DavidZ

I have been listening to Marcin's new Signature LAN Gold Cable for a few weeks and am pleased to report that it is simply fantastic. The music is much more lifelike, dimensional and grain free. It's amazing how much low-level passages are enhanced with more "feeling" or "energy," for want of better descriptors. The whole soundstage seems more organically knit together. My front end comprises the Antipodes CX server and Antipodes EX renderer -- by design they are connected with a LAN cable. The stock cable, made by Antipodes, is quite good, but the JCAT is much better. At some point, I will do a reality check and put the stock cable back in, but I am enjoying the JCAT too much to be bothered (a luxury of not being a professional reviewer ;<] I can't imagine any high-end network-based system not being improved by using the JCAT cable for key connections. Thanks Marcin for a great product. -- David

A question for any/all U.S. residents who have the Antipodes CX/EX combination -- what router are you using on your network? Thanks. -- David

Sorry Chris, I have to join the dissenters on this. I am a diehard fan of the site for almost a decade. CA may have been outmoded in terms of the scope, reach and ambition of the site, but it was real, original and proud of the techie audio lovers at the core of the hobby. "A working class hero is something to be," said John Lennon, who understood the importance of roots. "Audiophile style" doesn't suggest that at all. However, I still love the site AS is. ;<] -- David

Hi -- I am looking for an audiophile with some programming chops (likely in Python or Powershell) to help with a project. I have my entire music library in one huge folder, in a Windows 10 OS. The Wav files are all ID tagged, with "album" being my organizing principle. For years, this has been fine, since JRiver does the organizing -- all albums show up nicely, since all files share the same album name. Recently I embarked on a project to scan all the liner notes from my ripped CDs (about 1200 of them). The reason is that JRiver will display them on its iPad app, which I find very useful -- especially since the iPad lets you enlarge the tiny type on many CD booklets. The catch is that the pdf file with the liner notes must reside in the same folder as the album files -- you can see where I'm going with this. I'm looking to create a macro of some sort that will go thru my large library and find an ID tag album name. Then it will create a folder with the same name as the album. Then it will transfer all the files with the same album ID tag into that folder. Then it will look for the next album name..... etc. etc. x 1200. If all such folders can be created and populated, half of my project is automated -- I still need to get the pdf liner notes into them. I'm willing to teach myself some Powershell, but I'm looking for pointers about what commands can be used, where the ID tags are stored (a library?) and so forth. Any guidance will be gratefully appreciated. I've been looking for a utility folder program that might do this but haven't found one yet. Obviously, if somebody knows of one, that would be swell too. Thanks. -- David

Elberoth -- I'll let Marcin correct me if I'm wrong, but the card requires 5v , 2A. Power can be tapped from PCIE power lane, a 4 pin Molex connector on the card, or the external barrel connection you described. Earlier today I moved from the PCIE power lane to the Molex, and even that was a step up in SQ, presumably because the power wasn't first run thru the noisy motherboard to the PCIE slot. My current plans are to retrofit my Mojo PSU. It has 2 outlets -- 12v, which is running the mobo, and an unused 7v outlet. I'm going to have the latter fixed to 5v so I can use the barrel external connector. As a sidenote, the 3 SSDs that store my library and OS are separately powered by a Vinnie Rossi Mini -- an ultracapacitor based PSU. Another worthwhile upgrade.

Elberoth- it's drawing power from the power lane of the pcie connection. The motherboard is fed by a joule external linear psu from mojo audio.

I have been using my Net Card for 2 days now in my Zuma server, and I am impressed big time -- enough to motivate me to post, which is rare for me. The noise floor dropped, the musical line became more fluid and full, the soundstage enlarged. I followed Marcin's setup guide, and all those qualities were enhanced even more. I play files locally from the Zuma through the LAN to my Bricasti M12 DAC --- it has a network card, so there is no USB conversion anywhere the playback. I highly recommend this product for anyone with a network based playback configuration. As a side note, see the card in the Streacom low-rise chassis. The server is a much modded evolution of the first Zuma posted by Chris a few years ago

