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

mozes · January 28, 2018

1 hour ago, ray-dude said:

Toward that end, this past week, I was able to spend a joyous 6 hours auditioning some amazing Voxativ gear with my BluDAVE stack, which was decidedly next level vs the Omegas (to say the least...wow!)

It would be great if you can share your experience with the Voxatives when you have some time. I currently use Dave to directly drive Omega Super 8XRS. Sound is stunning to say the least.

ray-dude · January 28, 2018

Completely different level of sound. I adore my Omega SAMs. Opened my eyes to what was always there in the music, but that I never had the kit to hear. It was like the character in Flatland that is lifted out of the 2D space, and can see 3D for the first time. Once you hear it, it is impossible to go back.

The Omega direct was one of several "Red Pill" experiences for me over the past year (I linked to a review of that experience in my Blu2 review on Head Fi). One of the other Red Pill moments was when I first heard the Chord Mojo. Absolutely stunning, dollar for dollar the finest DAC on the planet. Blew me away. Based on what I heard, I ordered a Chord DAVE unheard, and right after I heard the DAVE, the Chord Blu2 unheard.

I'd say the Voxativ 4D drivers ($15k for the pair, then you have a variety of cabinet choices to drop them in) are the DAVE to the Omega Super Alnico Mojo: takes what is transformational in the Omega alnico's and makes it effortless and vast, with stunning new detail and speed, tonal balance, and virtually no distortion. The price of the Mojo to DAVE is also roughly the price of the Omega driver to the Voxativ 4D driver. I suspect some of the Voxativ hybrid field coil drivers may have Blu-level impact, but I'm not willing (yet to drop $65k a pair(!) to see what they can do.

I was hearing things through the Voxativ's and BluDAVE that I hadn't heard before, so I suspect they might be more capable of revealing degradations from the upstream digital chain than the Omegas (see how I made this post on topic?)

The Voxativ 4D drivers were 103dB sensitivity, so the DAVE drove them with pretty unambiguous authority. I was enjoying the BluDAVE too much to drop in BluHugo2 to see how it would drive the units, but based on the room shaking levels we got to, I'm sure even the Hugo2 could hold its own with these speakers.

I also had a chance to spend a couple hours with the incredibly impressive Voxativ T211 tube amp ($20k). As amazing as the Voxativ T211 tube amp was (by far the finest synergy between tube amp and transducer I've ever heard), as I'm sure you've experienced, no amp on the planet can hold a candle to the DAVE (or Hugo2) driving high efficiency speakers direct. That being said, the Voxativ T211/4D combo was the smallest gap to DAVE direct I have ever heard, which says a lot about the engineering prowess of the Voxativ team.

mozes · January 28, 2018

49 minutes ago, ray-dude said:

Completely different level of sound. I adore my Omega SAMs. Opened my eyes to what was always there in the music, but that I never had the kit to hear. It was like the character in Flatland that is lifted out of the 2D space, and can see 3D for the first time. Once you hear it, it is impossible to go back.

The Omega direct was one of several "Red Pill" experiences for me over the past year (I linked to a review of that experience in my Blu2 review on Head Fi). One of the other Red Pill moments was when I first heard the Chord Mojo. Absolutely stunning, dollar for dollar the finest DAC on the planet. Blew me away. Based on what I heard, I ordered a Chord DAVE unheard, and right after I heard the DAVE, the Chord Blu2 unheard.

I'd say the Voxativ 4D drivers ($15k for the pair, then you have a variety of cabinet choices to drop them in) are the DAVE to the Omega Super Alnico Mojo: takes what is transformational in the Omega alnico's and makes it effortless and vast, with stunning new detail and speed, tonal balance, and virtually no distortion. The price of the Mojo to DAVE is also roughly the price of the Omega driver to the Voxativ 4D driver. I suspect some of the Voxativ hybrid field coil drivers may have Blu-level impact, but I'm not willing (yet to drop $65k a pair(!) to see what they can do.

I was hearing things through the Voxativ's and BluDAVE that I hadn't heard before, so I suspect they might be more capable of revealing degradations from the upstream digital chain than the Omegas (see how I made this post on topic?)

