Jump to content

flkin

  • Posts

    774
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Country

    Thailand

3 Followers

Retained

  • Member Title
    Always a Newbie

Personal Information

  • Location
    Bangkok, Thailand

Recent Profile Visitors

6897 profile views
  1. Yeah. Good music is the target and the journey getting there is part of the fun! 😄 My current view is that anything upstream of the streamer, including switches, cables and even fiber connections is not as essential as I once thought. This is because of the Euphony playback software I’m using now has a function that buffers entire tracks (even albums) into RAM prior to playback. So playback occurs using bit perfect data from RAM without the need to access the network. This means that data movement through the network before the streamer mostly won’t affect the sound. I tested this idea out by disconnecting the LAN cable from my streamer during playback and there was little change in the sound quality I heard. So these days I’m not that concerned with tweaks on the network side anymore.
  2. Pretty common in Asia. eg. https://www.lazada.co.th/products/i4911766193-s20690778808.html Try Google search for "Silicon Power microSD Card Gaming" rather than SP Gaming.
  3. Looks like you're a real SOtM fan! I'm an early adopter of SOtM going back to around 2017 - during the days when some of us were grouping the 'trifecta' set of a re-clocked switch, tx-USBUltra and sMS-200. At that time, most of us didn't know a switch could affect the sound in the way it does. It was during this time and our experiments that we discovered the contribution of a switch. SOtM didn't sell audiophile switches yet but offered a modded D-Link DGS105 with switching regulators swapped out for linear ones and added an external clocking point. My sMS-200 didn't have the sCLK-Ex board inside and so it relied on its own clocks. And of course 😄, I had it modded to improve the sound by adding 2 external clock points. This process removed its own clocks and would thereafter only work with external clock signals. The clocking signal for both the D-Link and the sMS-200 came from the tx-USBUltra. I pushed the envelop of sound further by adding an EtherRegen between the sMS-200 and my DAC and a Cypershaft OP-14 reference clock to the tx-USBUltra. All history now having moved on to more extreme clocking solutions and the only SOtM equipment in my system today is the dCBL-CAT7 + iSO-CAT6 + dCBL-CAT7 which still does its job well. Other SOtM gathering dust or out on long term loan to friends. And it's the reason why I can't help with the recent micro card tests, I don't have the 24/25MHz clock signals required for my sMS-200 to work. Tested a LOT during my time with the trifecta but with older cards available at that time and older software.
  4. I'm not sure if we should dismiss card speed so quickly as a contributing factor for good sound. Over the past few weeks since cards were discussed here, the following was said about speed. One data point that the v90 cards sound better. A thumbs up for the SP v30 Gaming card but it was not compared with the v90 cards yet. Apart from the SP Gaming v30 card, it seems the v90 cards are doing well from recent observations here and might even be better. Looking forward to more data points from users...! Unfortunately I won't be testing cards anytime soon. My sMS-200neo is out of action due to my tx-USBUltra being out on loan which provided the clocking needed for the sMS-200neo to work. Interesting to follow this and see what conclusions can be made.
  5. I would be good if those that have many micro cards to test them for speed and see if faster equates to better sounding. Or not. The recently discussed SP v30 card is a pretty fast card does it sound good because of this? And if the Delkin is better, would it be due to the v90 speed rating?
  6. I heard of others having this issue but recently the kernel switching works consistently for me. I’ve noticed that the LAN connection needs to be working well for quick kernel swaps. Try cleaning the connectors perhaps? I had good results especially after using Stabilant 22. Reminder - Ensure you’re not in Ramroot when doing kernel switching. If all fails, you can try a clean reinstall or switch to the latest beta Euphony.
  7. Using a Pink Faun 2.16x streamer w/ 2 Ultra OCXO clocks on MB and CPU. Output through Pink Faun USB v2 card powered externally with Paul Hynes DR7t+.
  8. Latest version is a beta version which doesn’t pop up until you switch on the beta function in expert settings. This defaults to the 5.18 kernel which sounds harder than the 5.14 kernel in my system. Otherwise a good upgrade for playback stability.
