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


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Most important: please realize this thread is about bleeding edge experimentation and discovery. No one has The Answer™. If you are not into tweaking, just know that you can have a musically satisfying system without doing any of the nutty things we do here.

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1 hour ago, ElviaCaprice said:

 

Did he?  You asked but he never answered?  I never saw a full comparison..  

In fact, this is the only mention he made about his sCLK-EX server in comparison to the Zenith or DCS.

 

"I'll get a few things out of the way. Both of these units (DCS and Zenith) are excellent and the consensus was unanimous that in my system as stated, either of these units is a large gap better than a Windows 10 laptop on batteries running Roon. It was also a unanimous consensus that my current server build is better than either of these units but in different ways. For those not aware of the details of my current server build, here it is:

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/...reaming/?page=153&tab=comments#comment-724987"

 

 

That was it for the comparison and I would say that Roy still chose the sCLK-EX Server over these other two components.

I think I can also safely conclude that the trifecta will be better than the Zenith SE (solo USB to DAC)

 

Now could one modify the Zenith SE with an sCLK-EX for the ultimate server?  Guess I'll never know, seeing the price of this server is out of my game plan.

I think I'll wait for an audiophile mobo at a reasonable cost before any further server upgrades.  Meanwhile the $100 JETWAY NUC is serving me just fine.

 

 

You're right, he didn't post further on the forum. I've discussed much further with him in private, but it's up to him to post his findings.

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1 hour ago, hurka said:

regulator picture alredy posted,

1a juice enough this time,dont trialed parallel

ultracaps:2.7v 100F PowerStor green cap

 

2.7 V ultracaps  ?  What do you power with such low voltage ?

 

Do you put them in serial for higher voltage ? 

PCserver Supermicro X11SAA under Daphile  ,Jcat pcie net card ,Etherregen,e-red dock endpoint,powered by LPS 1.2 , SPS 500 , Sean Jacobs level 3 psu,  DAC Audiomat Maestro 3, Nagra Classic Amp , Hattor passive preamplifier , Martin Logan montis

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3 hours ago, ElviaCaprice said:

 

Did he?  You asked but he never answered?  I never saw a full comparison..  

In fact, this is the only mention he made about his sCLK-EX server in comparison to the Zenith or DCS.

 

"I'll get a few things out of the way. Both of these units (DCS and Zenith) are excellent and the consensus was unanimous that in my system as stated, either of these units is a large gap better than a Windows 10 laptop on batteries running Roon. It was also a unanimous consensus that my current server build is better than either of these units but in different ways. For those not aware of the details of my current server build, here it is:

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/...reaming/?page=153&tab=comments#comment-724987"

 

 

That was it for the comparison and I would say that Roy still chose the sCLK-EX Server over these other two components.

I think I can also safely conclude that the trifecta will be better than the Zenith SE (solo USB to DAC)

 

Now could one modify the Zenith SE with an sCLK-EX for the ultimate server?  Guess I'll never know, seeing the price of this server is out of my game plan.

I think I'll wait for an audiophile mobo at a reasonable cost before any further server upgrades.  Meanwhile the $100 JETWAY NUC is serving me just fine.

 

 

This is the answer i got it from Roy as well for his thoughts regarding to both Zenith SE and his custom server

 

"" With the Zenith SE combined with the tX-USBultra + Ref10, this combination is extremely close to my custom server. Because I need a 2nd server for my other listening room, I have purchased a Zenith SE""

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17 minutes ago, beautiful music said:

 

This is the answer i got it from Roy as well for his thoughts regarding to both Zenith SE and his custom server

 

"" With the Zenith SE combined with the tX-USBultra + Ref10, this combination is extremely close to my custom server. Because I need a 2nd server for my other listening room, I have purchased a Zenith SE""

Interesting information which shows that the zenith SE is a good product and the tx-USBultra a very good ad on to many systems .

 

One question keep puzzling me about Roy server system , he had obviously tick all the good thing's to get probably one of the best one board server system . Do you know which player he is using to run his system . Is it Roon ?

