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

[seeteeyou]

On 1/6/2018 at 4:10 AM, mozes said:

How would you connect the SD card? SD to USB adapter?

 

SD to USB adapter should work fine, it's just the speed would be kinda "laughable" but fortunately we're stripping Windows way down already

 

https://swissbit.com/products/nand-flash-products/cards/sd-memory-cards/

Quote

 

Sequential Read (MB/s)
up to 25

 

Sequential Write (MB/s)
up to 24

 

Random 4KB Read (IOPS)
up to 19

 

 

And then here's yet another option if we're going for SD to SATA instead

 

https://www.amazon.com/QNINE-Adapter-Memory-Converter-Solid/dp/B075Q91HVZ

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Ideal for some devices that required a fast and easy bootable device such as POS.

 

https://www.amazon.com/SDHC-SATA-Adapter-Converter-Card/dp/B0078PVL8U

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Bootable, install OS and application on SD card.

 

https://www.amazon.com/4-Port-SATA-Adapter-Inch-Housing/dp/B00B4KO0A6

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The adapter allows the installation of SD Card as system disk, boot the operating system directly, without having to install any drivers.

 

Apparently someone managed to install Windows 10 on Macbook with a SD card

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/541df7/i_got_windows_10_running_on_a_sd_card_on_my/

 

On 1/6/2018 at 4:10 AM, mozes said:

I think that if you already have your OS on an external HDD/SSD powered by a separate PSU, then it doesn’t matter how low the power consumption of the SD card is. 

 

Maybe it depends on who we're learning from? Roy still picked Intel X25-E for installing Windows since that's supposedly having the lowest current draw if we're talking about 64GB SLC SSDs. For the storage of lossless music files, he went for 512GB SLC CF cards from Lexar because pretty much everything else with a similar capacity would consume much more power.

 

However, Innuos didn't seem to care that much about power consumption and they're going for those 1TB / 2TB / 4TB Samsung EVO drives

 

Average : 0.1W **** (Typical) = 200mA

http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/Downloads/Samsung_SSD_840EVO_DataSheet_Rev11.pdf#page=3

 

Active Read (Average): Max. 3.1W(4TB) = 620mA

Active Write (Average): Max. 3.6W(4TB) = 720mA

http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/UM/201711/20171115104118871/Samsung_SSD_850_EVO_Data_Sheet_Rev_3_1.pdf#page=3

 

~0.3A (heavy read/write) = 300mA
~0.5A when booting = 500mA

http://www.phys.hawaii.edu/~bfox/pub/NTU_UH_Meetings/2013/October_29_2013/SSDPresentation_Jiwoo/New_SSD_Samsung_Test.pdf#page=4

 

Active Read (Average) : Max. 3.7W (1TB) = 740mA
Active Write (Average) : Max. 4.4W (1TB) = 880mA

https://www.asipartner.com/Portals/0/MICROSITE/Samsung/ConsumerSSD/Samsung_SSD_850_EVO_Brochure.pdf#page=6

 

Maybe they could get away with that because of doing this?

http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2017/10/richer-sounds-with-the-innuos-zenith-mkii-se/

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We configure the SSD controller extensively to limit the amount of noise the SSD can do on the system, helped by the fact the SSD uses its own linear power supply as well as vibration treatment.

 

Since their SSDs are directly connected to the Triple-Linear PSU that's designed by CHC, I also suspect that part of the problem could be mitigated by those (relatively expensive) Mundorf capacitors as they're filtering the noise all the time.

 

We still don't fully understand how ZENith SE Mk.II (without ANY fancy clock upgrades whatsoever) could perform so darn well when compared to Roy's custom server after he invested so much time and money to "perfect" that.

[seeteeyou]

On 11/6/2017 at 12:52 AM, mozes said:

In this case, does it make sense to consider Pico ITX boards?

 

Someone just started a new thread about Compulab Fitlet2

 

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/38192-fitlet2/

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fitlet2 can work at wide input voltage range of 9V – 36V. It can also be powered by a PoE FACET Card or be powered through a custom FACET card.

