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

[Theobetley]

Only you guys will understand my question. I am running wifi bridged with an Ethernet wired direct connection to my microRendu. Currently my router is set to 2.4mhz. Ocassionally but not always when I run hirez stuff on HQPlayer (no upsampling) my wifi connection gets dropped and I have to reset my network (which is a pita). So when I go into properties of my bridged connection I am running bandwidth of 20-40 mhz. If I calculate dsf or 24/176 bandwidth requirements I get greater than 40mhz. But lucky for me my internet speed runs up to 45mhz at times but sometimes a tad below 40mhz. I think when I get an overlapping of low bandwidth and hirez files is when I get into trouble. I know I can change my router to run 5Mhz but I have other devices currently running 2.4mhz. So my Comcast rep tells me I can choose to run my pc at 5mhz and leave everything else at 2.4mhz. But I tried doing that and cant figure how to do that. Anybody know? Also if I reset my router to 5mhz will my 2 Ipads and 2 smartphones be ok or will I have to reset everything(reboot/sign onto wifi and reenter password etc)? I would like to avoid issues with other devices. Anybody have suggestions? For example can I simply add channels to my 2.4mhz setting to get more bandwidth? Anyway appreciate any suggestions.

[BCRich]

Only you guys will understand my question. I am running wifi bridged with an Ethernet wired direct connection to my microRendu. Currently my router is set to 2.4mhz. Ocassionally but not always when I run hirez stuff on HQPlayer (no upsampling) my wifi connection gets dropped and I have to reset my network (which is a pita). So when I go into properties of my bridged connection I am running bandwidth of 20-40 mhz. If I calculate dsf or 24/176 bandwidth requirements I get greater than 40mhz. But lucky for me my internet speed runs up to 45mhz at times but sometimes a tad below 40mhz. I think when I get an overlapping of low bandwidth and hirez files is when I get into trouble. I know I can change my router to run 5Mhz but I have other devices currently running 2.4mhz. So my Comcast rep tells me I can choose to run my pc at 5mhz and leave everything else at 2.4mhz. But I tried doing that and cant figure how to do that. Anybody know? Also if I reset my router to 5mhz will my 2 Ipads and 2 smartphones be ok or will I have to reset everything(reboot/sign onto wifi and reenter password etc)? I would like to avoid issues with other devices. Anybody have suggestions? For example can I simply add channels to my 2.4mhz setting to get more bandwidth? Anyway appreciate any suggestions.

 

Create two different SSID's in your wireless settings of your router. You should have the administrative login, One should designate the 5mhz connection and the other the 2.4 then connect your PC to the 5mhz one and you will be good to go.

[austinpop]

I agree, Rajiv. I am surprised as well and this is the best way I know to explain it:

 

The best signal you can have is the original unfettered, unadulterated signal but as this signal goes through the signal path, it goes through repeated processing and reprocessing and with each processing, that signal must be regenerated and reclocked. When the signal from your ISP enters your internet modem, it is processed. It is processed again when the data is converted into an ethernet stream and again with every switch or FMC it encounters and again when that stream reaches your server's LAN port, and when it hits your system bus, and when it is rendered by your CPU and so on and so on. With ever regeneration and reclocking of the signal, there is potential for the signal to be harmed through the introduction of jitter through poor clocking and the introduction of substrate noise that is likely to be additive as the signal moves through the chain.

 

While this is pure conjecture, my experience would suggest that placement of a clean and accurate clock in the signal path has the potential to clean up and even repair some of the harm that has been caused but if the harm already done is significant, a single reclocking may only be able to improve it so much. A good analogy might be running a fairly clean car through a car wash vs running an off-road vehicle with caked on mud and tar through that same car wash. It may take several car washes before the off-road vehicle gets thoroughly cleaned and even with multiple washings, it may not be possible to completely clean it. This is why I have suggested that it would probably be best to avoid bad things in the signal path early on rather than having to add heroic (and expensive) fixes at the end.

 

Yes, until this phenomenon is better understood, we'll have to rely on our own empirical experiences. My analogy here was more like the princess and the pea. The bad clock is the pea, and the best clocks are soft mattresses. Each extra layer of good clocking - another soft mattress - alleviates the discomfort, but best would be to remove the pea. ?

