A Confused streaming system - Mutec / SOtM Ultra

[octaviars]

Do you know how USB input to the tX-USBultra works? Does it actually take it's power from the feeding device, or does it just need a 5V "handshake"?

The tX-USBultra dont need any 5V at all on the USB input so from my sMS-200ultra Neo I just run the Pangea cable with signal no power at all.

[Confused]

Do you know how USB input to the tX-USBultra works? Does it actually take it's power from the feeding device, or does it just need a 5V "handshake"?

The tX-USBultra dont need any 5V at all on the USB input so from my sMS-200ultra Neo I just run the Pangea cable with signal no power at all.

Ah, ok, I misunderstood your original post.  So from the tX to your DAC you use a Pangea with the 5V feed, is that right?  This is certainly something I could do between my tX and the Mutec MC3+USB, which does need the 5V feed, this might be interesting to try.

[octaviars]

So from the tX to your DAC you use a Pangea with the 5V feed, is that right?

Yes from my tX to my DAC I use both signal and 5V but they go from each of the two USB outlets on the tX and I only have the 5V turned on at the outlet supplying the 5V to my DAC (TAD needs 5V all the time).

Have you made the order from Paul?

I might be selling a couple of SR4 but I hope if this become a reality that I can sell the SOtM combo and SR4 with cables in a bundle.

One SOtM sMS-200ultra Neo 9V
One SOtM tX-USBultra 9V
Two Paul Hynes SR4
Two Ghent DC cables starquad with Neutrik and Oyaide connectors.
Two Pangea Premier XL USB cables

[Confused]

So from the tX to your DAC you use a Pangea with the 5V feed, is that right?

Yes from my tX to my DAC I use both signal and 5V but they go from each of the two USB outlets on the tX and I only have the 5V turned on at the outlet supplying the 5V to my DAC (TAD needs 5V all the time).

Have you made the order from Paul?

I might be selling a couple of SR4 but I hope if this become a reality that I can sell the SOtM combo and SR4 with cables in a bundle.

One SOtM sMS-200ultra Neo 9V
One SOtM tX-USBultra 9V
Two Paul Hynes SR4
Two Ghent DC cables starquad with Neutrik and Oyaide connectors.
Two Pangea Premier XL USB cables

Yes, the SR4's are ordered.  As things worked out, I had transferred the cash to Paul about two hours before your post above, which is slightly ironic considering that I have been hinting that I would buy your SR4 for about three months now.  Anyway, the cash has gone so there is no tuning back for me, I know Paul does not like making refunds!

It is worth considering that an SR4 ordered now is for an end of November delivery.  A two month lead time has to help the value of a "get it right now" second hand item.  I am as sure as I can be that they will be an easy sell for a good price, it looks like you are offering some very nice DC cables too.

Have you decided to go for the dCS Rossini?

Now this thread is drifting into second hand sales, does anyone want to buy a less than one year old SOtM sPS-500 c/w SOtM copper £160 "Y" cable? 

[octaviars]

I think you will be happy with the SR4 they are really good @Confused

I can recommend Ghent cables he built mine with the 4 pole Neutriks with starquad cable. Paul uses 2 poles for +V and 2 poles for -0V so a cable with 4 conductors is optimal regarding the connections.

I had a dCS Rossini on loan from the Swedish agent for a week and it is really good. Just the fact that one box instead of five does the same job is welcome as the system is simplified and much less cables to deal with.

[Confused]

I think you will be happy with the SR4 they are really good @Confused

I can recommend Ghent cables he built mine with the 4 pole Neutriks with starquad cable. Paul uses 2 poles for +V and 2 poles for -0V so a cable with 4 conductors is optimal regarding the connections.

I had a dCS Rossini on loan from the Swedish agent for a week and it is really good. Just the fact that one box instead of five does the same job is welcome as the system is simplified and much less cables to deal with.

I can see the appeal of the box reducing Rossini.  In fact, I am sure that there are many might read this thread and consider the concept of a multi-box "spaghetti" streamer to be slightly ludicrous, and that simple is better.  On balance, I would say there are good arguments on both sides.  Another case of personal preference and no absolute right answer.

