Euphony OS w/Stylus player setup and issues thread

[Jeff Mann]

After I first downloaded the 10 version I noted that one could not play an album by clicking on the arrow in the center of the track labelled "click to play album". It only played that single track. I contacted Euphony support and they immediately corrected the problem, and soon thereafter issued the 12 update.

 

I am not computer-sophisticated.

 

What exactly is "ramroot"? If I enable ramroot in version 12, what will it actually do and do I have to then select certain settings or is the process automatic?

 

Jeff.

[Jeff Mann]

6 hours ago, AnotherSpin said:

 

Hi Jeff, 

 

You need to enable ramroot (button in expert settings) and reboot Euphony (green button top right). You may hear or hear not the difference in sound. If you decide to keep ramroot enabled and loaded you will need to disable ramroot before updating or making system-wide changes in Euphony. Happy listening!

I have the Euphony PTS unit and when I hover my mouse over the "enable ramroot" button, it states that one will not be able to access one's Euphony drive if ramroot is enabled. Does that mean that I will not be able to access "My Music" where I have my downloaded local music files located?

 

I still do not know what ramroot really is and why it should influence the sound quality of any reproduced music. By the way, my headphone-based audio system is as follows -: Euphony PTS music server => Matrix X-SPDIF convertor => Wyred-4-Sound 2v2se 10th Anniversary DAC => Niimbus US4+ headphone amplifier => HiFiMan Susvara headphones.

 

Jeff.

[Jeff Mann]

2 hours ago, austinpop said:

The initial problem was where authentication was broken, I.e. you couldn’t login to Qobuz due to invalid app_id. That got fixed early Friday, and worked for a few hours.

 

The new problem since yesterday is that while content displays OK, it won’t stream.

 

Meanwhile Roon still works fine with Qobuz, so it is app-specific.

Does anybody know when this issue will be resolved because I only use my Euphony PTS unit to access Qobuz and I do not use the music server for any other purpose?

 

Jeff.

[Jeff Mann]

3 hours ago, austinpop said:

As Stylus users know, Qobuz streaming through Stylus has been broken for the last 3 days, due to Qobuz revoking app_id's and requiring all API users (like Euphony) to revalidate their status as good guys, rather than "bad actors" with Qobuz.

 

Last I heard, emails were flying, but there appears to be no resolution. 

 

I sure hope this gets resolved soon, because Qobuz access through Stylus is a critical use case for me. I'm sure that's true for others.

I am also an Euphony user who accesses Qobuz through my Euphony music server and I am upset that I cannot access Qobuz because of this problem-issue. What is causing the lack of resolution of this problem-issue?

 

Jeff.

[Jeff Mann]

Felipe,

 

You wrote-: "Still loses, by a good margin, to Windows Server 2019 Datacenter Core Mode (17763.593) with Audiophile Optimizer v. 3.00, JPLAY FEMTO and Minority Clean X installed."

 

I am not computer-savvy, and I would like to know whether I can purchase a computer that is setup as you described, and that is fully "finished and ready to play"?

 

Jeff.

[Jeff Mann]

I noted that the latest version of Euphony Stylus has a small box just to the right of the word "Registered" at the bottom. When I hover my mouse pointer over that small box it states "Disk activity indicator - click to enable/disable". What is its function? I clicked on that small box (? containing the capital letter "D") and I cannot see what effect it has when enabled/disabled. I also do not really know when it is enabled/disabled.

[Jeff Mann]

I am new to online streaming and I have only been using Qobuz for about 8 months. Because I am not computer-savvy, I could not personally assemble a high-end computer system and I have been using a Euphony PTS unit as my music server.

 

My audio system is as follows -: Euphony PTS (powered with a Keces P3 LPS unit) => Wyred-4-Sound 2v2SE 10th Anniversary Limited Edition DAC (connected via either the USB port or via a Matrix X-SPDIF unit using the I2s connection) => Niimbus US4+ headphone amplifier => HiFiMan Susvara headphones.

 

What I have discovered is that the sound quality of my headphone-based system using the Euphony PTS as the music source is not as good as when I use a CD-transport (PS Audio PWT or Jays Audio CD2Mk2) ) as my music source, and I only use the Euphony PTS unit to explore new recordings on Qobuz, and I never use it for serious music listening pleasure because I much prefer the sound quality when I use my CD-transport as the music source. I have often wondered why I cannot obtain a satisfactory sound quality using my Euphony PTS unit, and I have presumed that the cause was due to the fact that I didn't have a high-end computer (as described by many forum members) in this thread, but I now have a new theory to explain why I cannot get a satisfactory sound quality from my Euphony PTS unit.