The Voxativ 4D drivers were 103dB sensitivity, so the DAVE drove them with pretty unambiguous authority. I was enjoying the BluDAVE too much to drop in BluHugo2 to see how it would drive the units, but based on the room shaking levels we got to, I'm sure even the Hugo2 could hold its own with these speakers.

I also had a chance to spend a couple hours with the incredibly impressive Voxativ T211 tube amp ($20k). As amazing as the Voxativ T211 tube amp was (by far the finest synergy between tube amp and transducer I've ever heard), as I'm sure you've experienced, no amp on the planet can hold a candle to the DAVE (or Hugo2) driving high efficiency speakers direct. That being said, the Voxativ T211/4D combo was the smallest gap to DAVE direct I have ever heard, which says a lot about the engineering prowess of the Voxativ team.

Thanks for sharing, the Voxatives must be very special! I really like the 103db sensitivity especially for the Hugo 2. Compared to Dave, H2 sounds a bit thin with the Omegas.

lmitche · January 29, 2018

3 hours ago, ray-dude said:

Completely different level of sound. I adore my Omega SAMs. Opened my eyes to what was always there in the music, but that I never had the kit to hear. It was like the character in Flatland that is lifted out of the 2D space, and can see 3D for the first time. Once you hear it, it is impossible to go back.

The Omega direct was one of several "Red Pill" experiences for me over the past year (I linked to a review of that experience in my Blu2 review on Head Fi). One of the other Red Pill moments was when I first heard the Chord Mojo. Absolutely stunning, dollar for dollar the finest DAC on the planet. Blew me away. Based on what I heard, I ordered a Chord DAVE unheard, and right after I heard the DAVE, the Chord Blu2 unheard.

I'd say the Voxativ 4D drivers ($15k for the pair, then you have a variety of cabinet choices to drop them in) are the DAVE to the Omega Super Alnico Mojo: takes what is transformational in the Omega alnico's and makes it effortless and vast, with stunning new detail and speed, tonal balance, and virtually no distortion. The price of the Mojo to DAVE is also roughly the price of the Omega driver to the Voxativ 4D driver. I suspect some of the Voxativ hybrid field coil drivers may have Blu-level impact, but I'm not willing (yet to drop $65k a pair(!) to see what they can do.

I was hearing things through the Voxativ's and BluDAVE that I hadn't heard before, so I suspect they might be more capable of revealing degradations from the upstream digital chain than the Omegas (see how I made this post on topic?)

The Voxativ 4D drivers were 103dB sensitivity, so the DAVE drove them with pretty unambiguous authority. I was enjoying the BluDAVE too much to drop in BluHugo2 to see how it would drive the units, but based on the room shaking levels we got to, I'm sure even the Hugo2 could hold its own with these speakers.

I also had a chance to spend a couple hours with the incredibly impressive Voxativ T211 tube amp ($20k). As amazing as the Voxativ T211 tube amp was (by far the finest synergy between tube amp and transducer I've ever heard), as I'm sure you've experienced, no amp on the planet can hold a candle to the DAVE (or Hugo2) driving high efficiency speakers direct. That being said, the Voxativ T211/4D combo was the smallest gap to DAVE direct I have ever heard, which says a lot about the engineering prowess of the Voxativ team.

Ray-dude, I wonder if you would be willing to share a picture of the final version of the USB cable with the ferrites applied. If I read your head-fi writeup correctly, you end up with 30 to 40 2.5ghz ferrites on a tripplite USB cable. Did I get that right? How long is the cable?

Many thanks, Larry

ray-dude · January 29, 2018

Larry, I'm not at home right now for photos (all the cables are also back in my music cabinet now), but I ended up with the following:

Tripp Lite 2m USB cable with 2 built in Ferrite Chokes (U023-006) ($2.68)

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B003MQ29B2

40 (!) Topnisus ferrites ($8.99 for 10 pack)

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01E6PLXXC?th=1

I placed the ferrites as close to Chord Blu2 as I could. With USB going into the Chord Blu2, I could hear clear improvement as I clipped them on one by one up to about 20 ferrites. After that, changes became very marginal. I could hear no changes after 25-30. Since I had the ferrites anyway, I keep all 40 on the USB cable (it is as good a place to store them as any).

