sMS-200 NEO

[kelvinwsy]

See this link: https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/30376-a-novel-way-to-massively-improve-the-sq-of-computer-audio-streaming/?page=502I

 

My review is mid way down the page. I compared an Equivalent fanless mini pc running the intel 8650u CPU to the SOTM SM200 Ultra Neo as an endpoint.

 

1. Many on this forum are really keen on the NUC /AL-Ramroot endpoint vs a high end server one box solution even. The NUC/AL-Ramroot endpoint SQ is preferred.

2. My experience with running 3 endpoints now: Minix Neo Z83 Cherry Trail fanless minipc endpoint, SOTM Ultra Neo, 8650U puts the Ultra Neo at the Top.  All were running HQPlayer NAA endpoint software. 

The 8650 had the benefit of Jussi's Ramroot loaded linux NAA software.

 

3. My take is

a. Using an endpoint beats the Single server mostly due to isolation of Electrical Noise and the benefit of Ethernet filtering.

b. Specialised units like SOTM Sm200 esp the Ultra are Electrically Quieter than Bog Standard minipc's. 

c. Linux Ramloaded SW is very important as well as reducing the number of processes and shutting down peripherals, features like HyperThreading, SpeedStep etc.

 

The Neo is a very fine sounding unit. SQ even with my older OS (updating to 04.5.1 tonite....)

is superior to many solutions I have tried.

It is very intolerant on Network speed and bandwidth in playing DSD512 on HQPlayer

Choice of the settings -hint dont use the higher tougher polysinc filters. - The hb's should work... 

I prefer to run Polysinc xtr-2 /mp on DSD256 and have no dropouts and other audible delays/etc. A NVDA RTX2080 upgrade may be in store.

Or I have tried the HQplayer Pro 4 - I am partially successful in doing a two step upsampling of even 48k to DSD256 - record and store the file 

AND replay in again on HQPlayer Pro 4 to further upsample to 48k DSD512 !!!!! Wow. Still a Work in Progress. The HQPlayer Pro 4 user interface is not so intuitive.

 

Hope the above answers your query.

Happy Listening 

 

 

 

[andru26]

8 hours ago, kelvinwsy said:

Hope the above answers your query.

Happy Listening 

 

Thanks much for the detailed reply, Kelvinwsy.

 

Interesting reading the NUC vs. NEO comparison. I was looking into an NAA solution for some time and a lot of reviews are pointing to SOTM Ultra Neo, so that is now on my radar. I don't have any experience with NAA endpoint, so can I ask how does your chain look like from the main PC to the NEO? You mentioned using an usb to ethernet bridging Usb 3.0 adapter. Is it audiophile-grade adapter? Could you enlarge on that?

 

Also, would you mind letting me know what filters are you using on your main PC? Do they bring big improvements to SQ?

 

Many thanks!

[kelvinwsy]

On 8/8/2018 at 11:21 PM, kelvinwsy said:

Received my SOTM SMS-200 Ultra Neo with Clocking input option.. Burning in 3 days now

.. 

Using it in my intel 6700k Hqplayer Server with the SMS-200 Ultra Neo replacing my quad core fanless mini pc as the NAA. 

Prelim Observations:-

1. Getting Hqplayer to 'see' thevUltra Neo is a trying experience! 

2. Your network has to hv good Ipv4 connectivity.. Ipv6 not supported by the Ultra Neo

3. Start up Hqplayer AFTER the ultra neo is on HQplayer NAA Mode. 

4. I had great difficulty getting Hqplayer to see the Ultra Neo .. finally i decided to use my Minipc to connect to the Hqplayer and my iFi iDSD BL DAC! 

After that leave the DAC powered on And just plug the dac into the Audio USB port of the Ultra Neo. 

The NAA box in Hqplayer recognizes the Ultra Neo if you run the settings again.

5. Then i got Dsd256 to run .. occasional stutter but listenable.

DSD512 NO! Crackling and stuttering!!

6. SOTM Thru their locsl agent advised the follliwing settings (2nd image)

7. Works but not my preferred xtr-2s settings.

So i experimented with the iFi iDSD BL ASIO settings.

