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

[elan120]

12 minutes ago, ASRMichael said:

DDR4. I have the 4gb model but need higher gb now. 

For DDR4, 8GB, I am using PN D31.23245S.001

[austinpop]

Since I normally post system updates here, here is a link to my latest:

 

 

[F208Frank]

On 4/20/2022 at 6:46 PM, austinpop said:

Since I normally post system updates here, here is a link to my latest:

 

 

Austinpop!

 

Since you spend so much time on the digital end, have you ever tried the Network Acoustics ethernet filters called the ENO or MUON? They are passive filters mopping up the remaining noise coming after the switch, usually placed after the network switch and before the streamer.

 

I took your advice and put an ethernet switch into my chain and it has yielded me good results.

 

Figured I would ask you since you spend a good amount of time tuning your digital end.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nick90]

On 6/14/2020 at 9:43 AM, elan120 said:

Cables...

 

After having the EPS and ATX power supply built, I now move into cable making phase, while working on the first cable, I decided to record the sequence in more details to share here, hopefully this will help more people interested in trying out the long discussed Mundorf solid core silver JSSG360 DC cable.

 

1. Slide cotton tube over the Mundorf solid core silver hook up wire.

 

2. Solder wires to the connector.  In this cable, I have GX16-4 on one end and Oyaide DC-2.1G on the other end.  I started this wire from the GX16-4 side.

 

3. After the wires are soldered, slide a short heat shrink tubing over the cotten tubes to help protect the end.

 

4. Reassemble the GX16-4 connector.

 

5. Twist the two wires.

 

6. Getting the Oyaide DC-2.1G side ready.  Slide the connector outer shell over the wires, cut two pieces of heat shrink tubing.  The smaller diameter one is to protect the positive lead after wire is soldered to the connector, and the larger diameter heat shrink tubing is to help protect the cotton tube ends.

 

7. Solder wires to the connector.  It is easier to solder the negative lead to the connector first, and then solder the positive lead.

 

8. Heat shrink the smaller tubing over the positive lead solder join.

 

9. Slide the larger heat shrink tube over the end of cotton tube.

 

10. Test the connector to make sure wires soldered is open.

 

11. Slide the outer shell over the connector.  It is a good idea to check continuity again after the connector is reassembled.

 

12. Base cable completed.

 

13. Now we will start working on JSSG360 shielding by sliding the tinned copper braid over the base cable from the Oyaide connector side.

 

14. Wrap the tinned copper braid with teflon thread tape.  It is easier to work with using 1" wide gas pipe tape.

 

15. Teflon tape wrapped cable.

 

16. Before sliding the second layer tinned copper braid, wrap a short section of teflon tape over the end of first tinned copper braid to protect the end and prevent the wires from braid from interfere with the second layer tinned copper braid while sliding over the first one.

 

17. After the second layer tinned copper braid is slided over the first layer, don't forget to remove that short section teflon tape.

 

18. Cut one piece of adhesive lined heat shrink tubing and slide them over the end of two tinned copper braids.

 

19. Apply heat to heat shrink tubing.

 

20. Do the same two steps (18 and 19) above for the Oyaide connector side.

 

21. Check continuity between the tinned copper braid and the connector to ensure it is open.

 

22. JSSG360 shielding completed.

 

23. Next is to dress up the cable by cutting the Techflex sleeving to proper length and then slide over the JSSG360 shielding completed cable.

 

24.  Final step is using the same adhesive lined heat shrink tubing to bond them together.

 

 

Hope these are clear and simple to follow.  Enjoy building them.

 

I will now move on to work on ATX and EPS cables.

 

 

 

 

I have read that the official JSSG360 method will add a extra wire to connect both ends of the double shielding. But I see several audiophiles don’t add the extra wire. Is there a reason for?

 

I love this design really much but did you also tried this design with Star Quad geometry?

 

I already upgraded the wire in my network switch with a twisted Mundorf cable likes yours and I really like it! The increase in resolution is impressive, but still sounds very natural and effortless.