When I tested the ferrite'ed USB cable vs a bare cable going into the DAVE USB, there was only a very small difference. The massive difference was when going through the Blu2. Since Blu2 is such a MASSIVE SQ lift for the DAVE (you have no idea), it had been hiding the USB degradation, until I listened to the Blu2 CD directly with USB disconnected. It was only then that I could hear what the Blu2 was really capable of.

Separately, the Blu2 is digitally connected to the Chord DAVE DAC through dual BNC cables. I use 2m Monoprice 75 Ohm cables. While 2m vs 1m made a difference (I heard no difference going to a 4m BNC cable), I heard no difference with more expensive 2m Canare cables (I did not try anything more exotic). On the Monoprice BNC cables, I recommend 5x Wurth 2.5GHz ferrites on each cable, positioned to be as close to the DAVE inputs as possible. In my review I used the 1GHz Wurths. I later got the 2,5GHz Wurths, and noted a VERY small improvement over the 1GHz Wurths. In my case, I have 5x 2.5Ghz Wurths and 4x 1 GHz Wurths on each cable, because that is as good a place to store them as any (I could not hear any real difference past 5x 2.5GHz Wurths in my setup)

I will say that physical cable management was *extremely* important before I had the ferrites on the cables. Even minor changes (what they were touching, proximity to other cables, etc) had a huge impact. It made my initial tests extremely challenging to unravel.

I did not revisit sensivity to physical positioning after I loaded up on the ferrites (once bitten, twice shy). I'm still careful with physical management (no looping of BNC cables, don't touch power cables, etc), and I use the following neoprene cover to help keep the mess from going all over the place

https://smile.amazon.com/Kootek-Management-Concealer-Organizer-Reversible/dp/B01GCS77TU

(and it also serves to hide my ferrite shame)

All these ferrites are basically RF hygiene, and keeping that RF (whether from the streamer or the Blu2) out of the DAVE. I have done nothing on jitter and clock management/optimization, and as I mentioned, have a very modest blue collar Sonicorbiter SE/iFi PSU ($360) as my Roon Bridge, connected by ethernet to a stock network switch and stock Mac Mini and MacBook Pro for my Roon Core.

Ray

lmitche · January 29, 2018

29 minutes ago, ray-dude said:

Larry, I'm not at home right now for photos (all the cables are also back in my music cabinet now), but I ended up with the following:

Tripp Lite 2m USB cable with 2 built in Ferrite Chokes (U023-006) ($2.68)

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B003MQ29B2

40 (!) Topnisus ferrites ($8.99 for 10 pack)

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01E6PLXXC?th=1

I placed the ferrites as close to Chord Blu2 as I could. With USB going into the Chord Blu2, I could hear clear improvement as I clipped them on one by one up to about 20 ferrites. After that, changes became very marginal. I could hear no changes after 25-30. Since I had the ferrites anyway, I keep all 40 on the USB cable (it is as good a place to store them as any).

When I tested the ferrite'ed USB cable vs a bare cable going into the DAVE USB, there was only a very small difference. The massive difference was when going through the Blu2. Since Blu2 is such a MASSIVE SQ lift for the DAVE (you have no idea), it had been hiding the USB degradation, until I listened to the Blu2 CD directly with USB disconnected. It was only then that I could hear what the Blu2 was really capable of.

Separately, the Blu2 is digitally connected to the Chord DAVE DAC through dual BNC cables. I use 2m Monoprice 75 Ohm cables. While 2m vs 1m made a difference (I heard no difference going to a 4m BNC cable), I heard no difference with more expensive 2m Canare cables (I did not try anything more exotic). On the Monoprice BNC cables, I recommend 5x Wurth 2.5GHz ferrites on each cable, positioned to be as close to the DAVE inputs as possible. In my review I used the 1GHz Wurths. I later got the 2,5GHz Wurths, and noted a VERY small improvement over the 1GHz Wurths. In my case, I have 5x 2.5Ghz Wurths and 4x 1 GHz Wurths on each cable, because that is as good a place to store them as any (I could not hear any real difference past 5x 2.5GHz Wurths in my setup)

I will say that physical cable management was *extremely* important before I had the ferrites on the cables. Even minor changes (what they were touching, proximity to other cables, etc) had a huge impact. It made my initial tests extremely challenging to unravel.

