A Confused streaming system - Mutec / SOtM Ultra

[zdenes]

Thanks Zoltan, If you could do the comparison, that would be great! Sorry Confused. I hope you don't mind if Zoltan posts his impression in this thread.

While I was planning this comparison (of the SOtM kit and the Oppo UDP-203) I already formed sentences in my head. Like, 'there is a difference but an upgraded Oppo can be a match and a much neater solution', etc. Especially didn't expect much difference considering that both signals are reclocked by the Mutec MC3+USB / Ref 10 combo.

Before cutting into the chase, just the two setups briefly:

- The SOtM kit has both the SMS-200 ultra and the tx-USB ultra. The former is running on an Uptone JS-2 and the latter is on an SPS-500. The two USB cables are Wireworld Starlight Platinum 7 and Curious USB. In the SMS-200 ultra, I use the HQPlayer NAA and on my server HQPlayer running under Roon. Everything is upsampled to 192kHz.    

- The Oppo has not been modified in any way. It is connected with a reasonably good power cord, nothing fancy. For this test, I could only use DLNA streaming, so sampling rates stayed as they were. The digital cable to the Mutec is an Acoustic Revive DSIX modified to have BNC at the 'Mutec end'. 

- I played both standard resolution and hi-res files. 

So in this case, A/B testing was just by switching inputs on the Mutec. 

Well guys, it may be disappointing news that you won't be reading a detailed, thorough review of what happened. Because basically what happened was that the SOtM kit was SO MUCH BETTER in every aspect that it would be almost like comparing a mid-range family sedan to a performance car. Waste of cyberspace.
Details, dynamic range, spatial clues, noise floor, high-frequency clarity, bass extension, ...a never ending list. Everything is just better by a large margin.

These two players are not in the same league. Not even playing the same sport. 

All this surprised me, I must say. 
For one, I used an MSB Univeral Media Transport for 5-6 years for movies and music videos. That is a $4000 piece of transport based on the Oppo-DP-93. The video board is unchanged, the DAC is completely removed (by MSB, of course) and the soundboard, power supply, etc were all replaced by MSB to end up with a high-end transport. 
It was good indeed but when bought the UDP-203, I thought that while the picture quality was noticeably better, the sound quality didn't deteriorate much, if at all, possibly improved even. I was very happy and sold the MSB. 
Secondly, music Blue-ray discs sound absolutely fantastic, mesmerising even with the video. 
I'm still happy with the Oppo and it's a pity that they are giving up production. 

I have some experience how much a linear power supply can bring over an SMPS. I removed the SMPS from the Mutec MC3+USB, I also tried the SMS-200 ultra and the tx-USB ultra with their supplied SMPS and now high-quality power supplies and also some other equipment I had earlier. These numbers are arbitrary but if the SQ of the SOtM is 100 and the Oppo is 50, a good linear power supply could bring it up to 60-65. An added sCLK-ex board will make further improvements. I guess that will be akin to upgrading the SMS-200 to SMS-200 ultra. Based on what I read on that (never had the SMS-200 myself) that could bring the Oppo to 75-80. Perhaps using Roon Ready can add a little more again but Roon Ready was never as good in my tests as HQPlayer NAA. 

For about $2000 for the Oppo upgrade, you can't get the SOtM kit but you can get the SMS-200 ultra and a linear power supply which IMO will still give you better sound. I only bought the tx-USB ultra a few weeks ago and it improves the sound but not by a large margin. 

It makes me think though, how much better my music Blue-ray discs would sound with an upgraded Oppo. Probably much better. For purely music files I have a feeling the SOtM kit will stay on top.     

Zoltan