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A Confused streaming system - Mutec / SOtM Ultra
(28-Apr-2019, 10:41)Antoine Wrote: Over the past few weeks I’ve been reading this excellent thread on and off and have finally catched up in full! Smile It was a great read, very interesting and very well documented!

Like you I also always say I both document for myself (to ocassionally read back) and others who are interested but I will say thanks for sharing!

Did your SR-4’s balance out nicely (if they’ve changed much at all of course since the start)? Also I’m curious; is there anything you’re planning to change or upgrade?

For now, enjoy this Sunday and hopefully some great tunes from your system!

To be honest, I cannot say I have detected any differences in the system as the SR-4's settled in.  One thing I can say is that I am now happier with the system than I have been for a very long time.  Now that some time and much listening has passed, it is clear to me that something changed at the time of adding the SR4 and also switching to the new V0.4.5X firmware from SOtM.  A case of changing two things within a week, I am not quite sure which is responsible for removing whatever it was that was niggling me.  Maybe even a combination of both?  In a way it does not matter, because the end result is good.  That said, I would like to understand exactly what the firmware and SR4's have contributed individually, I find it useful understand this kind of stuff, and you never know when it might prove useful in the future.

So, when I get the time I plan to reverse back the changes, maybe try the sPS-500 back in the system again, but with the latest SOtM firmware, maybe try the SR4's with older SOtM firmware.  (I have V0.4.22 on a microSD card).  This would be purely out of interest and for the purposes of information gathering.  

One thing I am very short of at the moment is free time, so the above will have to wait.  Meanwhile, I am doing exactly what you mentioned , enjoying some great tunes on a Sunday morning!

Looking forward, like many I am keeping an eye out for developments regarding the soon(?) to be released EtherRegen.  But main thoughts are now drifting towards room treatments, I think I have gone far enough for now with respect to electronics, time to give the room some love.  I have some thoughts on this matter, which I think I will post in Pim's room treatment thread.

Oh, and I did spend some time yesterday trying the new HQPlayer version 4.0, which did not seem to be working completely as it should.  I get annoyed when software is a little buggy, so I am leaving that one for a while the teething troubles get sorted, hence back to the tunes today!
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Also curious if you had the time to further test the SQ differences between 100 and 1000Base-T? Currently there are also some opinions on CA which support this: https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic...ent-951004
Kii Three Speakers | JL Audio Fathom Subwoofer  | KEF LS50 Speakers | Samsung 850 Soundbar
Innuos Statement | Trinnov Altitude 32 | PS Audio Stellar S300 Amp | T+A HA 200 Headphone Amplifier | Meze Empyrean Headphones
Sean Jacobs DC-3 Custom Build LPS | Roon Core DIY Server | SOtM sNH-10G Modded Switch | Oppo UDP-205 Blu-Ray/SACD Player
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(28-Apr-2019, 12:07)Confused Wrote:
(28-Apr-2019, 10:41)Antoine Wrote: Over the past few weeks I’ve been reading this excellent thread on and off and have finally catched up in full! Smile It was a great read, very interesting and very well documented!

Like you I also always say I both document for myself (to ocassionally read back) and others who are interested but I will say thanks for sharing!

Did your SR-4’s balance out nicely (if they’ve changed much at all of course since the start)? Also I’m curious; is there anything you’re planning to change or upgrade?

For now, enjoy this Sunday and hopefully some great tunes from your system!

To be honest, I cannot say I have detected any differences in the system as the SR-4's settled in.  One thing I can say is that I am now happier with the system than I have been for a very long time.  Now that some time and much listening has passed, it is clear to me that something changed at the time of adding the SR4 and also switching to the new V0.4.5X firmware from SOtM.  A case of changing two things within a week, I am not quite sure which is responsible for removing whatever it was that was niggling me.  Maybe even a combination of both?  In a way it does not matter, because the end result is good.  That said, I would like to understand exactly what the firmware and SR4's have contributed individually, I find it useful understand this kind of stuff, and you never know when it might prove useful in the future.

So, when I get the time I plan to reverse back the changes, maybe try the sPS-500 back in the system again, but with the latest SOtM firmware, maybe try the SR4's with older SOtM firmware.  (I have V0.4.22 on a microSD card).  This would be purely out of interest and for the purposes of information gathering.  

