A Confused streaming system - Mutec / SOtM Ultra

[Confused]

@Confused have you tried running SMS Ultra directly to Mutec? I have the possibillity to get a secondhand tX-USBultra and a Paul Hynes SR4 to add that to my existing SMS Ultra and SR4. But I really dont know if it will be worth the money and how much it will affect the sound that allready is very very good.

I know my self that if i get the tX then I will be thinking what if I get them modded to accept a masterclock and get a mastercklock and so on.......I told myself that after I got the SR4 for my SMS Ultra I would stop thinking af more stuff

Today I tried exactly this, I saw your post yesterday but as it happens I was keen to try this anyway, I do like to understand what each component is adding, or indeed taking away, from the system.

I am glad I did this, one thing that is now clear is that the slight harshness that I am experiencing with some material is resulting from the sMS-200Ultra, not the tX-USBultra, but at the same time I can see that the sMS-200Ultra is producing some real magic.  All the tX does is improve things! 

To answer your question, I would put it this way, as a system, I would rather have the microRendu + tX-USBultra than the sMS-200Ultra on it's own.  One other thing I would say, if you don't want that SR4, can I buy it please!

Regarding getting a clock for the tX, I did a bit of experimenting today.  With the REF10 it is easy to turn off individual clock feeds.  To be honest, I need to spend more time with this, my brain is a bit frazzled with endless A/B testing this weekend.  But in short, adding the REF10 to the MC3+USB seams to make a big improvement in my system.  Turning off the clock signals to the tX-USBultra and / or sMS-200Ultra does not seem to make very much of a difference at all.  Controversial I know, but that is the impression I got with a quick test.  To reiterate, I do need to spend some more time with this one, but my thoughts so far is that one Habst (or maybe a nice Shunyata) clock cable is all I will ever buy.

I also spent some time experimenting with battery power today, with tX out of the chain I tried a battery power supply on the sMS-200Ultra, and this did seem to help the harshness issue somewhat.  Adding the tXUSBUltra back in the chain simply improves everything, the negatives are mitigated to a degree, and more positives emerge.  Trying battery power was an interesting experiment.   With the tXUSBultra back in the chain  I tried every option possible between battery power and the sPS-500.  It was a little strange that with the sMS-200Ultra on battery power direct to the MC3+USB, this seemed to take the edge off the harshness.  Powering both the tX and sMS with a battery versus the sPS-500, or trying battery power with one, sPS-500 with the other, all seemed to yield similar results, remarkably similar.

Another interesting point, the little battery pack I bought (see link below) was quite happy powering both the sMS-200Ultra and tXUSBUltra, together with a 'Y' cable.

 
[u]https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B072HR211P/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1[/u]

It did get to the point that I had A/B tested so much that I just had to stop!  So there may have been some marginal differences but after a day and a half of A/B testing it was time to stop.  So I decided to give up, rearranged the kit back in the shelf, and have just been enjoying some music, and as it happens, the system is sounding terrific now! 
 
I'll revisit the battery power and clock feeds to the SOtM kit one another day, I've done too much this weekend!