Researching SD Card Transports

[panasonicst60]

Has anyone has success with any of these SLC 32gb micro SD on the Sdtrans384?

 

https://www.greenliant.com/products/memory-cards.dot#interface=sd-microsd

 

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/SanDisk/SDSDQED-032G-XI?qs=gZXFycFWdANjQZU1Hw3L6Q%3D%3D

 

If not, then is there any SLC micro SD that is currently available from a reputable dealer? 

[sonodynesrp205]

On 11/18/2022 at 8:05 AM, panasonicst60 said:

I must correct what I stated in my pervious post. I had quite a bit more alone/quite time today(finally) and I definitely can tell a difference in sound between the Avatar and M50. The Avatar was slightly smoother sounding, certain instruments felt more focus, singer pushed back a bit, and it felt a tad bit more realistic(singer in the room). The M50 was slightly more forward in it's presentation, more articulate, and was more unforgiving on bad recordings.     

 

As of right now, I feel that the Avatar is my preferred sound, but the M50 is more accurate to the source. I will need a lot more time before I conclude as the M50 is hardly broken in at about 50hrs. 

Hello,

 

can I ask how satisfied are you with Topping M50? I am looking for a transport for my Ares II dac. 

 

regards,
Simon

[panasonicst60]

21 minutes ago, sonodynesrp205 said:

Hello,

 

can I ask how satisfied are you with Topping M50? I am looking for a transport for my Ares II dac. 

 

regards,
Simon

I ended up getting rid of it. It just didn't have the smoothness refinement sound as my reference CD Transport. It would probably integrate well into a system that is on the warmer side. One of the highlights was the HibyLink which was very convenient. Changing music on the fly on my phone was so nice(I still miss it). Overall it was a very high value item and for $200 it's pretty hard to beat and not recommend. The next competitor worth looking at for $300 would be the Aune(never tried), but it doesn't have the HibyLink. 

 

One small problem I had with the M50 was on 2 songs I heard a tiny bit of weird distortion(digital?). Tried two different sd cards with the same results. Tried the same files on my other devices with no distortion. Didn't go into further investigation as I was retuning it anyways. Might be a sd card compatibly or firmware? 

[sonodynesrp205]

8 minutes ago, panasonicst60 said:

I ended up getting rid of it. It just didn't have the smoothness refinement sound as my reference CD Transport. It would probably integrate well into a system that is on the warmer side. One of the highlights was the HibyLink which was very convenient. Changing music on the fly on my phone was so nice(I still miss it). Overall it was a very high value item and for $200 it's pretty hard to beat and not recommend. The next competitor worth looking at for $300 would be the Aune(never tried), but it doesn't have the HibyLink. 

 

One small problem I had with the M50 was on 2 songs I heard a tiny bit of weird distortion(digital?). Tried two different sd cards with the same results. Tried the same files on my other devices with no distortion. Didn't go into further investigation as I was retuning it anyways. Might be a sd card compatibly or firmware? 

Thanks for the quick reply. I might order it to try it in my system to see how it performs. May I ask which DAC you used? USB connection?

 

regards,
Simon

 

[panasonicst60]

2 minutes ago, sonodynesrp205 said:

Thanks for the quick reply. I might order it to try it in my system to see how it performs. May I ask which DAC you used? USB connection?

 

regards,
Simon

 

I was using my built in DAC on my Emotiva XMC-2 with digital coaxial. Yeah I know, nothing special :) It also has a I2s which I didn't try. 

[sonodynesrp205]

14 minutes ago, panasonicst60 said:

I was using my built in DAC on my Emotiva XMC-2 with digital coaxial. Yeah I know, nothing special :) It also has a I2s which I didn't try. 

Maybe M50 and Ares II will be a good combination. Speakers are Graham Audio Chartwell LS6 and Exposure 3010S2D integrated amplifier. 

 

Thank you.

 

regards,
Simon

[sonodynesrp205]

Hello,

still looking for a good SD transport. I'm looking for something that doesn't need to be connected to a LAN.

 

regards,
Simon

[panasonicst60]

So I finally got my Sdtrans384 in about a week ago. I'm running it with a LHY Audio 50w psu. Of course both not fully burnt in yet (leaving it on daily), but this thing is amazing, SQ wise. Functionally, it's not as bad as I thought. I have a bunch of 32gb micros and scrolling through them and finding an album to play was surprisingly easy for me. I takes a bit of getting use to and time naming and setting up your SD card accordingly of course. But if you know what you're getting and do a good amount of research, it's not that bad.

 

I put the Sdtrans up against my reference Avatar CD transport and to my surprise, it didn't take me long to notice that the sdtrans was superior in almost every way shape or form. From clarity, instrument separation, dynamics, and staging depth were up a level from the Avatar. Only after owning the sdtrans for a day, I am happy to say that the Avatar is now sold(never thought I would get rid of it). I have never heard anything better digitally than the Sdtrans384. The hype is real. It is simply jaw dropping. Merry Christmas to me! 

 

Special thanks to Bobfa and bodiebill for your post, convincing me to pull the trigger on the Sdtrans384.

[sonodynesrp205]

Hello,

 

if i understand correctly this Sdtrans384 read only WAV files? So no FLAC? 

 

regards,
Simon

[bodiebill]

6 minutes ago, sonodynesrp205 said:

if i understand correctly this Sdtrans384 read only WAV files? So no FLAC? 

 

Only wav up to 384 and dff (no dsf) up to DSD256 (or DSD512, not totally sure). Indeed no flac.

[sonodynesrp205]

7 minutes ago, bodiebill said:

 

Only wav up to 384 and dff (no dsf) up to DSD256 (or DSD512, not totally sure). Indeed no flac.