One thing I am very short of at the moment is free time, so the above will have to wait.  Meanwhile, I am doing exactly what you mentioned , enjoying some great tunes on a Sunday morning!

Looking forward, like many I am keeping an eye out for developments regarding the soon(?) to be released EtherRegen.  But main thoughts are now drifting towards room treatments, I think I have gone far enough for now with respect to electronics, time to give the room some love.  I have some thoughts on this matter, which I think I will post in Pim's room treatment thread.

Oh, and I did spend some time yesterday trying the new HQPlayer version 4.0, which did not seem to be working completely as it should.  I get annoyed when software is a little buggy, so I am leaving that one for a while the teething troubles get sorted, hence back to the tunes today!

Great to hear you are so happy now with the system after all the hard work! Smile

My Hynes PSU (or its cables etc. because like you I also changed more than one thing at a time) did need time to settle but great of course if the SR4 isn’t like that or perhaps the components you powered using them are a bit less sensitive. I’ve ordered a SR4-12 myself a few weeks back so will find out myself as well, once I finally receive it (could be months as you know Wink)

I’m also looking forward to the etherregen and following the AS topic, they’re indeed getting closer!

I indeed saw in Pim’s topic you’re considering specialist room treatments and perhaps outsourcing a bit of the planning/design work. That’s a very worthwile subject, lots to learn and/but very rewarding! Also I’ve read nothing but good stuff about GIK back when I was actively persuing this same topic.

Good luck and enjoy!
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(28-Apr-2019, 13:32)baconbrain Wrote: Also curious if you had the time to further test the SQ differences between 100 and 1000Base-T? Currently there are also some opinions on CA which support this: https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic...ent-951004

Unfortunately the 100BASE-T option does not work with SOtM's latest firmware and HQPlayer.  SOtM are looking into this at the moment, so meanwhile I am running 1000BASE-T.

This at least tells me that whatever has removed the annoying SQ niggle from my system has nothing to do with 100BASE-T, as I cannot run 100BASE-T currently.

Per the change log, there were other changes made at the time of SOtM's V0.4.57 firmware update that can potentially influence sound quality, so it was either that or the SR4's. 100BASE-T will need to wait for now.
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
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The last few weeks have been a little odd.....   I have only had time for any listening at weekends, so events have been in slow motion to a degree, but the last few weeks I have again been finding that my system is annoying me a bit, which is particularly frustrating when at the end of March I was happy to post about just how happy I was with everything.

My limited listening time has been a little distracted too  For example, I have been messing about with the new HQPlayer 4 recently.  Anyway, it was yesterday that it suddenly clicked in my mind, something really is definitely not right.  So is this just a case of me just kidding myself that all was well back at the end of March, or has something actually changed? 

Thinking about this, the only significant thing that I have changed is the SOtM firmware, I have tried HQPlayer 4 versus the old version 3 and new features apart, they sound much the same.  Plus, I had started to get niggled that things are again not right before HQPlayer 4 was even released.  At the end of March I had updated to the then new V0.4.57 firmware with the 100BASE-T option.  As things turned out, this firmware was not working as it should, with many users reporting that with the 100BASE-T mode selected, their network switches were still indicating gigabyte speeds.  Two firmware updates followed in rapid succession.  The current V0.4.59 firmware seams to work as it should, so if you select 100BASE-T, the network switch indicates 100BASE-T.  (a change from green light to orange light, in my case)  So all good?  Well no, V0.4.59 100BASE-T does not work with HQPlayer.  I have been in correspondence with SOtM about this, at first they said that it works for them, but curiously then advised that it did not and that they were working on an update to resolve. For me this was not a big deal, with V0.459 & 1000BASE-T selected everything was working fine for me, and I could simply wait for future updates.  But is this why I am now unhappy with my system?  This should not be the case, after all, 100BASE-T mode was not even working properly back on V0.4.57.  Anyway, it occurred to me yesterday that I still have a microSD with V0.4.57, so I installed this to roll back to exactly how everything was back in March.  Or almost at least, today I tried running the new input feature of HQPlayer 4.  This had been working fine for me with V0.4.59, but stuttered back on V0.4.57.  Strange, I tried Roon / HQPlayer, this worked OK.  I took a look at the settings, could I change a buffer or something?  Then just a complete punt, I tried selecting IPv6 protocol.  I have always kept this disabled because I had read that it is not supported by Roon.  I tried again, and now everything works, including Roon / HQplayer.  So I am back on the supposedly not working quite right V0.4.57 in 100BASE-T mode, and everything at least appears to be working exactly as it should in terms of functioning stutter free playback.

