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

[TopQuark]

Anyone here knows when SOtM will add static IP to the firmware?  It doesn't work with ROON Rock right now without static IP:

 

https://community.roonlabs.com/t/rock-dual-ethernet-primary-port-not-exposed/26222/10

 

 

[austinpop]

8 hours ago, Superdad said:

 

I think all of you in this thread entered that realm a long time ago! 

 

Tonight will be one of those surreal nights, then!

 

I borrowed @limniscate's LPS-1 for the night, so I have now got 3 LPS-1's in the house. Once the family is abed, I'll be doing some comparisons. I want to see if my Y-cable is holding back SQ. I am going to compare:

 

 

with:

 

 

It should be very interesting. For the sake of my wallet, I hope it is a wash, or close.

[mozes]

1 hour ago, austinpop said:

 

Tonight will be one of those surreal nights, then!

 

I borrowed @limniscate's LPS-1 for the night, so I have now got 3 LPS-1's in the house. Once the family is abed, I'll be doing some comparisons. I want to see if my Y-cable is holding back SQ. I am going to compare:

 

 

with:

 

 

It should be very interesting. For the sake of my wallet, I hope it is a wash, or close.

This is very interesting Rajiv! One can never have enough LPS-1s

[lmitche]

9 hours ago, Superdad said:

 

Hi Larry:

I don't get why you are powering that way.  The 5VBUS output of the ISO REGEN is generated with the same TI TPS7A4700 regulator as we use (3 of) in the LPS-1.  Putting the ISO REGEN/USPCB combo directly your DAC is going to do a far better job of preserving SI and impedance match than running that cable.

 

If you want a bit extra SQ boost, make yourself a short star-quad D.C. cable (with screw terminal barrel connectors) to feed your LPS-1.  (I just shipped 200 original-style Oyaide 2.1mm plugs to my cable assembly house so we'll soon have 20-inch 15awg (4*18 split in pairs) star-quad DC cables for sale.)

 

--Alex C.

Well Alex, the only decent USB cable I have is the dual ended lightspeed 2g and there is only one hole on the ISO Regen.  My DAC needs power, so hence the split.

 

Ultimately, I'd like to try a second usbpc, when available.

 

Are you suggesting an upgrade to the energizing cable to an LPS-1 raises SQ?  That surprises me.

[lmitche]

11 hours ago, lmitche said:

Yes I am using Roon and VNC to remote into the PC.  My only concerns are that something will break and I wont be able to enjoy the music anymore.

Tboooe, the Adnaco uses 10g SFPs so performance is very good.

[tboooe]

14 minutes ago, lmitche said:

Well Alex, the only decent USB cable I have is the dual ended lightspeed 2g and there is only one hole on the ISO Regen.  My DAC needs power, so hence the split.

 

Ultimately, I'd like to try a second usbpc, when available.

 

Are you suggesting an upgrade to the energizing cable to an LPS-1 raises SQ?  That surprises me.

Why can't you connect the Lightspeed from your PC to the input of the IsoRegen then connect the USPCB to the output of the IsoRegen and the input of your DAC?  The IsoRegen can provide power to the DAC.  Btw I also have the same USB cable and this is how I use it with the IsoRegen.  I am providing 5vdc to the Lightspeed from an lps.

 

I made a starquad cable and felt it improved the sound a bit.

[Superdad]

2 hours ago, lmitche said:

Well Alex, the only decent USB cable I have is the dual ended lightspeed 2g and there is only one hole on the ISO Regen.  My DAC needs power, so hence the split.

 

Ultimately, I'd like to try a second usbpc, when available.

 

Are you suggesting an upgrade to the energizing cable to an LPS-1 raises SQ?  That surprises me.

 

What Tommy said is what I was thinking.  Put the ISO REGEN and USPCB at your DAC end where it belongs.

 

No, the cable I'm suggesting you upgrade is the output cable from the LPS-1 to whatever you are powering with it.

[greenleo]

14 hours ago, ElviaCaprice said:

What I would really like to find out, does adding an ISO Regen between two components clocked with the same s-clk EX clocking board hurt SQ or help?

Also maybe you could test the ISO Regen following the tXusbultra?  Without the tXusb ultra?

   Thanks Mozes.

