@Axel, @sam1000, regarding using the REF10 + MC3+USB to provide a word clock for the dCS Network Bridge, I too have read a report on Computer Audiophile where someone is doing this successfully. It is not entirely straight forward though, there is an issue when switching between music files in the 44.1 kHz and 48 kHz families, in which case you need to manually change the clock. One way around this might be to use Roon to upsample everything to 24/192, then the Network Bridge always sees the same sample rate. So it would work, but there are some issues.
EDIT: It occurs to me that you could run a Network Bridge without a word clock and simply run the AES/EBU feed through a REF10 referenced MC3+USB. Furthermore, you could do this and provide a word clock signal to the Network Bridge. Maybe this would cause some issues, I am not sure, but that is three different ways you could configure the REF10/MC3+USB/Network Bridge, who knows how this might influence the resultant sound quality.
@zdenes There is a good reason I have not tried the LPS-1 with the SOtM kit. The LPS-1 has a maximum of 7v, the SOtM kit is 12v. Curiously, May from SOtM has advised me that the 12v tX-USBultra and sMS-200Ultra work well if powered with 9v. I have this with my sPS-500 set to 9v, and yes, it works fine. Very strange!
@PeppaPig I would agree that the Devialet is not a "warm" sounding amp. If it was, this would mean that it was not an accurate or neutral sounding amp. You can make a system sound "warm" with a bit of mid-bass boost, perhaps roll off the presence / treble region. To be honest, I would be very surprised if a Devialet amp offered more than a fractional deviation from a flat frequency response from 10Hz to 25kHz. In my case, my system does sound a bit sharp/bright, in particular since adding the SOtM kit, but I do not blame this on the Devialet. As an example, a while ago I listened to a 440 Pro powering some Sonus Faber Olympica II's in a reasonably well treated room. This was a great sounding system, it was running SAM, and if anything it sounded a little bass heavy / dark. I recall Womaz having brightness issues, with a very similar Devialet / Sonus Faber system. So one Devialet / SF system sounds bright, another sounds dark. If you blame the Devialet for sounding bright in Womaz's system, would you also blame the Devialet for making the 440Pro / SF system I listened to for sounding a touch dark and bass heavy?
https://devialetchat.com/showthread.php?tid=2181
@PeppaPig - Where I think you have a valid point is where you state "sometimes too much resolution is not a good thing." - I would not agree that too much resolution is bad as such, but with my system I had an inherent brightness issue / tonal imbalance, and as I improved the system, increased it's resolution, this inherent issue became far more apparent. More specifically, it has gone from something that did not bother me to something that has stopped me enjoying my system.
This takes me to my weekend update. I have to say that I am enormously impressed with the service I have received from Thierry @homeaudiofidelity.
I sent my REW measurements to Thierry late Saturday morning. Later on Saturday Thierry was in touch asking about some anomalies in the REW measurements relating to the right hand speaker. The right hand speaker was showing some impulse response issues that were absent for the left hand speaker. Thierry suggested some reasons why this might be the case, one thing he asked, is there anything near the right hand speaker. The answer to this is yes, there is. The Blades need to be spaced 1m min from the walls and 2m min apart, which they are in my system. But my hifi rack does sit behind / near to the right hand Blade. I once had the speakers further out into the Room, so the rack comfortably behind the Right hand Blade, but a while ago I moved the Blades rearwards to a degree, this was based on REW measurements that indicated that moving them back did not increase the bass reinforcement I have, but it did serve to reduce a null I have at 125kHz. This clearly compromises my system. OK, hifi systems are normally compromised by the room, furniture, layout or whatever. What impresses me is that Thierry can pick this up just by reading my REW measurements.
Now I am aware of the impulse response issue, I have two possible plans. One is to revisit the speaker positioning, moving them further into the room. Another (more difficult) plan is to change the layout of all my kit, a new rack of a completely different type, a new location for my turntable. (The TT needs to be out of reach of a cat that likes climbing things and attacking random objects with extreme viciousness, as I said, compromises) It is interesting that it has taken the apparent brightness of the SOtM kit to drive me to getting the REW measurements checked and hence addressing the real issues.
