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

[Confused]

On 14/08/2017 at 1:45 AM, austinpop said:

 

My dilemma right now is that I am really concerned that my tX-USBultra driving my Codex is at the very edge of the LPS-1's capacity. It runs blazing hot, yet the LED stays green. I also had a failure in the LPS-1 that was driving it, which @Superdad of course replaced in exemplary time. Now - this could have just been a random failure - so please do not read too much into this. I was wondering if the sPS-500 may be the answer here, but now @romaz's comments give me pause.

 

Much to think about.

As a reference, how hot is 'blazing hot'?   My LPS-1 runs pretty hot, but has been doing so for about a year now with 100% reliability.  It's been running 24/7.  Could you hold your hand on yours for a minute or so without burning?  With mine, no hand burning, but it does feel like it is slowly cooking and tenderising nicely! 

[austinpop]

 

1 hour ago, Confused said:

As a reference, how hot is 'blazing hot'?   My LPS-1 runs pretty hot, but has been doing so for about a year now with 100% reliability.  It's been running 24/7.  Could you hold your hand on yours for a minute or so without burning?  With mine, no hand burning, but it does feel like it is slowly cooking and tenderising nicely! 

 

Any ideas on how to measure surface temperature accurately?

 

No it's too hot to touch for more than a few seconds.

[elan120]

13 minutes ago, austinpop said:

 

 

Any ideas on how to measure surface temperature accurately?

 

No it's too hot to touch for more than a few seconds.

Depend on how "accurately" you truly need from the reading, but a pocket infrared thermometer will get you pretty good idea about the surface temperature quickly.  I use something similar like the link below for another hobby and the reading is good enough for a ballpark idea.

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001FD6Z2S?tag=price125420e-20&ascsubtag=wtbs_5993584a443b4023aa81c6ab

[austinpop]

18 minutes ago, elan120 said:

Depend on how "accurately" you truly need from the reading, but a pocket infrared thermometer will get you pretty good idea about the surface temperature quickly.  I use something similar like the link below for another hobby and the reading is good enough for a ballpark idea.

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001FD6Z2S?tag=price125420e-20&ascsubtag=wtbs_5993584a443b4023aa81c6ab

 

Cool - that is the right ballpark of price I'm willing to spend too. 

[Lebouwsky]

37 minutes ago, austinpop said:

 

 

Any ideas on how to measure surface temperature accurately?

 

No it's too hot to touch for more than a few seconds.

With one of these, its an infrared thermo gun, not cheap though, but an engineer should get a hand on one. Unfortunately I don't own a lps-1.

[Always.Learning]

3 hours ago, austinpop said:

BTW - for those of you with the SMB clock connectors on your SOtM Ultra gear, what SMB cables are you using? I'm thinking of these 6" (15cm) cables:

 

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/cinch-connectivity-solutions-johnson/415-0003-006/J1206-ND/456993

 

Context: I'm sending in my hardwired trifecta in a few weeks, to be refitted with SMB connectors, and a master clock input.

Rajiv--

 

I am using this Digikey 12 inch SMB cable between my sMS-200 Ultra and D-Link switch:

 

https://www.digikey.com/products/en/cable-assemblies/coaxial-cables-rf/456?k=J1212-ND&pkeyword=&FV=ffe001c8&mnonly=0&ColumnSort=0&page=1&quantity=0&ptm=0&fid=0&pageSize=25

 

It replaced the much longer SOtM SMB cable. I didn't bother to make any listening comparisons. The Digikey is shorter, and thus I assumed better, and it cost about $30 shipped. Works as advertised. 

 

Jon

[Always.Learning]

48 minutes ago, austinpop said:

 

 

Any ideas on how to measure surface temperature accurately?

 

No it's too hot to touch for more than a few seconds.

I have two LPS-1s that are powering my sMS-200 Ultra and tX-USB Ultra. I just put my fingers on each and, while they are toasty, I can hold my fingers there indefinitely. However, about ten days ago we had a heat wave in Seattle and our house is not air conditioned. The inside temp was almost 20 degrees (F) hotter (mid-80s) than it is today and the LPS-1s were running really hot -- so hot that I shut down the system and the LPS-1s. 