 

 I’m really curious about your opinion about my two questions above.

 

Can’t wait to build my own DC cable!

[elan120]

37 minutes ago, Nick90 said:

I have read that the official JSSG360 method will add a extra wire to connect both ends of the double shielding. But I see several audiophiles don’t add the extra wire. Is there a reason for?

Since both ends are connected already for form the Faraday cage, additional wire is no longer needed.

 

39 minutes ago, Nick90 said:

I love this design really much but did you also tried this design with Star Quad geometry?

I have tried 4 different cable builds including Star Quad with smaller gauge wire, and this is the best cable to date.  Star Quad using the same Mundorf SG wire would be too thick to fit inside the connector without transition from 4 to 2 wires on both ends, where the additional solder joints and the thickness makes it not practical to build.

 

Hope this helps.

[Always.Learning]

For two weeks now, I have been listening to a Sean Jacobs ARC6 DC4 power supply hooked up to my Chord DAVE. It replaced a Sean Jacobs DC3, so I had already modified my DAVE to remove the stock SMPS. I bought the ARC6 used; a new one with the proper connections to a DAVE will cost you $10,000 USD. 

 

Admittedly, that is a lot of money for a power supply, especially one that powers a DAVE, which can be bought on the used market for somewhere around $8000 USD if current listings are to be believed. Nevertheless, if you own a Chord DAVE and if you have the funds, I am hard pressed to think of another change for the same money that will improve your sound this much. 

 

I’ll try to be succinct. The first words to enter my mind, approximately ten seconds into my first listen, were space and bass. That was followed quickly by vibrant. Then “resolution monster.” You don’t strain to hear these changes. They practically hit you in the face. Maybe it’s a cliché, but the ARC6 makes every single track sound new and better. Every single one. I’ll just quickly summarize my listening notes:  deep black silence, easily heard improvements to bass in both quality and quantity (actually measurable), vivid colors, tonal density and richness, serious magnification including a lot of newly intelligible vocals, beautiful and true timbres, and powerful, controlled micro- and macro-dynamic swings. 

 

Here is a brief overview of my system:

 

10 AWG dedicated lines > Shunyata Everest > Shunyata Sigma v2, Alpha v2, and Sablon Prince power cords > Taiko Extreme > PGGB files played by TAS and Roon; Qobuz and Tidal streaming > Shunyata Omega USB > SRC-DX > HFC 3D CT-2 SPDIF > Chord DAVE (Sean Jacobs ARC6 DC4 power supply) > Crayon CFA 1.2 integrated amp > Devore Gibbon X speakers > cables from WyWires and HFC > HiFiMan HE1000 > vibration control from Stillpoints, Soundecks, and EVPs > Finite Elemente rack > acoustic treatment from Stillpoints Apertures, DAAD Acustica Applicata, A/V RoomService 123

 

Now I have not heard other replacement power supplies for the DAVE, so I can’t compare solutions from Farad or others. What I can do is give you a sense of the magnitude of the change I am hearing with other changes to my system. I certainly can’t think of any other power supply that has made anywhere near this impact, including the Farad Super3, Uptone LPS 1 and 1.2, and Uptone JS-2. None of these powered my Chord DAVE, but none had nearly the impact on the devices they did power. Paul Hynes made me a one-off custom power supply for my phono stage, but its impact is also dwarfed by the ARC6. Probably the closest is the Sean Jacobs DC3, but going from DC3 to ARC6 (I skipped the plain vanilla DC4) is quite clearly a larger leap than DAVE solo to DAVE plus DC3 (not that the DC3 is chopped liver – it is a huge and worthy upgrade for a fraction of the price, if you can find one). 

 

In terms of overall system upgrades, perhaps the closest and most apt comparison is to the Taiko Extreme, which, not coincidentally, employs a heroic power supply. The Extreme and the ARC6 bring some of the same things to the table:  increased tonal density and vibrancy, dynamics, bass quality and quantity. The overall magnitude of change in my system has been roughly similar. The Shunyata Everest, combined with a nice selection of Shunyata Sigma and Alpha power cords, was another great upgrade that transformed my system and did so across both digital and analog. But the sonic impact was not as great. 