Thank you. I have 90% FLAC so no go for me :-( 

[bodiebill]

4 minutes ago, sonodynesrp205 said:

Thank you. I have 90% FLAC so no go for me :-( 

 

For the SDTrans384 I apply convolution offline before playing anyway, so I convert to wav or dff at the same time.

But I admit that nowadays I come pretty close with a good streaming method, so use the latter most of the time.

[bodiebill]

Last week, for fun, I bought the tiny Topping M50 -- as it is pretty cheap (€229) and I am still intrigued by devices that can function as SD transport. I did not expect much as most reviews were lukewarm. It is marketed for its versatility rather than for its SQ. And indeed most of the critique that I read from users and reviewers is about functionality. For instance it only has WiFi and no ethernet (not relevant for me as I am looking for stand alone use), SD cards are 256GB maximum (neither a problem as I convolute and upsample files before each listening session), there is no power supply included (perfect -- so I can use optimal 5V input), small screen, etc.

 

These are not the qualms from somebody coming from the SDTrans384 and I pulled the trigger when I saw that it does USB output. I did try WiFi, DLNA, Bluetooth and control from the HiBy Music app and all worked fine for me but do not produce the SQ I am looking for. However, all these functions aside, using it as a stand alone SD transport gives me stellar SQ, at least at the level of the SDTrans384! Surprising, I know, but true -- at least to my ears. Admittedly, this is with the following setup:

 

     M50 > Audioquest Jitterbug FMJ > USB Phasure Lush > SOtM tX-USBhubEX > USB Phasure Lush^2

     > Audio-GD DI20HE > I2S > Gustard A26 or Audio-GD R8HE Mk2

 

This way I can do up to PCM384 and DSD256.

 

I have not yet tried playing from a USB stick or HDD.

 

I must say that the M50 is very sensitive to the power supply used and I went out of my way to optimize this. First used an LT3045 battery pack with very good results but my current PS setup is even better:

:
     Paul Hynes SR4T > 9V > ldovr LT3045 > 7.1V > mpaudio LT3045 > 5V > M50.

 

The M50 only draws about 500 mV, which I guess is a good sign.

 

For stand alone use I heartily recommend the M50!

 

I just heard that -- although introduced only last year -- this little gem has already been discontinued. Well... I realize that I am raving about a use case (SD card transport) that would only be a futile add-on for most.

 

 

[seeteeyou]

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/65962-gustard-r26-new-r2r-dac/page/7/#comment-1228986  

On 1/23/2023 at 11:29 AM, gstew said:

My modified SDTrans384 (LDOVR.com LT3045 regulator boards replacing the on-board stock regulators) beat a stock one. BUT I was surprised that the UltraRendu on limited listening seems to beat them both. I think this is both a testament to how good the UR is as a source AND that the SDTrans384's I2S-over-HDMI output uses an LVDS chip (TI DS90LV047A) that is over 10-years-old (as @superdad has posted, there are recent chips that provide measurably lower-jitter on the outputs than most others).

 

Given the age of SDTrans384 and its less-than-ideal LVDS chip, maybe it's more likely to find something else that would meet and beat its performance + navigation system then?

 

Ideally an updated version (such as SDTrans768?) wouldn't be such a bad idea, playing upsampled tracks @ 768kHz (that were blessed by PGGB 256) should be an interesting experiment.

 

OTOH, stuff like Win11PE (Ultralite) still kept getting quite a bit of improvements lately

 

http://jplay.eu/forum/index.php?/topic/4410-windows-11-pe-audiophile-creation-guide/?p=62884

Quote

processes=17
threads=148
handles=3718
CPU=0.23%

 

http://jplay.eu/forum/index.php?/topic/4410-windows-11-pe-audiophile-creation-guide/?p=62949

Quote

I think that in the end we will stay very close to the size of Win11 PE Ultralite, which I have currently reduced, eliminating drivers that I do not need, up to 237 MB and I can still remove more, although it is hard work and in the end with the trial-error method.

 

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/8760-playpcmwin-opensource-audio-player-for-windows/#comment-1229696

On 1/29/2023 at 7:15 PM, yamamoto2002 said:

PlayPcm.exe program size is currently 44544 bytes but if you strip functionalities such as DSF/DSDIFF decode and experimental unnecessary large page memory allocation code, 22000 ～ 23000 bytes EXE file is possible

 

In other words, that would be pretty similar to the philosophy of SD Card Transports since we're basically reducing the software side of the coin to the bare minimum.

 

Rather than SLC SD cards, we're actually reaping the benefits of even lower latency thanks to Intel Optane. Of course we could try RAM drives as well.

 

Ultimately it's just a matter of whether we're willing to learn what to do about an extremely lightweight version of Windows 11 or not, more investment in time for the sake of gaining even better SQ in return.

[panasonicst60]

22 hours ago, bodiebill said:

@bodiebill

Interesting take on the M50. When I tried it, i wasn't impressed with it when it came to SQ. However the usability was great. In my comparison I only tried the digital coaxial though. Granted the m50 couldn't even beat my reference cd transport. The sdtrans knocked both my reference cd transport and m50 with ease. I'm sure in a few months, once you get bored of the m50 you'll be back to the sdtrans ;) I still stand by the sdtrans being the best of the best. I may have to buy a backup just in case they ever stop production. 

[bodiebill]

@panasonicst60 Not many will have heard both transports, so your comparison is appreciated!

 

For me the DI20HE is crucial. For instance here I prefer

 

   SDTrans384 > spdif > DI20HE >  I2S > DAC with PCM192

to

    SDTrans384 >  I2S > DAC with PCM 384 or DSD256

 

To my surprise using the M50 with PCM 384 or DSD256 in the setup described above further improves this!

 

In equal setups the SDTrans may beat the M50 but with the latter's USB output into the DI20HE I prefer the M50.