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

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11 hours ago, kennyb123 said:

I’ll be looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

I will :-)!

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jean-michel6 What Kind of box are you using? From the web page it seems that they are just selling the logical plate + circuits. Thank you

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30 minutes ago, jean-michel6 said:

Follow up on the engineered board , etherregen small miracle .

 

I was yesterday at a friend's home who has a very nice audio system . His digital front end is an APL CD player and the APL DAC that are linked together by a proprietary I2S style connection . This top APL combo sells for 60 000 Euros in Europe 😓.

 

We did compare my front end ( Supermicro server under Daphile , Etherregen , Engineered renderer  PSU  Sean Jacobs DC3 and Uptone 1.2) , this front end was connected to the APL DAC in AES using a kubala sosna emotion digital cable .

We compared that to his system using the APL drive .

 

The overall SQ in his system( speakers are Martin Logan CL 15 A , by the way a wonderful speaker ) is already extremely good .

Both front end were very enjoyable and in the same ball park  level however  on several criteria the engineered/etherregen was better ( timber, transparency on top end , lack of sibilance ...) and overall the six audiophile present did preferred  the engineered/etheregen combo .

 

That is truly an excellent results to have this roughly 2500$ set up challenge successfully a 20 000 Euros drive !

 

This is the DAC used https://www.hifilink.fr/boutique/sources-hifi/convertisseurs-dac/apl-dsd-mr-dac/

This the CD player used https://www.hifilink.fr/boutique/sources-hifi/lecteurs-et-drives-cd-sacd/apl-dtr-mr-transport-cd-sacd/

 

 

 

Merci Jean-Michel,

 

Not surprised at all. :-)

 

I often visit hifi expositions and despite the room deficiencies one can notice, my "humble" system defeats many other sets costing thousands dollars more.

 

Bien à toi,

 

Jorge  

 

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Hi guys!

Following a long search for an Apacer 8GB memory for my Zen MKIII, I finally received it. Quite expensive (200$) and arriving from Slovakia after almost 3 weeks waiting. Let me say first that some companies on line (e.g. Price Blaze) despite announcing Apacer memories,  they send you Kingston’s or other brands... so be careful.

First impressions:

I went through a couple of favorite tracks:

Amália Rodrigues “Com que voz”

António Zambujo “Nem que seja”

Pedro Barroso “Em Sagres”

Mariza “Ó gente da minha terra”

Camané “Sei de um Rio”

Pablo Alborán/Carminho “Perdóname” (en português)

Vinicius de Moraes/Maria Creuza/Toquinho “Eu sei que vou te amar”

Joel Xavier “Lusitano” 

Adnan Joubran “Beat the drum”
Música Nuda“passione”

Dead Combo “Quando a alma não é pequena”

Etc...

As you might have guessed from my musical tastes I am not an English native speaker so I am not going to elaborate much on the SQ. I would just say that the differences are subtle but notable, timbres are better and the instruments sound  a little bit more crispy. Please take my evaluation with a grain of salt because my system is very accourate. Should You buy it? It’s up to you, but I will keep it.

Cheers Jorge

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49 minutes ago, Chopin75 said:

I find the Apacer RAM more stable with SQ when running Ram Root on euphony and there is not much loss in SQ if large amount of RAM is used e.g > 50%. In the past when using regular RAM, the SQ gets a bit worse when more Ram is occupied and also gets worse when running RAMroot.  This is surely recommended if you plan to run RAMroot (eg AL or euphony) or have huge music files that would occupy large RAM space. 

Thank for sharing your experiences. As you might know Innous servers are “closed boxes”. So no much space to try other OS. I am using squeezelite with Roon (much better than Roon alone) and from with this experimental mode, music is played from memory. How much memory is allocated I really do not know... 🙂

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3 hours ago, mourip said:

 

I have Apacer DDR4 non-ECC in my NUC and like it but am still having trouble finding DDR3 non-ECC for my server.

 

Here is the link:
 

https://www.soselectronic.com/articles/apacer/the-most-reliable-memory-for-industries-2177

 

If you live in US, from the moment you place an order  it will take about 2 weeks to receive it! 

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11 hours ago, Dev said:

 

If you want to experiment, there is no reason why you can't boot Euphony (or AL) off a USB stick in Innous server. I think someone has already tried this over here - I don't remember who but maybe @austinpop ?