 

My guess is that if your system (which would include not just your DAC but also your amp, speakers and cables) is resolving enough to reveal the benefits of this direct connection, it is probably resolving enough to reveal the benefits of better clocking. While I suspect there is more to this direct connection than just avoiding the bad clocking introduced by your router and any bad switches after the router, I suspect that has to be at least part of the reason. Of course, as this direct connection brings about even greater resolution and transparency to your system, I suspect the impact of removing bad upstream clocks or introducing reparative downstream clocks should become all the more apparent. Once I find the time, I will borrow other DACs from friends and see what kind of difference I hear but I would be surprised if I hear no difference at all.

 

I suspect you are right.

 

 

I have already done this. Using my Trend Net switch in the "direct path" as my reference, I then placed this switch just after my router and then plugged both my Mac Mini and my sMS-200 into this switch. While it did result in some improvement compared against plugging both the Mac Mini and sMS-200 straight into the router, it was quite small and definitely only a fraction of what I got with the switch in the direct path. Based on this small amount of SQ improvement, I would not find the switch upgrade to be worthwhile.

Ok, thanks - so the direct connection is another layer of improvement, not just related to the clocking. Glad you already tried this.

[tboooe]

So I assume your wireless router is dual band, 2.4 and 5 GHz. Is it wireless N or AC? Anyway, here is what I do to ensure best performance for my music network. Go into your router settings and create a second SSID for the 5ghz band. Then only put your music server wireless adapter on it. All your other devices will continue to use your 2.4ghz band.

 

Only you guys will understand my question. I am running wifi bridged with an Ethernet wired direct connection to my microRendu. Currently my router is set to 2.4mhz. Ocassionally but not always when I run hirez stuff on HQPlayer (no upsampling) my wifi connection gets dropped and I have to reset my network (which is a pita). So when I go into properties of my bridged connection I am running bandwidth of 20-40 mhz. If I calculate dsf or 24/176 bandwidth requirements I get greater than 40mhz. But lucky for me my internet speed runs up to 45mhz at times but sometimes a tad below 40mhz. I think when I get an overlapping of low bandwidth and hirez files is when I get into trouble. I know I can change my router to run 5Mhz but I have other devices currently running 2.4mhz. So my Comcast rep tells me I can choose to run my pc at 5mhz and leave everything else at 2.4mhz. But I tried doing that and cant figure how to do that. Anybody know? Also if I reset my router to 5mhz will my 2 Ipads and 2 smartphones be ok or will I have to reset everything(reboot/sign onto wifi and reenter password etc)? I would like to avoid issues with other devices. Anybody have suggestions? For example can I simply add channels to my 2.4mhz setting to get more bandwidth? Anyway appreciate any suggestions.

[Theobetley]

So I assume your wireless router is dual band, 2.4 and 5 GHz. Is it wireless N or AC? Anyway, here is what I do to ensure best performance for my music network. Go into your router settings and create a second SSID for the 5ghz band. Then only put your music server wireless adapter on it. All your other devices will continue to use your 2.4ghz band.

Wow that sounds simple. Think I will try.

[Peter_T]

5. USB. The best way to do USB is to use a dedicated USB card (such as from SOtM or Paul Pang) with it's own high quality clock (not DPLL) and independently powered by a high quality linear PSU. This isn't possible with a Mac Mini or NUC as they have no free PCIe slots and even if it was, these USB cards don't offer galvanic isolation like ethernet does.

 

If you really want you can attach a PCIe card to a NUC with a riser-cable to the NUC's mini-PCIe. I have described this sometime ago for a JCAT-USB card in the JPLAY forum. I have replaced the JCAT card recently with an Intel PCIe-LAN card that is directly coupled to my SOTM200. I may not look nice (card dangling outside of my NUC fanless case) but it works.

[spartan1969]

If there was a way to run Windows off an SD card in the Mac Mini, my problems would be solved but thus far, I have not figured out how to do this and neither have my IT friends at Apple.

 

Romaz,

Thank you for the thorough reply. For the way you are involved with this project you are extremely generous with sharing your ideas and with your time!