I did not revisit sensivity to physical positioning after I loaded up on the ferrites (once bitten, twice shy). I'm still careful with physical management (no looping of BNC cables, don't touch power cables, etc), and I use the following neoprene cover to help keep the mess from going all over the place

https://smile.amazon.com/Kootek-Management-Concealer-Organizer-Reversible/dp/B01GCS77TU

(and it also serves to hide my ferrite shame)

All these ferrites are basically RF hygiene, and keeping that RF (whether from the streamer or the Blu2) out of the DAVE. I have done nothing on jitter and clock management/optimization, and as I mentioned, have a very modest blue collar Sonicorbiter SE/iFi PSU ($360) as my Roon Bridge, connected by ethernet to a stock network switch and stock Mac Mini and MacBook Pro for my Roon Core.

Ray

Ray, many thanks for the thoughtful and detailed response.

I've spent the past couple months working on RFI control, mostly with tinned copper sleeving and the JSSG technique, and have been surprised at the benefits in USB, DC and Ethernet cables. I'm just starting to experiment with AC cables, with mixed results.

Learning about the benefits of ferrites on the USB cabling would make sense as a next step. Thanks for taking the lead.

Larry

ray-dude · January 29, 2018

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/chord-electronics-dave.766517/page-627

Larry, this post from Rob Watts may be helpful to your process. Looking forward to hearing about your progress.

seeteeyou · January 29, 2018

Ray, thanks a lot for chiming in.

I just read that Canare 12G-SDI should be fantastic choices as either a coaxial or clock cable, it's able to "smoke" much more expensive ones such as Nordost Vanhalla and Wireworld Gold Eclipse

http://www.hiendy.com/hififorum/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=114195

Have you ever tried that by any chance? They're like less than $30 a pop and a pair would only cost 50 bucks or so

Canare 12G-SDI 4K UHD Single-Channel BNC Cable (3')
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1338226-REG/canare_cal55cuhd003_12g_sdi_4k_uhd_single_channel_bnc_cable.html

Canare 12G-SDI 4K UHD Single-Channel BNC Cable (6')
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1338227-REG/canare_cal55cuhd006_12g_sdi_4k_uhd_single_channel_bnc_cable.html

lmitche · January 29, 2018

1 hour ago, ray-dude said:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/chord-electronics-dave.766517/page-627

Larry, this post from Rob Watts may be helpful to your process. Looking forward to hearing about your progress.

Helpful indeed, thanks again.

ray-dude · January 29, 2018

I did not try those, but I did give these Canare cables a shot:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0010CIW98

I heard no difference at all vs the $2.50 Monoprice 2m BNC cables with ferrites, and maybe the very and very occasional slightest of expectation bias induced difference with no ferrites (even then it was maybe 1 out of 6 trials as I swapped back and forth? I marked it a equivalent)

In my case, it is ultra specific to what works between the Chord Blu2 and Chord DAVE DAC, so very difficult to generalize from that.

seeteeyou · January 29, 2018

Thanks again Ray, I just found the discuss below

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/29650-dcs-network-bridge/?page=19&tab=comments#comment-765484

On 1/13/2018 at 9:30 AM, Beolab said:

Ordered some BNC 75 Ohm SDI

12 Ghz made for 4K UHD pro broadcasting Canare cables just for fun, that i can highly recommend and they had greater precision than my BNC Nordos Valhallas, they did not got the same overall focus as the Canares.

It may be because of the Canare

Professional cable is made for this kind of word.clock frequencies more than the Valhallas is my conclution.

Here is the special Canare 12 Ghz beryllium copper plug:

http://canare.com/ProductItemDisplay.aspx?productItemID=246

And here is the cable:

http://canare.com/ProductItemDisplay.aspx?productItemID=247

Here you can buy it assembled:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1338227-REG/canare_cal55cuhd006_12g_sdi_4k_uhd_single_channel_bnc_cable.html

ray-dude · January 29, 2018

2 minutes ago, lmitche said:

Helpful indeed, thanks again.

