JCAT Net Card Femto

[DavidZ]

I have been using my Net Card for 2 days now in my Zuma server, and I am impressed big time -- enough to motivate me to post, which is rare for me. The noise floor dropped, the musical line became more fluid and full, the soundstage enlarged. I followed Marcin's setup guide, and all those qualities were enhanced even more. I play files locally from the Zuma through the LAN to my Bricasti M12 DAC --- it has a network card, so there is no USB conversion anywhere the playback. 

 

I highly recommend this product for anyone with a network based playback configuration. 

 

As a side note, see the card in the Streacom low-rise chassis. The server is a much modded evolution of the first Zuma posted by Chris a few years ago

[Elberoth]

Interesting. How are you powering the card ?

[DavidZ]

Elberoth- it's drawing power from the power lane of the pcie connection. The motherboard is fed by a joule external linear psu from mojo audio.

[Marcin_gps]

Feeding it with linear PSU directly will improve it further, but I guess Mojo Audio's PSU does a good job. 

I hope you're using a decent LAN cable too

 

Best regards,
Marcin

[Elberoth]

What is the power requirement of the card's external power input ? 5V/1A ? Does it use a standard 5.5mm/2.1mm DC barrel sicket ?

[DavidZ]

59 minutes ago, Elberoth said:

What is the power requirement of the card's external power input ? 5V/1A ? Does it use a standard 5.5mm/2.1mm DC barrel sicket ?

Elberoth -- I'll let Marcin correct me if I'm wrong, but the card requires 5v , 2A. Power can be tapped from PCIE power lane, a 4 pin Molex connector on the card, or the external barrel connection you described. Earlier today I moved from the PCIE power lane to the Molex, and even that was a step up in SQ, presumably because the power wasn't first run thru the noisy motherboard to the PCIE slot. 

My current plans are to retrofit my Mojo PSU. It has 2 outlets -- 12v, which is running the mobo, and an unused 7v outlet. I'm going to have the latter fixed to 5v so I can use the barrel external connector. As a sidenote, the 3 SSDs that store my library and OS are separately powered by a Vinnie Rossi Mini -- an ultracapacitor based PSU. Another worthwhile upgrade.  

[Elberoth]

OK, so the arrangement is very much like the Femto USB card (which is great). I hope Marcin will give use the exact current requirement numbers. 

 

Strange things those SSDs - I have mine powered by Jcat battery PSU and indeed the increase in SQ was noticable, if surprising.

[Marcin_gps]

37 minutes ago, Elberoth said:

OK, so the arrangement is very much like the Femto USB card (which is great). I hope Marcin will give use the exact current requirement numbers. 

 

Strange things those SSDs - I have mine powered by Jcat battery PSU and indeed the increase in SQ was noticable, if surprising.

 

Correct. Power connectors are the same as with JCAT USB Card FEMTO except that there are automatic switches that select which power input to use. On the JCAT USB Card FEMTO one needs to do this manually via jumpers on the card. 

 

As the network controller chip is much more power hungry, the power requirements of the JCAT NET card FEMTO are higher compared to JCAT USB Card FEMTO. I recommend 5V/2A. It may work with 1.5A if only one port is used. 

 

Best regards,

Marcin

[Marcin_gps]

@DavidZ if you could skip the PCIe riser cable somehow, there would be another improvement. I realize it may not be possible

[lateboomer]

Hi Marcin,

 

I am not sure has anyone raised it in somewhere, from the Femto site in the Scenario 1 scheme, is it less ideal or not advisable to use 2 Ethernet ports at the same time?  Or this only applicable to USB femto card only?

 

Scenario 3 scheme should have a router to manage DCHP between control pc and audio pc?

[Marcin_gps]

4 hours ago, lateboomer said:

Hi Marcin,

 

I am not sure has anyone raised it in somewhere, from the Femto site in the Scenario 1 scheme, is it less ideal or not advisable to use 2 Ethernet ports at the same time?  Or this only applicable to USB femto card only?

 

Scenario 3 scheme should have a router to manage DCHP between control pc and audio pc?

 

I'd use both ports on the card in Scenario 1. 

I use scenario 3 in my setup. Router or switch is not required. PCs can be connected directly. The only thing needed is a static IP address on Audio PC. 

 

Best regards,

Marcin

[elan120]

Reviving this thread...I had a chance to install JCAT Net Card Femto two days ago, while it is going through the burn-in period, and linear power supply on its way to me, I am already very surprised how much improvement this new card be able to deliver.  It is like having an entirely new system, and everything is just so...musical.  I am looking forward to install my LPS later this week when it is delivered, but even without it, the improvement is well deserved the recommendation.

[lateboomer]

2 hours ago, elan120 said:

Reviving this thread...I had a chance to install JCAT Net Card Femto two days ago, while it is going through the burn-in period, and linear power supply on its way to me, I am already very surprised how much improvement this new card be able to deliver.  It is like having an entirely new system, and everything is just so...musical.  I am looking forward to install my LPS later this week when it is delivered, but even without it, the improvement is well deserved the recommendation.

 

Thank you and I hope to find out more from user implementation and impression. This is very important product yet very much less talked about.

[GUTB]

I was impressed with the PPA v3 USB card. This thread makes me want to pick up the JCAT and do a shootout.