But How do u set this when the SOTM Eunhasu OS does not have settings for the DAC under the NAA setting? 

i had a brainwave !! connect my mini pc (win 10 OS) back to the iFi DAC, call up the iFi iDSD ASIO Settings put the buffer settings from

low latency to Safe on 32000 byte buffer size!

8. Connect the ULTRA neo and cycle thru Hqplayer settings .. The Ultra  Neo with the iFi iDSD BL comes on (NB YOU HV TO leave the DAC POWERED ON to preserve the Asio buffer settings!!! ).  ---'Dont forget the Turn the volume of your DAC or Preamp to minimum.. u will blow up your speakers or your Headphones otherwise!

9. Still a bit of crackling noise and stutter on xtr-2s .. shrt mp -2s works just fine

10. Back to my Win 10 minipc and change tge ASIO setting to extra safe..

11. Ultra Neo now  works on xtr-2s now. just a little flutter now and then?

12. A liitle disappointing as my minpc allows low latency 33k byte buffer size and smooth playback! ? 

13. Sound impressions will follow in subsequnent postings

 

Test System 

Lenovo intel 6700k with 32gb Nvidia970 GPU

fully filtered usind Elfidelity fan CPU pcie filters

Intel X-25E SSD with SOTM SATA II Filter running Win Server 2016 CORE mode with Audiophile Optimizer ( minipc runs Win10 Home with Fidelizer Pro 8.1 /- 8.2 email not installed yet!)

iFi iDSD BL DAC with ISOREGEN LPS1 6v driving a LT3045 output 5v into the iFi 

Using Uptone audio USB Short connectors 

Rca output from Dac to my Audionote 300 b monoblocs (upgraded 300 tubes and NOS 6SN7GT ) to my HD800s thru Aiqin resistance adapters in balanced 4 wire mode

 

 

Ebay search for Elfidelity 

They have :

1. DDR4 RAM slot filters.. my mobo had 4 RAM Slots .. I use 2x16gb ram.. 2 of the Elfidelity DDR4 RAM filters slot in

Calms the ripple and noise coming in from the ATX PSU.. 

2. PCie 1x8 mobo slot filters .. I put 2 in the highest slot and the other in the lowest

These filter power in the Mobo for my Audiophile PCIE USB card(Clones Audio Shaar with oxco clock)(i additionally power this with a 5v LPSU)

and ALL mobo components

3. 2pc case fans with filters from Elfidelity

i use another tweak

Since the PWM fan /temp control is the culprit for power ripple,, I add on fan speed reducing in line resistors. What these resistors do is to cut the max speed for the case fans to half.. Effectively they dont speed up or slow down but run flat out at Half speed.. 

U can do the same if u hv advanced fan speed control on your biosBUT that means PWM is speeding up or slowing down the fans ... No go!

my hardware method is superior

3. I compensate the reduced airflow from the half speed fans by adding an external fan controller with 1 add input fan and 1 add on exhaust fan.. external 12v supply .. dont add fan ac ripple back to the PC !! I use a 12v battery for this fan controller

 

4. CPU fan filter!! This was a toughie! U plug in the Elfidelity filter and the mobo loses temperature speed control over the CPU fan which justs spins at max!!

i solved this by splicing a 4wire pc fan cable harness as so: Earth and PWM Wires bypasses the Elfidelity fan filter straight from mobo to CPU Fan inlet. Only the 12v + and earth go thru the fan filter

Now I regain temp monitoring and speed control

And I added the fan resistor to halve the CPU fan speed! This is a bit risky ..as your CPU may overheat if u use Hqplayer to upsample to DSD512.. Still u can try just watch the CPU Temp on the bios!!

 

 

5. SSD Power filter for second generation type!

This elfidelity filter plugs into the front of the SSD then u plug the normal power and data cables back in

 

Overall effect much quieter background 

U can hear "Into" the hall and audience ambience on well recorded live albums 

instrument and vocals timbre and decay more noticeable!

 

BUT use a low ripple ATX PSU.. Corsair RM500x is down to 5mv.. The lowest power High quality ATX PSU is better .. I went from Corsair AX760 to the RM550x .. lower electrical noise

 

I use Compatible Corsair Type 2 cables with inline ripple  suppressing resistors

 

Add lots I mean A LOT of ferrite cores on ALL PC Power and data cables 

and then

double shield wrap them .. see below

 

DC LPSU 5v for the WinServer 2016 Core Mode/Audiophile Optimizer/Fidelizer 8.3Pro OS SSD

2nd separate LPSU for the Music SSD 

 

All cables are double earth shield wrapped (they call it JSSG) i added a external earth wire to bring all the earth shields back to the Earth terminal..