 

As for what you say above (quotes), couldn't we boot the Macmini with windows using the SATA SD card or SLC adapters you mentioned? I believe that was your assumption in your earlier post, no? Or your friends at Apple told you already it's a no go?

 

What you say about the high frequency noise with SSD PCIE resonates with my recent experience testing an euphony SSD drive (a linux dedicated system pre-installed in an ssd drive) with my macmini. Similar things from your comparison with windows+ao X macmini+sdcard: slightly better definition, transparency, overall presentation, but polluted highs... Couldn't this be related to the SATA port instead of the SSD drive itself? I suppose SSD drives could be even worse than SSD PCIE (which I never tried) in terms of noise. At any rate, I'll try to test that linux system from an SD card. The question is if it will work.

 

***

 

Allow me an aside:

The thing about the macmini that people generally forget is how great it is IF it is used without any other electrical connection to it: no monitor, keyboard, mouse, no external HD or SSD, no ethernet (especially not from modem... horrible compromise!), and... yes, no USB, but just a very good optical cable (I know one that for under $200 beats by far every expensive USB cable I have tried so far). And no wifi or cel phones in the room, of course. Let's hold for a second the boring stuff about spdif's resolution limitation, DSD, etc. That's not my point. My point is that THAT source (with all the optimizations we have been describing here) can be really hard to beat in terms of musical satisfaction. Yes, of course things can always be improved, but this setup will put you on an extremely comfortable seat. We forget sometimes (and this is often true for every aspect of audio reproduction) that we can leave that seat with a big smile on our faces to an endless rollercoaster journey that is all but comfortable. Any way, my point is that one should start from here (at least if the Macmini is the core) as a sound reference and always come back to this basic setup for comparison.

 

Also, let us not forget, in my case, certainly – and, I believe, 95% of people – that the vast majority of the music we listen is in standard resolution(s). So my reasoning is very simple: the SQ we have with THAT stuff should be our priority and thus our standard. For what would be the point of seriously worrying about DSD (or to any format that promises you the sound of angels without really telling you how to get there) if one has to sacrifice, even just a little bit of that standard (not to mention of his sanity)?

 

I hope the aside was clear and that I’m not misinterpreted…

 

***

 

Can you clarify the following points?:

 

For all your tests, is the router connected to the computer or do you break that ethernet connection (using it ONLY when needed, namely with streaming services like tidal and other internet stuff)?

 

Still not quite clear (sorry...) which ext. clock(s) do you use (model) and how many? Is it just the one you had installed in the switch?

 

By "UBS Card" you mean the SOtM unit? Can you repeat which model? And why would it be really a gain after the sms200? I thought the latter had already an optimized USB "card".

 

One last thing. I'm curious to know what makes you think the PSU I use has a lower impedance than yours... I know the Hynes regulators very well.

[romaz]

If you really want you can attach a PCIe card to a NUC with a riser-cable to the NUC's mini-PCIe. I have described this sometime ago for a JCAT-USB card in the JPLAY forum. I have replaced the JCAT card recently with an Intel PCIe-LAN card that is directly coupled to my SOTM200. I may not look nice (card dangling outside of my NUC fanless case) but it works.

Very cool!

[romaz]

Here's something else that's pretty cool. Like Sonore and Small Green Computer, SOtM has now acknowledged this direct connection path and while the sMS-200 is still not capable of being assigned a static IP, here is SOtM's suggestion on how to directly connect the sMS-200 to your music server under Windows without having to bridge your LAN ports:

 

http://docs.sotm-audio.com/doku.php?id=en:kb:dhcp_server_for_windows

[romaz]

As for what you say above (quotes), couldn't we boot the Macmini with windows using the SATA SD card or SLC adapters you mentioned? I

 

The Mac Mini has 3 ways of connecting to internal storage:

 

1. SD card via PCIE bus

2. SSD via PCIE bus

3. SSD or HD via SATA bus

 

Unfortunately, for #2 and #3, the connectors used are proprietary and so none of the devices I have come across can interface with a Mac Mini.

