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

[austinpop]

3 hours ago, mozes said:

Keep in mind that my sCLk server is a beast by all standards, 5 power supplies, two tX-USBexp cards, external HDD that hosts OS and music.

 

Did you happen to bookmark the post where you describe your server build in detail? I'd like to get more detail on PSUs, what exactly is sCLK enabled, etc.

[mozes]

4 minutes ago, Lebouwsky said:

This is great info. May I ask, is it necessary to replace the mb’s system-, lan-, etc clock by the sclk? Or can one benefit by letting the sclk take controll over 1 or 2 usb cards and and approach that level? And what’s the difference between the sclk-ex and this sclk48?

SOTM recommends upgrading the LAN clocks on the motherboard in addition to the tX-USBexp cards. I am not sure what the difference is between the sclk-ex and the sclk48

[mozes]

Just now, austinpop said:

 

Did you happen to bookmark the post where you describe your server build in detail? I'd like to get more detail on PSUs, what exactly is sCLK enabled, etc.

No I didn’t. I use

LPS-1s for the tX-USBexps and the HDD.

LPS-1.2 for the sCLK-EX board

sPS-500 for the motherboard

[austinpop]

1 minute ago, mozes said:

No I didn’t.

 

Can you locate? 

 

What components are sCLK-ed?

[mozes]

Here it is

 

 

[austinpop]

4 minutes ago, mozes said:

Here it is

 

 

 

 

 

How could I have forgotten! With a build like that, I am not surprised at your results. 

 

And this chain is driving your Blu2Dave? This is too much power in one person's hands.  

[Johnseye]

10 minutes ago, mozes said:

Here it is

 

 

 

3 minutes ago, austinpop said:

 

 

 

How could I have forgotten! With a build like that, I am not surprised at your results. 

 

And this chain is driving your Blu2Dave? This is too much power in one person's hands.  

 

The server build is very similar to mine. Except double . 

 

Mozes you should come to Axpona next weekend. You're welcome to join our listening session at my place.

[mozes]

8 minutes ago, austinpop said:

 

 

 

How could I have forgotten! With a build like that, I am not surprised at your results. 

 

And this chain is driving your Blu2Dave? This is too much power in one person's hands.  

No Blu2 here. I canceled the order long time back! I am waiting for a dedicated Mscaler

[mozes]

2 minutes ago, Johnseye said:

 

 

The server build is very similar to mine. Except double . 

 

Mozes you should come to Axpona next weekend. You're welcome to join our listening session at my place.

 

3 minutes ago, Johnseye said:

 

 

The server build is very similar to mine. Except double . 

 

Mozes you should come to Axpona next weekend. You're welcome to join our listening session at my place.

Thanks @Johnseye I wish I could make it! I am sure you guys will have tons of fun

[austinpop]

2 minutes ago, mozes said:

I am waiting for a dedicated Mscaler

 

It's coming... from what I've heard.

[mozes]

2 minutes ago, austinpop said:

 

It's coming... from what I've heard.

Yes it’s on the way, but not sure when

[seeteeyou]

For those of us who don't need ultra low impedance outputs for driving speakers directly, PS Audio DirectStream DAC with RedCloud could be hard to beat for its roughly 3K used prices

 

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/chord-electronics-blu-mk-2-the-official-thread.831343/page-213

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FYI, a PSAudio DirectStream DAC (RedCloud 131) when fully burned in comes awfully close to a BluDave. No, i don't have both in-house for AB comparison but I own a DS and have heard BluDave at length to make a reasonable judgement. Others here have posted similar comments.

 

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I have both and prefer PSA with Redcloud.

 

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I own both and love both but the PSA DS Dac is better.

 

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Imagine that,I own both as well and although I LOVE the PS Audio and think it is wonderful for the price it isnt in the same league as Dave/Blu2 nor should it seeing as it is 25% of the cost!

 

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You have your opinion, I have mine.

 

DirectStream might have an edge if we're feeding its I2S input with a spectacular source. We could also replace its Crystek CVHD-957-22.57920 with something like Pulsar Clock or Neutron Star 2 etc.

[ElviaCaprice]

You don't need an upper tier DAC to achieve great sound, including Chord DAC's.  You'll find much more bang for you buck in overall system integration with emphasis on the Analog end of the system.  First and foremost, speakers/headphones.  Then the amp and if you choose direct DAC to speakers combo, have the amp in the DAC.  Follow this line all the way back to the server.   Overall power being the trump card.

But if you got the coin, by all means, splurge on the DAC.

