselectronic.com/products/apacer/75-ca4gj-g010b-307861

https://www.soselectronic.com/products/apacer/75-da4gj-g010b-307862

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Apacer/75B93GJG010B?qs=w%2Fv1CP2dgqriT37rKQCk2A%3D%3D

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Apacer/75CA4GJG010B?qs=w%2Fv1CP2dgqq9BRO0ZulRnA%3D%3D

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Apacer/75DA4GJG010B?qs=w%2Fv1CP2dgqqEEqc4W1O%2BNA%3D%3D

Actually it's gonna be essential to figure out how much RAM do we really need for Euphony with ramroot enabled, and then there's also RAM Caching to be taken into consideration.

Hello,

I'm using D31.23185S.001 DDR4 4GB ECC UDIMM at the moment. This is the latest model based on the newly developed Samsung IC. It's a step up from the previous Apacer industrial E/T RAM.

The best way to purchase Apacer ram is to call Apacer and ask them about the dealer in your neighbourhood. It worked for me.

Regards,

Marcin

Marcin_gps · October 7, 2019

Hi Guys,

Those of you who are looking at Apacer industrial ECC RAM, make sure to order the brand new model with Samsung IC:

D31.23185S.001 DDR4 4GB ECC UDIMM 2666 CL19 WT

It's a clear step up from the previously available model.

BTW - I'm in the process of setting up JPLAY / JCAT Club here at AS where I'll be talking about new exciting products.

Best regards,
Marcin

Marcin_gps · October 10, 2019

On 10/7/2019 at 11:46 PM, lwr said:

Is it a clear step up in technical specs only, or a clear step up in SQ? If it’s a clear step up in SQ, is it as big a step up as from consumer grade memory to industrial grade memory?

In SQ.

I have not used consumer grade memory since 2012 when i first tested ECC Apacer DDR3

On 10/8/2019 at 12:28 PM, Gavin1977 said:

Mouser (UK's APacer distributer) are unable to identify this memory. D31.23185S.001 DDR4 4GB ECC UDIMM

Marcin - Are you able to provide a weblink? Also, any non-ECC version and feedback on sound?

https://industrial.apacer.com/en-ww/DRAM/DDR4-Wide-Temp.-ECC-UDIMM

Non ECC version is also available: https://industrial.apacer.com/en-ww/DRAM/DDR4-Wide-Temp.-UDIMM

Regards,
Marcin

Marcin_gps · October 16, 2019

On 10/12/2019 at 6:58 PM, seeteeyou said:

I saw that you're also quite fond of SLC CF cards from Apacer

http://jplay.eu/forum/index.php?/topic/2413-apacer-cf-card-extended-range-temperature-as-ssd/#entry41693

http://jplay.eu/forum/index.php?/topic/1141-guide-how-to-properly-set-up-windows-server-2012-on-a-cf-card/page-3#entry41542

Their latest model should be CS710-CF and 32GB ones are about $330 on Mouser, did you try previous generations yourself and just wondering if the impact were as significant as what ECC RAM could bring to the table?

https://industrial.apacer.com/en-ww/SSD/CS710-CF

https://www.soselectronic.com/products/apacer/ap-cf032grhns-etnrk-320536

https://www.mouser.com/Semiconductors/Memory-ICs/Memory-Modules-Memory-Cards/Memory-Cards/CS710-CF-Series/_/N-fb8vi?P=1y8f0ve

Since not all motherboards are compatible with CF-to-SATA adapters these days, their SLC SSDs might seem to be a better to me

https://industrial.apacer.com/en-ww/SSD/SS130-25

https://www.soselectronic.com/products/apacer/aps25hu7032g-ktwf-322963

SS130-25 was released several months ago and therefore it should be fairly new.

I've used the Apacer SLC CF Cards too, but I switched to Apacer SLC SSD eventually: https://industrial.apacer.com/en-ww/SSD/SFD25A

CF Card sounded a bit better, but the read/write performance bottleneck and a difficult OS installation process was not worth it in the long run

Regards,

Marcin

Marcin_gps · October 18, 2019

3 hours ago, TubeMan said:

what do you miss in the sound with SSD compared to CF card

CF card sounded more refined

Regards,

Marcin

Marcin_gps · May 28, 2020

2 hours ago, guiltyboxswapper said:

Just a word of warning - I have the JCAT XE card and found both of my Slimrun optical USBs would stop communicating with the DAC. This problem did not occur with the Ryzen onboard USB ports, though. Real shame as it was very effective otherwise.

Did you by any chance remove the jumpers from the card? I wonder if that's the cause.

Marcin_gps · May 29, 2020

20 hours ago, guiltyboxswapper said:

I tried both ways (USB port power on, and off). On other USB ports, powering it internally/externally didnt effect its stability.

Do you have a PSU connected to the USB card?

Marcin_gps · May 29, 2020

48 minutes ago, guiltyboxswapper said:

Yes, PSU has plenty of headroom (5A), although not drawing power from USB port.

FWIW, the SlimRun USB works randomly - either for hours at a time, or suddenly stops with the XE. Happens during track changes. It does seem once in a while the USB hubs do get confused for others too. They are native USB 3.0 hubs, but accepting USB 2.0 devices. Interestingly, I could never get it to throw up issues with a USB 3.0 device attached via the XE.

A few other reviews of the product itself suggest this is happening with other USB ports too, so not strictly an XE issue. It appears from the kernel logs that the USB hubs are resetting when faulting (i.e. disconnecting).

Also worth mentioning, when connected in Linux, the kernel would report the hub connecting at 5gbps, and its downstream devices (e.g. the DAC) ALSO rated at 5gbps, when ofcourse the DAC is a USB 2.0 480mbps device.

Did try injecting a USB 2.0 extension between SlimRun and PC, but it wouldnt function without USB 3.0 pins.

Will eventually try a few more optical extenders. SlimRun USB optical otherwise goes recommended.

OK, thanks for the info

A novel way to massively improve the SQ of computer audio streaming

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