 

X2

[rickca]

On 5/21/2017 at 7:08 PM, TopQuark said:

SOtM now offers a new configuration that includes the sMS-200Ultra and the switch mod. 

The price for this is now $1650.  That's $450 more than the sMS-200ultra.  It includes a switch sourced by SOtM and replacement of regulators and capacitors on the switch.  A second output mod is available for an additional $150.

 

SOtM also is offering a tX-USBultra plus an upgrade of a customer-supplied sMS-200 for $1300.  That's $310 more than the tx_USBultra.

 

So these clock mods aren't cheap.  I looked back at what @romaz said he paid

They charged me $1100 for 4 clocks + $25 per clock installation (labor) for the 3 other clocks = $1175. This included drilling a hole through my switch chassis to allow passage of the clock cable and all soldering that will be necessary.

 

Granted his mod was hardwired.  SOtM is now using SMB connections which is a lot neater.

[rickca]

15 hours ago, mozes said:

I will give it sometime to burn in and then do the different tests and post my impressions

I would really like your impression from a straight comparison of tX-USBultra vs ISO REGEN.  

[darkless]

1 minute ago, rickca said:

I would really like your impression from a straight comparison of tX-USBultra to ISO REGEN.  

x2. In addition I would like to know how the ISO REGEN by itself compares to either combo.

[lmitche]

6 hours ago, tboooe said:

Why can't you connect the Lightspeed from your PC to the input of the IsoRegen then connect the USPCB to the output of the IsoRegen and the input of your DAC?  The IsoRegen can provide power to the DAC.  Btw I also have the same USB cable and this is how I use it with the IsoRegen.  I am providing 5vdc to the Lightspeed from an lps.

 

I made a starquad cable and felt it improved the sound a bit.

Yes indeed, I first integrated the ISO Regen with the lightspeed cable on the input side.  I tried several power options, a second PC USB port and later a LPS.  The configuration used above sounds best by far.  This makes sense if you assume the USPCB is the better of the two cables.  Placed between the PC source and the ISO Regen gives the ISO Regen the best possible signal.  If this theory is true, adding a second USPCB should improve SQ.

[lmitche]

4 hours ago, Superdad said:

 

What Tommy said is what I was thinking.  Put the ISO REGEN and USPCB at your DAC end where it belongs.

 

No, the cable I'm suggesting you upgrade is the output cable from the LPS-1 to whatever you are powering with it.

Alex, thanks for the suggestion on the cable.  I would need to make a y-cable with the star quad.  I have some here and will take a look into doing so.

[ElviaCaprice]

2 hours ago, lmitche said:

Alex, thanks for the suggestion on the cable.  I would need to make a y-cable with the star quad.  I have some here and will take a look into doing so.

Once you get another adapter, really any adapter will do for now until you get another from Uptone.  I would get rid of that cable and just power the Iso Regen only with the LPS-1.  Use the USPCB from ISO to DAC.  

Also I would go back to another PCIe USB card for output to the ISO Regen, if you have an extra PCIe slot.  JCAT, SoTM or PPA card would be better than that mobo usb port.  Of course then you would need another LPS-1.

[lmitche]

21 minutes ago, ElviaCaprice said:

Once you get another adapter, really any adapter will do for now until you get another from Uptone.  I would get rid of that cable and just power the Iso Regen only with the LPS-1.  Use the USPCB from ISO to DAC.  

Also I would go back to another PCIe USB card for output to the ISO Regen, if you have an extra PCIe slot.  JCAT, SoTM or PPA card would be better than that mobo usb port.  Of course then you would need another LPS-1.

Elvia,

 

I tried using the old regen adapter in front and behind the ISO Regen swapping with the USPCB.  The lightspeed sounds better. I look forward to trying a second USPCB.

 

Yes, I only use one PCIE slot for the Adnaco so lots of free ones left.  However I'm not a big fan of the USB card idea.  I'd rather have another Adnaco, which costs less, and gives another level of GI. And yes, this means a third lps-1 investment, so it's unlikely to happen.

[ElviaCaprice]

17 minutes ago, lmitche said:

Elvia,

 

I tried using the old regen adapter in front and behind the ISO Regen swapping with the USPCB.  The lightspeed sounds better. I look forward to trying a second USPCB.

