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(12-Feb-2017, 14:22)Antoine Wrote: [ -> ]Captains log, star date 25942.5 Wink

It's been a busy two weeks, mostly due to work, so little time and energy for forums. Still, made time to implement some of the plans I had.

- received the two Supra CAT 8 cables. Used one to connect the music server to the FMC used in the path to the SMS-200 and the other between 2nd ethernet interface on the music server to my EMO Systems EN-HD70 LAN isolator and from there a short 25cm CAT7 cable to my upstairs switch. The music server is now isolated from the network, AC and other devices the best I can using stuff I already had.

- the upstairs switch is now powered by the SBooster BOTWS 12V LPSU since I still have it and wasn't using it elsewhere.

- bought a second hand but new and sealed 1TB Samsung 850 EVO SSD for the music server since I was running out of space

- created a dual boot Windows 10 Pro/Server 2012 R2 installation on it (the W10 partition and all music files were migrated from the previous SSD) and installed Audiophile Optimizer 2.20B4 after upgrading the AO 1.40 license. Reinstalled Roon (now 1.3 build 200) and migrated the Roon database to the WS2012R2 partition.

How does it sound, and what changed how? No idea, not yet anyway, just started listening 20 minutes ago. It sounds really great is all I know. Not very helpful I'm afraid! Smile

End log.

Did the seed surface soil or is it still underground Big Grin ?

I can recommend the additional software mentioned in my signature jPlay/Process Lasso/ Fidelizer Pro if you have coins left. I think it would payout for SQ (did it for me). I can provide parameters for configuration to start from if you need some.
Edit: Just saw your posts on jPlay forum. You possible spend more time on the whole thing than any other in the forum. But what is your conclusion about combining all this software for SQ?


gui
(13-Feb-2017, 17:16)ftom Wrote: [ -> ]Hi Antoine, many thanks for sharing your findings it is great to follow your experiences and congrats for your amazing system!
I was putting up a very similar source path as yours and I really liked the Visio way of displaying it so I did the same :-)
Only a few things are missing from the flowchart and could you - or any of you guys - have a quick look and let me know if I'm on the wrong direction as I feel that the LAN filter would be redundant in this chain.  I'm also thinking on having a SFP PCiE Card instead of the LAN ethernet and do the first conversion in the PC.

Hi ftom, thanks for your kind words. In your diagram I don't even see a Devialet so thanks for bothering to sign up here and nevertheless letting me know! Smile

To be fair, most of what I do surrounding the computer audio part is inspired by the good guys over at different forums, nowadays mainly computeraudiophile.com (and a bit head-fi.org). I'm not the type of guy who enjoys the wild experimenting and comparing even the smallest iterations others do seem to enjoy (and fortunately share) as I really dislike A-B comparisons. So I keep monitoring those websites and I either act when some sort of concensus starts to form on the effectivity of something or get inspired to try something out before. I do feel a bit obliged to share back what I reproduce because of their hard work even though I'm no longer a member of computeraudiophile and consider Devialetchat my "hifi home". Wink

Anyway, on your question regarding LAN filtering/isolation; theoretically there's multiple redundancies in your diagram (since most ethernet interfaces are inherently galvanically isolated/filtered) but unfortunately basic theory of computer science doesn't always seem to cut it! Big Grin

I don't think there's a big redundancy in your chain, I too have placed an isolator in the same place you did, but of course you could easily experiment removing the LAN isolator (to see if it adds anything) or even placing it inline directly after the second FMC nearest to the SMS-200.


Like you I have also thought about buying a NIC with one or two SFP interfaces/'cages'. But these are relatively expensive and I personally am still in the process of finding out if/the amount of influence the computer feeding the SMS-200 has so wasn't prepared yet to invest in it. I might switch back from my current music server NAS "PC" to my previous music server which is fanless powered by trhe HDPlex I still have or even build a new one that accepts 12V so I can power it using my Paul Hynes PSU.

I did look on Amazon/EBay and local marketplaces for affordable second hand Intel SFP NIC's like the i350 series or even the X520 10Gb/s series. There's also OEM's who produce/source affordable clones like Uptimed (https://www.uptimed.nl). Many affordable and well rated stuff by the Chinese 10Gtek (SFPcables.com) as well (I even think Uptimed sources it stuff from there).
(14-Feb-2017, 13:51)yabaVR Wrote: [ -> ]Did the seed surface soil or is it still underground Big Grin ?