 

 

PCserver Supermicro X11SAA under Daphile  ,Jcat pcie net card ,Etherregen,e-red dock endpoint,powered by LPS 1.2 , SPS 500 , Sean Jacobs level 3 psu,  DAC Audiomat Maestro 3, Nagra Classic Amp , Hattor passive preamplifier , Martin Logan montis

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2 hours ago, jean-michel6 said:

Interesting information which shows that the zenith SE is a good product and the tx-USBultra a very good ad on to many systems .

 

One question keep puzzling me about Roy server system , he had obviously tick all the good thing's to get probably one of the best one board server system . Do you know which player he is using to run his system . Is it Roon ?

 

 

Actually it doesn't tell us anything much.  The fact that the Zenith SE sounds better with the tXUSBultra, means it is deficient in some way to need a fixer/reclocking.from a master clock.  What would be more curious is how does the Zenith SE stack up against the sCLK-EX server, neither incorporating any fixers/added components.

(JRiver) Jetway barebones NUC (mod 3 sCLK-EX, Cybershaft OP 14)  (PH SR7) => mini pcie adapter to PCIe 1X => tXUSBexp PCIe card (mod sCLK-EX) (PH SR7) => (USPCB) Chord DAVE => Omega Super 8XRS/REL t5i  (All powered thru Topaz Isolation Transformer)

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21 minutes ago, jean-michel6 said:

Interesting information which shows that the zenith SE is a good product and the tx-USBultra a very good ad on to many systems .

 

One question keep puzzling me about Roy server system , he had obviously tick all the good thing's to get probably one of the best one board server system . Do you know which player he is using to run his system . Is it Roon ?

 

 

 

I'm not sure if he is using Roon or Tidal.

 

But Zenith SE raised a curiosity what is the specification of it's linear power supply.

 

Does it surpasses the Paul Hynes SR7 performance!!!!!!!

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3 hours ago, hurka said:

I don't believe this regulator woodoo.The good power source matter(sps 500),great regulator just don't add any extra noise,and help stages separation.

in my dac dont have regulators,just ultracaps:D

 

Regulators is no woodoo, sPS-500 got them too! ;)  I was actually avoiding voltage regulators completely not too long ago, until I realized that the LT3045s provide exellent leakage isolation in the DC cable path. Whenever I see someone mensioning that they did´nt like the LT3045 I immediately suspect that they´ve got a leakage going into the DAC. Adding just one LT3045 could actually make things worse IME since the LT3045 is blocking a leakage, so the leakage have no choise but to take another less optimal path where there is no isolation present. An exellent choise is for example to use LT3045s in a DC Y-split cable, if both have one (or two in series for even better isolation). Next up for me is actually to try LT3045s in series on each end of the DC cable instead of directly after each other close to the powered device to see if that actually improves things. 

 

 

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33 minutes ago, beautiful music said:

But Zenith SE raised a curiosity what is the specification of it's linear power supply.

 

Does it surpasses the Paul Hynes SR7 performance!!!!!!!

 

ZENith SE should be limited to 100 units and they're down to last 10 or so already.

 

It's gonna be a stretch but one of us with ZENith SE plus either SR4 or SR7 might give this a try. Turn off ZENith SE and remove the cover. Disconnect the SATA power cable from the Samsung SSD inside ZENith SE and connect that to another SSD inside one of those spaghetti solutions. Turn ZENith back on and pray that nothing bad would happen. Now get back to the spaghetti solution and play a few familiar tracks. Then power everything off and then play the same tracks again with either SR4 or SR7 afterwards.

 

Granted we're still comparing a different DC power cable from SR4 / SR7 to SSD versus another cable from that CHC Triple-Linear LSU, though it's better than nothing.

 

Or someone in UK could also try that DC3 linear PSU from CHC for 30 days and see if that were really MUCH better than LPS-1 etc.

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1 hour ago, ElviaCaprice said:

Actually it doesn't tell us anything much.  The fact that the Zenith SE sounds better with the tXUSBultra, means it is deficient in some way to need a fixer/reclocking.from a master clock.  What would be more curious is how does the Zenith SE stack up against the sCLK-EX server, neither incorporating any fixers/added components.