 

Yes, I only use one PCIE slot for the Adnaco so lots of free ones left.  However I'm not a big fan of the USB card idea.  I'd rather have another Adnaco, which costs less, and gives another level of GI. And yes, this means a third lps-1 investment, so it's unlikely to happen.

 

Why would you think a second Adnaco would be better?  Obviously your sound is better without the Adnaco in the streaming path and using the ISO Regen for GI, since you relegated the first Adnaco to data/OS input for the server.

[lmitche]

16 minutes ago, ElviaCaprice said:

 

Why would you think a second Adnaco would be better?  Obviously your sound is better without the Adnaco in the streaming path and using the ISO Regen for GI, since you relegated the first Adnaco to data/OS input for the server.

I would suggest the improvement in the sound with the music sources on the Adnaco is due to the removal of noisy devices from the motherboard.

 

Remember the model, bit perfect copies of music arrive from the HDD or NIC (Tidal) via the Adnaco into memory where Hqplayer creates a new, denser copy and that bitstream is then pumped to ISO Regen to the DAC. The Adnaco eliminates noise from the NIC card, SATA port and HDD so the presentation to Hqplayer is the cleanest ever.

 

I agree a second Adnaco would most likely be overkill, but at least it would have GI, which none of the other options do.  I know many others that find the motherboard USB to sound best. I don't have any experience here so remain open minded, but skeptical.

[ted_b]

Larry, I know you tried the JCAT (designed with Adnaco) Femto card.  Are you saying the mobo USB out is better, or just that the dedicated PCI-e cards are not worth the expense, or something else.

[lmitche]

8 minutes ago, ted_b said:

Larry, I know you tried the JCAT (designed with Adnaco) Femto card.  Are you saying the mobo USB out is better, or just that the dedicated PCI-e cards are not worth the expense, or something else.

Ted, no I never tried the JCAT card. So I'm saying I have no experience, and that others I respect with experience are not impressed. So, I don't have a strong opinion, and the opinion of others makes me skeptical, but open minded.

 

Anyway, the next $500 I spend will be for a new stainless steel propeller for my boat, CA expenses will have to wait until the fall.?. Unless someone wants to send me a USB card to test?.

[ted_b]

Sorry, I wish I had a steel propeller to send you to test. 

[lmitche]

5 minutes ago, ted_b said:

Sorry, I wish I had a steel propeller to send you to test. 

Actually at long last I found an outfit that lets boat owners test props for a $35 fee plus shipping.  www.propgods.com. Just awesome!

[rickca]

28 minutes ago, lmitche said:

Anyway, the next $500 I spend will be for a new stainless steel propeller for my boat, CA expenses will have to wait until the fall.?. 

You'll probably try attaching it to the bow. 

[guerph]

14 hours ago, TopQuark said:

Anyone here knows when SOtM will add static IP to the firmware?  It doesn't work with ROON Rock right now without static IP:

 

https://community.roonlabs.com/t/rock-dual-ethernet-primary-port-not-exposed/26222/10

 

 

 

I was able to assign static IP in my router settings. 

[greenleo]

20 hours ago, Superdad said:

 

Hi Larry:

I don't get why you are powering that way.  The 5VBUS output of the ISO REGEN is generated with the same TI TPS7A4700 regulator as we use (3 of) in the LPS-1.  Putting the ISO REGEN/USPCB combo directly your DAC is going to do a far better job of preserving SI and impedance match than running that cable.

 

If you want a bit extra SQ boost, make yourself a short star-quad D.C. cable (with screw terminal barrel connectors) to feed your LPS-1.  (I just shipped 200 original-style Oyaide 2.1mm plugs to my cable assembly house so we'll soon have 20-inch 15awg (4*18 split in pairs) star-quad DC cables for sale.)

 

--Alex C.

How much and when for the quad cable?

[mozes]

7 hours ago, rickca said:

I would really like your impression from a straight comparison of tX-USBultra vs ISO REGEN.  

The setup of my system maks a pain to move things around especially with shorts usb and dc cables. I will get to this at some point. Based on what I heard so far IR is a killer performer for the price, so even with two in series it is still much cheaper than the tX ultra