ALRAINBOW

Hello been around lol. Not in many forums though looking to get back into it.

In my constant pursuence of better sound I have tried many pc setup. I use now three pc , s. This is one for a NAS alone and a dual player and dac pc. I used j river for a very long time. But when Roon came along I used it always felt it was great GUI but less then best sound. Then the combo of Roon hq on one then two pcs. I built for an audio bud a simple server of win 2016 AO. Multi rail dc lps feeds. All from scratch and basically stuff I had laying around. I then used j river as it's one simple player with a good GUI. I loved or sound and I have him an older SS dac I loved. It was battery powered but I modded it to use a lps 5 volt supply. I set it up and played it for 2 months to ensure it was good for him. He uses it and is a very very decerning listener and has shown me many ways to improve my setup. So since I bought a master lisc I have it to try. For me as of now on j river 24 and now 25 compared to a 2 pc setup Roon / HQ player it is better in many ways to a point that if I go back it seems bloated and slow. So how do others feel I really need to read others views. Pleasee no bashing on absolutes just honest views that we all must accept ty all in advance

Going back to your first post. Roon sever better sound then GUI Roon Roon loads your entire library into ram to pic toons fast. Min 16 gig is good. I had 4 then 8 now 16 I have a 30TB library it's needed. Next don't play music from your OS drive it hurts the sound. Use a second internal drive. If you can't use a sata Cable from rear of mini if it has one don't usb unless your using a self powered ss drive so no 5 volts is used from your mini. Music drives can spin just don't use mini power lps is a must a good one too. A Mac mini has one flaw I see it's own internal dc to atx converter. This means the 19 volts from you new lps still goes through there shitty converter a desk top can have its own Hd plex 400 watt dc atx converter. A nas is a good but again use a lps for it. Also get a network iso too. It's only about 200 or less.

Don't go win 10 use win 2016 it's way above a win 10 sound

It's very good but most don't like them it's not a name brand a shame really. Value is there and his new 200 is very good too. Wait and see replies lol. I build snd test lps his is good snd Paul hynes is name from the past snd while he is a nice man who has time to wait years for a simple lps really

Wow this goes on forever and no conclusion lol. It’s not snake oil but can help or harm. depending on your system in all. Things Not to do dont use optical couplings or network extenders they may be ok but may not. In digital less is better almost always. it’s exp and better to just use a cat6a shielded or cat 7 shielded it’s Rfi and Emi shielded and don’t buy online unless it’s a real bender. China has completely taken over wire. While the above is true all varies and your system may benifit and others may not. This varying can be accounted for but has too many variables to know before. In general the one thing that is snake oil is to market products of convince as a fixer this they are not always. Truth and false. Does jitter or noise get passed on yes always can jitter or noise be filtered yes can a reclocker fix jitter or noise yes does a naa or raat fix noise this is where it gets fuzzy for the most part no but there are some goods as well. Noise comes in many shapes so some do get fixed others pass along. Does a fast pc make more noise no for the most part does running many programs so a pc make more noise absolutely yes keeping a pc based naa running min programs is a must. Does a a Nuc help yes but this may not sound well on all systems it’s Linux based this alone adds thinness as windows has a more whole sound raspberry pie and humming boards good or bad yes and no. Linux based Devices don’t need lps supplies yes. But using them does give you an inprovemt does a windows based pc or Nuc need a lps yes yes yes. In windows anything an LPS is a must or the sound is horrible. But again systems depending the chain get effected more or less. The above is facts. It fiction and I don’t sell anything and all above has been tested by me. Bash on groupies

How does it iso late ? There was a a few made that did it not made anymore. The ones I see use a chip and claim iso. But the few tried were not good in sound. Paul’s and others do alow ext. but why not use humming bird or Nuc on a cheap lps supply.

Hello Steve post the link when you can.

How likely are you to part with the audio note and how much would you get from it. My point is to have two DACs is not a good idea and one for each format even harder to make you happy. Consider each dac has its own house sound and you switching back and forth. You will not be a happy camper lol.

There’s atleast one more item not mentioned that maybe worthwhile to say. The dac input and usb output have an impendance. This mismatch that we can hear in various forms of jitter or noise is a part of the usb sound tunning effects. I have heard usb Cables sound broken and great in another server same dac. I first observed this in a coaxial spidif cable I use CIEMS with a dac and amp in a pouch at one time I used a DAP as the source and later an iPhone. Not owning a real spidif cable I used a audio interconnect wow was there a varying in sound. I ended up buying a CUST cable form empiricle audio made by STEVE Nugent. This yielded the best sound I could have. This was about 5 years ago. A dark time in digital with some glimmer of lights glowing in the distance. The same remains in a AES cable the bal cable of spidif. It’s truly a shame it’s not used and we are left with usb. Network or naa or there variants are also good but for me not at the level Of a good tunned usb setup

Totally agree it can make or break.