 

The barebone with Celeron J3455 costs $161 plus shipping

 

https://fit-iot.com/web/product/fitlet2-j3455-barebone/

https://ark.intel.com/products/95594/Intel-Celeron-Processor-J3455-2M-Cache-up-to-2_3-GHz

 

Here's the best part about adding stuff like tX-USBexp

 

http://www.fit-pc.com/wiki/index.php/Fit-PC_Product_Line:FACET_Cards

http://fit-pc.com/download/facet-cards/documents/facet-cards-design-guide.pdf#page=9

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Fitlet-X SoC provides several PCI Express Root Ports, supporting the PCI Express Base Specification, Revision 2.0. Each Root Port lane supports up to 5 Gbps bandwidth in each direction (10 Gbps concurrent). FACET PCI Express interface consist of 3x PCI Express gen2.0 lanes.

 

[seeteeyou]

FYI - it's quite interesting to see what motherboards were chosen for some music servers

 

Innuos ZENith Mk.II = Supermicro X10SBA-L
https://devialetchat.com/showthread.php?tid=3853

http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/celeron/x10/x10sba-l.cfm

 

Antipodes Audio DX Gen 2 = Jetway NF9W
https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/30376-a-novel-way-to-massively-improve-the-sq-of-computer-audio-streaming/?page=74&tab=comments#comment-663416

http://jetwaycomputer.com/NF9W.html

 

Fidelizer Nimitra = Realan LR-J1900T1
https://www.stereo.net.au/forums/topic/126194-fidelizer-nimitra-audio-server-whats-going-on-here/

http://www.minicase.net/product_LR-J1900T1.html

 

Clones Audio HOST Music Server = Asrock J3710-ITX
https://parttimeaudiophile.com/2017/04/30/review-clones-audio-host-music-server/

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/J3710-ITX/

 

Pink Faun AV Streamer = Asrock FM2A88X-ITX+
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews2/pinkfaun/2.html
https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/FM2A88X-ITX+/

 

Sound Galleries SGM 2015 = Asus Z170M-PLUS
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews2/soundgalleries/3.html

https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Z170M-PLUS/

[seeteeyou]

On 1/6/2018 at 3:55 AM, jean-michel6 said:

You are right in fact on my actual dual PC set up with gigabyte Mobo and celeron processor i have adjusted cpu and ram speed to 800Mhz with good results .

 

Unfortunately on the board i am testing now the super micro X10SBA , there is no provision in the bios to adjust cpu and ram speed 

 

There's something called BLACKOS-lite from PVD-AUDIO in Russia

 

https://pvd-audio.com/blackos/

 

I checked their manual and the BIOS settings were indeed 800MHz for both CPU and RAM speed

 

https://pvd-audio.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Rekomendatsii-po-nastrojke-BIOS.pdf#page=3

 

Then I also found their server with Asrock H87M-ITX and the dedicated PSU looked totally dope, it's interesting to see how they're connecting the PSU to the 24-pin ATX connector and the 4-pin 12V connector (i.e. pretty much like Innous ZENith Mk.II) separately

 

http://forum.doctorhead.ru/index.php?showtopic=27247&st=200

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H87M-ITX/

 

 

BTW, there's also this $250 internal regulator module from Mojo Audio if we're looking for more current than LT3045 could provide

 

http://www.mojo-audio.com/internal-regulator-modules/

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Ultralow-noise with less than 50uV of peak-to-peak noise/ripple up into the GHz range.

 

Unfortunately that's so much higher than what we're getting from LT3045 and SR7 etc.

 

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/chord-electronics-dave.766517/page-382#post-13007750

Quote

Both the LPS-1 and the Paul Hynes PSU have much quieter voltage regulators and so they quote noise levels as low as about 5uV.

 

[seeteeyou]

2 hours ago, jean-michel6 said:

Ob top of that the super micro was powered by a simple 12v 1,8 A  IFi smps.

With a better PSU  sound quality will raise even more. 

 

One  obvious conclusion this Spermicro x10sba is a stellar motherboard for audio pc. 

 

That's a winner for approximately $150 even though BIOS options don't offer anything for running both CPU and RAM at 800MHz.

 

Now there's a fairly important question to ask - could a single unit of LPS-1.2 with 13.2 watts (1.1A @ 12V) provide enough power for running Celeron J1900 or not? Most likely that won't work if all 4 cores were active but only ONE active core could do the trick

 

https://www.supermicro.com/manuals/motherboard/J1900/MNL-1553.pdf#page=75

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Active Processor Cores

This feature determines how many CPU cores will be activated for each CPU. When all is selected, all cores in the CPU will be activated. (Please refer to Intel's web site for more information.) The options are All, and 1.