 

If I were advising someone on what to buy and when to buy it, I would prioritize an ARC6-DAVE combo over an Extreme or similarly priced server. This is especially the case if you already have a DAVE, but even if you don’t, a used DAVE plus ARC6 is going to cost you maybe 65% of what an Extreme will cost you (and that’s with a Euro that has declined a lot relative to the US dollar in recent months). All of this assumes that you already are using something better than an off-the-shelf computer as a music server. 

 

Apart from the Extreme, I can’t think of any other change to my system that has been this dramatic, save for speakers. But I put speakers into a separate category, one that is highly personal. 

 

Actually, if you own a Chord DAVE, I can think of one change that will give you greater bang for your buck:  PGGB (see remastero.com and various threads on this website for more info). For a comparatively minimal investment, and assuming you can dedicate an appropriately powerful computer to remaster albums in your library, PGGB provides an incredible sonic lift. The combination of an ARC6-DAVE and music that has been PGGB’d is sublime. I have a nice vinyl setup (TW Acustic Raven, Raven tonearm, Miyajima cart, and Crayon phono stage) and PGGB albums sound better than all but a vanishingly small percentage of the same music on vinyl (and that was true before the ARC6 upgrade; the chasm has only grown since then). 

[kennyb123]

9 hours ago, Always.Learning said:

Apart from the Extreme, I can’t think of any other change to my system that has been this dramatic, save for speakers.

I’m really happy this worked out so well for you.  

[Nick90]

According to the Mundorf PTFE interconnect topic, I was wondering if someone has tried to build a powercord of Mundorf silver/gold wire?

 

I was thinking twisting 2x 1mm for the lead and 2x 1mm for the nul. Or different  thicknesses like in some litze design.

 

I think it can turn out wonderfully, but it’s quite expensive experiment. So I was wondering if someone has experience with this idea!?

[Gavin1977]

Price reduced if anyone is interested:

 

 

[Billgates307]

Today tryed a medical network isolator.

 

https://industry-electronics.com/baaske-medical/2005674-network-isolator-med-mi-1005-retail-lieske_683508.htm

 

this gives a big jump in SQ.

I don’t stream music, all my files are local, but still this works realy well.

darker background

bigger soundstage

more neutrality and definition

wow

and it’s a bargain.

Hope someone try’s this and confirms.

[The Computer Audiophile]

16 minutes ago, Billgates307 said:

Today tryed a medical network isolator.

 

https://industry-electronics.com/baaske-medical/2005674-network-isolator-med-mi-1005-retail-lieske_683508.htm

 

this gives a big jump in SQ.

I don’t stream music, all my files are local, but still this works realy well.

darker background

bigger soundstage

more neutrality and definition

wow

and it’s a bargain.

Hope someone try’s this and confirms.

Wow, a blast from the past :~)

 

I wrote about this one 12 years ago. I'm glad it has improved your system.

 

 

 

[Billgates307]

1 hour ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Wow, a blast from the past :~)

 

I wrote about this one 12 years ago. I'm glad it has improved your system.

 

 

i guess you beat me to it 😅

[George Hincapie]

I use Supra CAT8 in my network, which is shielded. I've read recent comments here that  unshielded is the way to go. Can someone explain why that is the case and which cables should I go for? I presume any well made Cat6 will be fine?

[MarkusBarkus]

@George HincapieHi George. The primary consideration is re: the shielding connecting two devices and creating ground issues. There are cables that are shielded, but either connected only at one end, or neither end. In that way, one gets the benefits of shielding without the ground loop consideration.
 

Some folks suggest the shielding is valuable; others say it degrades SQ. Belden is a good source for tested, quality ethernet cables. 

 

Personally, I have tested shielded and unshielded cable, and don't find a difference here. Keep the rubber-side down. Good luck with the cable project.