 

Chord lovers,

 

Now that Uptone Audio is rolling out a USPCB micro, I think the Hugo 2 is a great mid tier DAC for the biggest bang on the buck directly driving speakers/headphones.  Call it the mini DAVE.  I'm leaning hard looking at it.  You get all the technical features  as opposed to the Qutest.

 

Meanwhile, a Rel t5i sub is on the way (just one, has AB amp/125W/8" as opposed to class D/100W/6.5" for the Tzeros).  I think @mozes is spot on incorporating the Rel's into his system.  As soon as he posted about it, the light bulb went off in my head, yup.  Then as we discussed it, it confirmed what I think will be a fine additional component to our systems synthesis.  I looked at numerous subs over time but never felt they we're right, fearing their overbearing tendencies and complicated dialing in.  The Rel's with high level input direct speaker cables are perfect for the direct Chord driven single driver high efficiency speakers.  Meant to augment the speakers ouput.  Small form factor, low power (when it comes to subs).  

[mozes]

17 hours ago, mozes said:

I just finished my comparison of the below two configurations:

1-sCLK server>tX-USBultra>tX-USBultra

2-sMS-200ultra>tX-USBultra>tX-USBultra

 

 I used the same sPS-500 to power the sCLK server and the sMS-200ultra.

 

I used Bubble DS Next installed on my android tab to stream Tidal to:

1-Jriver DLNA renderer on the sCLK server

2-sMS-200ultra as a DLNA renderer

 

This was an easy comparison, the sCLK server is on a higher level. Everything is better, resolution, instrument separation, and spaciousness. The sMS-200ultra still sounded very good so if the sCLK server is 95 out of a 100, the sMS-200ultra is around 80.

 

Keep in mind that my sCLk server is a beast by all standards, 5 power supplies, two tX-USBexp cards, external HDD that hosts OS and music. I guess that a sMS-200ultra with a 10MHz master clock can get close to my sCLK server without a master clock.

 

I followed this up with a shootout between the sPS-500 and LPS-1.2 feeding the sMS-200ultra. With both PSUs set to 9V, the LPS-1.2 is clearly superior. In comparison, the sPS-500 sounded harsh and flat. This tells me that my sCLK server is not showing its full potential yet with the sPS-500 I use. The LPS-1.2 simply doesn’t have enough juice for it.

[seeteeyou]

Thankfully we could get 5A with LT3045 now, and it shouldn't cost that much since even 10 pieces of LT3045 wouldn't be too expensive to begin with

 

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/30634-the-true-experimental-tweak-thread/?page=170&tab=comments#comment-800499

 

Not to mention that we could hook 2 pieces of them up in series.

[mozes]

40 minutes ago, seeteeyou said:

Thankfully we could get 5A with LT3045 now, and it shouldn't cost that much since even 10 pieces of LT3045 wouldn't be too expensive to begin with

 

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/30634-the-true-experimental-tweak-thread/?page=170&tab=comments#comment-800499

 

Not to mention that we could hook 2 pieces of them up in series.

I ordered two of these boards. Will see what they can do

[Johnseye]

1 hour ago, mozes said:

I followed this up with a shootout between the sPS-500 and LPS-1.2 feeding the sMS-200ultra. With both PSUs set to 9V, the LPS-1.2 is clearly superior. In comparison, the sPS-500 sounded harsh and flat. This tells me that my sCLK server is not showing its full potential yet with the sPS-500 I use. The LPS-1.2 simply doesn’t have enough juice for it.

 

I'm choking on reading this as I just bought an sPS-500 which should be here today.  I was going to use it within my server on the tX-USBexp & sCLK and independently power the tXultra with the SR7 but it sounds like I'm better off chaining the SR7 through to the tX-USBultra.  That means I'll need to use it elsewhere where an LPS-1.2 would suffice.

 

This also tells me a LPSU trumps a SPSU, regardless of SOtM's applied filtering.

[mozes]

2 minutes ago, Johnseye said:

 

I'm choking on reading this as I just bought an sPS-500 which should be here today.  I was going to use it within my server on the tX-USBexp & sCLK and independently power the tXultra with the SR7 but it sounds like I'm better off chaining the SR7 through to the tX-USBultra.  That means I'll need to use it elsewhere where an LPS-1.2 would suffice.

 

This also tells me a LPSU trumps a SPSU, regardless of SOtM's applied filtering.