 

1 hour ago, ElviaCaprice said:

Actually it doesn't tell us anything much.  The fact that the Zenith SE sounds better with the tXUSBultra, means it is deficient in some way to need a fixer/reclocking.from a master clock.  What would be more curious is how does the Zenith SE stack up against the sCLK-EX server, neither incorporating any fixers/added components.

I have a different view , I have a 2 pc set up ( server and player ) running with roon. 

The pc player output is with the SOTM pcie USB with it's own sCLK-48.0 clock board.  

 

Adding the txUSB ultra in the chain brings a valuable improvement to the sound even though the USB output of my player is already very very good. 

 

Other people ( Mozes ,may be ? ) are running two txUSB ultra in serial and got also more improvement. 

 

It it just shows the complexity of dealing properly with this crazy USB signal ....

PCserver Supermicro X11SAA under Daphile  ,Jcat pcie net card ,Etherregen,e-red dock endpoint,powered by LPS 1.2 , SPS 500 , Sean Jacobs level 3 psu,  DAC Audiomat Maestro 3, Nagra Classic Amp , Hattor passive preamplifier , Martin Logan montis

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4 hours ago, ElviaCaprice said:

Actually it doesn't tell us anything much.  The fact that the Zenith SE sounds better with the tXUSBultra, means it is deficient in some way to need a fixer/reclocking.from a master clock.  What would be more curious is how does the Zenith SE stack up against the sCLK-EX server, neither incorporating any fixers/added components.

 

Deleted ...

PCserver Supermicro X11SAA under Daphile  ,Jcat pcie net card ,Etherregen,e-red dock endpoint,powered by LPS 1.2 , SPS 500 , Sean Jacobs level 3 psu,  DAC Audiomat Maestro 3, Nagra Classic Amp , Hattor passive preamplifier , Martin Logan montis

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2 hours ago, seeteeyou said:

 

Awesome! That would a great service to give us a much better idea about where CHC would stand. Hopefully you're gonna swing for those Mundorf caps as well.

 

BTW, there's so much we could learn from Innous since they're really pushing the envelope IMHO

 

https://devialetchat.com/showthread.php?tid=3853&pid=60742#pid60742

 

https://devialetchat.com/showthread.php?tid=3853&pid=68044#pid68044

 

http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2017/10/richer-sounds-with-the-innuos-zenith-mkii-se/

 

 

In other words, it's really all about the meticulous details as well as the road less traveled if you will. Otherwise @romaz wouldn't be so impressed by its performance even though he's got his own custom server (slightly better than ZENith SE that is) already.

Thank you .... Very interesting reading as i am in the process to develop a new server using this super micro board .

PCserver Supermicro X11SAA under Daphile  ,Jcat pcie net card ,Etherregen,e-red dock endpoint,powered by LPS 1.2 , SPS 500 , Sean Jacobs level 3 psu,  DAC Audiomat Maestro 3, Nagra Classic Amp , Hattor passive preamplifier , Martin Logan montis

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5 hours ago, ElviaCaprice said:

Actually it doesn't tell us anything much.  The fact that the Zenith SE sounds better with the tXUSBultra, means it is deficient in some way to need a fixer/reclocking.from a master clock.  What would be more curious is how does the Zenith SE stack up against the sCLK-EX server, neither incorporating any fixers/added components.

Yes this will be ? to ? 

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5 hours ago, jean-michel6 said:

Thank you .... Very interesting reading as i am in the process to develop a new server using this super micro board .

 

You're very welcomed and that sounds exciting.

 

BTW, here's a little tip from Roy and maybe you'll find it helpful

 

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/30376-a-novel-way-to-massively-improve-the-sq-of-computer-audio-streaming/?page=50&tab=comments#comment-647362

Quote

One other area I got to test was 2GB vs 4GB of RAM.  While the difference wasn't huge, 2GB for sure sounds better and I will see if I can get 2GB to work out.