Listening today, again everything has snapped back into place and sounds terrific.  I am again happy.  Indeed, listing today I can see (hear) that it is not just the HF issue mentioned before, it is a case of the sound previously being a little thin in general, whereas now things are much richer and full bodied and just plain better to listen too.  I feel that I have got my system back. Shy

All very strange.  Now I am happy again, I shall be keeping this set up and changing nothing for a few weeks, just to make absolutely sure of everything and spend some proper time listening in this configuration.   I know it is easy to succumb to expectation bias and be tricked by this stuff, but listening today I am as sure as I can be that this is not the case, the difference is "not subtle" as the saying goes. (I have just checked the kitchen, there is no wife available to invite in to confirm the improvement)  Either way, I shall be spending some time with this set up and see how it goes over time.  All rather curious, when you consider I am now back running a know to be buggy firmware version.  When did this stuff get so damn obscure and complicated? Confused
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
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(19-May-2019, 13:58)Confused Wrote: All very strange.  Now I am happy again, I shall be keeping this set up and changing nothing for a few weeks, just to make absolutely sure of everything and spend some proper time listening in this configuration.   I know it is easy to succumb to expectation bias and be tricked by this stuff, but listening today I am as sure as I can be that this is not the case, the difference is "not subtle" as the saying goes.  (I have just checked the kitchen, there is no wife available to invite in to confirm the improvement)  Either way, I shall be spending some time with this set up and see how it goes over time.  All rather curious, when you consider I am now back running a know to be buggy firmware version.  When did this stuff get so damn obscure and complicated? Confused

Participated in a seminar at the Munich Event which was held by Hans M. Strassner (see pic) from HMS Electronics. Towards the end of his presentation, he touched briefly on a common question he receives as to why our systems sound great some days and not so on others. He stated that one should never under estimate the influences of external factors such as "Elektrosmog", etc. Perhaps your neighbor bought a Tesla which he has been charging in his garage? Realize it sounds a bit cheeky, but if you stop to think about it ...

   
Kii Three Speakers | JL Audio Fathom Subwoofer  | KEF LS50 Speakers | Samsung 850 Soundbar
Innuos Statement | Trinnov Altitude 32 | PS Audio Stellar S300 Amp | T+A HA 200 Headphone Amplifier | Meze Empyrean Headphones
Sean Jacobs DC-3 Custom Build LPS | Roon Core DIY Server | SOtM sNH-10G Modded Switch | Oppo UDP-205 Blu-Ray/SACD Player
T+A G 2000 R Turntable | DS Audio E1 Optical Stylus | Gordian Lab 12 Power Conditioner | Artesania Audio Rack
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@baconbrain  - No, not cheeky at all.  Firstly, I would not dream of arguing with Hans M. Strassner, he looks like he knows many things.  Secondly, I am fully open to the fact that something might be going on that I am not aware of, which is precisely the reason I will now have a period where I "change nothing" in the system, as mentioned above.  If all goes to plan and I'm consistently happy with the system, then great.  If not, then who knows, it could be Hans M. Strassner's "Elektrosmog."  I'll keep an eye out for local Teslas...... Shy
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
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I have had an interesting morning, but first to explain why I have purchased a second-hand Arcam BDP300 Bluray player almost by accident. 

I have mentioned my Pioneer BDP450 Bluray player in a number of old posts.  The poor old Pioneer was becoming a bit troublesome, a case of becoming mechanically very noisy, and vibrating quite severely during some phases of disc playback.  Hearing the little Pioneer audibly vibrating during key sections of a movie was not the best way to become immersed in whatever was on screen, so I figured a replacement was needed.

