Checking back on this thread I was a little surprised that I have not posted anything here for a whole month. Maybe I've stopped tinkering with the system and have actually been using it for listening to music? Well, yes and no. I have been using my system for it's intended purpose, but when away from my system plans of tinkering have continued.
The first is a cable. I am not a great believer in buying very expensive cables, I tend to buy decent quality reasonably priced cables, happy with the thought that expensive cable money is more effectively spent somewhere else. But here I am buying a Euro 700 Habst clock cable. There is some logic here. The Mutec REF10 produces a 10MHz square wave feed, something that can easily be degraded by the cable and be subject to interference. It is generally reckoned that the better the cable and the shorter the cable, the better the result. Indeed, those that state for good objective reasons that something like the REF10 is a waste of time site the cable as the reason they are a bad idea, much better to have s decent clock installed directly on the device it is clocking, so installed in the DAC, not connected to the DAC via 1m of cable. So if you are going to run an external clock, make sure the cable is good and short. The other reason the Habst cable is interesting is that it was Mutec's choice to use for their demonstration of the REF10 with the MC3+USB at Munich, which is exactly the use I have for the cable. Furthermore, there have been very positive user reports on CA, with some stating that adding the Habst offered a similar increase in performance as adding the REF10 itself. Anyway, a while back one of the guys on CA organised a 'group buy' discount for the Habst clock cable. At the time, I decided that I was not going spend yet more cash on a cable, but after one weekend of tinkering with HQPlayer settings (see post #220) I felt much happier with the direction I was going and just thought why not? A few emails to Habst followed, and the cable was ordered and paid for, so no turning back, it should be delivered in a couple of weeks. Time will tell if I feel I get the improvements others have observed.
The other thing that has happened is SOtM's announcement of the "Neo" upgrade for the sMS-200Ultra. According to SOtM this has "deeper mid-range and better bass expressions" compared to the original, which apparently "presents bright sound compared to the Neo version". To be honest, I am not one to take much notice of manufacturers comments regarding listening impressions, I would much rather listen for myself, or at least to the reports of a few users. Manufacturers comments are to be taken with a pinch of salt, as they say.
However, in this specific case I was intrigued because as I have reported in this thread, I have found the sMS-200Ultra to sound bright and a little thin versus both AIR and my old microRendu. In fact, the words in SOtM's press release are almost exactly in line with what I think is wrong with the sMS-200Ultra and how I would hope a new model would be different. Possibly wishful thinking that the Neo version will make me love the sMS-200Ultra, but I am intrigued enough to want to try it for myself. Or to put it another way, I have never been happy with the sMS-200Ultra, in some respects it is a mighty fine performer, but the thing has been bugging me from the day I installed it, so to send it away for the Neo upgrade is basically a "nothing to lose" move for me.
So today the I packed up the sMS200Ultra to go back to Korea for the upgrade, I have also sent back my tX-USBultra. I have been in correspondence with May Park at SOtM regarding the Neo and some other matters and have come to a deal to get the Neo upgrade and both units fitted with a shorter internal 75 ohm clock cable. This is the cable that runs from the external BNC connector to the board, and in many units SOtM had used an overlength cable that is coiled in the unit, so suboptimal implementation you could say. Who knows how much difference this will make, if any, but a shorter cable can do no harm, so it made sense to me to get all this done at the same time as sending back to Korea for the Neo work.
So I have a Habst cable coming my way, and the SOtM kit is heading back home. Meanwhile, I have just reinstalled the microRendu, which is running through the MC3+USB/REF10. This has been installed for about two hours today and has been playing background music from a playlist I have, about 10 minutes into the playlist I found myself at the Devialet tuning SAM down, SAM has been set unchanged at 80% for the last month without issue, 10 minutes with the mR and I hit a track where the bass was a bit overwhelming. Maybe there is something in that press release?
I am actually really looking forward to the next two or three weeks, simply living with the system with the SOtM kit away and the mR back in play. It will be very interesting to see how I find the system with the mR back after months of living with the SOtM kit. As to how the Neo will turn out, just like the Habst cable, time will tell.