[MarcelNL]

It's easy enough to experiment using some field service RJ45 connectors (Telegärtner) and a few meters of each CAT8 and CAT6, connect the shielding of the CAT8 at one then both sides and compare and play with shielding on the CAT6.

(DO get a network cable tester as you may go as mad as I did in the process of getting the wires properly connected)

 

My results are that shielding does work, but is makes a heck of a difference with what you do it and how it's connected at both ends. I prefer CAT8 with it's shielding not connected at both ends. The differences are not major, but there.

[Gavin1977]

Just thought I’d ask if anyone has revisited Ian Canada’s DIY RaspberryPI streamers lately and compare against some of the latest breed of network streams (e.g Innuos, Aqua LinQ etc…).

 

He’s been busy churning out upgrades…

[Always.Learning]

This thread isn't nearly as active as it used to be but it still seems like the appropriate place to post impressions for a mod to the Chord DAVE's power supply. If you scroll up this page, you will see my impressions of what happens when you replace DAVE's stock power supply with, first, the Sean Jacobs DC3 power supply, and later, the Sean Jacobs ARC6 DC4 power supply. In short, the ARC6 is one of the most transformative changes I have made to my system in nearly twenty years of system building.  

 

The subject of this post is another mod from Sean Jacobs. Sean makes a small capacitor board that fits very neatly into the space formerly occupied by DAVE’s switch mode power supply. The idea is to lower impedance even further than the ARC6. The cost of the board is $500 and @Nenon helps put these together for Sean in the U.S. and sells them in the U.S. It requires some minor surgery on your DAVE but no soldering or other special skills. 

 

To cut to the chase, I am very pleased with what I’ve been hearing. It’s only been three days but the changes were easily heard within the first hour. I don’t think there is much of a break-in period with these. Describing those changes is a bit of a challenge – on the one hand they are subtle and on the other hand they are musically important. One word that comes to mind is ineffable, which sort of means indescribable. Nevertheless, here are some other adjectives that come to mind: inviting, relaxing, beautiful, beguiling. There is a slightly lusher sound but no real softening of transients.

 

The caps board achieves this without doing any harm to the DAVE – ARC6 signature qualities: transparency and resolution, time domain precision, recovery of ambient information, transient response, microdynamics, image depth and imaging/soundstaging in general, speed, and purity and accuracy of timbre.

 

Indeed, the caps board takes one of these qualities – transparency – and manages to recover even more significantly musical detail than before. Normally, a change in one’s system does not achieve both a more relaxed sound and increased detail. That is definitely what is happening here, however. I can see more deeply into recordings, particularly of dense music. Greater detail emerges across the frequency spectrum, and is especially welcome when disentangling music with substantial bass.

 

The other change that is worth highlighting, I think, is a decrease in digital glare, especially when dynamics peak. When I first started using the Sean Jacobs ARC6 DC4 to power DAVE, I was floored by the new muscularity and vibrancy that it brought to the table. On certain recordings, however, I felt there was an excess of treble energy. Granted, some of these recordings were problematic to begin with. Over time, as the ARC6 settled in and burned in, the excess treble energy lessened but was still there on a relatively small number of recordings. A further improvement occurred when I replaced a Shunyata Alpha NR v2 power cord with a Sablon Prince.

 

The caps board goes further, reducing glare, hardness, excess treble energy, whatever you want to call it. This is evident on recordings as diverse as Cecile McLorin Salvant’s “The Window” (female jazz soprano), Lou Reed’s “Rock ’n Roll Animal” (explosive electric guitar), and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons on period instruments.

 

My conclusion: if you own an ARC6 DC4 or are thinking about getting one to power DAVE, spend the extra $500 for the caps board. It complements the ARC6 without taking anything away from the DAVE – ARC6 combo. Truly an outstanding value.

[Fourlegs]

@Always.Learning Your post made me smile because I was involved in the beta testing of the Sean Jacobs Cap Board for the Dave and all of your comments resonated with what I heard after the board was fitted.