Michael --- I have the DCs network bridge, and connected it to the M1 AES/EBU input, and compared that with the M1 card Lan input. The card won easily. Not night and day, but the AES input sounded darker, and the musical line a little blunted -- what you might expect from the "filtering" of a cable. If I understand correctly, the card has 3 design advantages here. First, the LAN packets are translated right to I2S, without an intervening translation into SPDIF. Second, as implemented by Bricasti the card is physically very close to the conversion site. Third,the card is on the same clock as the rest of the unit. Hey, it's all in the implementation! Having said all that, it may be different with the Aurender. The other similar experience I had was with the Ayre QX5 network DAC. Overall, it was not as good as the Bricasti (not by a country mile. Nor the Debussy, for that matter). But it sounded better thru the AES/EBU input/dcs bridge connection than its own internal network card. Go figure. -- David

------Also, the dCS has no USB output, making it less versatile if a DAC expects that as input. Steve -- That is true now, but dcs is planning to add the usb output capability as a firmware upgrade this summer. Currently it has a usb port that functions as an input for external storage. -- David

Hi -- I am a new owner of the Bricasti M1 -- just purchased this weekend. I live in Brookline MA, just 20 minutes from Brian's home. He was gracious enough to have me over and let me hear the M1 in his system, both with the new network card and with the external network player -- the card clearly sounded better. My unit has the new network card, which I use as the primary input. Like most on this thread, I am staggered by the quality of this DAC. I had a used dCS Scarlatti on hand this weekend from a local dealer, with the option to purchase for a little more than the M1. The Scarlatti was stupendous and ravishing, and I suppose there are many ways it might be considered better than the M1. But.......for whatever reason, the M1 was more involving for me and that really won the day. I'm a little confused by the discussion of this product potentially as a server. To my understanding, the network card is an alternative (and I think a better one) to a usb or spdif inputs. As befitting the product, Bricasti has implemented it brilliantly. But the M1 isn't conceived as a "one box" deal. Servers and player software are elsewhere on the network. Along those lines, for those interested, the M1 should be upgradeable to "Roon Ready" any day now. Brian told me he is final discussions with Roon. I am currently using Bubbleupnp/Minimserver, but will switch to Roon when Ready. It simply involves inserting a new mini-SD card at the edge of the network card. -- David

Audioarcher, I had the same question. The setup I planned was the 3-wire type Speedskater lists second. Outlets and wire in our homes are rated for way more than 240V, from everyone I spoke to. The 240V AC compressor circuits use the same gauge wire in my breaker box. I certainly believe in prudence and caution here, though, so I'm glad it's a moot point for me. Plus, as you pointed out, the DAC pulls 500 mA.

Speedskater -- Thank you for the info. I am fully aware that I am treading in an area where I know just enough to be dangerous. It is moot now, because I am not getting the European DAC -- this was all prospective. However, here was my plan: the DAC has a regular C13 IEC inlet. I was thinking of using a regular US style cord and outlet. The plan was to do it at the breaker box the same way the 2 other 240V circuits do. By taking the white neutral for this circuit, taking it off the buss bar for the neutral leads, and putting it into the breaker that is adjacent to the black hot lead for this. Is this folly?

Speedskater -- Thank you for the info. I am fully aware that I am treading in an area where I know just enough to be dangerous. It is moot now, because I am not getting the European DAC -- this was all prospective. However, here was my plan: the DAC has a regular C13 IEC inlet. I was thinking of using a regular US style cord and outlet. The plan was to do it at the breaker box the same way the 2 other 240V circuits do. By taking the white neutral for this circuit, taking it off the buss bar for the neutral leads, and putting it into the breaker that is adjacent to the black hot lead for this. Is this folly?

Thanks Speedskater. In this case, the neutral become the opposite phase hot lead.

I am thinking of trying a European DAC, set at 240V, in my system. I have a dedicated line (straight to breaker box) in my audio room that I could easily switch for the purpose. Grant at Shunyata said they don't think mixing 120v equipment and 240 v equipment is a good idea because: a) potential danger in differing voltage potentials b) possible ground loop hums and c) sound degradation. others I've spoken to scoff at this idea. After all, I do have 2 honking 240V, 20 amp circuits sharing the box for AC compressors, and hums/voltage differential don't seem to be an issue. Thoughts? Thanks. -- David