Anyway, late Sunday afternoon Thierry sent me the convolution files that he had made. So a very swift turnaround, just over one day, and this is at the weekend. I will post more about how they sound when I have had a decent amount of time to listen too them, which will not be until Friday of this week unfortunately. I only had time for about 15 minutes listening, so I do have some first impressions, which is that they do sound good. Plus, from the quick listen yesterday I would say that the brightness / harshness issue that I have been accusing the SOtM kit of invoking has pretty much vanished. I will restate that this is just first impressions based on a very short listening session. I will provide an update on this once I have had some decent listening time. Meanwhile, I have received some good advice from Thierry, a kind of free consultancy included with the service, and two of his "HAF" convolution filters to try. All for the price of 'mid range' USB cable, looks like tremendous value to me
EDIT: It occurs to me that you could run a Network Bridge without a word clock and simply run the AES/EBU feed through a REF10 referenced MC3+USB. Furthermore, you could do this and provide a word clock signal to the Network Bridge. Maybe this would cause some issues, I am not sure, but that is three different ways you could configure the REF10/MC3+USB/Network Bridge, who knows how this might influence the resultant sound quality.
@zdenes There is a good reason I have not tried the LPS-1 with the SOtM kit. The LPS-1 has a maximum of 7v, the SOtM kit is 12v. Curiously, May from SOtM has advised me that the 12v tX-USBultra and sMS-200Ultra work well if powered with 9v. I have this with my sPS-500 set to 9v, and yes, it works fine. Very strange!
@PeppaPig I would agree that the Devialet is not a "warm" sounding amp. If it was, this would mean that it was not an accurate or neutral sounding amp. You can make a system sound "warm" with a bit of mid-bass boost, perhaps roll off the presence / treble region. To be honest, I would be very surprised if a Devialet amp offered more than a fractional deviation from a flat frequency response from 10Hz to 25kHz. In my case, my system does sound a bit sharp/bright, in particular since adding the SOtM kit, but I do not blame this on the Devialet. As an example, a while ago I listened to a 440 Pro powering some Sonus Faber Olympica II's in a reasonably well treated room. This was a great sounding system, it was running SAM, and if anything it sounded a little bass heavy / dark. I recall Womaz having brightness issues, with a very similar Devialet / Sonus Faber system. So one Devialet / SF system sounds bright, another sounds dark. If you blame the Devialet for sounding bright in Womaz's system, would you also blame the Devialet for making the 440Pro / SF system I listened to for sounding a touch dark and bass heavy?
https://devialetchat.com/showthread.php?tid=2181
@PeppaPig - Where I think you have a valid point is where you state "sometimes too much resolution is not a good thing." - I would not agree that too much resolution is bad as such, but with my system I had an inherent brightness issue / tonal imbalance, and as I improved the system, increased it's resolution, this inherent issue became far more apparent. More specifically, it has gone from something that did not bother me to something that has stopped me enjoying my system.
This takes me to my weekend update. I have to say that I am enormously impressed with the service I have received from Thierry @homeaudiofidelity.
I sent my REW measurements to Thierry late Saturday morning. Later on Saturday Thierry was in touch asking about some anomalies in the REW measurements relating to the right hand speaker. The right hand speaker was showing some impulse response issues that were absent for the left hand speaker. Thierry suggested some reasons why this might be the case, one thing he asked, is there anything near the right hand speaker. The answer to this is yes, there is. The Blades need to be spaced 1m min from the walls and 2m min apart, which they are in my system. But my hifi rack does sit behind / near to the right hand Blade. I once had the speakers further out into the Room, so the rack comfortably behind the Right hand Blade, but a while ago I moved the Blades rearwards to a degree, this was based on REW measurements that indicated that moving them back did not increase the bass reinforcement I have, but it did serve to reduce a null I have at 125kHz. This clearly compromises my system. OK, hifi systems are normally compromised by the room, furniture, layout or whatever. What impresses me is that Thierry can pick this up just by reading my REW measurements.
Now I am aware of the impulse response issue, I have two possible plans. One is to revisit the speaker positioning, moving them further into the room. Another (more difficult) plan is to change the layout of all my kit, a new rack of a completely different type, a new location for my turntable. (The TT needs to be out of reach of a cat that likes climbing things and attacking random objects with extreme viciousness, as I said, compromises) It is interesting that it has taken the apparent brightness of the SOtM kit to drive me to getting the REW measurements checked and hence addressing the real issues.
Anyway, late Sunday afternoon Thierry sent me the convolution files that he had made. So a very swift turnaround, just over one day, and this is at the weekend. I will post more about how they sound when I have had a decent amount of time to listen too them, which will not be until Friday of this week unfortunately. I only had time for about 15 minutes listening, so I do have some first impressions, which is that they do sound good. Plus, from the quick listen yesterday I would say that the brightness / harshness issue that I have been accusing the SOtM kit of invoking has pretty much vanished. I will restate that this is just first impressions based on a very short listening session. I will provide an update on this once I have had some decent listening time. Meanwhile, I have received some good advice from Thierry, a kind of free consultancy included with the service, and two of his "HAF" convolution filters to try. All for the price of 'mid range' USB cable, looks like tremendous value to me
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
