Let's talk about SOTM SMS-200 ULTRA

[tedwoods]

1 hour ago, Blade1001 said:

Hmmmm, kind of supports my earlier suspicion that this is a replacement of a component not working correctly within the specification of the design. What are the values of the old and new caps? 

 

With my audiophile hat on, if this cap has such an influence on sound quality, is there any mileage on buying a higher spec cap like a V-Cap?

Not nessecarily... Componenets evolve all the time. They must have found something "better" to use. The cap is in the power supply board. V-caps are signal caps, so I believe their application is for other parts of the circuit.

[Tommd64]

That will be very intresting. Please keep us informed!

[octaviars]

On 8/3/2018 at 9:39 PM, tedwoods said:

Yes, that one.

I've ordered through the official dealer.

I'll try to get some pics too.

 

Ok, I see.

 

Looking forward to some pictures. 

[tedwoods]

Well, I have good news and bad news...?

The bad news is that my dealer has kindly asked me not to disclose any pics or specific values, etc... and I have to respect that.

The good news is that the mod is pretty easy to do.

Two solder joints and you're good to go.

The differences between the two models are pretty subtle: the bass has more oomph but its always tactile, never overpowering and the treble seems a bit more intergrated in the mix.

In the old sMS, hi-hats and cymbals in particular could in some recordings sound a bit detached, which could be mistaken for added treble dynamism.

In the "Neo" the cymbals are positioned better in the mix and closer to the drum kit, as they should be.

I also want to be emphatic on this one: There is no detail loss!

All the familiar fine detail and subtle nuance the SOtM gear is renowned for is there in spades!

The mids in voices and guitars also sound a bit more fleshed out.

In layman's terms, the "Neo" could be described as sounding a tad sweeter...

The old sMS seems like proper English with a few colloqualisms thrown in, while the "Neo" is "Queen's English" all the way..?

Given the simplicity of the mod and its low cost, I'd say go for it!

I'm listening to the "Land of Grey and Pink" right now and it's absolutely gorgeous sounding!

 

[octaviars]

52 minutes ago, tedwoods said:

Well, I have good news and bad news...?

The bad news is that my dealer has kindly asked me not to disclose any pics or specific values, etc... and I have to respect that.

The good news is that the mod is pretty easy to do.

Two solder joints and you're good to go.

 

Ok, no problem. 

 

I will order one from SOtM (I suppose it would be easy to get it from another source so they dont want the spec of the new one to be all over the Internet).

[Blade1001]

1 hour ago, tedwoods said:

Well, I have good news and bad news...?

The bad news is that my dealer has kindly asked me not to disclose any pics or specific values, etc... and I have to respect that.

 

 

 

Nothing really to do with your dealer to be honest, you paid him good money for the device in the first place I assume and good money for the mod. What you do with your own property after that is none of his business!

[Tommd64]

Agreed with tedwoods Blade! Or is the modification that simpel that it doesn,t even justify the 30 dollars mod costs..?

[Tommd64]

1 hour ago, tedwoods said:

Well, I have good news and bad news...?

The bad news is that my dealer has kindly asked me not to disclose any pics or specific values, etc... and I have to respect that.

The good news is that the mod is pretty easy to do.

Two solder joints and you're good to go.

The differences between the two models are pretty subtle: the bass has more oomph but its always tactile, never overpowering and the treble seems a bit more intergrated in the mix.

In the old sMS, hi-hats and cymbals in particular could in some recordings sound a bit detached, which could be mistaken for added treble dynamism.

In the "Neo" the cymbals are positioned better in the mix and closer to the drum kit, as they should be.

I also want to be emphatic on this one: There is no detail loss!

All the familiar fine detail and subtle nuance the SOtM gear is renowned for is there in spades!

The mids in voices and guitars also sound a bit more fleshed out.

In layman's terms, the "Neo" could be described as sounding a tad sweeter...

The old sMS seems like proper English with a few colloqualisms thrown in, while the "Neo" is "Queen's English" all the way..?

Given the simplicity of the mod and its low cost, I'd say go for it!

I'm listening to the "Land of Grey and Pink" right now and it's absolutely gorgeous sounding!

 

 

[Tommd64]

I,m curious what sparepart(s) is changed.  I believe you kept your old version?? Ps a Sms200 or sms200 ultra??

[tedwoods]

14 hours ago, Tommd64 said:

I,m curious what sparepart(s) is changed.  I believe you kept your old version?? Ps a Sms200 or sms200 ultra??