We should not disallow others comments there are many factors to consider how much or any to some. Does anyone have an understanding of why usb Cables effect the sound ? I can doa few quotes but it will not matter to most. THe source used makes the biggest change and after that most DACs. While there are some exceptions it’s mostly as I say I feel. . Why do I put the source first coz most all DACs will not Sound best without it. Beyond this is the usb Cables we use. All usb Cables seem to have a sound so to admit this is tough for me and most I don’t feel exp Cables are needed always but clearly some made are better for over all sound. I kind man who Owns some nice stuff was driven mad with ground isuses. It took me many weeks as I helped him fix his many issues. Lastly it was his usb cable to fix. I truly feel all of our audio devices need to be electrically isolated it few do this. He ordered a cust usb cable with a power cutter built in and a Recomended usb iso device. It was the last step to true happiness. Not all have systems that can hear the changes to the levels it may happen. To accuse them is degrading to them and cannot help the Person. Laslty are any usb Cables made for us bad. Absolutly yes lol I have heard them in my system. But others love them lol. Dont take my comments as trolling it’s. It meant to be. It’s just pure honesty. Tough to swallow now the poster who needs to reboot a good idea and of you hear it it’s ok. Dont let others make you feel odd. It’s his most try to make me feel as I help them lol. The reason why is complex and I am not sure why it’s in yours. If you post what your sever is I might be able to explain why. But do reboot of you feel it does. Enjoy

By accident I have found a website that seems to have the best sounding red book cd,s I ever has played. I own SHM , super cd,s and the like .all very good spend quality . Maple shade is beyond this signiifcly to play one is the heir the full potentioanl of your system. Andy McKee total track top hat is a free mp s download , yes MP3. The cd is red book. Download it and play it and then comment . http://www.mapleshadestore.com/ while they sell many products and I have no affiliation or own any products except music . The sound is amazing a word many use in audio but rarely is this word needed. In this case it's not a good enough word.

PART 2:It's been more than three weeks since the Pacific was installed in my system in this time I have played my now all new music hours each day . My comment of all new music is for me the most dramatic part of this dac. What I mean by my music is all new is a window into reproduction that seems correct and untainted by a house sound of the dac. No dac I have ever had in my system nor ever heard did not have a house sound. Many post of the virtues of a great dacs' house sound . In the past I too was onboard with this concept as a virtue as well. Over time a good audio bud has helped me bring my system to a new level of transparency . Let me describe transparency because some use this very needed word with varying interpretations. For me it's a clear window , with glass so clear that any changes are observed without having to look for it. For me changes that are not noticed immediately are ok as some changes for me need a few mins to a few hours to really be digested. Once I learn it , it now becomes one more facet in pursuing better sound. There are many aspects of sonic change that's good , bad and ugly but any change must be heard and understood. Have you ever played a song perhaps on Tidal and now remastered on MQA . At first play it may wow you or underwhelm you. This is the immediate reaction and this may be the final one, but it never should be the only one used for final judgement. What this means is that time is needed for our brains to learn what's new to your senses. I have many times loved or liked fast, but always over time there is more depth underneath this initial reaction. A transparent system allows for minute changes to have layers or levels of details that produces an end result of "like or not". My perspective of perceived changes may not bethe absolute reference, due to many reasons: systems vary greatly as does our own hearing . So how does one person write a review that can be read and then fully appreciated by others? My answer is a deep explanation of each change, and my own explanation of the words I use. After all, there really is little in audio we all agree on and even the words we use to describe are heavily debated. Listening to the same music on multiple systems is essential for me. So how does one accomplish this large task? For me, I use various forms of playback systems I own and know very well. Headphones are a great tool and of course I also enjoy them. Only a few headphones I own or have heard yield sound I feel is like my massive IRS V sound . No headphone gives the wall of sound or the "you are there" illusion like these speakers. However, some get close enough in staging, but more important is the varying transparency that I use as a tool/guage. I define a varying transparency as the varying levels of details each system yields, but even in this variance there is enough commonality to show me what’s real and what’s made up. Some dacs add bass on every song. Some add false dynamics as well. Playing my known music on many setups gives me views I need to show me a better truth in what’s real or not. The most speaker-like headphone I own is the Hifiman HE6. A great headphone that is very difficult to make sound right. A big amp (far more than most headphone amps) is needed. Once you have it done right it's a whole new vista into the music layering that gives me many details I can use to compare to my speakers . So why use headphones or even more than one system or amp? This is far more important than you may think! The Pacific dac in my opinion has little to no "sound" of its own and just by rolling tubes shows any variation in reproduction . The answer is to confirm what the music has that is common to more than one setup. This shows me more of what is originally there and less of what is put there subsequently. Are there parts of the music put there by the playback chain? This method and others are used as a baseline for any dac I use. Using this method with other dacs, amps, headphones, CIEMS gives me much more details to judge by. Each song has its own mix of sound and album to album must show very prominent changes. Have you ever played a few songs from one album and noticed big changes from one track to another? Well, any one track to the next should have changes, some even as the mix is changed during the song. Transparency and playing this music in different setups shows me what's really common to all music. Many dacs pick and and choose what we hear. My conclusion is the Pacific does not intrude, it simply passes through only what's in the music. In many ways the dac is passive; this is a word I'll bet no one may have used in a description yet it's a very big virtue to have. Passive does not mean it does nothing. In my terms, it's the ultimate of non invasive sound reproduction . After all, we want to hear our music reproduced without a flavor. In using many forms of playback and many dacs I can better confirm just how transparent or passive this dac is. Tube rolling any Lampi is a virtue that may seem complex and one could even ask why do I need to do this. When you go to a steak house and order your steak, do you let them pick the cut or how it's cooked and what sides it comes with ? In owning many dacs over the years each having a steadfast sound always puzzled me and using an EQ is just too dark a path to go down . So all that is left is the sound THAT manufacturer feels is best for all. That alone is scary for me. Now as I have said the Pacific is so transparent, it can have a varying sound scale by rolling tubes . Each set of tubes has its own sound, not massive, but enough to vary the sound to better tailor to anyone's system . We all have varying likes and playing varying genre some may feel needs an appropriately matched tube type. Tube rolling yields a treasure trove of sound changes that is very rewarding. In the next installment I will delve into tube rolling with previous Lampi dacs and with the Pacific . The Pacific brings tube rolling to a new level of refinement .

Great question and coming in posts later and I will be doing direct comparisons as i own two others.