[austinpop]

2 minutes ago, Always.Learning said:

I have two LPS-1s that are powering my sMS-200 Ultra and tX-USB Ultra. I just put my fingers on each and, while they are toasty, I can hold my fingers there indefinitely. However, about ten days ago we had a heat wave in Seattle and our house is not air conditioned. The inside temp was almost 20 degrees (F) hotter (mid-80s) than it is today and the LPS-1s were running really hot -- so hot that I shut down the system and the LPS-1s. 

 

No issues with ambient temps here, as we couldn't manage without our AC here in Texas!

 

One variable is the current drawn by the DAC attached to the USB output of the tX-USBultra. I just did the touch test with 4 fingers on the LPS-1 and I could barely hold it there 10 seconds.

 

I'm looking at the infrared thermometers on Amazon, and there are a bunch in the $10-20 range, although of questionable accuracy and reliability. Still, it may be worth trying one at that price.

[elan120]

4 minutes ago, austinpop said:

 

No issues with ambient temps here, as we couldn't manage without our AC here in Texas!

 

One variable is the current drawn by the DAC attached to the USB output of the tX-USBultra. I just did the touch test with 4 fingers on the LPS-1 and I could barely hold it there 10 seconds.

 

I'm looking at the infrared thermometers on Amazon, and there are a bunch in the $10-20 range, although of questionable accuracy and reliability. Still, it may be worth trying one at that price.

If you can't passed the finger touch, normally it is too hot.

 

The $10-20 range IR thermometer will work just fine to get a good idea on the temperature, I have tried 3 different brands below include the one I got from Harbor Freight by comparing their reading against calibrated thermocouple / meter physically attached to the object, and the result is closed enough to get the idea how hot the surface temperature is - unless you have to know the absolute temperature.

[austinpop]

3 minutes ago, elan120 said:

If you can't passed the finger touch, normally it is too hot.

 

Yup this is my concern. But the LED stays green!

 

Hoping that @Superdad or @JohnSwenson will provide some guidance.

[Bamber]

My impressions from tonights tX-USBultra (6.5v-9v) tests.

 

sPS-500 set at 9v is better than 7v.

 

The LPS-1 sounds much better than the sPS-500 (at any power setting).

 

 

[auricgoldfinger]

1 minute ago, Bamber said:

My impressions from tonights tX-USBultra (6.5v-9v) tests.

 

sPS-500 set at 9v is better than 7v.

 

The LPS-1 sounds much better than the sPS-500 (at any power setting).

 

 

 

No issues running a 9v device with the LPS-1 on the 7v setting?

[Bamber]

 

1 minute ago, auricgoldfinger said:

No issues running a 9v device with the LPS-1 on the 7v setting?

 

This version of the tX-USBultra has a power input range of between  6.5v and 9v.

[auricgoldfinger]

1 minute ago, Bamber said:

 

 

This version of the tX-USBultra can run between  6.5v and 9v

 

There is no risk to the LPS-1 of running a device set to 9v when the power supply is only rated for a maximum of 7v?

[Bamber]

Just now, auricgoldfinger said:

There is no risk to the LPS-1 of running a device set to 9v when the power supply is only rated for a maximum of 7v?

The LPS-1 will only be supplying 7v.

[austinpop]

1 minute ago, auricgoldfinger said:

 

There is no risk to the LPS-1 of running a device set to 9v when the power supply is only rated for a maximum of 7v?

 

The tX isn't "set" to 9V. It is designed to accept any voltage between 6.5 to 9V.

 

Therefore an LPS-1 set to 7V is perfectly within its acceptable input voltage range.

 

[elan120]

Is tX-USBUltra = tX-USBexp+sCLK-EX?  Or tX-USBUltra still better in term of SQ?

[auricgoldfinger]

Sorry, I was confused.  I realize now @Bamber was talking about the sPS-500 (not the tX) being set to 9v. 

[rickca]

1 hour ago, austinpop said:

I just did the touch test with 4 fingers on the LPS-1 and I could barely hold it there 10 seconds.

Will an active master clock on your tx-USBultra draw even more current?  IIRC that's the device hosting your sCLK-EX board.  