 

Finally u hv to use an Endpoint.. where u connect your USB DAC to! 

U get ethernet noise filtering benefits

I use Sotm sm209 Ultra Neo on Hqplayer NAA Mode

 

Happy New Year

[kelvinwsy]

The usb 3.0 ethernet bridge i hv stopped using 

throttled my sotm dsd256/512 upsampling

i installed an ASUS AC85u switch with 12v LPSU

BETTER!!

Chain

6700k pc heavily filtered as described

to ASUS AC85u

to SM200 ultra neo

12v LPSU

Uptone USB connectors to Isoregen to iFi iDSD BL

Power from 12v LPSU to Ultracap 7.5v dc out to input LT 3045 ultra low noise regulator 6v output  into the Isoregen

 

RCA output to 2x AUDIONOTE Quest Silver 300b Tube monoblocs driving a Hifiman Speaker Resistor box 

Sennheiser Analaxus modded HD800

 

Kelvin

[Mikaell]

Hi,

 

Has anyone owning the new Ultra NEO had a the non neo Ultra before?

 

I'm looking to get a SoTM soon and was wondering, aside from that description from sotm, how do people who actually auditioned / owned both find them comparatively?

 

Thinking weather to get a pre-owned original Ultra or a new NEO... 

 

Thanks for any input!

 

 

[d_elm]

I put the new capacitor into an ultra and I think an A/B/A comparison is required to recognize the difference.  Others may have found it easier.  You can always switch the capacitor or get someone to do it if an ultra is available at a good price for this.

[Mikaell]

7 hours ago, d_elm said:

I put the new capacitor into an ultra and I think an A/B/A comparison is required to recognize the difference.  Others may have found it easier.  You can always switch the capacitor or get someone to do it if an ultra is available at a good price for this.

 

thanks! whatever difference you recognised, how would you describe it?

[Confused]

13 hours ago, Mikaell said:

Hi,

 

Has anyone owning the new Ultra NEO had a the non neo Ultra before?

 

I'm looking to get a SoTM soon and was wondering, aside from that description from sotm, how do people who actually auditioned / owned both find them comparatively?

 

Thinking weather to get a pre-owned original Ultra or a new NEO... 

 

Thanks for any input!

 

 

This might be of interest:

 

 

[d_elm]

After changing the capacitor I could not recognize any sound difference.  Thus a comparison with an unmoded unit is required, for me.  I expect the difference is subtle.  I have made other changes in my system and been able to recall a difference.

For the price I am not concerned if there is a difference or not.

[Mikaell]

As always I'm aware that these changes are probably subtle and that for some a detail can mean nothing or the world... and all is dependent on the whole chain. That's why I was just curious about experiences of those who had both.

 

I can see that for @Confused it really did change dramatically. I'm wondering if they are actually changing more than the capacitor ? Honestly I couldn't find any details online with regards to the exact changes.

 

Thank you both for your input. I'm looking forward to receiving my *original* ultra next week, really looking forward to it.

 

I'll just keep it untouched for a while and at some point I'll do the "neo" mod - see how it goes.

 

cheers!

 

[Abyss Man]

Hi Guys,

I am using the soTm-200 Ultra Neo with the txUSB ultra, need some advise, I have a Sablon Reserva (Non-Elite) USB A to B cable and a Tellurium Silver Diamond cable. Which is recommended as the final USB connector cable to the Singxer SU-1>Pontus or Qutest DAC. I would reckon that the TQ would be a better choice, just getting some suggestions. Thank you.

[ktm777]

On 1/7/2019 at 3:51 PM, d_elm said:

After changing the capacitor I could not recognize any sound difference.  Thus a comparison with an unmoded unit is required, for me.  I expect the difference is subtle.  I have made other changes in my system and been able to recall a difference.

For the price I am not concerned if there is a difference or not.

May I ask what capacitor did you use (brand, voltage, capacitance)?

[ellisr63]

I am looking at buying a SMS-200 NEO... Do I need a core too, or does this include everything needed for Roon except a license?