Meridimac

I am a new v3 user who wonders which rabbit holes to pursue now that my Kaby Lake i7-7567U CPU @ 3.50GHz NUC is happily running 1666 Hz 6.6.9-4-audiolinux-rt RT LTO with Diretta to a 8Gb Pi4 target. Other than implementing Diretta and isolating cores on the RPi, I’ve not messed with RAMROOT or any other configuration options yet because I’m scared of screwing up a good thing. My preference is to continue with Roon as player, but I miss the option to use UPnP, LMS or even AirPlay as I had with DietPi. Are they all compatible with Diretta, or compromise SQ when using Roon? Which configuration choices would you recommend?

Based on many recommendations here (Thanks!), I purchased two Finisar FTLX1475D3BTL from Mouser to implement a fiber segment ahead of my EtherREGEN -which I’m very happy with. I also bought a cheap 10GTek FMC with a decent 5v supply because those transceivers don’t work with my modified Cisco Catalyst 2960 switch. If l wanted to connect the Cisco SFP port to my Ubiquiti Edgerouter X SFP, would the Finisar FTLF1318P3BTL work with those older devices? Google hasn’t helped me answer this compatibility question, so I turn to the experts.

Yes, please. It would be helpful to gather current learnings here in order to create an up-to-date matrix of recommended settings. My goal is to share how we can fine tune AL V3 for optimum SQ.

No more trouble at my house, either, after another 30 hours.

This is the first morning when Roon wasn’t found dead from inactivity overnight, maybe because I upgraded to headless V3 kernel 6.6.9 yesterday. Since buying AL during the Christmas special I’ve had to leave a playlist running all night or disconnect power to reboot for music the next morning. Piero suggested that Roon goes to sleep after several hours which causes a crash, but it didn’t happen last night.

Then I guess l’ll be listening to Catalyst and Meraki combinations -followed by my ER at the end of the network chain- so that I can report back in a couple of weeks. Thanks again for your patient willingness to share expertise despite my tendency to wander into “special magic” land.

Thanks, John. Do the Catalyst and Meraki switches reclock the data through their two uplink ports? -And how do these series otherwise compare when it comes to electrical noise and jitter?

Here’s another question: since I’m moving both ER and Roon server to the living room (which is connected to my audio-only network segment by a long length of CAT5e), is there any advantage connecting the NUC to a Cisco switch ahead of the fiber into ER vs. directly to an “A” port on ER afterwards? Some would have us believe that noise from the NUC might be attenuated by the 10G Finisar transceivers and fiber. I will try it both ways, but wonder about any theories or real-world feedback on this point.

Hi dancause. I’ve preferred ENO after ER for the main stereo system (Meridian active speakers) where the goal is widest/deepest soundstage. -But my hobby is to keep experimenting with different switches, power supplies and interconnects among four listening situations: Now I’ll try ENO alone for 7.1 theater sessions based on the recommendation that ER be one short cable away from my living room endpoint. With all of the odd audio items floating around my house, and my obviously suggestible, expectation-bias brain, you would be wise to take anything I say with barrels of salt: the $150 iFi iPurifier3 sounds different to me when flipped around at opposite ends of the same usb cable between the same two components…

OK, here’s the new topography from Theater to Electrical Closet to Living Room for endpoints #1, #2, #3 and #4: (CAT5 are longer in-wall runs over 8’) Catalyst (T) > ENO to #1, AQ to #2, and CAT5 to Meraki (E) Meraki (E) > CAT5 to #3 for whole house audio system and CAT5 to Meraki OCXO (L) Meraki OCXO (L) > singlemode fiber to ER (L) ER (L) > Shunyata Venom to #4

Yes, 44 and up.

Yes. Network Acoustics is reportedly two guys in the South of England making this stuff by hand. Sounds so good to me that I also bought their AES/EBU filters for my Meridian speakers. It’s a crazy hobby we’ve gotten ourselves into. -And now that Alex tells me I’ve done it all wrong, I can re-jigger everything to get even BETTER performance!

Thanks for the new info about PHY chips and signal integrity. My Intel NUC running ROCK is connected by Blue Jeans CAT6 to a Cisco 2960 Catalyst switch which is fed via fiber from the router in my home theater where FTTH comes in. Also connected to the Cisco is an FMC with Finisar transceivers into the ER, which has three other endpoints connected to “A” in addition to the long run from “B” to my living room.

Hi Alex. I am using Audioquest Carbon cable between Allo and USB REGEN. Complete path is: singlemode fiber into ER powered by 12v Sengterbelle lps and grounded to Shunyata conditioner, ER “B” to long run of CAT5e through walls coupled to ENO Ag filter into Allo Signature which is powered by 5v Allo Shanti lps (both grounded to Shunyata), AQ Carbon into USB REGEN with Uptone USPCB A>B Adapter out and powered by 7.5v LHY Audio lps which also powers the “dirty” side of a Singxer SU-6 DDC. “Clean” Singxer side is powered by 9v Farad Super3 with AES output to Meridian active speakers. Brad