[elan120]

5 hours ago, lateboomer said:

 

Thank you and I hope to find out more from user implementation and impression. This is very important product yet very much less talked about.

I will post more of my impressions later this week, once I have the LPS installed and past the recommended burn-in period for the JCAT Net Card Femto.  Not sure why this product wasn't discussed more, and I also had a hard time finding user impressions while doing my research, but I sure am glad I decided to give it a try because the improvement isn't even subtle.

[elan120]

4 hours ago, GUTB said:

I was impressed with the PPA v3 USB card. This thread makes me want to pick up the JCAT and do a shootout.

That will be an interesting comparison since I have a JCAT USB Card Femto installed as well.

 

My earlier post was for JCAT Net Card Femto, which is their Ethernet card...just in case it was not obvious.

[simonklp]

On Thursday, December 14, 2017 at 4:06 PM, elan120 said:

I will post more of my impressions later this week, once I have the LPS installed and past the recommended burn-in period for the JCAT Net Card Femto.  Not sure why this product wasn't discussed more, and I also had a hard time finding user impressions while doing my research, but I sure am glad I decided to give it a try because the improvement isn't even subtle.

Kindly please also advise your hardware setup for better understanding of the effect of this JCAT Net Card. Thanks.

[elan120]

1 hour ago, simonklp said:

Kindly please also advise your hardware setup for better understanding of the effect of this JCAT Net Card. Thanks.

I have both JCAT Net Card Femto (JS-2) and JCAT USB Card Femto (LPS-1) installed audio PC connected to IsoRen (LPS-1), then to iFI iUSB 3.0 Micro (LPS), then to Singxer SU-1 (LPS-1, highly modded), then I2S out to Holo Spring KTE DAC.

 

As a side note, I received the JS-2 on Thursday, and connected it to power JCAT Net Card Femto.  Using a good linear supply also helped improve the sound quality, and I plan to let it burn-in for few more days to see if there is more improvements/changes, but for now, I am very much enjoy this new addition be able to provide.

[simonklp]

7 hours ago, elan120 said:

I have both JCAT Net Card Femto (JS-2) and JCAT USB Card Femto (LPS-1) installed audio PC connected to IsoRen (LPS-1), then to iFI iUSB 3.0 Micro (LPS), then to Singxer SU-1 (LPS-1, highly modded), then I2S out to Holo Spring KTE DAC.

 

As a side note, I received the JS-2 on Thursday, and connected it to power JCAT Net Card Femto.  Using a good linear supply also helped improve the sound quality, and I plan to let it burn-in for few more days to see if there is more improvements/changes, but for now, I am very much enjoy this new addition be able to provide.

Thank you for your information. What player software are you using? Is it HQPlayer? I suppose you have another PC for running this software and connect to the Audio PC over network, and this Control PC does not have the JCAT Net Card Femto. Is this correct? Thanks.

[elan120]

Just now, simonklp said:

Thank you for your information. What player software are you using? Is it HQPlayer? I suppose you have another PC for running this software and connect to the Audio PC over network, and this Control PC does not have the JCAT Net Card Femto. Is this correct? Thanks.

I am currently running single PC setup, and using HQPlayer upsample to DSD512 output via ROON.

[simonklp]

5 minutes ago, elan120 said:

I am currently running single PC setup, and using HQPlayer upsample to DSD512 output via ROON.

Thank you again for your kind reply. But I do not understand why you need to use the JCAT Net Card Femto for the playback if you are using single PC setup.

[elan120]

13 minutes ago, simonklp said:

Thank you again for your kind reply. But I do not understand why you need to use the JCAT Net Card Femto for the playback if you are using single PC setup.

I have my music files stored in NAS, and using JCAT Net Card Femto allows simple bridge mode setup.

[simonklp]

2 minutes ago, elan120 said:

I have my music files stored in NAS, and using JCAT Net Card Femto allows simple bridge mode setup.

I see why it helps to improve the SQ now. Thanks!

 

But I would be more interested to know its effect in a dual PC setup of HQPlayer with NAA.

[Summit]

On 2017-12-16 at 2:52 AM, simonklp said:

I see why it helps to improve the SQ now. Thanks!

 

But I would be more interested to know its effect in a dual PC setup of HQPlayer with NAA.

 

I got better sound by adding the JCAT Net Card in bridge mode in my system with an ultraRendu.

[Marcin_gps]

On 12/14/2017 at 3:22 AM, lateboomer said:

 

Thank you and I hope to find out more from user implementation and impression. This is very important product yet very much less talked about.

 

There are few reasons:

1) Limited number of cards on the market and not many users posts feedback online

2) No hifi magazine reviews yet - there are only a few writers who are into computer audio & use desktop PC as a transport/music server

3) Market awareness is very low: everyone nowadays understands that USB chain needs to be upgraded, but almost noone is aware that the same applies to network. 

 

 

On 12/16/2017 at 2:35 AM, simonklp said:

Thank you again for your kind reply. But I do not understand why you need to use the JCAT Net Card Femto for the playback if you are using single PC setup.

 

Actually, the NET Card will improve SQ also on a single PC even with the local library and USB Audio output if playback is controlled remotely (over network). It shows how sensitive this area is.