Will try to find it! Thank you again.

Jorge

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30 minutes ago, austinpop said:

 

Here you go: https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/30376-a-novel-way-to-massively-improve-the-sq-of-computer-audio-streaming/?do=findComment&comment=895805

 

I reported trying this on AudioLinux, although more recently, I have easily been able to boot into Euphony on a friend's Zenith SE. You do have to make a 1 time change to the BIOS - attach a VGA monitor and USB keyboard, boot into the BIOS and change the boot order to boot from a UEFI USB stick. The SE requires VGA, not sure about the latest crop (Mk3 etc).

 

Also it goes without saying - this is an unsupported operation. Try it at your own risk.

 

 

 

Thank you so much Rajiv! I guess I won’t try it, not because it’s a unsupported operation but because I don’t have the knowledge to do it! VGA, Bios, etc are alien words from outer space! 🤪

Nevertheless and because I am curious, did your friend found a significant SQ upgrade when using Euphony? 
Cheers Jorge

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20 hours ago, austinpop said:

I've now had a few nights to try it out, and the verdict is in. This unit was configured with output 12V and pre-regulator out of 13.5V. I fed it 15V from the PSUs I tested. I tested it on my tX-USBultra, which in my chain is the most discerning between PSUs.

Thank for sharing your impressions Rajiv. Just a question. What is the pre-regulator out value. Let’s say that I want to use a LPS 1.2 (12v) or an hdplex (12v) to feed my uR or iR with 7.5 v. How do I choose the pre-regulator out? Thank you Jorge

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Thank you so much Rajiv and Elan! I think I got it. Have a great day! Jorge

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Just received my kit Furutech + Mundorf Wire for my OPPO 205.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Oppo-BDP-93-95-103D-105D-UDP-203-205-Kit-Furutech-Inlet-R-IEC-Mundorf-Wire-/123213854445

For 150$ you get a notable better SQ in what concerns timbre and stage. After all this years still surprised how cables make such a difference... 🙂

Cheers Jorge

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9 minutes ago, rickca said:

Those who demand objective measurements or technical rationale for why some things sound better will continue to insist that we're delusional.  I'm fine with that.

Same here! 😀

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5 minutes ago, sandyk said:

If the Furutech IEC inlet does indeed result in what can ONLY be a MINOR improvement in performance due to a more reliable low resistance contact, DESPITE it still using a standard grade mains cable plugging into it.

To take full advantage of the Furutech IEC socket you should also replace the existing cable's IEC plug with a similar high grade IEC plug !

When we first do something like this modification, the differences often appear to be much greater than they really are, although they may indeed be there. Reversing the modification under non sighted conditions will normally show this.  

( I would be among the last person that most members could call Anti-subjective, but just being realistic )

 

Perhaps a better solution may be to bypass the IEC socket entirely ?.

 You should be able to achieve at least as good results by chopping off the mains plug and fitting a 2 pin plug to it as before.
 A small backing plate could be made to cover the I.E.C. socket's hole, with a hole in it for the entry of the cable , using a rubber grommet,  and a mains cable retaining clip to secure the cable internally.
(Similar to https://www.noldtrading.com.au/nylon-cable-clamp-p-clip.html?source=googlebase&gclid=Cj0KCQiAyp7yBRCwARIsABfQsnSdftbPy0DC5M6XUYAfsWAeeajOerVN3Ir8_lUHot0pQSGJ-UXnGXMaAvICEALw_wcB)
 There would then be no advantage to using the Mundorf wire for the final few inches, as the small remaining resistance of the plug and socket connection has been eliminated , as well as a soldered or crimped connection on the Furutech socket itself .

A few inches of the exotic Mundorf wire can only help to compensate a little for the added resistance of the mating of the plug and socket, and perhaps the connections to the IEC socket. There is nothing magic about using this exotic and expensive wire for the final few inches of the A.C. mains supply lead other than perhaps reducing plug/socket resistance slightly for compensation purposes .

