A Confused streaming system - Mutec / SOtM Ultra

[zdenes]

I had decided that I would not update this thread until I had firmer conclusions as to what was happening with my system and if I was indeed keeping the SOtM kit.  However, as @sam1000 has asked the question, I will try to answer, and give a general update while I am at it.

The last two weeks have been incredibly busy for me, so I have not had much time with my system at all, this is a little frustrating because what I need to do more than anything is just spend more time with some general listening.  

First to answer sam100's specific question.  The answer is I really don't know!  As things stand I am in the curious situation where I have added some kit to my system, the kit appears to be superior to what replaced it, but I no longer like my system as much as I did before.  Very strange!  I have many theories:

1.  My system is a little out of balance tonally, this was something that did not bother too much until adding the SOtM kit.  The extra transparency and accuracy of the SOtM kit in the mids and highs have somehow made the pre-existing problem more prominent, to the point it irritates me so much that I am no longer enjoying the other goodness in my system.

2.  Somehow the SOtM kit does not suit my system, does not work with the Blades or my ears or something.  

3.  Maybe the SOtM kit is not as good as everyone makes it out to be, and this is why I don't like it.

4.  A sub-theory of all the above, is maybe a bit of fine tuning is needed, perhaps replacing the sMS-500 with two Paul Hynes SR4's is all that is needed to take the annoying edge off the highs.  (If anyone out there wants to buy a nearly new sPS-500 with £160 copper "Y" cable, send me a PM!  It might be on eBay soon, so grab it while you can!)

Last weekend I had a few hours spare and started experimenting again with REW and room correction.  I did actually manage to make a convolution and load it into Roon, but I am at a level where I can do things but I am not at all confident I am doing things right.  My aim was to dial out any system imbalance, and hence give myself a better idea of which of the 4 points above is most likely correct, or more specifically if point 1 is correct.  With room speaker interaction issues dialed out to a degree, would the SOtM kit start to sing?

Frankly, I am now sick to death of messing about with kit, REW and all the rest of it.  I just want to get back to enjoying music again!  So having wasted yet more time last weekend I reached a conclusion as to my next move.  I think I have now become very competent at taking measurements with REW, here I am confident that I know exactly what I am doing.  As a mini update here, I reobtained my UMIK-1 calibration file.  It is designated as a 90° file, so thanks to the input from @alandbush & @thumb5, I am now confident that the upwards microphone orientation is correct.  Previously I suspected this was giving the best results, but it is so nice to confirm and be sure.  So, I have REW measurements cracked.  A few hours actually trying to make room correction convolutions and much reading on the subject, I realised that to learn to do this properly, I mean really get it right, would take for more time than I could afford.  I then thought of Thierry and his Home Audio Fidelity service.  This looked like an answer, I can do the measurements, no problem, then let someone who genuinely knows what he is doing with room correction do the really clever stuff.  Armed with Thierry's convolutions, I am hoping that I can get back to making sense of my system and maybe then evaluate the SOtM kit properly.

I made contact with Thierry last week and sent him some of the REW stuff I have done to date, he was very quick to respond and very helpfull.  This morning I had a quiet hour or so, I have made the various left / right measurements per his instructions, and sent them off.  Time will tell how this one works out!

sam100 mentioned the dCS Network Bridge.  To answer the specific question, I have not tried it, but it does interest me as it is one product I know I could borrow for audition.  From what I have heard, it does benefit from running from a decent master clock, so in my case I could use the REF10 with the MC3+USB which could provide a decent clock signal to the dCS, this might work quite well.  I had originally decided that I did not want the dCS, because I wanted something compatible with HQPlayer.  However, if start to conclude that points 2 or 3 above might be in play, I will revisit this option.  In fact, however Thierry's magic HAF filters work out, it would be interesting to try the Network Bridge just for comparison, but one thing at a time.

In other news, the postman has just arrived with some new hifi kit that I have bought!  One of these:



This is actually the supply for the new UpTone Audio LPS-2, but you can use it with the LPS-1 that I have powering my network switch.  This features a new 'ground mod', which eliminates some high frequency noise that the old Meanwell 'energiser' suffered from.  Maybe this will make all the difference and give me audiophile joy?  It only cost £20 from VortexBox, so worth a shot.

Why don't you try your LPS-1 to power either the SMS-200ultra or the tx-USBultra. 

I measured the current needs of the SMS-200ultra at 12V and it was below 0.8A. This may bring some improvement over the SPS-500.

I will measure the current needed for tx-USBultra soon too.

You could power your network switch with a wallwart SMPS in the meantime.