Keep in mind that we are talking about slight differences that are discernable only in A/B testing. I would put the sps-500 on less critical components, e.g wireless bridge. In my case I use the sps-500 to power my server motherboard as I don’t have an SR7  

[ElviaCaprice]

Speaking of SR7, I still have a new one, MR4, sitting in MN, waiting for me.  But now I am thinking it may be overkill for my needs.  Especially if I switch to a Hugo 2 from the 2Qute?  My sCLK EX server runs fine off of the  Uptone LPS 1.1A limitation, which I tried last summer.   

[Johnseye]

7 minutes ago, ElviaCaprice said:

Speaking of SR7, I still have a new one, MR4, sitting in MN, waiting for me.  But now I am thinking it may be overkill for my needs.  Especially if I switch to a Hugo 2 from the 2Qute?  My sCLK EX server runs fine off of the  Uptone LPS 1.1A limitation, which I tried last summer.   

 

Are you saying you'd like to trade for the sPS-500 I just bought?  If so, PM me.

[ElviaCaprice]

25 minutes ago, Johnseye said:

 

Are you saying you'd like to trade for the sPS-500 I just bought?  If so, PM me.

Thanks Johnseye, but I'm definitely not going the sPS-500 route.  If I did decide to go a different route it would probably be with with 3-LPS 1.2's.  But I am far from making up my mind here, I may just keep it.  I'll know more in a couple months.  If I did decide to sell the SR7, I would offer it here to someone first.  

I would work out a trade for DAVE?  

[austinpop]

4 hours ago, ElviaCaprice said:

Thanks Johnseye, but I'm definitely not going the sPS-500 route.  If I did decide to go a different route it would probably be with with 3-LPS 1.2's.  But I am far from making up my mind here, I may just keep it.  I'll know more in a couple months.  If I did decide to sell the SR7, I would offer it here to someone first.  

I would work out a trade for DAVE?  

 

Yeah - try it first. Very few people I know want to sell their SR-7 after they hear it. But if you do, I might be interested too.

[Bricki]

7 hours ago, mozes said:

I followed this up with a shootout between the sPS-500 and LPS-1.2 feeding the sMS-200ultra. With both PSUs set to 9V, the LPS-1.2 is clearly superior. In comparison, the sPS-500 sounded harsh and flat. This tells me that my sCLK server is not showing its full potential yet with the sPS-500 I use. The LPS-1.2 simply doesn’t have enough juice for it.

G'day mozes, 

 

I am just wondering what dc cables you used in the comparison? I am considering an lps1.2 in the future, I have an lps1 and an sps-500 both with canare 4s6 dc cables and I much prefer the sps-500 powering my sms200 (it's not apples to apples though - lps1 @7v and sps-500 @12v)... I have found the sps-500 to be susceptible to the ac that it's plugged into and the ac power cord used... I also thought that the stock cable with the sps-500 was not showing the full potential of the supply... If I remember correctly I think @austinpop compared the sps-500 and lps1.2 and thought they were of similar quality - but I can't remember what component he was powering in the comparison.

 

Were you using the stock 36w charger with the lps1.2? Have you heard any difference with different supplies charging the lps1.2? 

 

Thanks for your listening impressions they are always helpful ??

[mozes]

13 minutes ago, Bricki said:

G'day mozes, 

 

I am just wondering what dc cables you used in the comparison? I am considering an lps1.2 in the future, I have an lps1 and an sps-500 both with canare 4s6 dc cables and I much prefer the sps-500 powering my sms200 (it's not apples to apples though - lps1 @7v and sps-500 @12v)... I have found the sps-500 to be susceptible to the ac that it's plugged into and the ac power cord used... I also thought that the stock cable with the sps-500 was not showing the full potential of the supply... If I remember correctly I think @austinpop compared the sps-500 and lps1.2 and thought they were of similar quality - but I can't remember what component he was powering in the comparison.

 

Were you using the stock 36w charger with the lps1.2? Have you heard any difference with different supplies charging the lps1.2? 

 

Thanks for your listening impressions they are always helpful ??

For the DC cables, I am using 16AWG UPOCC silver 50cm that Steven at Audiosensibility built for me. 

Yes the sPS-500 benefits

from a better power cord and I can comfirm that. Against the LPS-1.2, it is a case by case. For example, on my wireless bridge, I preferred the sPS-500 to the LPS-1.2. Bigger sound stage and more natural flow of music. As for the stock charger, I didn’t like it, I am using an eBay low noise LPS. 

[auricgoldfinger]

3 minutes ago, mozes said:

For the DC cables, I am using 16AWG UPOCC silver 50cm that Steven at Audiosensibility built for me. 

 

Those cables sound amazing on both the sPS-500 and the LPS-1.2.  I have gone through a fair number of DC cables, and these are the best.