 

In addition, we could also add Maximum Processor Frequency in Windows 10 Power Options manually

 

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/95580-add-remove-maximum-processor-frequency-windows-10-power-options.html

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/95574-change-maximum-processor-frequency-windows-10-a.html

 

Other options are also available

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/6gdv6z/i_wrote_a_script_to_unhide_all_advanced_power/

 

Basically we should be able to power X10SBA with LPS-1.2 (or DC3 Power Supply from Custom HiFi Cables) while something else like Intel X25-E could be powered by LT3045 accordingly

 

[seeteeyou]

On 12/14/2017 at 5:24 AM, sandyk said:

 This sounds like overkill to me.

 You can markedly improve the performance of an internal BR drives by ensuring that the PSU area supplying it is highly stable under the varying load conditions on it's +12V and +5 V supply rails. This will also help to ensure the writing of high quality discs.

The same applies to the +5V supply rails for SSDs . The stability of their internal Xtal oscillators can only be as good as the power supply for them.

 

Thanks @sandyk for the reply, I'd like to know if a similar mod with LT3045 were applicable to those internal Xtal oscillators of motherboards and storage devices by any chance?

 

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/29553-my-very-mini-review-of-the-singxer-su-1-ddc/?page=47&tab=comments#comment-769225

 

If LT3045 were the way to go, how do we figure out the voltage required for powering those internal Xtal oscillators?

 

In addition, how could one trace the power inputs of those internal Xtal oscillators?

[seeteeyou]

Actually I (or we?) prefer something with 1.1A (not 1.2A) because lower current draw would tend to result in lower ripple. Therefore we're also keeping the power consumption of a music server super low for the sake of noise reduction IMHO.

 

If we're fine with 1.0A and let's say our DIY skills are good enough, here's a little something for $22.95 shipped

 

http://www.ldovr.com/product-p/lt3045-a.htm

 

This one is rated @ 3A and obviously it's costing more

 

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/vendor-s-bazaar/310402-fs-ultra-low-noise-power-supply-lt3045-based-pcb-2.html#post5227003

[seeteeyou]

Since ghentaudio should be selling this kinda cable already

 

https://www.ghentaudio.com/part/dc24.html

 

 

It should be fairly straightforward for him to make similar ones with female SATA power connectors, it's just replacing Molex 43025-0200 with Molex 67582-0000

 

https://www.mouser.com/access/?pn=WM3466-ND

http://www.molex.com/molex/products/listview.jsp?query=67582&sType=s&channel=products

 

[seeteeyou]

16 minutes ago, Lebouwsky said:

Might this be an option:

https://www.moddiy.com/products/SATA-to-Gridseed-Power-Plug-(2.1mm-DC-Barrel-Plug).html

 

They do have female connectors on BOTH sides

 

https://www.moddiy.com/products/DC5.5x2.5-DC-Barrel-Jack-to-SATA-Power-Cable-Adapter-(Silver-Wire).html

 

[seeteeyou]

9 minutes ago, rickca said:

Thanks, @seeteeyou looks like we both found the same thing.  It still isn't quite the same as what @Johnseye got from SOtM.  The idea is to cleanly mount the DC input jack on a PC bracket.

 

Maybe you could still contact the owner of ghentaudio.com and ask him to make something like that for you since it ain't that difficult to begin with.

 

If that were no go, you could also get in touch with Gury and see if stuff like that were OK for him to make

 

https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/more-g-unique-bto-psus-are-now-available-direct-order.1983/

 

He's been offering DC-ATX converters that seemed to be better than the ones from HDPLEX, apparently he does speak English fluently and he's also shipping his products internationally.

[seeteeyou]

1 hour ago, rickca said:

I certainly do see that Gury could provide something more advanced than the HDPLEX stuff.  Really intriguing.

 

Yeah, he's like SUPER advanced to the point where he managed to replace the Celeron processor (that's soldered to the laptop motherboard) with Pentium M a decade ago

 

http://www.cnetfrance.fr/news/changez-le-processeur-de-votre-eeepc-pm-753-ulv-inside-39781940.htm

https://www.engadget.com/2008/02/26/eee-pc-hacked-to-accomodate-1-2ghz-pentium-m-processor/

http://www.jkkmobile.com/2008/02/asus-eee-pc-with-12ghz-pentium-m.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20080302013429/http://blog.tom.com/guryhwa1121/article/2915.html

 

Then he even had the balls to take this PSU apart and replaced some caps etc.