 

He also compared 2GB memory modules to 8GB ones below

 

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/30376-a-novel-way-to-massively-improve-the-sq-of-computer-audio-streaming/?page=47&tab=comments#comment-644453

Quote

2GB ECC DDR3 SDRAM UDIMM (1.5V)
Active standby current - 279mA
Operating burst read current - 675mA
Operating burst write current - 711mA
Burst refresh current - 1611mA

 

If you're able to run 2GB of RAM at 1,066 MHz, definitely get HMT425S6CFR6A from SK Hynix (it's like $9.95 a piece on eBay now) and you're gonna get much lower (maybe it's pretty much the lowest?) current draw to further reduce the noise

 

https://www.skhynix.com/products.view.do?vseq=1740&cseq=75

Quote

2GB, 256M x 64 SO-DIMM: HMT425S6CFR6A

Active standby current - 112mA
Operating burst read current - 368mA
Operating burst write current - 380mA
Burst refresh current - 520mA

 

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17 hours ago, welldone said:

As May from SOTM said to me that LPS1 is not juicy enough to power Tx USBUltra.

Now, my Tx USBUltra has been feeding by a LPS1, and i really want to get your information about this.

 

Can anyone here using USBUltra with LPS1 share your own experiences?

 

@welldone

 

I am successfully running my 6.5-9V tX-uSBultra - the earlier version only had 2 ranges: 6.5-9V or 12V - with an LPS-1 set at 7V for many months. The LPS-1 does run very hot, but Alex assures me it will not hurt it. If you search back on this thread, you'll see I actually measured temps at one point!

 

One of the biggest variables is the current drawn by the DAC connected to the tX-USBultra. What DAC are you using? I did some current measurements at one point, and determined my DAC draws approx 250mA. See:

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/30634-the-true-experimental-tweak-thread/?do=findComment&comment=651010 and https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/30634-the-true-experimental-tweak-thread/?do=findComment&comment=650878

 

 

In short, you should be OK with the LPS-1. The only scenario where you may run out of "juice" is if your DAC is known to be a current hog - i.e. it draws closer to 500 mA.

 

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46 minutes ago, BigGuy said:

Either that or the novel is a reference to long books like War & Peace!  ;-)

Didn't you know placing a large book on top of the DAC alters the sound according to the genre. Matching the book to the music gives the best results.

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12 hours ago, Cornan said:

 

Regulators is no woodoo, sPS-500 got them too! ;)  I was actually avoiding voltage regulators completely not too long ago, until I realized that the LT3045s provide exellent leakage isolation in the DC cable path. Whenever I see someone mensioning that they did´nt like the LT3045 I immediately suspect that they´ve got a leakage going into the DAC. Adding just one LT3045 could actually make things worse IME since the LT3045 is blocking a leakage, so the leakage have no choise but to take another less optimal path where there is no isolation present. An exellent choise is for example to use LT3045s in a DC Y-split cable, if both have one (or two in series for even better isolation). Next up for me is actually to try LT3045s in series on each end of the DC cable instead of directly after each other close to the powered device to see if that actually improves things. 

Added 4 today(iso r(2pcs),singxer,txusb,)

sound get worse vs the first config :iso r and tx usb ultra powered without lt3045.Maybe need burn in?or simply sps 500 better than lt3045!!?or juice not enough for tx usb ultra?

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38 minutes ago, mansr said:

Didn't you know placing a large book on top of the DAC alters the sound according to the genre. Matching the book to the music gives the best results.

 

Not if the E.E. who designed it used appropriate anti vibration measures, especially in the area of the PCB mounting and Xtal Oscillator , and also used suitable " feet"  underneath the unit.

 Unfortunately, the " Bean Counters"  will often dumb down a good mechanical area design to save a few $$

 

How a Digital Audio file sounds, or a Digital Video file looks, is governed to a large extent by the Power Supply area. All that Identical Checksums gives is the possibility of REGENERATING the file to close to that of the original file.

PROFILE UPDATED 13-11-2020

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