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Post by zappytheviking on Dec 28, 2017 18:35:11 GMT
40h after ordering my DigiOne player it arrived at my door from France, shocking, I have never gotten a package that quickly to the north of Sweden, even UPS takes 7-8 days.
Happy to experiment with my new addition a full day was spent trying to share a folder from a windows computer, mostly because I am a Linux illiterate.
I plugged in a "1m Monster digital Coax" cable that cost me around 30e, had a listen, hmm, all the air and space was just gone. My junky old laptop sending USB WASAPI was miles ahead, didn't make any sense.
With the hopes that this was a "warmup" issue I let it run over night, no improvement.
Dont get me wrong, the sound was passable but with bloated bass, severely reduced air and shrunken soundstage. At this point I was disappointed with my purchase, thinkig I might keep it for the convenience factor.
As a hail mary I decided to try regular RCA cable, a 25yo 1.5m monster cable. Incredible, the air is back, the bass bloat is gone, its similar to what a 3-5db reduction at 50-150hz would do, high are much clearer, a sense of ease. A clear improvement over direct USB.
Anyone who says cables on digital signals do not matter are out of their minds.
What puzzles me is how a cable marketed for the purpose can be so much worse than an ancient regular RCA signal cable.
Isn't a 75ohm impedance cable supposed to be better?
Confused but happy, maybe someone can shed some light on this, any recommendation on a reasonably priced cable(50-100£)?
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Post by Stratmangler on Dec 28, 2017 19:06:55 GMT
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Post by zappytheviking on Dec 28, 2017 19:12:26 GMT
Thanks, that`s an extremely reasonable price.
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Post by MartinT on Dec 28, 2017 19:22:15 GMT
I'm running 1.5m Belden 1694A 'Brilliance' video cable too, with Canare plugs. You can get it from Blue Jeans but Mark Grant is local and gives a great service.
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Post by Stratmangler on Dec 28, 2017 19:25:27 GMT
It's properly to spec too, as well as being inexpensive.
I've had one in my system for a few years now - its insertion between my Squeezebox Touch and my DAC brought a readily apparent improvement in the resolution of the digital side of my setup.
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Post by zappytheviking on Dec 28, 2017 19:42:26 GMT
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Post by MartinT on Dec 28, 2017 20:07:12 GMT
I didn't bother with BNC as my cable was already made up and my DAC has phono inputs anyway.
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Post by MartinT on Dec 28, 2017 22:29:38 GMT
If you haven't tried it yet, run the Pi/DigiOne from battery power. The easiest way is as I've done it: 12V lead-acid battery with a DC-DC converter generating 5V.
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Post by John on Dec 29, 2017 5:43:08 GMT
Glad you got it so fast and working well
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Post by zappytheviking on Jan 2, 2018 14:33:56 GMT
MartinT - Thanks to your streamer thread I ordered some DC-DC converters and a few Tonkin super caps, will be interesting. Had some leftover bits for making cable, made a DIY silver wire IC with copper shield, about 10cm long. Sounds good, great air, punch and soundstaging, Adele's Hello, brought back the faint echoes that completely vanished with Monster 250 DCX Coax, beginning to doubt the importance of impedance in coax with short runs. Will for certain try the Mark Grant Cardas later and see if it beats my mini cable. John Had my doubts since I know zero about Linux, nothing to be apprehensive about it seems, the Volumio GUI is very user friendly. PS. My claim of 3-5db bass change was due to self built speakers, reversed polarity on both midranges and now things are singing like they should. Shrinking soundstage and detail loss on monster cable still applies, restested.
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Post by MartinT on Jan 2, 2018 15:15:18 GMT
Volumio is very good and keeps getting better as Michelangelo has a whole team of supporters working on it. The volspotconnect plug-in is well worth using, allowing full use of the Spotify interface with Volumio acting as a Spotify Connect device.
I think you'll find a 12V to 5V DC-DC converter is the dog's danglies for running the Pi from a 12V lead-acid battery, giving a low impedance source. Use a couple of snap chokes on the power cable going to the Pi to keep high frequency noise out.
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Post by zappytheviking on Jan 2, 2018 15:22:09 GMT
Dang that's what I forgot, would you mind giving a link, never bought snap chokes that weren't on the cable already. The mutt nuts, always a welcome addition  |
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Post by MartinT on Jan 2, 2018 15:36:08 GMT
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Post by zappytheviking on Jan 12, 2018 15:50:30 GMT
Those Tonkin Caps. DAMN. Audio revelation once more, inserted the super-caps on the power lead to RDAC, 2 in series to get the +6v needed, Jeebus. Listened to some Duffy, usually slightly irritating scratchiness in her voice, now it was like being slathered in golden fairy dust. Dido- Before we went to war, earlier I heard birdies and a car somewhere maybe some wind in leaves, now, hearing a window, outside of it, birds, someone over the street listening to a radio, singers voice, enjoyable, hi freq sounds a little like friendly sparkles , frikking golden Disney fairy dust  . Spatial information like I never knew before. Added another set of caps, further improvement, perhaps 30%, I can't wait to get DigiOne on the same kind of juice, this is crazy. The music plain feels good, 8£ well spent. Reconnecting the battery charger now causes a drastic change, magic goes away. New level of sound for me and it is......ummm. .. WoHOOO!!  |
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Post by John on Jan 12, 2018 16:43:20 GMT
This made me smile
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Post by MikeMusic on Jan 12, 2018 17:08:43 GMT
We all need to up our reviews !  |
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Post by MartinT on Jan 12, 2018 18:27:45 GMT
Reminds me, I've got a couple spare and will put one in the DC-DC converter 5V output. The Tonkins came recommended by Stan and are very good indeed. |
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Post by zappytheviking on Jan 12, 2018 20:37:43 GMT
Being descriptively accurate is paramount . Quite a shocker how much more the equipment has to give with improved power delivery. Still haven't received the DC-DC converters, this was direct from battery. If it can be bested I will be over the moon. |
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Post by MartinT on Jan 12, 2018 23:15:55 GMT
If you're using a phone battery on 5V USB output, you won't believe what you hear with a 12V battery on DC-DC converter |
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Post by zappytheviking on Jan 12, 2018 23:52:35 GMT
Currently a sealed lead acid 10Ah, 6-7.5V . Can't get the Arcam RDAC going without 6.1V and over. When the DC-DC regulators arrive will upgrade to a smaller 12V car battery, last a little longer. Any improvement from here will be icing on the cake. Recent events have started to warp my unbelieving attitude to "tuning" of the equipment. Sorbothane hemispheres and granite coasters next , I blame you all  . |
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