 

http://www.pcpop.com/doc/0/459/459620_3.shtml

http://www.zippy.com.tw/pw/showdetail.aspx?pp_rfnbr=1401

https://web.archive.org/web/20091113053546/http://www.itocp.com/bbs/thread-26869-3-1.html

 

That's why I wonder if he were interested in earning extra money by designing a carrier board for either SolidPC Q4 or Intel Compute Card, though we're gonna need more than a handful of us who are interested in such a niche product

 

https://wiki.solid-run.com/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=ibx:carrierboard:docs:brochure_intel_solidpc_q4_2016-09-24.pdf

https://wiki.solid-run.com/doku.php?id=products:ibx:documents

 

SOtM are only willing to mod non-audio devices so he could obviously fill that gap for us.

 

BTW, Chinese New Year is coming soon in mid-February so shipments might be delayed when many places in China should be closed for a fairly long time.

[seeteeyou]

26 minutes ago, sandyk said:

 The main problem here appears to be that it may not be possible to obtain PC Card mounting plates that are blank, except perhaps in minimum quantities.

 

I don't get it, what's so difficult about that?

 

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-Steel-Profile-Expansion-PLATEBLANK/dp/B00006B8BN

 

Here's even something with a hole that might or might not be the right size

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Low-Profile-Bracket-for-LG-Ericsson-PCI-1020-Wireless-802-11n-PCI-Adapter-/190735057275

[seeteeyou]

Maybe send them an e-mail

 

https://www.hdplex.com/contact/

 

Find out if they're willing to sell only this part instead of the entire PSU

 

https://www.hdplex.com/hdplex-fanless-400w-atx-linear-power-supply-with-modular-atx-output.html

 

 

Another one looked close enough but they're ONLY selling the bracket without the cable and the DC jack

 

http://www.mini-box.com/s.nl/it.A/id.438/.f

 

 

Anyways, it just doesn't hurt to ask them to make a cable for you to go from DC jack to female SATA power connector.

[seeteeyou]

2 hours ago, sandyk said:

 The first one is a flimsy cover plate only and not really suitable. Most people throw those out after installing  a new card.

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R1DCQUUJC99CU6

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These are very hard to find and usually cheap junk when I do find them - however, these are far from junk. These slot covers were of the highest quality I have ever seen and I don't hesitate to recommend them to anyone!

 

2 hours ago, sandyk said:

The 2nd one is far more substantial and may be suitable, although it looks to be a little too short.

 

Ever heard of half height and low profile?

 

http://www.streacom.com/products/f7c-alpha-chassis/

[seeteeyou]

Since Sean Jacobs does accept custom HiFi work

 

http://www.custom-hifi-cables.co.uk/custom-equipment-upgrade-service

 

And their TToL PSU costs £2200

 

http://www.custom-hifi-cables.co.uk/home/power-supplies/chc-555ps

 

Did Roy or others ask him about building something even better for the Supermicro X10SBA-L motherboard that's chosen for SE?

[seeteeyou]

3 hours ago, austinpop said:

 

Interesting idea!

 

Yeah, we could actually take a look inside their flagship PSU

 

http://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649359356-naim-xps-dr-naim-555-equivalent-custom-made-by-custom-hi-fi-cables-in-uk/

 

Since Supermicro X10SBA-L is cheap to begin with, maybe it makes more sense to modify the motherboard with sCLK-EX before sending that to Sean Jacobs? Then pay him to hardwire the PSU to the motherboard in a way that ALL regulators could be replaced by the latest versions of their CHC-REG regulator modules.

 

Heck, what if something even better than SOtM SATA filter II could be done with a larger PCB and Mundorf caps?

[seeteeyou]

Only Innuos could tell us the "magic" of Supermicro X10SBA-L but they already provided some hints somewhere

 

http://hifipig.com/innuos-zenith-mk2/

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“We had to go through a very detailed oscilloscope for measurements. We have literally tested dozens of system boards and the noise patterns you get vary wildly between them. Some are absolutely dreadful and should never be used for audio.

 

https://devialetchat.com/showthread.php?tid=3853&pid=60742#pid60742

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We have tested dozens of boards on the oscilloscope (higher and lower-powered) and we could have easily used similar ones at a third of the price.