I should say (since I haven't been active here) that with the Chord BluDAVE driving Omega SAMs direct, I really key off timing detail and soundstage queues when looking for degradations. With solid well recorded content, in my experience the most ephemeral soundstage feature is height resolution, followed by depth resolution, then a collapsing of timing/attack detail and lateral resolution.

At its best, the soundstage is absolutely holographic: seemingly infinite resolution, and a true surround image (with binaural recordings, it is like listening to at atmos mix in 2 channel, but with vivid spatial detail). With choral recordings, you can clearly perceive the height of the various singers as they stretch back and up on their risers. It is eerie, and the near continuous depth queues quickly collapse when RF noise come into the mix (apparently for reasons Rob cited in his post).

AmusedToD · January 29, 2018

5 hours ago, ray-dude said:

Larry, I'm not at home right now for photos (all the cables are also back in my music cabinet now), but I ended up with the following:

Tripp Lite 2m USB cable with 2 built in Ferrite Chokes (U023-006) ($2.68)

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B003MQ29B2

40 (!) Topnisus ferrites ($8.99 for 10 pack)

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01E6PLXXC?th=1

I placed the ferrites as close to Chord Blu2 as I could. With USB going into the Chord Blu2, I could hear clear improvement as I clipped them on one by one up to about 20 ferrites. After that, changes became very marginal. I could hear no changes after 25-30. Since I had the ferrites anyway, I keep all 40 on the USB cable (it is as good a place to store them as any).

When I tested the ferrite'ed USB cable vs a bare cable going into the DAVE USB, there was only a very small difference. The massive difference was when going through the Blu2. Since Blu2 is such a MASSIVE SQ lift for the DAVE (you have no idea), it had been hiding the USB degradation, until I listened to the Blu2 CD directly with USB disconnected. It was only then that I could hear what the Blu2 was really capable of.

Separately, the Blu2 is digitally connected to the Chord DAVE DAC through dual BNC cables. I use 2m Monoprice 75 Ohm cables. While 2m vs 1m made a difference (I heard no difference going to a 4m BNC cable), I heard no difference with more expensive 2m Canare cables (I did not try anything more exotic). On the Monoprice BNC cables, I recommend 5x Wurth 2.5GHz ferrites on each cable, positioned to be as close to the DAVE inputs as possible. In my review I used the 1GHz Wurths. I later got the 2,5GHz Wurths, and noted a VERY small improvement over the 1GHz Wurths. In my case, I have 5x 2.5Ghz Wurths and 4x 1 GHz Wurths on each cable, because that is as good a place to store them as any (I could not hear any real difference past 5x 2.5GHz Wurths in my setup)

I will say that physical cable management was *extremely* important before I had the ferrites on the cables. Even minor changes (what they were touching, proximity to other cables, etc) had a huge impact. It made my initial tests extremely challenging to unravel.

I did not revisit sensivity to physical positioning after I loaded up on the ferrites (once bitten, twice shy). I'm still careful with physical management (no looping of BNC cables, don't touch power cables, etc), and I use the following neoprene cover to help keep the mess from going all over the place

https://smile.amazon.com/Kootek-Management-Concealer-Organizer-Reversible/dp/B01GCS77TU

(and it also serves to hide my ferrite shame)

All these ferrites are basically RF hygiene, and keeping that RF (whether from the streamer or the Blu2) out of the DAVE. I have done nothing on jitter and clock management/optimization, and as I mentioned, have a very modest blue collar Sonicorbiter SE/iFi PSU ($360) as my Roon Bridge, connected by ethernet to a stock network switch and stock Mac Mini and MacBook Pro for my Roon Core.

Ray

With all due respect, you’ve got some quality gear there, do treat it with respect. What is this “ferrites on cheap cables” mambo-jumbo? Get some decent cables and enjoy the music.

Confused · January 29, 2018

@austinpop first to say many thanks for your recent 'Review of the Innuos Zenith MkII SE' post. A good read and very interesting. Your efforts sharing this are appreciated.

The post did leave a question in my mind. You make it very clear that the performance of the Innuos was enhanced by adding the clocked tX-USBultra in the chain, this I understand, and by itself is an interesting observation.