Thanks for your views. I appreciated them. I compared the two with my Oppo still opened. The differences are minor but I could hear them. Couldn’t try no sighted test, but I trust it was not a biased evaluation. My system is very sensitive and minor changes are easily heard. Perhaps I should have used noticeable and not notable. My apologies for the English... Not my mother tong...🙏

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Yes

4 hours ago, Gavin1977 said:

Anyone else powered their DSL router using a linear power supply?  I am also wondering what effect it might have if it's so far downstream...  

yes I did, I am using a Hplex 200 (old model without the LT 3045) and it improved SQ. 
cheers Jorge

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10 hours ago, elan120 said:

Some listening impression and modifications of Buffalo BS-GS2016 switch

 

 

I have been working on building power supplies for the past couple months, and missed the Buffalo switch heat wave until I can no longer find more of them on the open market.  Thanks to @Nenon, I got one a  few weeks ago and started to do some burn-in with everything stock, following the recommended settings.  The sound is fairly harsh cold from the start, it did improve slightly a week later, but still quite fatiguing, I lost the patience to wait further at that time, and pull the unit from the system, removed the stock SMPS, replace it with Mundorf silver/gold hook up wire, so I can connect it to a 12V linear power supply.  While doing the DC conversion, I also added a 0.1uF MLCC and an EVOX capacitor to the DC input on the switch board, and below is a picture of the modification.

 

 

Once I connected the switch back in the system, upon the first listen with no burn-in, the result is very encouraging, the harshness experienced with stock unit is almost gone, but some hint of thinness is there, but the experiment trying port setting from 100Mbps to 1Gbps took that thinness away, and this is now becoming my new setting.

After a week of additional burn-in, the sound quality continues to improve, and the harshness can no longer be detected.  This is the time I decided to add another 1.0uF Mundorf film bypass cap to the DC input, and found the result is more encouraging, and at this point with the improvement I get, I will let the switch burn-in continue with no further changes for a while to see how things go from here.  Below is a picture showing the added Mundorf bypass cap.

 

 

Overall, the SQ improvement is very evident, the bass is tighter, stronger, and quicker, clarity is improved by couple notches, dynamic is better, and the sound stage is more 3-D like, and the sense of you are there is much better.  I am very happy with adding this switch to my system as the third switch, and will continue to experiment the combination once burn-in is done.

 

As a reference, below is my current setup:

Buffalo BS-GS2016 (Modified) →  ZyXEL (Modified) → oM → eR with Master Clock
 

Thank you for sharing 🙏. As I am a complete dummy about electronics, could you please explain what is the purpose of a film cap? Thanks 🤗😊🤗

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7 hours ago, elan120 said:

This is a very involved question, so I will restricted down to why I use it in this particular application.  In general, subjectively, all film caps have their own "sound signature", and I find the Mundorf cap in that position gives a nice "signature" to the sound; it's not used for extreme HF filtering, which I use the 0.1uF MLCC cap for that, but more for smoothing of minor fluctuations in supply voltage at the output point, as well as a "medium frequency" filtering cap.

Thank you so much for the explanation. From the picture I guess both devices were scolded to the + and - end points. If that’s the case, I think that I will be able to do it myself. However I am not sure which parts shall I order. Would it be possible to share with us the identification number? Cheers Jorge

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5 hours ago, elan120 said:

Yes, if you counting the soldering pads from the left, the first two are +12VDC inputs, and the next two are Gnd pads.

 

 

 

The following are list of key parts I used:

• DC input connector
• Mundorf silver hook up wire
• Cotton tube - please note, the inner diameter of this cotton tube is a tight fit for the hook up wire above, so careful inserting it through before cutting the wire to proper length, or risk of stripping the hook up wire teflon insulator back.
• Bypass cap - 0.1uF MLCC
• Bypass cap - 1.0uF Mundorf film
• Heat shrink tubing (various sizes/colors)

The modification is somewhat straightforward if you are comfortable with basic soldering.  Hope to hear your listening impression if you are going to try this modification.

 

Oh, so kind from you...🙏

Thank you so much!!!

I will give it a try asap.

warmest regards,

Jorge

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9 hours ago, cool_chris said:

Here is something that adds a massive improvement to the SQ

Again many thanks to Nenon who discovered Buffalo and continued with modding and searching for the best only as well as the others like Austinpop and many more for confirming this is the way to go.
Rajiv was also so kind to share his excellent experience with Buffalo he got from Nenon! 
There is no way back to older switch.

By having 4 in total Buffalows I have a comfort of expermenting much more.