I can recommend the additional software mentioned in my signature jPlay/Process Lasso/ Fidelizer Pro if you have coins left. I think it would payout for SQ (did it for me). I can provide parameters for configuration to start from if you need some.
Edit: Just saw your posts on jPlay forum. You possible spend more time on the whole thing than any other in the forum. But what is your conclusion about combining all this software for SQ?


gui

Hi Gui,

Haha, the seed for removing the WiFi board is nearing the stage it can be 'harvested'. Big Grin I have it planned but am/was still changing too much on the source side of things. I was thinking I might do it this weekend. I try to not change too many things at the same time but since the feedback on your tweak is unanimously positive I may do it and accept it as an improvement whether I can judge its effectiveness or not. So not made up my mind yet as to the when but to be continued. Smile

As you've read I have indeed used JPlay for quite some time. I stopped using it when I got my microRendu (which I recently replaced with a SOTM SMS-200) and started using Roon with it. We were all told by Chris from computeraudiophile.com that the upstream computer or even the network cabling did no longer matter when using the microRendu. It's now clear he was wrong as the "Romaz tweak" has proven. I was also able to "confirm" the findings of others that the ethernet cabling still matters in this setup. So now I'm in the process of finding out myself how much the upstream computer and it's configuration matters and that's why I'm revisiting the AO setup etc.

JPlay always gave me a nice improvement over JRiver alone. I felt the same was true for Phil's Audiophile Optimizer and Server 2012 R2. In that setup I always questioned the real effectiveness of Process Lasso and Fidelizer. There's a big functionality overlap in all of these but also all do something the others don't. I feel that Process Lasso does nothing 'out of the box' in a well tuned system but it can be helpful when one wants to automate the process running/assigning the different software running on specific CPU cores (CPU affinity) and setting their priority (real time, high, normal, low etc.).

Fidelizer also does some (non customizable) priority changes and steering of non playback processes to specific cores and it optimizes the MMCSS (multimedia class scheduler) settings.

I do still own a lifetime license for JPlay and one for the 6 version of Fidelizer Pro but it would need an update to 7. I already upgraded my 1.40 AO license to 2.x recently but don't think I will do so for Fidelizer as I don't think it's very effective in my current setup of a music server feeding a network attached renderer. It doesn't even properly set process priorities for Roon so I do that manually now and the MMCSS settings don't matter in my setup since I don't use the Windows Audio service (it's disabled).
(15-Feb-2017, 12:47)Antoine Wrote: [ -> ]Hi ftom, thanks for your kind words. In your diagram I don't even see a Devialet so thanks for bothering to sign up here and nevertheless letting me know! Smile

............
Hi Antoine,
Many thanks for your response and your suggestion! Yes, I'm following you so long and I forgot that it's actually a Devialet forum :-)
Kind regards,
Tom
Antoine has a fanbase! Smile

Sorry for the lazy question, but I was thinking of trying the TP-link media convertor isolation idea. I had the model with the built-in fibre module, which I assume I got from a forum somewhere. Is there an advantage to buying separate modules?
(18-Feb-2017, 00:51)ftom Wrote: [ -> ]
(15-Feb-2017, 12:47)Antoine Wrote: [ -> ]Hi ftom, thanks for your kind words. In your diagram I don't even see a Devialet so thanks for bothering to sign up here and nevertheless letting me know! Smile

............
Hi Antoine,
Many thanks for your response and your suggestion! Yes, I'm following you so long and I forgot that it's actually a Devialet forum :-)
Kind regards,
Tom

Hi Tom,

Devialet forum or not, I'm sure everyone is welcome here! Smile

I think your SMS-200 might benefit from a better PSU BTW. The HDPlex isn't one of the best out there. I do still own a 100W version myself and used to power my music server with it. Judging from the many reports I think a Uptone LPS-1 will "blow it away". You may also benefit from the extra ground loop/current leakage isolation it provides and may be able to power it using the HDPlex.


(18-Feb-2017, 11:16)Hifi_swlon Wrote: [ -> ]Antoine has a fanbase! Smile

Sorry for the lazy question, but I was thinking of trying the TP-link media convertor isolation idea. I had the model with the built-in fibre module, which I assume I got from a forum somewhere. Is there an advantage to buying separate modules?

