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Post by Clive on Apr 16, 2023 19:11:06 GMT
Ah, of course. Thanks.
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Post by MartinT on Apr 16, 2023 19:12:06 GMT
Finding myself at a level of satisfaction that causes me to not want to monkey with the system further for fear of going backward. Me too, Nick. So are you leaving the Cisco AOC in place, too? |
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Post by nicholas on Apr 16, 2023 19:13:30 GMT
I set out to compare the Finisar and Cisco AOC's but once deployed there is little to no motivation to return to the Finisar.
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Post by MartinT on Apr 16, 2023 19:20:52 GMT
Excellent correlation there, Nick. The Cisco is simply the best optical link I've heard.
Warning to others wishing to try one: don't buy a clone or compatible - make sure it has the Cisco brand on it. I've learned by trying compatibles of other SFPs that they do NOT sound the same even though they may be network compatible.
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Post by Clive on Apr 16, 2023 19:32:22 GMT
Excellent correlation there, Nick. The Cisco is simply the best optical link I've heard. Warning to others wishing to try one: don't buy a clone or compatible - make sure it has the Cisco brand on it. I've learned by trying compatibles of other SFPs that they do NOT sound the same even though they may be network compatible. Just so that I start to understand better 😀. The Cisco cable is an AOC SFP+ which you are plugging into SFP cages. Is this correct? |
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Post by MartinT on Apr 16, 2023 19:53:21 GMT
Just so that I start to understand better 😀. The Cisco cable is an AOC SFP+ which you are plugging into SFP cages. Is this correct? That's right, Clive. John Swenson, the designer of both the EtherREGEN and Sonore components, confirmed that SFP+ units will work in both the cages provided that it's SFP+ at both ends, which of course it is in a single-piece AOC. Their 10Gbps rating is way higher than required for the audio stream, but it's the quality of the transceiver design and lack of jitter that counts in our application. |
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Post by MartinT on Apr 17, 2023 18:47:27 GMT
I received the final QA grounding box this evening, which has gone onto the P10 regenerator, with its previous Aucharm XL relegated to mains grounding duties.
Listening to Selling England by the Pound, I hear greater resolution now from Qobuz 16/44 than I did from my SACD of the same album 3 years ago. A sign of how far I've moved my system on.
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Post by MartinT on Apr 17, 2023 18:52:14 GMT
I've tried to improve the readability of my system diagram. The main signal goes left-to-right across the centre and is a solid line (as are the clocks).  |
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Post by MikeMusic on Apr 17, 2023 18:55:29 GMT
Who'd a thought this a couple of years back
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Post by MartinT on Apr 20, 2023 19:33:42 GMT
I felt that the Cisco took a dip in its burn-in two days ago but I've left it in the hands of Tara to mend its ways. However, it has been a much more benign process than the Finisar and I hear so much more of the 'shape' of instruments already. Sorry, I haven't a better description except that the timbre, location, acoustic and playing style are brought out more vividly than I've heard before. I think the final QA box on the P10 regenerator has helped reduce the noise floor further, too.
I'm not posting much about it any more as you have the gist by now and I love just playing as much music as I can before I tire each evening.
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Post by MikeMusic on Apr 20, 2023 20:13:06 GMT
My guess is the QA will continue to settle in and improve Fairy dust probably  |
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Post by nicholas on Apr 20, 2023 20:20:04 GMT
My Cisco AOC has only improved and evened out over time. It has raised my system to its all time best improving everything I like about music and performing very well with a high quality After Dark clock.
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Post by MartinT on Apr 21, 2023 4:57:37 GMT
The Cisco is already the best fibre link I've used by far, and last night was a revelation in terms of how much I can hear. Not just the better presentation of detail, but less upper-mid glare, too.
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Post by Clive on Apr 21, 2023 17:48:02 GMT
I wonder whether the Cisco fibre & transceivers will show good results with media converters. The media converters won’t be up to Swenson tech but I can’t help wondering. I’ll know soon enough!
