Euphony OS w/Stylus player setup and issues thread

[Nsxturbo]

Greetings Felipe,

 

What a crazy coincidence! I just spent all day yesterday getting Euphony set up on my music PC and listening to Stylus. I too was interested in what everyone else was raving about.

 

For years I’ve been using XXHiEnd on a particular build of Windows 10 running out of RAM. It was actually a necessary part of getting 768k upscaled audio sent to my Phasure NOS1 DAC. Simply sublime playback. I now have an additional system that consists of a Chord M-Scaler into a Dave directly driving a high efficiency horn system directly off the Dave’s RCA outputs without an amplifier. I feed the M-Scaler through a highly optimized usb DDC to optical output unit clocked with Mutec Reference10 master clock.(really to many other tweeks to mention here.) The PC is an optimized Xeon Scalable 12 core/24 thread processor with 48G of ECC Memory in a Supermicro server motherboard running off a custom linear power supply. No hard drive is present and the OS is running in RAM. I’ve still been using XXHiEnd software but playing files in their native resolution. Really sounds Jaw-dropping, head shaking incredible! Just about every adjective others have used to describe accurate and realistic playback apply.

 

So I got Euphony up and running out of RAM on the same PC and system. I’ve got to say it really is a pretty slick program and I find Stylus plenty functional and user friendly. (OK, it’s not Roon, which I use for my whole house audio  ) But there is always Stylus Endpoint for Roon integration. And Stylus does allow Qobuz and Tidal integration and playback. 
 

Now for the listening impressions. I used my highly familiar test tracks and albums. Rebecca Pidgeon- The Raven, Cowboy Junkies- Trinity Revisited, Various Norah Jones albums, Amber Rubarth, Rhiannon Giddens, Sarah K, Holly Cole, Dire Straits, Johnny Cash, Plus multiple orchestral selections, pretty much the whole gamut!

I would describe it as highly resolving, nice black background and good separation and good wide soundstage with a decent sense of depth. Really all the things that you would think would draw you into the performance. But it just wasn’t, something was off I couldn’t quite put a finger on it, it just sounded like the life was missing. 
 

So back to XXHighEnd and Windows out of RAM I went. Now what was missing was readily obvious! The textures, the body, the sense of real depth, the naturalness. It really was no comparison. Stylus was just not even in the same league. Could it get there? I don’t know, but it has a long way to go and I’m not sure if Linux is the underlying issue.

 

I think this gives me the impetus to explore Window Server 2019, Audiophile Optimizer and JPLAY out of RAM. I suspect that it would be more in-line with the level of playback XXHiEnd provides me.

[Nsxturbo]

Hey Nenon,

 

Thank you for a your insight about matching the PC with the playback software, but perhaps you didn’t look my post and my PC setup, which is about as modern as you can get, save the Intel persistent memory RAM ;). But high performance with very high grade ECC RAM modules and high grade linear power supply. 
 

Just food for thought,

Todd

[Nsxturbo]

I loaded Euphony into RAM, which is available on the trial version and of course I used 100% buffer. not sure why loading to RAM from Optane would make a difference?

[Nsxturbo]

Hi Bob,

 

I really do feel like my posts are about what variables might be hindering me from getting the most out of Euphony. I am not proposing in the least that my mind is made up optimizing my music playback software. So I’ll only post things relating to maximizing Stylus  

 

Todd

[Nsxturbo]

I’d be glad to join further discussion on a separate thread. I think there is much to be gained, as we’ve seen quite an evolution of computer playback in the past 2 years. I think any of us hear posting on this are still looking for whatever can connect us to the artist’s intent! I know that’s my goal and has been for 30 years.

[Nsxturbo]

Hey Chopin75 and austinpop(Rajiv)

 

Thank you very much for the additional insight on some Stylus tuning tips. I will give them a try. Also, I probably for my own piece of mind purchase, will purchase the license, just to make sure I’m getting the most out of Euphony. At our level of reproduction every little change seems noticeable. I know I’ve recently gone optical between my USB DD converter into the M-Scaler and dual BNC to optical and back from it to the Dave (OptoDX) and a second optical out of the M-Scaler to my digital crossover for my mid bass and subwoofer amps, So no doubt that RF, EMI, leakage currents, all play a large part in computer playback based systems. 

PC tuning for specific hardware and software is definitely part of the puzzle, even if it there seems to still be trade offs from one setting to another! I expect that my learning curve for tuning streamlined Linux based software will be way quicker than Windows  !

 

 

[Nsxturbo]

Hi Chopin75,

 

I would suggest you read about Rob Watts Chord Electronics M-Scaler. Pretty much cutting edge up scaling that feeds 768k PCM through dual BNC to Chord’s Dave or Hugo TT2 DAC’s. It is agnostic to  Linux, Windows or MAC OS. Many users here use is with Euphony Stylus, including austinpop. I’ve yet to hear any PC based upscaling that approaches its performance. But to stay on topic for Bob, let’s suffice to say other well respected users of it that post here are using It with Stylus which is what sparked my curiosity.

 

BTW each component I have is currently additive to my systems sound quality, I assure at this current juncture there is no part of my chain that I would remove.(I always leave components in for multiple days of listening and then remove them for multiple listening days.) Most of what I have in my post PC chain is well documented with worldwide positive feedback. Are there other options, you bet, with different engineering methodologies by different manufacturers such as DCS, EMM Labs or MBL but all are current state-of-the-art digital music reproduction.