It does beg the question though, how does the modded switch + sMS-200 + tX-USBultra compare to the Innous on it's own, without the help of the tX-USBultra? Consider this to be a 'spaghetti' versus 'elegant' solution head to head.

Any thoughts?

Johnseye · January 29, 2018

On 1/27/2018 at 12:45 PM, austinpop said:

My point about chains earlier bears some explanation. I think Roy has already said that by itself, the SE equals, and even slightly betters his custom server in terms of dynamism. But it cannot compete in terms of all the clock-related SQ improvements. The downside for his custom server is (quoting an email snippet): ...that it requires 5 PSU rails (1 for the mobo, sCLK-EX, tX-USBexp, tX-USBhubIN, SSD) and to devote this many PSU rails to it is a challenge.

So no matter how you slice it, you have spaghetti! In one case:

SE + tX-USBultra (1 PSU rail)

custom server (5 PSU rails)

So it's not a competition to determine "the winner." Some - like me - don't want to mess with building a custom server, and like the simplicity of the SE.

Others really enjoy delving into all the myriad decisions in assembling a custom server: mobo, SATA, drives, USB, Ethernet, case, connectors, ... the list goes on. Once you start adding in the cost of SR7 rails (or perhaps Sean Jacobs rails), I wonder if there is even a cost advantage.

What you've determined, with your own particular gear, is that the straight USB solution sounds better than the endpoint. There could be a myriad of different reasons for this, but similar to what Roy, ElviaCaprice, myself and a few others discovered was that it does sound better. I'm not discounting the endpoint, because it has a purpose. If you don't want your server in the vicinity of your other equipment there's a huge benefit. Likewise, I can put endpoints anywhere in my house. However, when you're listening for best sound quality, the direct USB approach has an edge.

With regards to using 5 rails to power a server, I think that's a personal preference. I'm using one rail to power the board, one to power my SOtM cards and another to power the hard drive. Would I benefit from adding 2 more, maybe but because SOtM allows for the chaining of power through their cards it's the same clean power source. In fact, the sCLK-EX card filters so there may be an additional gain. I could get away with powering the SSD through the mobo and bring it down to 2 rails. At some point I'll run a comparison. Again, same clean power source, but coming through the mobo to power the SSD which has an SOtM filter on it.

Custom server or SE is another level of comparison. Both are similar in design and serve the same function, just different hardware. Just as we discover in all our testing, one will sound better. No, it's not a competition. I don't think any of us are competing, only trying to find out if there's something which can improve the sound quality of our music.

austinpop · January 29, 2018

3 hours ago, Confused said:

@austinpop first to say many thanks for your recent 'Review of the Innuos Zenith MkII SE' post. A good read and very interesting. Your efforts sharing this are appreciated.

The post did leave a question in my mind. You make it very clear that the performance of the Innuos was enhanced by adding the clocked tX-USBultra in the chain, this I understand, and by itself is an interesting observation.

It does beg the question though, how does the modded switch + sMS-200 + tX-USBultra compare to the Innous on it's own, without the help of the tX-USBultra? Consider this to be a 'spaghetti' versus 'elegant' solution head to head.

Any thoughts?

Check out my first paragraph in the Findings section, quoted below. The trifecta solution sounds better in that head to head, and given one or the other, I’d pick the trifecta.

On 1/26/2018 at 7:29 PM, austinpop said:

Let me first dispense with the most obvious and financially most attractive comparison: could the Zenith SE standalone replace my spaghetti chain? If so, I could sell my entire trifecta, and recoup most or all of what I paid for the SE. Sadly - the answer is an emphatic NO. While the SE bettered the trifecta in terms of the traits described above, especially dynamism and weight, there was also a profound sense of loss for the air, dimensionality, and resolution that is so characteristic of all the clock improvements. This was not surprising, nor unexpected, as it's what Roy found in his evaluation too.

ray-dude · January 29, 2018

12 hours ago, AmusedToD said:

With all due respect, you’ve got some quality gear there, do treat it with respect. What is this “ferrites on cheap cables” mambo-jumbo? Get some decent cables and enjoy the music.

LOL, it is a bit embarrassing, isn't it? All ribbing for the ferrite shame is well deserved and well earned.

