The last few weeks have been a little odd..... I have only had time for any listening at weekends, so events have been in slow motion to a degree, but the last few weeks I have again been finding that my system is annoying me a bit, which is particularly frustrating when at the end of March I was happy to post about just how happy I was with everything.
My limited listening time has been a little distracted too For example, I have been messing about with the new HQPlayer 4 recently. Anyway, it was yesterday that it suddenly clicked in my mind, something really is definitely not right. So is this just a case of me just kidding myself that all was well back at the end of March, or has something actually changed?
Thinking about this, the only significant thing that I have changed is the SOtM firmware, I have tried HQPlayer 4 versus the old version 3 and new features apart, they sound much the same. Plus, I had started to get niggled that things are again not right before HQPlayer 4 was even released. At the end of March I had updated to the then new V0.4.57 firmware with the 100BASE-T option. As things turned out, this firmware was not working as it should, with many users reporting that with the 100BASE-T mode selected, their network switches were still indicating gigabyte speeds. Two firmware updates followed in rapid succession. The current V0.4.59 firmware seams to work as it should, so if you select 100BASE-T, the network switch indicates 100BASE-T. (a change from green light to orange light, in my case) So all good? Well no, V0.4.59 100BASE-T does not work with HQPlayer. I have been in correspondence with SOtM about this, at first they said that it works for them, but curiously then advised that it did not and that they were working on an update to resolve. For me this was not a big deal, with V0.459 & 1000BASE-T selected everything was working fine for me, and I could simply wait for future updates. But is this why I am now unhappy with my system? This should not be the case, after all, 100BASE-T mode was not even working properly back on V0.4.57. Anyway, it occurred to me yesterday that I still have a microSD with V0.4.57, so I installed this to roll back to exactly how everything was back in March. Or almost at least, today I tried running the new input feature of HQPlayer 4. This had been working fine for me with V0.4.59, but stuttered back on V0.4.57. Strange, I tried Roon / HQPlayer, this worked OK. I took a look at the settings, could I change a buffer or something? Then just a complete punt, I tried selecting IPv6 protocol. I have always kept this disabled because I had read that it is not supported by Roon. I tried again, and now everything works, including Roon / HQplayer. So I am back on the supposedly not working quite right V0.4.57 in 100BASE-T mode, and everything at least appears to be working exactly as it should in terms of functioning stutter free playback.
Listening today, again everything has snapped back into place and sounds terrific. I am again happy. Indeed, listing today I can see (hear) that it is not just the HF issue mentioned before, it is a case of the sound previously being a little thin in general, whereas now things are much richer and full bodied and just plain better to listen too. I feel that I have got my system back.
All very strange. Now I am happy again, I shall be keeping this set up and changing nothing for a few weeks, just to make absolutely sure of everything and spend some proper time listening in this configuration. I know it is easy to succumb to expectation bias and be tricked by this stuff, but listening today I am as sure as I can be that this is not the case, the difference is "not subtle" as the saying goes. (I have just checked the kitchen, there is no wife available to invite in to confirm the improvement) Either way, I shall be spending some time with this set up and see how it goes over time. All rather curious, when you consider I am now back running a know to be buggy firmware version. When did this stuff get so damn obscure and complicated?
My limited listening time has been a little distracted too For example, I have been messing about with the new HQPlayer 4 recently. Anyway, it was yesterday that it suddenly clicked in my mind, something really is definitely not right. So is this just a case of me just kidding myself that all was well back at the end of March, or has something actually changed?
Thinking about this, the only significant thing that I have changed is the SOtM firmware, I have tried HQPlayer 4 versus the old version 3 and new features apart, they sound much the same. Plus, I had started to get niggled that things are again not right before HQPlayer 4 was even released. At the end of March I had updated to the then new V0.4.57 firmware with the 100BASE-T option. As things turned out, this firmware was not working as it should, with many users reporting that with the 100BASE-T mode selected, their network switches were still indicating gigabyte speeds. Two firmware updates followed in rapid succession. The current V0.4.59 firmware seams to work as it should, so if you select 100BASE-T, the network switch indicates 100BASE-T. (a change from green light to orange light, in my case) So all good? Well no, V0.4.59 100BASE-T does not work with HQPlayer. I have been in correspondence with SOtM about this, at first they said that it works for them, but curiously then advised that it did not and that they were working on an update to resolve. For me this was not a big deal, with V0.459 & 1000BASE-T selected everything was working fine for me, and I could simply wait for future updates. But is this why I am now unhappy with my system? This should not be the case, after all, 100BASE-T mode was not even working properly back on V0.4.57. Anyway, it occurred to me yesterday that I still have a microSD with V0.4.57, so I installed this to roll back to exactly how everything was back in March. Or almost at least, today I tried running the new input feature of HQPlayer 4. This had been working fine for me with V0.4.59, but stuttered back on V0.4.57. Strange, I tried Roon / HQPlayer, this worked OK. I took a look at the settings, could I change a buffer or something? Then just a complete punt, I tried selecting IPv6 protocol. I have always kept this disabled because I had read that it is not supported by Roon. I tried again, and now everything works, including Roon / HQplayer. So I am back on the supposedly not working quite right V0.4.57 in 100BASE-T mode, and everything at least appears to be working exactly as it should in terms of functioning stutter free playback.
Listening today, again everything has snapped back into place and sounds terrific. I am again happy. Indeed, listing today I can see (hear) that it is not just the HF issue mentioned before, it is a case of the sound previously being a little thin in general, whereas now things are much richer and full bodied and just plain better to listen too. I feel that I have got my system back.
All very strange. Now I am happy again, I shall be keeping this set up and changing nothing for a few weeks, just to make absolutely sure of everything and spend some proper time listening in this configuration. I know it is easy to succumb to expectation bias and be tricked by this stuff, but listening today I am as sure as I can be that this is not the case, the difference is "not subtle" as the saying goes. (I have just checked the kitchen, there is no wife available to invite in to confirm the improvement) Either way, I shall be spending some time with this set up and see how it goes over time. All rather curious, when you consider I am now back running a know to be buggy firmware version. When did this stuff get so damn obscure and complicated?
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