 

What you say about the high frequency noise with SSD PCIE resonates with my recent experience testing an euphony SSD drive (a linux dedicated system pre-installed in an ssd drive) with my macmini. Similar things from your comparison with windows+ao X macmini+sdcard: slightly better definition, transparency, overall presentation, but polluted highs... Couldn't this be related to the SATA port instead of the SSD drive itself? I suppose SSD drives could be even worse than SSD PCIE (which I never tried) in terms of noise. At any rate, I'll try to test that linux system from an SD card. The question is if it will work.

 

 

Thank you for sharing your experience with the Euphony SSD. It was you that first brought this to my attention and I was very curious as to how it might sound. It appears they elected to keep the their Linux OS as well as music storage on a single drive. Are the polluted highs due to the SATA bus? I don't believe so. It is @lmitche that gets credit here because I had always assumed that any noise that an SSD generates is spewed into the signal path indirectly through the power line and in fact, this is what SOtM's SATA filter is specifically designed to mitigate. What Larry had suggested is that SSDs generate a HF noise that is directly emitted into the data line irrespective of what other noise it may spew into the power line and this indeed has been my observation.

 

With regards to PCIE SSDs being even noisier, this is a different matter. PCIE SSDs in NVMe mode was designed to accomplish one thing and that is extreme speed, not just throughput but also lower latency. With the Samsung 960 Pro NVMe SSD compared against the Samsung 850 Pro SATA SSD, the NVMe drive has 2.4x the throughput and 5x less latency in a heavy environment and it was the lower latency that was very attractive to me. The problem is that Samsung's NVMe drive has an average power consumption of between 5-6 watts compared against 3-3.5 watts for their SATA SSD. What makes this even worse is that SATA SSDs are 5V devices and NVMe devices are 3.3V and so that means SATA SSDs draw 0.6-0.7A on average while the NVMe SSD can draw nearly 2A! That is quite a bit more noise being injected into the ground plane and so I really shouldn't be surprised that the PCIE NVMe SSD drive sounded worst of all. SD cards draw 3-4x less current than a typical SSD and so they have an even smaller electrical footprint.

 

The thing about the macmini that people generally forget is how great it is IF it is used without any other electrical connection to it: no monitor, keyboard, mouse, no external HD or SSD, no ethernet (especially not from modem... horrible compromise!), and... yes, no USB, but just a very good optical cable (I know one that for under $200 beats by far every expensive USB cable I have tried so far).

 

 

I think these things don't just apply to the Mac Mini, they apply to all music servers. The problem with this "purist" view is there are compromises to convenience and ease of use and so, as with all things, each person has to define their priorities and know which compromises they are willing to accept which ones they aren't. For example, should you decide to try Windows Server 2012 in Minimal Server or Core mode, you will need to learn to navigate via a command prompt instead of through Apple's pretty, mouse-driven GUI but I'm pretty sure that once you hear the difference, you won't think your version of OSX will sound so great anymore.

For all your tests, is the router connected to the computer or do you break that ethernet connection (using it ONLY when needed, namely with streaming services like tidal and other internet stuff)?

 

 

Yes, my router is connected and is responsible for assigning my Mac Mini and sMS-200 their IP addresses. If you wish to be able to control Roon remotely via an iPad or some remote computer, this is necessary and so it is an accepted compromise. As for streaming Tidal, yes, I do this. It's how I discover new music and it also offers access to very nice library of material that I enjoy listening to once in a while but don't really care to own. While it doesn't sound as good as playback from local storage, it doesn't sound horrible either and with my new server build, I am hoping I can narrow the gap.

 

Still not quite clear (sorry...) which ext. clock(s) do you use (model) and how many? Is it just the one you had installed in the switch?

 

The clock I am referring to with my recent posts is the SOtM sCLK-EX. It is detailed on their website. This clock board has the option of providing 1-4 clocks with independent frequencies. Yes, it is the one installed in my Trend Net switch but also the clock in my sMS-200 and dX-USB HD. It will be this same clock I will be using for my new server build.

 

By "UBS Card" you mean the SOtM unit? Can you repeat which model? And why would it be really a gain after the sms200? I thought the latter had already an optimized USB "card".