 

In particular Sean asked us to listen to various different manufacturer’s capacitors on the board and the ones which were finally selected had the unique property you describe in terms of what it did to the sound quality. Initially the Cap Board was intended to mitigate any effect relating to the length of the umbilical but I was pretty stunned to find that it went much further than that and made the whole sound much more ‘musical’. 

 

Last week a friend was kind enough to bring his Rossini Apex to compare to my Dave + Mscaler, the Dave powered by ARC6 and with the Cap Board and the Mscaler also powered by ARC6. The source was the new Antipodes Oladra which was connected by WAVE Storm BNC to the Rossini and the Mscaler, and of course we also used my WAVE Storm dual BNC cables between the Mscaler and Dave.

 

In that comparison with the Rossini Apex that lovely smooth top end which you describe with the Dave with the ARC6 and Cap Board was what set it above the Rossini Apex in my eyes (well ears really but you know what I mean). Often when friends bring their top end kit to play I am rather loath to let them take it away but the way my Dave is sounding at the moment there was no such reluctance to say goodbye to the Rossini.

 

By the way, Sean is working on a similar Cap Board for the Mscaler and I think you might rather like that as well!!

[Always.Learning]

Feel free to forward on my mini-review to Sean, @Fourlegs. And thank you for participating in the listening tests -- you landed on some really sweet sounding caps. I am also very happy listening to my DAVE these days, thanks in large part to the efforts of Sean Jacobs and folks like you. 

[happybob]

I just got my capacitor board for my Dave but have not installed it yet - but am looking forward to the upgrade! I have the Sean Jacobs DC4 for my Dave but do not have the ARC6 upgrade. I know this upgrade is a good one, but not in the cards for me at the moment. That said, the DC4 was a huge upgrade to the sound of my Dave! 

[Always.Learning]

Let us know what you think after you've had some time to listen, @happybob.

[Fourlegs]

On 12/20/2022 at 7:25 PM, Always.Learning said:

Feel free to forward on my mini-review to Sean, @Fourlegs. And thank you for participating in the listening tests -- you landed on some really sweet sounding caps. I am also very happy listening to my DAVE these days, thanks in large part to the efforts of Sean Jacobs and folks like you. 

 

I have emailed Sean with your mini review and he was very interested. I think the subtle top end detail provided by installing the Cap Board in the Dave was a large factor in me preferring my ‘pimped’ Dave compared to the Rossini Apex in my recent listening comparison.

[Always.Learning]

7 hours ago, Fourlegs said:

 

I have emailed Sean with your mini review and he was very interested. I think the subtle top end detail provided by installing the Cap Board in the Dave was a large factor in me preferring my ‘pimped’ Dave compared to the Rossini Apex in my recent listening comparison.

Yes, I read your review and it sounded like the top end of the two DACs was a critical factor in your preference for DAVE. I would agree that the caps board's reduction of digital glare in the top end is critical but I also find that the caps board fleshes out a little more detail across the frequency spectrum and this is very welcome in the mid to upper bass range. 

[Fourlegs]

17 minutes ago, Always.Learning said:

Yes, I read your review and it sounded like the top end of the two DACs was a critical factor in your preference for DAVE. I would agree that the caps board's reduction of digital glare in the top end is critical but I also find that the caps board fleshes out a little more detail across the frequency spectrum and this is very welcome in the mid to upper bass range. 

 

I agree with all you say!!

[Lebouwsky]

The Jcat Femto in my server used to be powered by the 5v sata output of the hdplex dc-atx convertor. Now it is being powered by an Uptone LPS-1. I want to upgrade the standard dc cable by a Neotech upocc 7N made by Ghent. It could sit right on top of the server case, close to the usb card, so a 30cm dc cable would be enough. Then again, I could also put it further away, lengthening the DC cable but reducing it's EMI influance.

 

May I ask what's the general consensus on this matter? Perhaps I'm overthinking this, let my wallet decide and go for the shortest length, some advice would be apriciated.