Looking at what was on the market, I quite fancied the Cambridge Audio CXUHD.  Trouble is that I do not have a 4K TV, so I then thought about getting a second hand 1080P Oppo.  With Oppo recently ceasing production of Blu-ray players, the second hand prices of the better Oppo players were a little high, to be honest, I would have preferred the new Cambridge Audio for similar money.  Am I planning to get a 4K TV?  In a way yes, I have two 1080P plasma TV's, one is about 6 years old, the other pushing 15 years old.  I have been told that Plasma TV's only last about 10 years, so presumably one of them will keel over before two long, at which time the next TV will be 4K.  But that might not happen for years, and if I did buy a 4K TV, I would want to buy a latest spec 4K player at the same time, not 3 years or something in advance.  So I  then started looking on eBay for reasonable looking second hand 1080P Blu-ray players, just anything that looked nice, I was not too fussy.  I started putting lowish bids on a number of items, just to see what might happen.  The next thing I knew, I had bought an Arcam BDP300 for £200.  (they were £999 when new)

https://www.arcam.co.uk/products,FMJ,BD-...#techspecs

Anyway, the thing turned up.  The box was immaculate, the remote, manual, cables etc. had all been put back in their original plastic bags with cable ties, the player itself looked new.  Connecting it up, it works fine, picture quality and sound quality with movies seem fine.  It is a big heavy beast too, probably over twice the size and weight of the Pioneer.  I am happy I have got a reasonably good buy for the money, it definitely looks like it has been well cared for.

The Arcam BDP300 never had the best reputation, certainly a step down from the equivalent Oppo players.  It does use a lot of "parts bin" components from mainstream players, with a little of Arcam's audio circuitry and LPSU's on top.  Anyway, this got me wondering, what would it sound like in two channel mode?  The Arcam will play music files from a USB drive, and will of course play CD's.  I read something on-line that claimed that the BSP300 sounds slightly better from USB, maybe a quirk of the "parts bin" CD / Blu ray drive.  So out of curiosity, I loaded some music files onto a USB thumb drive, connected the Arcam to the Mutec MC3+USB, thus allowing me to do a direct head to head comparison with the SOtM streaming kit.  I have done this before with the old Pioneer BDP450, and the sound quality was quite a step behind the SOtM kit.  I have also tried this with my near 20 year old Musical Fidelity CD player, which as I mentioned in a previous post, got pretty close to the SOtM kit. 

I was expecting similar things from the Arcam, that it would sound ok, but the SOtM kit would edge ahead for ultimate sound quality.  Listening to the first few tracks, the Arcam sounded good, a few switches between the Arcam and SOtM kit I found that it was very hard to discern much difference, this was a close one.  I think expectation bias was getting too me, I was telling myself that the SOtM kit was better, after all, it is dedicated audio kit, it has the advantage of being fed with up-sampling HQPlayer etc.  Ultimately, and much to my surprise, I had to come to the conclusion that the Arcam was the better performer.  Just that touch more real, less "digital", slightly better ambiance and clarity.  Not what I expected.  I then moved to comparisons using the Arcam playing CD's, again the Arcam was good, but I did not spend much time with this, after much A/B testing I was getting a bit jaded.

So a big surprise.  I guess I have never been 100% convinced by the SOtM kit, but I did not expect my "£200 off eBay" universal device to edge it out.  Maybe something to do with taking the PC and network out of the chain, and instead using a simple bit of audio circuitry to send a digital file to the MC3+USB?  Maybe a result of taking USB out of the chain altogether? 

There is no way of telling for sure.  Which ever way you look at it though, it does indicate that there is a little bit of extra performance to be gained somewhere from the streaming system.  This has also got me thinking again about that Weiss DSP501, which outputs S/PDIF AES/EBU, I wonder what the retail price will be?
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
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ohh, these things really tilt my universe and we have been there before:

https://devialetchat.com/Thread-The-negative-positive

Sometimes it seems there is no logical explanation ...
Kii Three Speakers | JL Audio Fathom Subwoofer  | KEF LS50 Speakers | Samsung 850 Soundbar
Innuos Statement | Trinnov Altitude 32 | PS Audio Stellar S300 Amp | T+A HA 200 Headphone Amplifier | Meze Empyrean Headphones
Sean Jacobs DC-3 Custom Build LPS | Roon Core DIY Server | SOtM sNH-10G Modded Switch | Oppo UDP-205 Blu-Ray/SACD Player
T+A G 2000 R Turntable | DS Audio E1 Optical Stylus | Gordian Lab 12 Power Conditioner | Artesania Audio Rack
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(11-Aug-2019, 15:27)Confused Wrote: I have had an interesting morning, but first to explain why I have purchased a second-hand Arcam BDP300 Bluray player almost by accident. 