 

 

There are several specialty USB cards you can buy that incorporate good clocks and can be powered independently by an outboard LPS. The one SOtM makes is a very popular one. Paul Pang and JCAT market very good ones also. SOtM's version would be the tX-USBHubIn and this card can be accommodated to use their new superclock. This is something you would use only if you elected not to go with a Roon Ready endpoint like the sMS-200 or mR. I brought this up since you are currently not using a Roon Ready endpoint and my purpose for bringing it up was to highlight that the Mac Mini's native USB ports are not ideal.

 

One last thing. I'm curious to know what makes you think the PSU I use has a lower impedance than yours... I know the Hynes regulators very well.

 

 

I never said that. Read my post again and you will see that I said your PSU will likely not have the same low impedance as Uptone Audio's LPS-1. In your PM to me, you indicated you use a configuration with your Mac Mini as suggested by Alex Crespi and so forgive me if I have assumed too much but I am assuming you are using Alex's JS-2 to power your Mac Mini. This is an excellent PSU but even John Swenson has indicated his LPS-1 is better. This is all I meant by that statement.

[austinpop]

<snip>

 

SOtM has promised to send me their phase noise and stability measurements for their new superclock but regardless, my ears have told me all that I need to know -- this is one incredible clock that could possibly bring about a new revolution to music servers.

 

Hi Roy,

 

Did SOtM ever send you any measurements or metrics to characterize what is so special about their sCLK-EX?

[romaz]

Hi Roy,

 

Did SOtM ever send you any measurements or metrics to characterize what is so special about their sCLK-EX?

No, not yet. They said they were preparing these documents for me but I haven't received them.

[austinpop]

No, not yet. They said they were preparing these documents for me but I haven't received them.

 

OK - please share when you do get them!

[spartan1969]

Sorry for the confusion about the PSU. But no, I don't use the uptone supplies.

 

What is the dX-USB HD then? I thought that what you meant by usb card...

 

So you use three of those clocks in total (one in each unit). Can you actually fit them inside the original chassis? And do you power each clock with the same supply you use for the corresponding unit?

 

As for windows sounding better, I never questioned that. I'm not particularly attached to the mini or to anything for that matter. Indeed, then why not just go with a PC (perhaps a 12v fanless PC) instead of the macmini? I'm sure booting from an sdcard on a PC would not be a problem.

[spartan1969]

I think I see it. The dX-USB HD is a sort of M2Tech hiface EVO, right?

[spartan1969]

have you compared regular sdcard with micro sdcard for best sound? Some of these cards are much faster than others too. I wonder if it would pay off buying hte fastest. The only experiment I've tried with these was with a portable player and to my surprise a 32Gb card sounded better than larger cards of the same type (brand, series, etc).

[tboooe]

Using this method though the only way to access the SMS-200 settings is from the pc connected to it, correct? For those of us with a headless system this is not very convenient unless we remote desktop into the pc then launch a web browser.

 

Here's something else that's pretty cool. Like Sonore and Small Green Computer, SOtM has now acknowledged this direct connection path and while the sMS-200 is still not capable of being assigned a static IP, here is SOtM's suggestion on how to directly connect the sMS-200 to your music server under Windows without having to bridge your LAN ports:

 

http://docs.sotm-audio.com/doku.php?id=en:kb:dhcp_server_for_windows

[romaz]

Using this method though the only way to access the SMS-200 settings is from the pc connected to it, correct? For those of us with a headless system this is not very convenient unless we remote desktop into the pc then launch a web browser.

This is correct. This method has its limitations. It was more their acknowledgment of it that I thought was cool. Perhaps, it will lead to other developments in future firmware.

[romaz]

So you use three of those clocks in total (one in each unit). Can you actually fit them inside the original chassis? And do you power each clock with the same supply you use for the corresponding unit?

 

I never initially intended to buy the dX-USB HD (USB-to-SPDIF converter) but at the present time, it is the only component SOtM has that has enough room in its chassis to accommodate their new super clock and so I took a chance on it not really knowing how good it is and knowing full well that my DAC sounds better via USB compared to SPDIF. In fact, when I bought it, I was prepared not to use it expecting that it wouldn't improve SQ in my system but quite happily, it did.