Is the LPS-1 powering your sMS-200Ultra  a lot cooler than the one powering your tx-USBultra?

 

Since your DAC is attached to the tx-USBultra, would you be better off moving the sCLK-EX board to the sMS-200Ultra (if that is even possible)?  But wait, IIRC you are sharing an LPS-1 between your modded switch and your sMS-200Ultra, right?  How much current does the modded switch demand vs your DAC?

[Bamber]

13 minutes ago, elan120 said:

Is tX-USBUltra = tX-USBexp+sCLK-EX?  Or tX-USBUltra still better in term of SQ?

Without having both to test I think they would sound the same.

[phusis]

14 minutes ago, Bamber said:

My impressions from tonights tX-USBultra (6.5v-9v) tests.

 

sPS-500 set at 9v is better than 7v.

 

The LPS-1 sounds much better than the sPS-500 (at any power setting).

 

 

 

Thanks for your input, Bamber. There's a lot of "better" being uttered though, and what does it actually mean? Not to sound disrespectful or unappreciative, but perhaps some descriptive phrases would help getting an actual bearing on the sonic differences here. And with all due respect to posters romaz, austinpop and others who're prominently laying bare their very well articulated impressions, it's ok to differ with their sonic findings (if such is the case) and strongly form ones own opinion or ways to come about describing what you're hearing. Or maybe a lot of people here just agrees wholeheartedly with one another, which is perfectly fine. But perhaps some rather more articulated sonic impressions other than "better" or "worse" would draw a clearer picture, as well as lending a sense of consistency.

[Bamber]

2 minutes ago, phusis said:

And with all due respect to posters romaz, austinpop and others who're prominently laying bare their very well articulated impressions, it's ok to differ with their sonic findings (if such is the case) and strongly form ones own opinion or ways to come about describing what you're hearing.

I'm not being influenced by any of these other posters as you infer.

 

My SOtM units are 12v versions and can't be powered by a single LPS-1.  A mistake by the dealer gave me the first chance I've had to compare both power supplies on a level playing field.

 

I can type up a full report when I have more time.

[austinpop]

Lots of questions packed in there, Rick! 

 

11 minutes ago, rickca said:

Will an active master clock on your tx-USBultra draw even more current?

 

To be exact, the master (reference) 10MHz clolck is a separate box - be it a Mutec, a Cybershaft or whatever. The tX/sMS Ultra box only sees a 10MHz signal on its master clock input. The sCLK-EX board is already designed to accept this. Does this mode draw more current? Hard to say. If I were to guess, I would expect not.

 

11 minutes ago, rickca said:

 Since your DAC is attached to the tx-USBultra, would you be better off moving the sCLK-EX board to the sMS-200Ultra (if that is even possible)?

 

Not possible easily. The sCLK-EX board isn't just plugged in modularly, I don't believe. Plus remember, my modded sMS-200 is still the smaller sMS-200 case, not the Ultra case. No place for the card to go.

 

11 minutes ago, rickca said:

But wait, IIRC you are sharing an LPS-1 between your modded switch and your sMS-200Ultra, right?  How much current does the modded switch demand vs your DAC?

 

I ordered my infra thermometer, so I'll be ready to measure by tomorrow night! Right now, I can say qualitatively regarding the 3 LPS-1s in my system:

1. powering my tX-USBultra: blazing hot
2. powering my ISO-Regen: mildly warm
3. powering my sMS-200 and switch: hot,

[elan120]

13 minutes ago, Bamber said:

Without having both to test I think they would sound the same.

Thank you, that would be my speculation as well.  I hope to have one of the four outputs from sCLK-EX to a router switch prior to the music server, and then one other output to tX-USBexp from inside of music server to connect directly to the DAC without going through end points like sMS-200ultra.  My bigger question is whether having the sCLK-EX clock output to router switch prior to music server be helpful elevating SQ at all?

[phusis]

18 minutes ago, Bamber said:

I'm not being influenced by any of these other posters as you infer.

 

Sorry for putting it that way. 

 

18 minutes ago, Bamber said:

I can type up a full report when I have more time.

 

That would be much appreciated, thanks.