kennyb123

He asked if they are designing their own motherboard. I believe they are customizing a board they selected. I’m not sure the distinction matters as whether or not they designed it doesn’t favor into whether USB is “ultra-low noise”. Innuos meant that in a relative sense.

The reviews in the printed magazines often seem to me as if they had been written a decade ago. I think it’s a reflection of the personal interests of their writing staff. Injecting some new blood would help. The other factor is the lack of interest in servers by the traditional big name brands. Seems Audio Research’s DACs and CD players will always get their attention because that brand already has their attention because of their analog gear.

The motherboard is powered by a Sean Jacob’s designed power supply. And in the Mk3, the supply had three rails. The care taken throughout this execution could achieve that goal of an ultra-low noise USB. Even the Zenith Mk2 seemed to achieve this as I found no further benefit from an ISO Regen, which had benefited even a device like the microRendu, which has a custom board.

Superb job on this @ray-dude! I especially liked the walkthrough of the two power supplies. The DC4 sure is a beauty.

This was hinted at a while back. Nuno had said something about making both the USB and Ethernet technologies from the Statement available to owners of the Zenith SE (and of course other servers). The first shoe dropped with the Phoenix so I wouldn’t be surprised if another shoe would be dropping at some point.

I started with an EtherRegen downstream and a Startech FMC upstream. Replacing the Startech FMC with an opticalModule was very worthwhile move - especially when combined with the Finisar SFPs mentioned here.

You didn’t try to bypass the KDSM with either? The K50 is functionally two boxes in one with two different boards internally: one for player/renderer and the other for server. The optimum use of that box would have been to run the player in place of your KDSM. I would expect the K50 to sound different than the Statement. The KDSM is a heck of nice piece of gear though so I can see why you would keep this as part of the equation.

Richard - thank you very much for your reply. Earlier I sent them a mail asking about this upgrade and about how the CX/EX will compare to the K30 both before and after the upgrade. I'll report back what they say. Have you been happy with your Antipodes products and how well the company has supported you?

I just started contemplating a move to Antipodes and potentially a CX/EX combo. Can you direct me to any details on this upgrade?

Are you using the stock power supplies for your Chord devices? I ask only because if the answer is yes that would be what I'd look at ahead of that additional switch.

Congratulations @JohnSwensonand @Superdad!!

Thanks so much for sharing this. My ER has been powered by an Super3 (also 12V) but I had wondered about the SR4T.

Ask this question in the Uptone form as I think the ISO Regen might help. It will provide you with galvanic isolation. Properly placed this might solve the problem. FYI @Superdad

Probably each pair also increases by some equivalent amount the odds Mount Rainier becomes active again. Or maybe it sets the scene for you saving the Pacific NW by forestalling an eruption simply by playing your favorite organ music.

Four, eh? What did you hear when moving from two to four? I was unfamiliar with REL's Reference Line Array. Bad ass looking stack for sure. I figure by the time we’ve both received the vaccine and I can finally drop by for another listen you’ll be up to three per side.