I have the Ultra version.

The mod involves only one capacitor change on the power supply board.

I have kept the old capacitor, but don't really feel the need to swap it back, since I'm really enjoying the sound.

 

[tedwoods]

15 hours ago, Blade1001 said:

 

Nothing really to do with your dealer to be honest, you paid him good money for the device in the first place I assume and good money for the mod. What you do with your own property after that is none of his business!

I see your point and to be honest I don't see any real danger in disclosing the details of the mod.

Besides, changing a cap isn't really rocket science or something.

But I have to extend the courtesy to the involved parties to disclose or not what the mod entails, should they want to.

 

[Tommd64]

Thanks for you quick reply tedwoods; the keyquestion is what sparepart is it and whats the value?? I think its a power capacitor but whats the new value??

[aggielaw]

I read somewhere that the Neo upgrade costs $30 and the new (optional) faceplate costs $80.  The (sole, to my knowledge) US dealer just quoted me a flat cost of $200 without further explanation.  Did SOtM decide to raise the price and make the new faceplate mandatory?

 

[tedwoods]

7 minutes ago, aggielaw said:

I read somewhere that the Neo upgrade costs $30 and the new (optional) faceplate costs $80.  The (sole, to my knowledge) US dealer just quoted me a flat cost of $200 without further explanation.  Did SOtM decide to raise the price and make the new faceplate mandatory?

 

I chose not to upgrade the faceplate....

[rhale64l7]

That is including shipping both ways I am pretty sure.

[octaviars]

I run in to some problems with my Ultra today. My dac did not show up in Roon when I started my nuc.

Did a power recycle of all my equipment but still no connection. 

I only have an orange light blinkning at the LAN port and I cant reach it throug the wedpage and it is not visable in my router.

 

Anyone expirenced something like this?

 

I have seen some needing to re image the SD card. I have sent an email to SOtM so I hope they have some answers. 

[Tommd64]

Octaviars, a blinking orange light is a indication that you don,t have internet. Try to connect a laptop to see if the problem stay,s. And try to reconnect the cable or use another one..

[octaviars]

1 hour ago, Tommd64 said:

Octaviars, a blinking orange light is a indication that you don,t have internet. Try to connect a laptop to see if the problem stay,s. And try to reconnect the cable or use another one..

 

Well it is not that easy, nothing wrong with the cable.

 

Today with the original SD card no lights were on at the LAN port today so I made a new SD card and well it seemed to fix the problems as I got lights at the LAN port (2 LED blinking green and orange) and it was visable in my router now. I can ping the IP on my Ultra and it is connected, but still I am not able to reach Eunhasu page.

 

I have to wait to see what SOtM answers regarding the problem.

[Tommd64]

Dit you treid chrome already to reach unhasu? And did you control your internet with a laptop? In my personel experience May gives a great support. ( in my case with teamviewer)

[octaviars]

3 minutes ago, Tommd64 said:

Dit you treid chrome already to reach unhasu? And did you control your internet with a laptop?

 

I have tried Chrome, firefox, edge to reach it but it wont work.

 

I have internet as everyting else works as it should and I have tried different cables and connections directly to my router and from another switch but it is still the same.

 

I have not yet got any answer from SOtM.

[rhale64l7]

On 8/9/2018 at 5:16 PM, octaviars said:

I run in to some problems with my Ultra today. My dac did not show up in Roon when I started my nuc.

Did a power recycle of all my equipment but still no connection. 

I only have an orange light blinkning at the LAN port and I cant reach it throug the wedpage and it is not visable in my router.

 

Anyone expirenced something like this?

 

I have seen some needing to re image the SD card. I have sent an email to SOtM so I hope they have some answers. 

I did reimage my SD card for that exact same problem and it fixed my issue. So I might just give that a shot. It is very easy to do.

[Tommd64]

But just in case go out to buy a fast 16gb card ( not a 8gb, that isn,t enough) and install the new image. Be sure youre sotm is out for a couple of minutes before take out the old card and install the new one!!

[Tommd64]

It weekend now but you can be sure you get your answer on monday; please try today de new microcard with eunhasu on it!

[octaviars]

Well I got music playing again with a new SD card loaded with v4.0 firmware after I figured out it needs to be formated with EXT3 to work as it seems. I encountered problem upgrading from Eunhasu web GUI to v4.14 so I will leave it for now and talk to May at SOtM how to proceed.

[Tommd64]

Nice to year! congrats!