  9. After receiving my SP card I checked it for speed on my BlackMagic test program. Writes fine but reads very slow. Did a ExFat reformat using a security wipe option to refresh it. After, it performs quickly for 1G tests read/write tests but still has difficult once the sizes go to around 4-5G. I suppose the use case for sMS-200 is small files so probably that’s fine. I don’t know if burning the Eunhasu file wipes the card but might be an idea to refresh the card using a security wipe first anyway.
  10. Oh that's interesting, please share the link for this v1 v2 song comparisons if you find it again. Is it here on AS? I still have my v1 card with clock not installed but in my hifi graveyard; I'm using the v2 primarily now. Too many things in the process of tests now. But in the meantime, please try these 2 tracks just for fun, they sound great in the v2 and probably in the v1 also!
  11. Hey Paul, how are things going? A bit of a cross thread here, danielB and I were chatting about the recent Pink Faun USB v2 card in another thread which received a firmware update. It’s a significant one which really brought the card to its full potential. I think he was referring to this rather than Euphony. Don’t know anything about the above customized PF Euphony screen split to 4. I used the generic version of Euphony that most here use. But I do have a way to open 3 screens at a time in a useful way. My control device is an iPad. iPads are able to open 2 Safari browser screens at the same time. You can slide the divider between the two open screens to change the size. Using web address euphony.local, one can have 2 active Euphony screens this way. And further, the iPad has a slide from the side function to pop-up (or rather slide-in) active programs. This sliding works with the standard Euphony app. So you can have up to 3 functional Euphony screens active. I use this in a combination of ways. Sometimes when I am adjusting the sound, I will open the CPU % activity on the left screen, music on the center and core isolations in expert settings on the right side. Other times when I’m in music listening mode, I might have track details, local files and playlist in each of the 3 windows. I find having 3 windows open is a good sweet spot to use Euphony fully.
  12. Glad you managed to get that sorted. That v2 firmware update is really something special, no looking back.
  13. Huh? Hello hello? Man, the jitttter todddddday is pretty badddddd zz&$..
  14. @Rsbrsvp, my listening notes has this : 1. Streamer, Pre and DC Power Supply to both USB and Router on CleanSweep and add Topaz before only the DC power supply. - Slightly thinner and more treble weighted. Only very slightly. 2. Streamer, DC Power Supply and Pre on CleanSweep. Add Topaz before preamp Initially: - Vocals, full of inflections and breath control artifacts - Zero treble hardness or emphasis. Correct balance. - Transparency up a notch. Texture of piano step closer to real. Weight of notes, bell sound of Steinway Later: - Too clear and over tight? Maybe need a bit more relaxed? - Returned to without Topaz, only the CleanSweep. Yes better size and expanded. More relaxed but still with full details. Removed the CleanSweep 5 days later to confirm the drop in performance. Listening notes say this : CleanSweep makes edges clearer. Tone brighter but more accurate - piano has a more bell like sound. More details. Hammer and pedal sustain action (in piano pieces) clearer. Squeak string sound from slow pedal action on uneven piano strings is so clear. Overall, I think the streamer, pre and DC supply to USB and Router alone through the CleanSweep sound best in my setup. I think if I had to summarise, the action of reducing noise seems to clean up the sound, make details pop. Over cleaning, like putting 2 strong cleaners in series, might thin out the sound and affect treble the balance and weight of sound. I guess from the effects of added impedance? How much to clean would probably depend on how dirty the AC was in the first place, there may not be a clear answer applicable to all systems. Soon after this conclusion, as I was dressing my cables, I had an accident where my RCA cable was partially unplugged when I switched on my very powerful monoblock amps. A huge bang occured not unlike a canon going off and it damaged the voice coil of my Wilson mid driver. No further tests possible but I had reached a conclusion prior to the accident anyway. But once my Watt speakers are back in action, it will sound pretty different as I had many other parts updated like tweeter surrounds and the resistors inside. How I prefer the CleanSweep setup might change after this.
×
×
  • Create New...