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Post by Clive on Apr 23, 2023 17:03:58 GMT
I don’t want to intrude too much on your thread Martin but I think this is the logical place for my initial view on the Cisco SFP-10G-AOC. I had been using media converters with SC connectors. The PS on the dirty side is a decent smps, on the clean side it’s a Temple Supercharger (Supercap). Having nabbed the used and well-priced penultimate Cisco cable with SFP+ transceivers from eBay I had to source SFP media converters. Plugging it all together my first relief was that the SFP+ transceivers worked in the SFP cages. I was reasonably sure they would given the working setups on this thread..still it was a relief.
With my Lindemann Bridge I stream in 3 ways, 1 Qobuz, 2 from a server on my LAN, 3 locally attached Samsung SSD. I’ve always had a preference for SSD, then my server and finally Qobuz - which has been strangely variable in SQ even when my router isn’t loaded.
Even with non-optimal media converters (ie not Swenson designed) I now have all three data sources sounding the same. Even the directly attached SSD has improved, presumably some noise was leaching into the player as it was internet connected for control purposes.
I only have a few hours on the new set up so it may yet improve. It’s been fun and a worthwhile small investment. I suppose I should try daisy-chaining the SC and LC media converters, even if the SC ones will have to live with the suppled basic smps.
Thanks for helping me spend a small amount of money and have some fun into the bargain 😀
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Post by MartinT on Apr 23, 2023 18:04:52 GMT
That's great to hear, Clive.
My take-away from your experiment is your finding that all sources now sound the same. Excellent news, and matches my findings. Putting streaming and files through the same chain has proven to me that files and streaming sound the same, provided you clean up the noise to a substantial degree. The optical link certainly helps with that.
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Post by MartinT on Apr 28, 2023 19:46:00 GMT
15 days since I switched to the Cisco AOC and added the final QA grounding box. The system has had a diet of music every night and Tara Labs burn-in overnight and through the days. About 360 hours in total.
A step-change has happened. There is a huge soundstage with more depth than I've heard in this system, an ease to the delivery and bass that goes down to earth-shaking. Voice is very natural, fluid and fantastically beguiling.
If I never hear an improvement ever again, this will do nicely.
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Post by nicholas on Apr 28, 2023 20:46:06 GMT
Very similar experience here with similar kit and strategy... Each listening session brings new surprises with the wholeness of presentation being foremost among them.
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Post by MartinT on Apr 29, 2023 17:12:02 GMT
You know those 3D magic eye stereo pictures that were all the rage? Suddenly you 'see through' into depth that makes you feel slightly giddy? That's exactly how I feel listening to my system right now.  |
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Post by MartinT on May 1, 2023 9:46:43 GMT
I'm going to wrap up describing my system as it stands by talking about two favourite live albums. The first album is Natalie Merchant's Live in Concert New York City (1999). Carnival starts with a heavy drum beat and then her voice is dead centre, really well mic'd with no sibilance. Some gorgeous fuzzed guitar plays solo but the real impression is of the impact of the live occasion. This is no dry studio performance but an event recorded for posterity, full of reverb and powerful vibes. I'm playing at my normal volume of -12dB but it feels louder and more enveloping, because of the sound.
Another favourite album is Janis Ian Live (2003). Playing Breaking Silence is even more visceral than the Merchant, with piercing electric guitar and fantastically well mic'd drums. Again the bass vibes are potent but those drums are something else. Meanwhile her voice is rock steady and dead centre throughout. This is maybe not what you might expect from Janis Ian but what a concert it must have been, the event again having tremendous impact at my normal listen volume.
There are other great live recordings including Hawkwind's Space Ritual (1972), Harry Belafonte's Live at Carnegie Hall (1959), the latter sounding astonishing for its age, and Kraftwerk's The Man Machine (2004) that will test your bass potency. They all sound realistic with that 'event' sense of space which requires whipcrack dynamics, scale and deep bass to sound like a decent representation of the real thing.
My latest system diagram represents how it stands and I don't expect any further changes until the EtherREGEN Gen 2 arrives mid-year.
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