 

And then there's also another key to their success, it's better to split things up like they do

 

Quote

note that the Zenith uses 3 linear power supplies - one for the CPU, one for the SSD and one for the remaining board

 

Finally the (hard)wiring between the motherboard and the PSU should also play a fairly important role while connectors could be eliminated for good reasons

 

http://innuos.com/en/catalog/go/zenith-se-mk2-std

Quote

Audiophile-grade silver-coated and shielded cabling for internal connections, hand-soldered directly to circuits to lower impedance from connectors.

 

Of course the next level would be powering the system clocks and RAM etc. with dedicated PSUs while the regulators could be bypassed.

[seeteeyou]

6 hours ago, austinpop said:

Finding 6: The SR-4 has pulled ahead of the LPS-1 after more burn-in

 

I know I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I found these PSUs essentially head-to-head. Since then, the SR-4 has continued to burn in, and I am now able to compare on a chain of overall higher SQ with the SE. Whatever the reasons, I now find that switching back and forth powering the tX-USBultra, the SR-4 is the more refined PSU. Of course, this finding will be revisited when my LPS-1.2 comes in, and we shall see if the tables turn again with the 1.2.

 

For the sake of a level playing field, maybe LPS-1.2 could also benefit from StarQuad cables with solid silver? These guys are located in California and they're asking 16 bucks for a foot

 

https://silveraudio.com/accessories.htm

 

Contact

 

https://silveraudio.com/contact.htm

http://hifi-products.com/Silver-Audio-manufacturer-430.html

[seeteeyou]

38 minutes ago, beerandmusic said:

Yes, I have heard about rave reviews on the oppo mods and have referenced them a few times...He must have something new on his site though, i don't recall seeing anything about comparison to trifecta before....definetely worth a closer look.

 

Maybe find someone to mod a stock Oppo with sCLK-EX, get an upgrade from Sean Jacobs, and finally add either sCLK-OCX10 Reference (with a separate PSU from Sean Jacobs) or Mutec REF 10.

 

The relative simplicity of Oppo 205's system board could be advantage when compared to all x86-based motherboards out there. However, Oppo could only be connected to DACs via its coaxial and optical outputs while both of them are capped at 192kHz.

 

The only workaround would be an I2S mod BUT that might only be good for Oppo 203 unless they decide to make something else for Oppo 205

 

http://pcaudio.tistory.com/546

http://www.audiopraise.com/forum/read.php?13,838

http://www.psaudio.com/forum/need-help-ask-the-psa-expert/transforming-vanityhd-card-for-oppo-203-into-usable-i2s/

[seeteeyou]

6 minutes ago, LTG2010 said:

Since the cost between one or two premium transformers was not that far apart we settled on 2 premium toroids - six weeks delivery. Sean will get the other bits case etc ready as far as possible in the meantime. He will be using his custom CHC circuits with mundorf CAPS.

 

That sounds intriguing and many thanks for the details about your positive experiences so far. It's quite a relief to know that could be delivered within 2 months and we're gonna see yet another benchmark in the near future.

 

Is he happy to reveal the specific type(s) of Mundorf caps for his premium transformers or could that be more like a "secret" of some sort? I'm just wondering if this top capacitor model were suitable for a power supply

 

http://www.mundorf.com/en/?category=hifi&menu=caps_audio&content=mcap_supreme_evo_silvergold_oil

[seeteeyou]

Now I realize that someone was already powering motherboard and CPU separately with 2 ATX PSUs

 

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/30376-a-novel-way-to-massively-improve-the-sq-of-computer-audio-streaming/?page=42&tab=comments#comment-640273

On 3/13/2017 at 7:09 PM, Theobetley said:

The tests you refer to are very interesting. Also that many of your colleagues use 2 high power atx supplies is also very interesting. Back in the day Cics (of Cplay/cmp fame) also recommended running music server on 2 atx's--one for motherboard and one for cpu. I have faithfully followed this prescription for years since. Nice to see that others also do this.

 

[seeteeyou]

3 hours ago, ElviaCaprice said:

This is nothing new.  I've often powered my CPU separately with a 12V LPS.

 

Please kindly explain how you managed to dedicate a single 12V LPS strictly for powering Celeron N2930 processor and then another dedicated PSU for powering the rest of the JBC311U93's motherboard NU93S

 

http://www.jetwaycomputer.com/JBC311U93.html

http://www.jetwaycomputer.com/NU93S.html

Quote

Caution: There is no isolation circuitry between the external +9V ~ +24V DC jack and the internal 1 x 2 power connector. It is the system integrator's responsibility to ensure no more than one power supply unit is or can be attached to the board at any time and to ensure the external +9V ~ +24V DC jack is covered if the internal 1 x 2 power connector is to be used.