With the arrival of the SR4's, my "streamer endpoint" will be a full six boxes, two Mutec, two SOtM and two Paul Hynes, plus 3 clock cables, 2 USB cables, 2 DC cables, and so on.  Oddly enough, this is one aspect that appeals to me.  It is not the inherent complexity that appeals, here the simplicity of one box wins easily, and the best cable is no cable, so eliminating cable numbers has to be good.  It is more the fact that I now have a modular front end.  So if in the future a better version of the MC3+USB emerges, something better than the sMS-200ultra or REF10, this can be obtained and slipped into the system, it is not a case of having a £8k to £10k streamer (or even more, consider the dCS Vivaldi Upsampler, which is about £16k plus £11k for the clock) and one day deciding if to sell at a great loss and go for a very expensive upgrade.  My current set-up has cost me a lot of cash this year, but from now on I can see myself maybe changing just one thing occasionally, depending on what emerges in this area.  (although it does seem to be a very fast developing area at the moment)  Plus, it enables me to have exactly the streamer I want, in terms of both functionality and performance.

As for the SR4's, I am becoming more and more convinced that decent DC power is one of the key elements of a decent "front end".  If you take the Innuos streamers, they do not look like they are particularly special in terms of the components used, but they do have very good power supplies, amongst the best available, and they do perform.  So I am looking forward to listening with the SR4's, I am quietly optimistic about this one.  Just a bit of a shame about the two month lead time!  That said, I am sure they will be in my system, somewhere, for many years to come, so a short wait is not so bad.

[octaviars]

Or perhaps one day Devialet will implement Roon RAAT and you can just plug the LAN in the D1000 but then again you loose HQ Player. 

I know that dCS is roling out a upgrade for Rossini to software 2.0 that will bring the same functions as Vivaldi got when they where upgraded. According to dCS a Rossini will be very close to Vivaldi in performance after this. A big part of my intrest in dCS is that they do offer upgrades during the lifetime of the products (Scarlatti for example was produced during ten years and got six upgrades during that time).

I dont have a problem with my spaghetti solution and could ad masterclock inputs on my SOtM, buy a Mutec REF10 and ad a Uptone switch with 10MHz input and clock the streaming parts. But I do like the simplicity of dCS even if it is a shit load of money but hey you only live once 

[Fragoulisnaval]

Or perhaps one day Devialet will implement Roon RAAT and you can just plug the LAN in the D1000 but then again you loose HQ Player. 

I know that dCS is roling out a upgrade for Rossini to software 2.0 that will bring the same functions as Vivaldi got when they where upgraded. According to dCS a Rossini will be very close to Vivaldi in performance after this. A big part of my intrest in dCS is that they do offer upgrades during the lifetime of the products (Scarlatti for example was produced during ten years and got six upgrades during that time).

I dont have a problem with my spaghetti solution and could ad masterclock inputs on my SOtM, buy a Mutec REF10 and ad a Uptone switch with 10MHz input and clock the streaming parts. But I do like the simplicity of dCS even if it is a shit load of money but hey you only live once 

Sent from my ALE-L21 using Tapatalk

[afrancois]

Some other thoughts that I have.  When I tried the sPS-500 to power the microRendu I found that this was a step backward from the Uptone LPS-1.  Today, I was quite happy listening to the SOtM kit with the sPS-500, but it does make me wonder if something like the Paul Hynes SR4 would be a better option, I am as sure as I can be that it would.  The other thought that I have is regarding the Neo update itself.  Apparently, the change is to the power board only, and here just a change in the capacitor.  How is it possible that this takes the sMS-200Ultra from something that I personally found irritating to something great.  Utterly baffling, but yet more evidence as to just how subtle audio reproduction can be.

I also have an sPS-500 that I used with my sMS-200 Ultra and just like you it never did feel right. So in the end, I replaced the sPS-500 with an Uptone LPS-1.2 and powered my Zotac server with the sPS-500. I never thought about it again, until I recently ordered an LPS for my new phono stage. Because this new LPS has an output of 19V I tried it out to power my server and guess what? I immediately heard an improvement!
I knew from the start that the sPS-500 was an SMPS, but now I wanted to take a closer look. So I took it apart. From what I see the sPS-500 is no more than a cheap 16$ SMPS followed by a DC-DC regulator board. While the regulator board might be good, the problem lays with the cheap SMPS that probably has some high impedance leakage and injects the usual nastiness into the AC.
See for the SMPS https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/e...ND/7704690

[octaviars]

While the regulator board might be good, the problem lays with the cheap SMPS that probably has some high impedance leakage and injects the usual nastiness into the AC.

The negative output on the sPS-500 is connected to AC ground so that should take care of the leakage part.

Regarding the AC polution backwards to the net this can be really small if the SMPS is constructed right but just the fact that it is a SMPS and many of us want to get rid of these in the hifi system I find it a bit funny to do it like SOtM did.

I opted for two Paul Hynes SR4 for my SOtM kit and have not regreted it in the future I might decide to get a SR7MR4 to drive switch, NUC with Roon and my two SOtM products.