 

Here is my theory. I noted that Rajiv Arora (AustinPop) did a review of the UpTone Audio EtherREG unit and he discovered that it significantly improved the sound quality of his audio system by a clearly discernible amount - even though he obviously already had assembled a maxed-out computer system. Let's presume that the sound quality of his optimized computer system using the Euphony software is "X". That means that the sound quality using the UpTone Audio EtherREG in his system must be X + Y where "Y" is the amount of easily discernible sound quality improvement that he obtained from the UpTone Audio EtherREGEN unit. He then obtained even better sound quality when adding a LPS unit to power his UpTone Audio EtherREGEN unit and when he also used a Mutec Ref-10- reference clock. Let's presume that the two additional factors improved the sound quality by a factor of "Z" so that the sound quality was then equal to X + Y + Z. That's not the end of the story because he could obtain even better sound quality by using two ethernet switches in series, and we can infer that it improved his audio system's sound quality by a clearly discernible amount of "W" so that his final best sound quality was X + Y + Z + W. Although I cannot personally quantify the finite value of the combination of "Y + Z + W", it seems to be a significant amount. That unknown amount of "Y + Z + W" indicates to me that simply using a music server to access Qobuz via the internet using a modem => Euphony PTS music server is significantly deficient and that could explain why I cannot get a satisfactory  sound quality (especially in terms of many aspects of soundstaging quality - especially soundstaging depth, image focus, image tonal density/saturation and "air" between instruments) compared to my CD-transport, which presumably is not handicapped by phase-noise and many other potential problems related to internet streaming.

 

What do you think of my theory?

 

Jeff.

[Jeff Mann]

42 minutes ago, aangen said:

My Jays Audio CD2-MK2 sounds pretty much the same as my PTS feeding into my PS Audio DSD via a Matrix with Wireworld Platinum Starlight 7 USB and HDMI cables. I just recently added an EtherREGEN which I power from my Keces P8. It does not make my system sound worse, I am certain of that. Now I am starting to favor driving my Bridge 2 card with the EtherREGEN. What I do not understand is why your PTS doesn’t sound as good as the transport. Interconnects? Where is your music stored?

I am using Blue Jeans HDMI interconnects, which are obviously not as good as your Wireworld Platinum 7 interconnects, but I am using the same Blue Jeans interconnects for my CD-transports and I am happy with the sound quality when I use my CD-player as a musical sound source. My limited number of music FLAC files music are stored in the Euphony PTS unit, although I obviously stream Qobuz.

 

You stated that the EtherREGEN does not make your sound quality worse. However, does it significantly improve the sound of your Euphony PTS unit in the manner AustinPop described in his review?

 

Jeff.

[Jeff Mann]

Rajiv (austinpop),

 

I have a number of questions relating to what magnitude of improvement that I can expect if I make certain changes to my Euphony-based online streaming of Qobuz albums.

 

I have been an audiophile (who only listens to classical music and opera) for >50 years, using a "speaker-based + LP-based" system for the first 30 years and a "headphone-based  + CD-based" audio system for the past 20 years. I started to use an Euphony PTS music server to access Qobuz about 8 months ago, but I cannot get a sufficiently good sound quality when using the Euphony PTS unit, rather than a CD-player, as my music source.

 

My audio system is as follows-: CD player (either a Jays Audio CDT2Mk2 or a PS Audio PWT) => Wyred-4-Sound 2v2se 10th Anniversary Limited Edition DAC => Niimbus US4+ headphone amplifier => HiFiMan Susvara headphones. If I assign my CD-player-based audio system as having a sound quality of 10, then I can only obtain a sound quality of 7 when I use my Euphony PTS to stream Qobuz albums - even though I am using a Keces P3 LPS to power both my Euphony PTS unit and my W4S Recovery unit that is placed in the USB line between the music server and my DAC. As an alternative to an USB connection, I also have a Matrix X-SPDIF unit that enables me to connect to my DAC using an i2S connection, but that does not improve the sound quality compared to the USB connection.

 

My first question to you is what level of sound quality do you get using your full-monty computer-based audio system that incorporates an UpTone Audio EtherREGEN unit + Paul Haynes LPS + Mutec Ref-10 clocker - compared to using a state-of-art CD-player (which I presume you own)? If your CD-player-based audio system is rated at a sound quality level of 10, do you achieve a level of 10 (or greater than 10) using your computer-based system that uses Euphony software and an Euphony Stylus endpoint?

 

Going back to my personal Euphony PTS-based audio system that I rate at a sound quality level of 7 (relative to my CD-player as the music source), how much better can I make its sound quality (using a numerical scale) if I make the following changes.

 

The first change that I could make is to replace my Euphony PTS unit with an Euphony Summus unit (https://euphony-audio.com/summus) and according to that webpage Euphony claims the following advantages -" "Activation of Stylus audio player automatically assigns transport of music files to separate CPU cores and turns down high-powered and noisy i7 platform into completely silent audio transport ------ Furthermore, Euphony Summus is booted by default into so called “ramroot” mode (widely embraced by audiophiles worldwide as the best for computer audio), allowing all system files to operate from RAM. Total absence of disk activities combined with near noise free CPU, makes Summus music server a dream come true for computer audiophiles." I don't know if those potential advantages apply equally to Qobuz streaming or only to the playback of local files stored in the Euphony music server's drive. How much positive improvement in sound quality do you anticipate that I will achieve if I replace my Euphony PTS unit with an Euphony Summus unit in terms of numerical magnitude - in terms of moving my Euphony-based from a sound quality level of 7 in the direction of 10?

 

An alternative approach to improving the sound quality of my Euphony-based system is to make the following upstream changes.

 

Step 1 - purchase a EtherREGEN unit.

Step 2 - replace the Ether REGEN unit's stock power supply with a LPS unit.

Step 3 - add a Mutec Ref-1 clock.

 

What degree of sound quality improvement can I anticipate from each step (using the same numerical scale of magnitude that is used to quantify the sound quality improvement that I can anticipate if I replace my Euphony PTS unit with an Euphony Summus unit)?

 

Jeff.