Popular Post Nenon Posted May 22, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted May 22, 2020 Ray - amazing review. Thank you so much for taking the time (a lot of time!) to write this up. The Extreme is an outstanding piece of engineering. I have no doubts it is currently the best sounding music server on the market. I have been playing with a DIY server with very similar hardware and got some taste of what the Extreme could do. I will be posting in the Building a DIY Music Server thread how one can passively cool and power those two Xeon CPUs. It's an interesting route for more advanced DIY builders to explore. But having peaked at some Extreme servers, I can definitely say that there is a lot more in the Extreme than the sum of its parts. It is obvious that a lot of listening tests have been done - hundreds or maybe even thousands of hours must have taken place to come up with the optimal custom Windows OS settings. This hardware is so resolving that every single setting matters! @ray-dude Looking at your system and thinking about "Where To Go From Here?". I don't know how well the Dave drives your high sensitive speakers (probably pretty well), but as a SET monoblocks / high sensitive speakers fan, I have a feeling you can do better (at the expense of some purity). You mentioned Sean Jacobs for network equipment, but as far as I know Sean developed his DC4 power supply for the Chord Dave... and then extended the design for other applications. Given that you not only use the Dave as a DAC but as an amplifier as well, the effect of a DC4 in your system might be quite significant. Also, I really like the JCAT Signature LAN Cable GOLD network cable. I wonder how it compares to the Sablon in an "Extreme" environment. Maybe @Marcin_gps would agree to send a demo to some Extreme users. On the contrary, it's time for me to try the Sablon ethernet cable in my system as well, as I haven't. If I was an Extreme owner, I would not worry about USB cards and such. It's so well tweaked that it can easily be 'disbalanced' by installing any additional software, hardware, drivers, etc. And given its power supply design, it may not be a good idea to introduce another 'external' LPS. Just enjoy it the way it comes would be my advice. You can treat the environment surrounding the Extreme to get the best out of it. matthias and ray-dude 1 1 Industry disclosure: Dealer for: Taiko Audio, Aries Cerat, Audio Mirror, Sean Jacobs https://chicagohifi.com Link to comment
Popular Post Nenon Posted May 24, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted May 24, 2020 55 minutes ago, bbosler said: let me rephrase that, where does upstream that we have any control over begin? I obviously have no control over Qobuz and most of us are locked into a Modem or a few that our IP provider dictates. This modem often functions as a router with a switch, so you can run a cable direct from the modem box to the Extreme if you wish. So other than the choice of ethernet cable into the Extreme, the stream I can control starts at the Extreme. There are a lot of things done in the Extreme already. To name a few: - Carefully selected PCIe NIC. - Specific version of the NIC driver. - Highly tweaked and controlled hardware (i.e. controlled by the driver) settings. - Highly tweaked software settings for the NIC. - Specific buffer levels. - Highly tweaked Windows settings, services, etc to control exactly what network traffic needs to go out the NIC. - CPU isolation, affinities, and priority for every network related service running on the Extreme That is just to name a few. There is probably a lot more I don't even know about. The Extreme would probably sound better with the cheapest switch an the cheapest ethernet cable than any other server. So it's already optimized a lot more than you may think. Probably everything that can be done in a server to clean up the network noise is already done. I don't agree with some of the examples you are giving. Let's take a high-end amplifier for example. Even the most expensive amplifier with the most sophisticated power supply benefits from a better power cord. What's interesting is that the better the amplifier is, the more it benefits from a better power cord. Why? Because it is more resolving, and it is easier to hear the difference. Taking your association that we don't control Qobuz - we can apply the same to power - we don't control the power grid in our city. But adding a better power cord to our amps helps. Adding a dedicated power circuit also helps. Adding better romex wire in the wall also helps. So while we can't control the power grid in our city, we can control everything from the electrical panel to our equipment. Your argument here is like arguing with the manufacturer of a $250,000 amplifier why do you need to install a dedicated power circuit if you already spent $250,000 on an amplifier. "where does upstream that we have any control over begin"? It begins from the ISP handoff in your house, whether that's copper or fiber. Replacing the all in one device the ISP gives you with a dedicated modem helps. Adding a better router also helps. VLAN isolation helps. Galvanic isolation between your home network and audio network helps. Adding proper switches helps. Powering everything with good power supplies helps. Using better DC cables helps. Using better power cords for your power supplies helps. Using better ethernet cables helps. And so on... Those who bought an Extreme want to get the best out of it. They typically have very resolving systems and can easily hear small differences. In other words, their systems are much more sensitive on ethernet cable changes than a NUC or a MacMini is. Arguing that the Extreme must be able to clean your network noise is the same as arguing that a power amplifier must clean all your electrical noise. Arguing that the Extreme (or upstream) should not need good ethernet cables is like arguing that a power amplifier should not need good power cord. I hope I was able to make my point clear. Gavin1977, kennyb123, austinpop and 2 others 1 3 1 Industry disclosure: Dealer for: Taiko Audio, Aries Cerat, Audio Mirror, Sean Jacobs https://chicagohifi.com Link to comment
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