 

[seeteeyou]

6 hours ago, LTG2010 said:

The 4 pin connector is 12V DC (2x12V, 2xground) The 24 pin ATX connector is for an ATX power supply. You use either one or the other. If you have a linear power supply you can use the pico converter to split the voltages for the 24 pin ATX connector. Innuos appear to be using both connections in the Zenith. The pico converter is being used for the optical drive but its not clear if it's powering anything else.

 

Since Sean should be still waiting for 2 'premium' toroids from the manufacturer, maybe it ain't too late to eliminate the pico converter with this kinda wiring?

 

http://forum.doctorhead.ru/index.php?showtopic=27247&st=200

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H87M-ITX/

 

 

We can't tell exactly what they're doing but most likely there should be multiple (i.e. 1 + 4 = 5) rails coming from the outputs of one large transformer. From what I could tell from looking at the pictures, they're dedicating one of them (all the way to the right with black+yellow wires) for the 4-pin molex connector (12V) that's hidden under the giant heatsink.

 

Now it's somewhat to tricky to understand how they're getting things done for the ATX connector, let's just take a quick look at the pin-out first but please ignore the colors assigned to the corresponding pins

 

 

The 2nd one from the right had black+yellow wires. The 3rd one from the right had black+violet+red wires. The 4th and 5th ones from the right seemed to be packed together and they had black+orange+orange wires. Finally we could also see red+orange wires that were coming from somewhere else.

 

Basically it's just too much for me to dissect but there's still something we could learn from those pictures. Supposedly we could indeed do better without a pico converter as long as we're feeding the right pin(s) with correct voltage coming from a specific rail.

 

Regarding the pico converter, it's also interesting to read what they're talking about below

 

https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/more-g-unique-bto-psus-are-now-available-direct-order.1983/page-2#post-44484

Quote

Yeah, basically all DC-ATX boards use 16v because they want to be compatible with laptop bricks. When you use AC-12v you skip a step which enables everything to be smaller and more efficient.

 

[seeteeyou]

8 hours ago, ElviaCaprice said:

For the cost of the Zenith, I'd rather acquire the  Chord Blu 2.  Even Roy thought the SQ gain from the Chord Blu 2 was far and away more important than the server.

 

That's the $64,000 question to ask ourselves whenever we're thinking about an upgrade to our source components. Could spending thousands of dollars result in an even bigger jump in SQ when compared to what we're able to get from M-Scaler? Both @austinpop and @romaz seemed to share the same kinda enthusiasm about the power of a million taps

 

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/30376-a-novel-way-to-massively-improve-the-sq-of-computer-audio-streaming/?page=159&tab=comments#comment-727232

On 10/9/2017 at 9:41 AM, austinpop said:

One such exception was the Bluebird room, which demo'd the Chord Dave and Blu-2 M-scaler, playing on Vienna Acoustics speakers. Hearing the Dave by itself and then with the M-Scaler was epic. This was a fall out of your chair improvement. I know I've said I find DAC differences to be modest, but this was anything but. I heard the same effect downstairs in the CanJam Chord booth.

 

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/30376-a-novel-way-to-massively-improve-the-sq-of-computer-audio-streaming/?page=148&tab=comments#comment-723032

On 9/25/2017 at 5:16 PM, romaz said:

Practically speaking, this results in a massive improvement in DAVE's resolution, so massive that the collective impact of my server mods which includes 8 clocks being replaced pales in comparison to what Blu Mk2 provides.  For those of you who own a Chord DAVE, I would suggest you prioritize getting a Blu Mk2 beyond anything else discussed on this thread.  Combined with Chord's upcoming "digital" amplifiers, there will be no more resolute or transparent way of listening to a digital file.  Despite all of this, I am finding, however, that the quality of the music server still matters.

 

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/30376-a-novel-way-to-massively-improve-the-sq-of-computer-audio-streaming/?page=164&tab=comments#comment-728221

On 10/11/2017 at 6:37 PM, romaz said:

HQPlayer was drier and less smooth.  With Blu2 combined with either DAVE or Hugo2, the improvement was massive.  HQPlayer does not come close to what the M-scaler in Blu2 can do with either Hugo2 or DAVE.

 

Finally here's a fantastic review

 

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/chord-blu-mk-ii-digital-cd-transport.22848/reviews

[seeteeyou]

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