 

Using this clock board that is housed in the dX-USB HD chassis, I am then able to use it to replace the 2 clocks in my sMS-200 and the single clock in my Trend Net switch but now, all three of these components are tethered together by 40cm long clock cables.

 

In April, once SOtM has full inventory of new larger chassis, they will be selling their other components (sMS-200 and tX-USB Ultra) with the new clock in the same chassis.

 

As for windows sounding better, I never questioned that. I'm not particularly attached to the mini or to anything for that matter. Indeed, then why not just go with a PC (perhaps a 12v fanless PC) instead of the macmini?

 

The Mac Mini for sure has its strengths but its largest weakness is it's lack of modifiability compared against a PC which is why my upcoming build will be a PC. If you select a thin mini-ITX motherboard, you can directly power them with the same 12V PSU you are using now and my build will indeed be fanless. Because Windows Server 2012R2 Essentials + AO is a much lighter weight OS than Mac OS, I am expecting it to run fine from a compact flash card. I'm just hoping not to run into compatibility problems since no one else has described doing what I want to do.

[Peter_T]

Originally Posted by romaz

Here's something else that's pretty cool. Like Sonore and Small Green Computer, SOtM has now acknowledged this direct connection path and while the sMS-200 is still not capable of being assigned a static IP, here is SOtM's suggestion on how to directly connect the sMS-200 to your music server under Windows without having to bridge your LAN ports:

http://docs.sotm-audio.com/doku.php?id=en:kb:dhcp_server_for_windows

Using this method though the only way to access the SMS-200 settings is from the pc connected to it, correct? For those of us with a headless system this is not very convenient unless we remote desktop into the pc then launch a web browser.

I use this method with the www.dhcpserver.de program. (W2016-core with AO). Once the SOTM has requested a DHCP address from the serverPC-LAN card (after reboot of the SOTM) you can stop the process via task management until you next need to reboot the SOTM.

 

Tboooe is correct: SOTM settings can only be changed from the serverPC. It works fine with JRMC DLNA server and Jremote. Jremote just picks up the SOTM-renderer from the JRMC-server, but with other control-points like Kazoo, Kinsky, BubbleUpnp on my Ipad or android phone there appears to be a problem. They do not see the JRMC-server and the SOTM-renderer. Only after installing the BubbleUpnp server on the serverPC and make server/renderer "openhome" you will see them, but the SOTM will not play : it starts and stops in quick succession on every track till the end of the playlist.

[romaz]

have you compared regular sdcard with micro sdcard for best sound? Some of these cards are much faster than others too. I wonder if it would pay off buying hte fastest. The only experiment I've tried with these was with a portable player and to my surprise a 32Gb card sounded better than larger cards of the same type (brand, series, etc).

When used for music storage, I am unable to distinguish a difference between a standard sized SD cards vs a microSD card. The larger capacity SDXC cards draw more current than the smaller capacity SDHC cards so I'm not surprised that you're finding the smaller capacity card to sound better but I haven't done this type of testing yet.

 

With regards to what sounds best as an OS drive, I haven't done any comparisons yet but there are many Raspberry Pi users who have since Pis use microSD cards for their OS. Based on the recommendations of some of these folks, I have purchased a 64GB Samsung EVO+ microSD to compare against my current 64GB Lexar SD card because many have said the EVO+ has excellent random read and write characteristics which is more important than sustained read and write speeds for an OS drive.

 

The problem I have with consumer flash drives based on MLC or TLC technology is they have very limited erase cycles (about 10,000) and so they are much more prone to failure as an OS drive and their performance gradually and noticeably deteriorates well before they fail. Moreover, Windows is supposedly a more "write heavy" OS compared against Linux and Mac OS. This is where the more expensive SLC NAND is superior as they have erase cycles that are 10x greater and because they are generally chosen for industrial applications, they incorporate more robust controllers that are less prone to failure and also utilize better wear leveling and error correcting algorithms. As a side benefit, SLC also draws less current than MLC or TLC which hopefully will translate into less noise and better SQ. Currently, no one I know makes a 64GB SLC SD card but several vendors make 64GB SLC compact flash cards and so this is the direction I will likely end up taking barring any unexpected problems.