I have mentioned my Pioneer BDP450 Bluray player in a number of old posts.  The poor old Pioneer was becoming a bit troublesome, a case of becoming mechanically very noisy, and vibrating quite severely during some phases of disc playback.  Hearing the little Pioneer audibly vibrating during key sections of a movie was not the best way to become immersed in whatever was on screen, so I figured a replacement was needed.

Looking at what was on the market, I quite fancied the Cambridge Audio CXUHD.  Trouble is that I do not have a 4K TV, so I then thought about getting a second hand 1080P Oppo.  With Oppo recently ceasing production of Blu-ray players, the second hand prices of the better Oppo players were a little high, to be honest, I would have preferred the new Cambridge Audio for similar money.  Am I planning to get a 4K TV?  In a way yes, I have two 1080P plasma TV's, one is about 6 years old, the other pushing 15 years old.  I have been told that Plasma TV's only last about 10 years, so presumably one of them will keel over before two long, at which time the next TV will be 4K.  But that might not happen for years, and if I did buy a 4K TV, I would want to buy a latest spec 4K player at the same time, not 3 years or something in advance.  So I  then started looking on eBay for reasonable looking second hand 1080P Blu-ray players, just anything that looked nice, I was not too fussy.  I started putting lowish bids on a number of items, just to see what might happen.  The next thing I knew, I had bought an Arcam BDP300 for £200.  (they were £999 when new)

https://www.arcam.co.uk/products,FMJ,BD-...#techspecs

Anyway, the thing turned up.  The box was immaculate, the remote, manual, cables etc. had all been put back in their original plastic bags with cable ties, the player itself looked new.  Connecting it up, it works fine, picture quality and sound quality with movies seem fine.  It is a big heavy beast too, probably over twice the size and weight of the Pioneer.  I am happy I have got a reasonably good buy for the money, it definitely looks like it has been well cared for.

The Arcam BDP300 never had the best reputation, certainly a step down from the equivalent Oppo players.  It does use a lot of "parts bin" components from mainstream players, with a little of Arcam's audio circuitry and LPSU's on top.  Anyway, this got me wondering, what would it sound like in two channel mode?  The Arcam will play music files from a USB drive, and will of course play CD's.  I read something on-line that claimed that the BSP300 sounds slightly better from USB, maybe a quirk of the "parts bin" CD / Blu ray drive.  So out of curiosity, I loaded some music files onto a USB thumb drive, connected the Arcam to the Mutec MC3+USB, thus allowing me to do a direct head to head comparison with the SOtM streaming kit.  I have done this before with the old Pioneer BDP450, and the sound quality was quite a step behind the SOtM kit.  I have also tried this with my near 20 year old Musical Fidelity CD player, which as I mentioned in a previous post, got pretty close to the SOtM kit. 

I was expecting similar things from the Arcam, that it would sound ok, but the SOtM kit would edge ahead for ultimate sound quality.  Listening to the first few tracks, the Arcam sounded good, a few switches between the Arcam and SOtM kit I found that it was very hard to discern much difference, this was a close one.  I think expectation bias was getting too me, I was telling myself that the SOtM kit was better, after all, it is dedicated audio kit, it has the advantage of being fed with up-sampling HQPlayer etc.  Ultimately, and much to my surprise, I had to come to the conclusion that the Arcam was the better performer.  Just that touch more real, less "digital", slightly better ambiance and clarity.  Not what I expected.  I then moved to comparisons using the Arcam playing CD's, again the Arcam was good, but I did not spend much time with this, after much A/B testing I was getting a bit jaded.

So a big surprise.  I guess I have never been 100% convinced by the SOtM kit, but I did not expect my "£200 off eBay" universal device to edge it out.  Maybe something to do with taking the PC and network out of the chain, and instead using a simple bit of audio circuitry to send a digital file to the MC3+USB?  Maybe a result of taking USB out of the chain altogether? 

There is no way of telling for sure.  Which ever way you look at it though, it does indicate that there is a little bit of extra performance to be gained somewhere from the streaming system.  This has also got me thinking again about that Weiss DSP501, which outputs S/PDIF AES/EBU, I wonder what the retail price will be?
Oh, that’s a shame. I’ve got a barely used Cambridge Audio BDP751 that’s been in storage since I upgraded to my Oppo 105. I read that the 751 is essentially a rebadged Oppo103. The menus on the 751 are absolutely identical to my 105 and the connections on the back are in the same locations. Until I read your post, I’d forgotten that I even had it!
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