Difficult to say. Both types of course provide the same functionality but I've never seen anyone compare the different brands/types of FMC's out there. Thinking they would perform all the same in every system would be naïve but how much they would differ I really wouldn't dare to say.
Bought some iFi toys, an ifi iPower 12V and DC iPurifier to be specific, to play with. I'll deploy them in my 'upstream' network stuff, not in the system downstairs. The iPower is now connected to my Fritzbox DSL router and I'll move the DC iPurifier around a bit. It's now in between the LPSU and the FMC connected to my music server.

Also on order some SATA cables as I got inspired by Tubelover2 (the same guy as rb2013 of Head-Fi who got banned there and moved all his discussions to the US Audio Mart forum) and other people participating in a thread there: https://www.usaudiomart.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1172

Some months ago I sold the Paul Pang SATA cable I once used in my previous music server so just checking with the cheap examples discussed there if a SATA cable matters in the upstream music server feeding the SMS-200. On order are two Akasa Silver SATA 45cm, one 100cm version and the Coboc 18" one they rave about. Coincidentally I already had a Asus black&white cable in my possession. Will try these once they come in. These same cables have been discussed on CA a few years back as well.

Finally I've removed the WiFi board from my 250Pro, not sure (yet) what changed how because of that and the other things I did (nearly) at once. I may never find out too as I don't plan to put it back since I don't use it.
(20-Feb-2017, 14:47)Antoine Wrote: [ -> ]I think your SMS-200 might benefit from a better PSU BTW. The HDPlex isn't one of the best out there. I do still own a 100W version myself and used to power my music server with it. Judging from the many reports I think a Uptone LPS-1 will "blow it away". You may also benefit from the extra ground loop/current leakage isolation it provides and may be able to power it using the HDPlex.ftom
Great idea, will try it out. Thanks Antoine!
Cheers,
Tom
(13-Jul-2016, 23:46)Hifi_swlon Wrote: [ -> ]
(13-Jul-2016, 21:22)Antoine Wrote: [ -> ]This afternoon the Paul Hynes SR7EHD-MR4 has been finally delivered by UPS. Cool  It's big and heavy! (10kg)

Yay!

Looks like you resisted the temptation to look at the innards?

Looking forward to hearing whether it makes a difference - hopefully after all that!

Well it took some time (7 months I see Big Grin) but today I had a look inside of the SR7 because I wanted to increase the voltage of the output feeding the sMS-200 to 12V. I temporarily powered it using the 9V output which used to previously power the downstairs FMC. I temporarily switched that one to the 7V output previously used for the microRendu. That 7V output is now at 12V.

SBooster recommends running the sMS-200 at 12V so I thought let's do it. I love free and easy tweaks! The sMS-200 sounds/operates best at 12V because of it's internal voltage regulators/converters that emit lower noise at higher voltages. They work a bit different than those inside the microRendu which only heats up more when one increases the voltage.

The adjustment was an easy job, just four screws to be able to remove the top plate to get easy access to the potentiometer on the board of the corresponding output and with my multimeter connected turned the screw several turns until instead of a 7.00V a nice 12.00V was displayed. Smile

There's a sMS-200 'Ultra' coming by the way (expected for April 2017) having upgraded clocks based on the SoTM sCLK-EX clock board. Also other very interesting findings were shared on CA by Romaz. All here: http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f10-mu...post638143 Much food for thought there, at least for me! Smile



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Oh my, wow, this is good! Since applying the direct ethernet connection tweak as shared by Romaz clarity increased hugeley but with it came a slight downside: a bit of thinness in upper bass, lower mids and some brightness crept back in. Though I did not like that, the positives far outweighed these negatives. These negatives however are now gone, sureley didn't expect this to happen. Smile

The sMS-200 was being powered by the high current output which has slightly higher output impedance. No idea if it's because of the increased voltage into the sMS-200 (which through USB also feeds the USB circuitry of the Mutec), the sMS-200 being back at the best output of my SR7 (according to Paul Hynes), everything on the SR7 being power cycled and disconnected for a short while or the FMC being powered again at 9V (specified by manufacturer) instead of 7V. It doesn't matter since the thinness/brightness is now gone and I'm enjoying a much more natural presentation. Great stuff, very happy!!