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

[Vangelis]

On 4/26/2020 at 10:46 PM, Dev said:

JCAT Reference LAN Gold

 

I have been using the JCAT Reference for two week, so hopefully it is well broken in by now. Here is my subjective opinion:

 

A bit of background on my setup - I have the ER, powered by PH SR4, for over a month now. Its connected to Ubiquity fiber which further connects to my wifi router. One port on A side is connected to NAS (home brew running AudioLinux) powered by Mojo-audio Illuminati3. The B side is connected to NUCi7 running Euphony. So far I have been using cheap $10 Mono price CAT8 to connect. The JCAT Signature at 1000 EUR is too rich for my blood and hence I settled in for its lesser brother the JCAT Reference LAN Gold.

 

Needless to say, the ER has brought tremendous improvement to my previous setup which was using Wifi. However, as great as ER is, there was something off that kept me unsettling. I couldn't figure out what was it, neither I could lay my fingers on until I replaced the Monoprice CAT8 with JCAT Reference LAN Gold. It was an eye-opener from the first song I played that I realized how unnatural the tones was previously. The cheap cable had a metallic tone, especially to human voices. The JCAT completely removed it - music is fuller, bigger and natural is what I felt. In other words, if you have a good enough resolving system, a $10 cable will actually sound like a $10 cable after you have replaced it with a better one. I cannot explain why a 1M cable would have such a tremendous effect - the improvements in my system were much bigger than what ER bought to the table. However, both together brings a great synergy in my setup.

 

Marcin says that the Reference is 65% of the Signature which is about twice the price. I can only speculate how Signature can only take things further up the chain.

 

The Reference Gold at 600 EUR is not cheap by any stretch but I am glad that I took the plunge. For those, like me, who are not willing to spend and justify over a 1000 bucks for an Ethernet cable, the Reference takes the prime seat but if you can swing it, my guess is you will be up for a treat.

 

Don't skimp with cheap Ethernet cables and you will be glad (as I am) that you did.

 

I tried a number of off the shelf and High-end Ethernet cables. I’m very impressed with my Transparent Audio Ethernet as it pretty much clobbered everything I’ve compared it to.  I haven’t seen much of anything about it on the blogs. The Transparent Ethernet is not cheap, but it’s a great value compared to some of it’s competition. 

[Vangelis]

On 7/18/2020 at 3:46 AM, Chris_Shorter said:

I do use Tidal and my observations of how Roon works with it are as follows:

 

Play of the first item begins and Roon rushes ahead and buffers the first track and the whole of the second one. As soon as the second item becomes current, Roon buffers the whole of the third item. And so on until the last item is reached when Roon just plays it and there is nothing to buffer. I presume the buffering is to RAM in the server? So, except for the first item, all tracks are played entirely from RAM. 
 

if you have a playlist where Tidal tracks follow local content, you can see the first Tidal track buffering when the last track of local content becomes current.

 

 I believe Roon’s buffering approach goes beyond doing this just with Tidal and Qobuz streams and it is actually also doing it with local content as well, if it is in the playlist. Of course, this buffering happens much, much quicker than with internet streams and so is more difficult to see happening. Maybe, other forum members have access to network tools that would confirm or deny my belief?

 

Operating like this, I would expect local FLAC and Tidal FLAC to sound pretty much identical and this is my experience.

I’m assuming when you say local FLAC, you mean your own music files off your hard drives and that they sound the same as streaming from Tidal?

[Vangelis]

On 7/21/2020 at 5:32 PM, cat6man said:

 

i wonder if the benefits heard under DAC and power supply are also observed with headphones, as well as with your speakers?

 

this would give us an indication of whether the mechanism is immunity from the outside (i.e. the speakers setting the room ablaze with impulses) or removing inherent resonances/etc that originate in the electronics

I’ve tried tons of exotic second mortgage level footers and it was always a hit or miss because these footer companies can’t possibly take into account all the different audio chassises plus how the interior components react to resonance and stored mechcanical energy within their chassises.  There are simply too many variables for a footer to be a “one size fits all” solution. I have been tuning my Audio chassis and cables with wood for 20 years and I’ve had great success.  Mike Vans Evers, a Stereo Times writer and audio industry guy as well as the late Charles Hanson both started telling me I really should be tuning with wood, which really got me started. See the attached article from Stereotimes.

http://www.stereotimes.com/comm080100.shtml

[Vangelis]

23 hours ago, kennyb123 said:

 

I really can't agree with the first few sentences given the tremendous success I've had with Stillpoints Ultra products.  Just a week ago three used sets of Ultra SS arrived.  These were swapped for Nordost Sort Kones BC under my Zenith Mk3 and for Stillpoints Ultra Mini under my HMS and TT2.  Remarkable the improvement to tone purity, image focus, and transient speed as a result of this swap. Yes Stillpoints are pricy, but the purity of tone that comes forth from them is insanely addictive.  That's why you'll find that most folks who have introduced Stillpoints into their systems have gone nuts with them.  And once you have them under everything, the whole is far greater than the sum of the parts.  

 

Having said all that I've not experimented much with wood. The little that I have tells me that this becomes more an exercise in tuning or flavoring the sound to more to one's liking.  I have avoided that approach when selecting components and cables - opting instead to take steps that cause my system to get the heck out of the way of the music.  This approach keeps proving itself to have been the correct one (for me, at least).  

Hmm....With all due respect, you are disagreeing on the premise that my personal experience using different materials and methodology that you admit you’ve had no real hands-on time with can’t possibly compare and must introduce colorations compared to your personal experience with Stillpoints. Sounds to me these these are personal experiences that neither of us really have enough information or facts to create an opinion on other than I have a box of have a box of Stillpoints in my closet and it’s very unlikely that have a large variety of wood blocks. 

 

I understand pride of ownership and the fact do you are really were excited about your new footers, I get that, but I would not let that cloud my judgment there that there can’t possibly be an alternative that could realize the same or better results.

 

You had mentioned that you have system approaches that work well for you, I respect that and I would never disagree especially since I can never know your system’s character or your listening biases. 

 

There’s simply nothing to disagree about.  Where did I say that Stillpoints or any the other of other companies that make footers are not viable or capable of providing improvement? The fact that you had personal success with Stillpoints does not negate the fact that someone else has personally experienced similar or better results from a different pathway.