 

I am using a 10gteck (fiber) + LPS 1.2  with my modded Buffalo + Sbooster + ultra and I felt a notable sound upgrade. From there it goes to an opticalModule + LPS 1.2 and then eR + Farad. Amazing sound 😅

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Hi there. I don’t want to take any views on what is better as it might depend on lots of factors, but 2 weeks ago I tried an iFi x in my router it it made a positive jump from my HD plex  100. I was a little bit surprised as my former experiences with iFi older products were not very good.  My router is far away from my main equipment. I am using also 2 Farad and 2 LPS 1.2 in my system. 

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Would be grateful for some advice. 
My current configuration:
Router< RJ45 >oM <SFP> Buffalo 2016 <RJ45> Zen MKIII <RJ45> oM <SFP> eR <RJ45> uR <USB> iR <USB> DAC

The sound is absolutely fantastic, using 2x Farad, 2x LPS 1.2 and 2x sBoosters + ultra.

However we all want to improve what we’re getting, so I am considering to sell my uR and get an oR. Should I expect a significant SQ upgrade?

Thank you for your views.

Best, 

Jorge

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7 hours ago, cool_chris said:

The biggest improvement you can expect is after upgrading the clock in your Buffalo.

This will elevate your experience few levels.

If you do that you can easy sell your EtherRegen and most importantly you Have to use Buffalo as the LAST swich before the server.

Contact Jord from Pink Faun. His Ultra clock is amazing. He can do it all for you or you can just buy his Ultra clock and do it yourself if you are experienced in DIY.

Many of us upgrated few switches with that clock with amazibg results of stacking them in series.

It is totally different level of SQ with improvement everywhere.  Absolutely all aspects of the SQ will improve. 

 

Thank you so much, Chris. That’s something I had thought before, but living in true US I can’t send back the Buffalo to Netherlands. And to be honest I don’t feel confident enough to do it myself. The maximum I was able to achieve was to mod the Buffalo in order to accept an external LPS. Any idea where I can have it modded in NY area? Best, Jorge

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7 hours ago, cool_chris said:

Sure 

Please contact direct user NENON. 

He is experienced DIY and if he has time he can try to help you to install PinkFaun clock in your Buffalo.

He is located in US not far from you.

 

Thank you so much Chris. I will contact Nenon. 
Best Jorge

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10 minutes ago, barrows said:

I would say, yes, definitely.  The oR is an entirely new design with many improvements over the uR besides the optical connection (which is also an advantage).

Hi Barrows, Tks for your reply. Not sure however if you have seen my earlier post about my specific configuration:

Router< RJ45 >oM <SFP> Buffalo 2016 <RJ45> Zen MKIII <RJ45> oM <SFP> eR <RJ45> uR <USB> iR <USB> DAC

While I am confident that the oR is better than the uR,      I am unsure about the final results with so many upstream efforts aiming at getting the most clean signal before the uR. So I would also appreciate your views regarding this specific scenario. Thank you, Jorge

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29 minutes ago, HumanMedia said:

 

I know cool_chris has some good advice for making improvements further up the chain. Assuming that is done (or isn't) I think your question still stands - would swapping the ultraRendu out for an opticalRendu be a sound quality upgrade? Significant? and better still to then use the etherRegen in place of the opticalModule?

Ive read some differing opinions on how significant these changes might be, can anyone chime in with their experiences?

Tks for taking up my post. Yes I also have seen quite different views not just at this forum. Both eR and oR are incredible devices, and having put so much efforts to have the cleanest possible signal before the uR, I am not sure if the oR would be redundant. But again the iR makes a difference... So what to say ? 😃

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22 minutes ago, barrows said:

Point being:  The Renderer is the last device in the (Network) chain, and it is the only upstream device connected to the DAC.  The DAC is the most sensitive component in the chain because it is a mixed signal device-that is the DAC is both a digital AND an analog component.  The Renderer creates the USB signal, and the cleaner and lower noise that USB signal is, the better the DAC will perform.  Hence, the capability of the Renderer is very, very important.  The oR has many improvements over the uR, it is not just about the optical isolation.

I see your point. Thank you for the clarification. If I am not wrong, there’s a 30 money back policy, so I won’t risk anything. 😊

Kind regards, 

Jorge