FWIW, the context here is hearing the CD transport in the Blu2 be staggeringly better than the USB input. For a "bits are bits" guy, that was a massive slap upside the head, and I did apologize to everyone that obsesses over the digital chain in my review

In the case of what I was doing with Chord Blu2 + DAVE specifically, my objective was to get the USB input to sound as good as the CD, with the hypothesis that degradations on the digital side were what was dragging it down. The ferrites and cheap digital cables got me there, which is awesome, so I didn't need to get to that next level with more exotic digital cables. I'm not averse to same (esp. on the analog side), but I tend to build up to diminishing returns rather than jumping in at the top (It's more fun and I learn more that way).

Based on what I've heard though, I'm pretty sure with better transducers (likely the Voxativ's), I'll be in a position to hear even more upstream refinements and get even better than the CD transport direct, which is why I'm very grateful to lurk here and learn from everyone's experiences. Once I step up my transducer game and work on the analog side of the fence some more, I'm sure to swing back to power to the DAC, then head back upstream to the digital side.

Confused · January 29, 2018

6 hours ago, austinpop said:

Check out my first paragraph in the Findings section, quoted below. The trifecta solution sounds better in that head to head, and given one or the other, I’d pick the trifecta.

Thanks @austinpop ! I’ll try and pay more attention next time.

austinpop · January 29, 2018

1 hour ago, Confused said:

Thanks @austinpop ! I’ll try and pay more attention next time.

Not a problem. Serves me right for being so verbose. I can't believe that post was almost 4000 words.

AmusedToD · January 29, 2018

16 minutes ago, austinpop said:

Not a problem. Serves me right for being so verbose. I can't believe that post was almost 4000 words.

That’s why your reviews make an excellent read. It would be far easier to use the cliche expressions: “more air around instruments”, “blacker background”,

”image snaps into focus”, blah blah..., and finish the review with 30 words rather than 4000, right?

austinpop · January 29, 2018

You're too kind.

BTW - if anyone is interested in building a trifecta like mine, with a modded sMS-200, I just put my modded sMS-200 up for sale in the For Sale forum. With this piece, you would still need to get a tX-USBultra, modded to deliver the clock outputs to the sMS-200.

lmitche · January 30, 2018

Installed the second titanium ATX power supply today and split motherboard power between the two. Everything is burning in now.

15 minutes in a few tracks were played and the first impression is that a nice improvement in musicality is an immediate result. Tomorrow I will measure current usage across both PSUs to determine if it is safe to substitute my linear PSU for one of the titanium PSUs.

Assuming it's safe, then onto listening tests between the two solutions to determine the best config.

Ugh, it never stops.

kelvinwsy · January 30, 2018

i am also considering going with a teradak linear psu for mobo and use my corsair ax760 platinum psu for the GPU.. please share your experience ...

Lebouwsky · January 30, 2018

4 hours ago, kelvinwsy said:

i am also considering going with a teradak linear psu for mobo and use my corsair ax760 platinum psu for the GPU.. please share your experience ...

For almost 2 years I’ve bin using 2 Teradak 30W powersupplies. They’re very reliable, don’t run hot and they’re price/performance is good. That said, in terms of given sound quality, they’re “ok”. The Sotm sps500 was a huge step up for me. You get what you pay for.

KingRex · January 31, 2018

On 1/26/2018 at 5:29 PM, austinpop said:

Finding 1: The best Zenith SE chain outperforms my current reference chain

This is the SE-based chain that sounded best in my system:

sCLK-EX-modded switch (LPS-1) > Zenith SE > tX-USBultra (Hynes SR-4) > Codex

Cybershaft OP-14 10 MHz reference clock feeding the sCLK-EX board in the tX-USBultra

Austinpop, can you talk more about this chain. I don't quite understand it. I called sotm and they did not mod a switch. My idea of a switch is something like a D-Link or Netgear. I'm also not sure how your cabling your equipment together. The Cyber shaft only has coax in and out. I see the connect to the USBultra, but how do I connect that to my DAC or server which are USB. I also don't get how the cybershaft is not in a chain. Its almost like it is a loop in and out of the USBultra. Can you talk to the cabling.

Thanks.

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

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