_JL_

Thanks for the info. Looks like it could be a youtube issue then. Bummer!

Hi, I have the microrendu and is trying to send audio from my Apple TV 4K 2021 to it so that it can play it through my DAC (connected via USB) instead of my AV Amp. I have Shareport installed and activated. I can select it from within Apple TV. When I play a youtube video, my DAC shows the incoming sample rate switching to 44.1khz which is normal. However, there is no sound. After fiddling a bit I found that if I perform a seek in the youtube app then there will be sound playing normally for about 5 seconds, after which it went back to silent. Appreciate if anyone has any suggestion on how to fix this. Thanks a lot! Jack

I don't think the jumper needs to be changed. It should be terminated at the MC3+ unless you're daisy chaining the clock to other devices (at which point only one should be terminated).

I have the Mutec SE120 and the CyberShaft is OP17. I compared them quite some time ago (was waiting for the Cybershaft to run-in). The main difference at the time was in clarity, i.e., resolution, transparency and air. This is probably not a fair comparison as the Mutec is 3x more expensive.

The Cybershaft enclosure is made of aluminum I believe. It's much lighter than the Mutec FWIW.

True but I ran out of rack space long time ago so no choice for now. The CyberShaft is on top of the Mutec even when not powered so the difference is not due to stacking.

Two is Not Better Than One! So I have two clocks, one CyberShaft and one Mutec. Have been using the Mutec for the ER for some time. The Cybershaft was powered (to keep it warmed up and stabilized) but otherwise sitting idle unconnected. The other day I accidentally disconnected the power to the Cybershaft and noticed a jump in audio clarity - basically the proverbial veil being lifted kind of thing. Initially I was not aware of the real cause and just attributed it to less AC noise on Sunday. But later after carefully tracing the wiring I realized that the reason is due to powering down the Cybershaft. The veil would return if I power up the Cybershaft again. This suggests that the idling Cybershaft is somehow interfering with the system, causing the degradation in sound quality. The Cybershaft is sitting atop the Mutec with its output unconnected so I guess that contributes to the interference. This also cast questions on tests comparing multiple clocks as they may in fact interfere with one another when powered on simultaneously. If you have more than one clock you may want to experiment with this, just in case.

I tried a few tracks using Apple TV 4K (the old one). I can configure the Music app to lossless and with Atmos enabled (auto mode). The Apple TV connects to Yamaha RXA-3080 via HDMI. First up with lossless tracks - they were listed as lossless in the Music app but then when I checked the input sampling rate the Yamaha is displaying 48 kHz. I only tried a couple tracks but all are 48 kHz, even though those albums are 44.1khz in Qobuz for example. This can only mean two things. Either Apple somehow has a lossless version of the source in 48 kHz or the Apple TV is resampling it to 48 kHz. I incline to believe it is the latter as it makes no sense to keep both 44.1 and 48 versions of the same source. So how about the sound? Not very inspiring tbh. The Apple TV can sound good when the source is good, even some youtube videos can sound decent. In comparison, the few 48 kHz lossless tracks I tested is simply not up to par. The sound is a bit hazy, lacking focus and separation. I won't be surprised that's due to the 48 kHz resampling. Perhaps I can try some native 48 kHz later to see if that makes any difference. Next is Atmos. It works but the Atmos catalog is really tiny. Moreover, most of them are in fact Atmo-sified version of existing recordings. While the Atmos version generally offer a more enveloping sound in my 6.2.4 setup, I don't find it add too much to the enjoyment of the music. The sound quality is also so so, far from those Atmos tracks in UHD discs. I hope that if Apple really cares about quality - the very reason for lossless to begin with, they should do it right or it just ends up giving a bad name for "lossless" streaming. My two cents.

Correction: The second demo track where a bunch of "musicians" run around is not from Stereophile. It's from Chesky Records' "Best of Chesky Jazz and More Audiophile Tests Vol.2", in a track called "General Image and Resolution Test".

Interesting topic. It's definitely possible but uncommon in normal recordings as few have instruments/voices intended to be behind the listener. One good demo is from one of the Chesky audiophile sampler discs (forgot which one) where David beat a tom-tom while running around the mic. It also has another track with the tom-tom positioned electronically. Interestingly, I found the electronic version even more convincing than the real acoustic version. In yet another disc I think is from one of Stereophile's demo discs where there is a track where a bunch of musicians making sounds while running around the mic. The effect is also very real when played in just stereo. So subjectively it is possible to reproduce sounds that appear to be coming from behind using just a pair of speakers. How that can happen is another matter altogether as human auditory perception is far from fully decoded. What is even more difficult to reproduce in stereo, IME, is height. Outside of very specific demo tracks, I have not encountered any tracks that can exhibit acoustically recorded height.

I'm currently registered via Qobuz France as their catalog is better suited for me than the US one. So anyone has news on whether Qobuz Europe (France in particular) will follow the new US/UK pricing anytime soon? I like Qobuz but the pricing disparity is getting very annoying for me. I tried to sign-up Qobuz US and also UK (using VPN) but it seems they no longer accept payment methods not registered in US/UK. Anybody know how to work around that? It's amazing how difficult it is to give money away these days.

Most cable/ADSL modems only allocate one IP address (either public or private IP) so if one wants to share the Internet access with multiple devices then a NAT (Network Address Translator) will be needed. The NAT will use the ISP's assigned address in the outgoing link and then allocate private IPs (192.x.x.x or 10.x.x.x) to devices inside the home network. As the external/internal networks are in different subnets it is a Layer 3 router rather than a Layer-2 Ethernet switch (which doesn't process IP headers at all). In many use cases the router is also a WiFi AP.

The new firmware is definitely more reliable, presumably by fixing the EEE issue. I can now cascade two ERs without issue. However, as a few others have reported I also find the original firmware to sound better. In comparison, the new firmware is too smooth and not as alive sounding as before. Even the video quality seems to be flatter. Would Alex/John be so nice to offer a version of the firmware that just fixes the EEE issue and kept the rest the same? This sort of thing often is system dependent and obviously many likes the new firmware's sound so if both EEE-fixed firmware versions can be made available it's actually not a bug, it is a feature! Please kindly consider it. Much appreciated!

Not sure about the new X5 but my F30 can play FLAC files.

I have been using the UltraCap LPS 1.2 to power the ER. I will try using a more ordinary LPS (KECES) to power it later to see if it makes any difference. Hopefully not then I can repurpose the UC elsewhere. Otherwise I'll have to get another UC for my second ER. Bad for the wallet.