The first is a cable. I am not a great believer in buying very expensive cables, I tend to buy decent quality reasonably priced cables, happy with the thought that expensive cable money is more effectively spent somewhere else. But here I am buying a Euro 700 Habst clock cable. There is some logic here. The Mutec REF10 produces a 10MHz square wave feed, something that can easily be degraded by the cable and be subject to interference. It is generally reckoned that the better the cable and the shorter the cable, the better the result. Indeed, those that state for good objective reasons that something like the REF10 is a waste of time site the cable as the reason they are a bad idea, much better to have s decent clock installed directly on the device it is clocking, so installed in the DAC, not connected to the DAC via 1m of cable. So if you are going to run an external clock, make sure the cable is good and short. The other reason the Habst cable is interesting is that it was Mutec's choice to use for their demonstration of the REF10 with the MC3+USB at Munich, which is exactly the use I have for the cable. Furthermore, there have been very positive user reports on CA, with some stating that adding the Habst offered a similar increase in performance as adding the REF10 itself. Anyway, a while back one of the guys on CA organised a 'group buy' discount for the Habst clock cable. At the time, I decided that I was not going spend yet more cash on a cable, but after one weekend of tinkering with HQPlayer settings (see post #220) I felt much happier with the direction I was going and just thought why not? A few emails to Habst followed, and the cable was ordered and paid for, so no turning back, it should be delivered in a couple of weeks. Time will tell if I feel I get the improvements others have observed.
The other thing that has happened is SOtM's announcement of the "Neo" upgrade for the sMS-200Ultra. According to SOtM this has "deeper mid-range and better bass expressions" compared to the original, which apparently "presents bright sound compared to the Neo version". To be honest, I am not one to take much notice of manufacturers comments regarding listening impressions, I would much rather listen for myself, or at least to the reports of a few users. Manufacturers comments are to be taken with a pinch of salt, as they say.
However, in this specific case I was intrigued because as I have reported in this thread, I have found the sMS-200Ultra to sound bright and a little thin versus both AIR and my old microRendu. In fact, the words in SOtM's press release are almost exactly in line with what I think is wrong with the sMS-200Ultra and how I would hope a new model would be different. Possibly wishful thinking that the Neo version will make me love the sMS-200Ultra, but I am intrigued enough to want to try it for myself. Or to put it another way, I have never been happy with the sMS-200Ultra, in some respects it is a mighty fine performer, but the thing has been bugging me from the day I installed it, so to send it away for the Neo upgrade is basically a "nothing to lose" move for me.
So today the I packed up the sMS200Ultra to go back to Korea for the upgrade, I have also sent back my tX-USBultra. I have been in correspondence with May Park at SOtM regarding the Neo and some other matters and have come to a deal to get the Neo upgrade and both units fitted with a shorter internal 75 ohm clock cable. This is the cable that runs from the external BNC connector to the board, and in many units SOtM had used an overlength cable that is coiled in the unit, so suboptimal implementation you could say. Who knows how much difference this will make, if any, but a shorter cable can do no harm, so it made sense to me to get all this done at the same time as sending back to Korea for the Neo work.
So I have a Habst cable coming my way, and the SOtM kit is heading back home. Meanwhile, I have just reinstalled the microRendu, which is running through the MC3+USB/REF10. This has been installed for about two hours today and has been playing background music from a playlist I have, about 10 minutes into the playlist I found myself at the Devialet tuning SAM down, SAM has been set unchanged at 80% for the last month without issue, 10 minutes with the mR and I hit a track where the bass was a bit overwhelming. Maybe there is something in that press release?
I am actually really looking forward to the next two or three weeks, simply living with the system with the SOtM kit away and the mR back in play. It will be very interesting to see how I find the system with the mR back after months of living with the SOtM kit. As to how the Neo will turn out, just like the Habst cable, time will tell.
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