[gadgetman]

I've been running ROCK since Mar. 1. Though it had an issue of losing connection with sMS-200 but that happened only once. ROCK updated itself several times last week. It's becoming much stable now.

 

As to the SQ performance Daphile still has an edge over ROCK IMHO. The image of Daphile is a little more vivid and solid while ROCK's image is a little diffused. Daphile also sounds a little more airy. ROCK sounds a little flatter on the other hand. But the differences are very very subtle. I need to do the comparison in a very quiet moment in order to discern the subtleties.

 

Though I tried to have the same h/w setup as best as possible, but ROCK can only boot from internal mSATA (I mistook it as m.2 in previous post), on the other hand Daphile can boot from an USB flash drive. The other difference is that I used 2 micro SD cards for sMS-200 during the test. One is configured as Roon device with static IP, the other is configured as Squeezelite with DHCP. The music files were stored in an internal 2.5" HDD. Both ROCK and Daphile can read it without any problem.

 

I know that hearing memory is very short. Switching from setup A to setup B in the shortest time is crucial. So I always hear Daphile first then shutdown everything and switch to ROCK immediately. Thanks to ROCK's instant ON feature (2 seconds from cold start, extremely impressive) I can do the switching within 1 minute.

 

Despite the tiny SQ gap I might stick to ROCK for its fast response and ease of use characteristics. The metadata and folder cover features are not so attractive to me considering that I have quite a few Chinese and other Asian language music which Roon has no information at all.

[lojay]

Thanks Roy for initiating this project. I was thinking that it must take something quite special to lure you away from Head-fi!

 

We previously discussed via PM that I was holding off on improving the digital side of things given how fast things were moving and that it was daft to spend big bucks on the server side of things. Recently, I found some spare time (and courage) to read through all 922 posts in this thread. I have compiled a word document of the comparatively significant findings (highlighting different types of findings with colour code). This took me two solid days and the resulting product is a 75 page word document with 34,000 words! Needless to say, the fact that this exercise was so labourious pales into significance compared to the work everyone has done in this thread. It is a real testament to the dedication and meticulousness to which experienced CA members in this thread have contributed to the topic.

 

Back on topic, I created a bridged connection on my Windows 10 workstation at home which connects to the router (and thereby, internet) through a Netgear wifi dongle and connects to the Microrendu through a cheap optic fibre ethernet cable. In turn, the Microrendu (powered by the LPS-1) is connected to the Chord DAVE. I have nothing to compare this sound to (since my main rig is at office and this is at home) but I can say it sounds remarkably good driving the Focal Utopia headphones, better than how I recall it sounds in office. Given that I'm not comparing apples to apples, I shall leave my impressions as it is. I get sporadic dropouts (whether the IP is set automatically or if I set it manually) but it isn't driving me insane - so far.

 

Unfortunately, I don't have a Thunderbolt Ethernet adapter and I believe it is reported that the Mac Mini cannot bridge a wifi connection, so I cannot implement this "direct connection" on my Mac Mini (with MMK upgrade).

 

On this note, I was just wondering whether anyone has considered the merits or demerits of bridging a wifi connection to the router with the ethernet connection to the Microrendu/SMS-200?

[lmitche]

Hi Romaz, based on your "last" clock should be the "best" clock finding, it will be interesting to hear the ISO REGEN between the Adnaco USB and my DAC here. I am already injecting LPS-1 power into the DAC via an AQVOX cable, so using the ISO REGEN as substitute is straightforward.

 

Also, I have to admit to being rather perplexed about the last clock rule. It seems to me that there are at least two independent​ clocks in the USB receiver and DA converters in our asynch DACs. Leakage currents aside, I don't know why these "last" clocks don't suffice to deliver great SQ. Improved SQ from the enhancement of the upstream clocks with cleaner power and better clock PPM suggests the signal is degraded in an irrecoverable fashion in these earlier stages.

 

If this is true, then it makes sense to reduce the number of clocks in the chain, as well as delivering the cleanest power and best PPM clock at each processing stage. To my mind this is the key argument against the 3 machine nas->upsampling->renderer model.

[botrytis]

What I want to know are the MEASURABLE differences or based on listening only? Just asking.