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Post by MartinT on Dec 16, 2023 17:20:58 GMT
A little end of year round-up of my progress. I can't exactly trace when I finally took the turntable and then the SACD player out of the system, but I'm pretty sure it was in 2019. That means I've been at this streaming lark for four plus years, which sounds about right.
So how have I done, and do I regret leaving all the old media behind?
Well, I've certainly learned a lot about digital replay and it hasn't all been plain sailing, with lots of false turns and dead ends. There have been a series of streaming solutions starting with Volumio and working towards what I have now. I've had three DACs in that time, too, and a preamp that is no more. Countless power supplies and other bits on trial. Cables have come and gone, too, while Qobuz has been introduced. It's been a lot of learning because I insist on doing things for myself, putting what I've learned into my pool of experience.
Despite the odd setback, progress has always been towards the goals of achieving the very highest quality of playback without swapping many components or starting from scratch. However, knowing where to focus those efforts, that's a different story. If only I had know where to spend money for the best bang, but that's all part of the learning.
Where that leaves me is with a system vaguely resembling what I had back then, but unrecognisably better in every possible aural metric. It's so different that I don't know where to start. My system back then was just attempting to make a decent fist of rudimentary replay but it was really lacking in all the elements that make music sound real. My system now plays music such that I can lose myself in it. Thinking about it that way, four years wasn't too bad.
Almost forgot...
Do I regret leaving all my media behind? Not one tiny bit.
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Post by wannarock2 on Dec 16, 2023 20:23:00 GMT
.. regret leaving all my media behind? Not one tiny bit. funny you mention this. just recently, my nephew age 32 flipped-out when i gave him my 25-year vinyl collection. digital is just too easy and exact. |
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Post by MartinT on Dec 16, 2023 21:47:17 GMT
digital is just too easy and exact. Perception, maybe. The reality is very different. |
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Post by wannarock2 on Dec 16, 2023 23:24:36 GMT
when digital dynamic range (DR) content gets into the teens i’m pretty happy  |
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Post by MartinT on Dec 17, 2023 9:34:54 GMT
when digital dynamic range (DR) content gets into the teens i’m pretty happy There are a lot of digital streams with awesome dynamics, way beyond what a turntable could manage. It's extracting that performance that takes some effort. What I'm finding is that more songs that I love fall into this category, unlocking their hidden secrets and sounding almost like a different song. |
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Post by MartinT on Dec 17, 2023 20:27:38 GMT
Back to the Uptone JS-2 power supply. I have trouble believing what a positive difference this has made to my system. Remember: it powers my 2nd AfterDark clock. It isn't even in the signal path except indirectly. Yet, so clean is this PSU that it has made a substantial and highly noticeable improvement to the entire presentation. The AfterDark clock's performance is dependent on its PSU - no surprise there, the real surprise is just how much it depends on a clean supply and how well it responds to one.
I thought the Zero Zones are a decent Chinese power supply with great value for money, and they do remain that. However, the JS-2 simply clobbers it with performance on an entirely different plane. The music pops from my speakers with a vividness that is hard to describe. Over and over again, it's doing it with different music no matter what I play. Everything sounds better, sometimes playing a song I thought I knew well with a startled "where did that come from" moment.
I didn't think this particular upgrade was going to rank as one of my all-time greatest, I was really satisfying a curiosity about choke-regulated power supplies and how it might work particularly well with a clock. Curiosity well fulfilled!
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Post by MikeMusic on Dec 17, 2023 20:33:29 GMT
Crazy it should make so much difference
PSU for the 2nd clock - can't make a difference !
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Post by MartinT on Dec 17, 2023 20:36:39 GMT
If a JS-2 does that for my 2nd clock, what might one do for my 1st clock?
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Post by MikeMusic on Dec 18, 2023 11:49:47 GMT
Quite
The more we find out the more incredible it all seems
Everything matters
and there is more to discover
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Post by brettj on Dec 19, 2023 21:09:02 GMT
You might want to wait a bit Martin.
Just got an email from Alex
For the future we will have out our advanced new JS-4.
Here are some details about it:
Within its current output capability, its measured and sonic performance will be quite a bit better than both JS-2 and LPS-1.2. (Very early beta users—even before many circuit advancements—told us it is equal or beyond Paul Hynes and Farad.)
Triple regulation, with the second stage being same model Micrel regs as JS-2 (only surface mount version since for all output voltages we keep input to regs at just 0.8V above required output, so less heat), and final stage being paralleled LT3045 (as in LPS-1.2 but 4 per channel)
Ultracapacitors are be used between second and third stage of regulation. But not for storage as in LPS-1.2. They are to provide 143,000uF of filter capacitance in small space.
We are using Cree/Wolfspeed silicon--carbide Schottky diodes. Performance of these is amazing.
Transformer is 80VA/R-65 size R-core from the same custom supplier we use for JS-2’s 100VA/R-80 R-core. But dual shielded secondaries so we can feed two sets of diodes and make the two output rails 100% isolated from each other. (So fully that you could make a cable to produce bi-polar +/- output from a JS-4’s two outputs.)
This isolation also makes it ideal for powering devices on opposite sides of EtherREGEN’s isolation domain—such as EtherREGEN and clock.
2A from each output, plus special mode switch that parallels the supplies internally so that one output jack can produce 4A. Plus a special SMA jack to allow paralleling of multiple units. So two units together could be one 8A output or one 6A and one 2A.
User set switch to set voltages for each output—in range from 3.3V all the way to 15V.
Ultra-low resistance Neutrik SpeakON jacks; We will offer our SAPPHIRE star-quad, silver-plated, Teflon-insulated DC cables with SpeakON plug at PS end.
Will be in same beautiful case as our popular JS-2. Price will be in the range of $1,350 (without DC cables).
Full pre-production/beta boards are now in hand. Except for the chassis—which I need to finish back panel CAD drawings and silk-screen artwork for—production parts have been purchased for the first 100 units.
So hoping to begin shipments by March/April 2024.
I promise it will be worth the wait!
Cheers,
Alex Crespi
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Post by MartinT on Dec 19, 2023 21:50:21 GMT
Hi Brett, I know all about the JS-4 coming and Alex has already spoken to me about it. Better on paper (except total output current), but it's not choke-regulated and I think that's the magic that my clock so likes. It isn't all about absolute noise output, it's about type of noise and the JS-2's is benign, as proven by the listening. I don't exaggerate when I repeat how much better it is than the Zero Zone, which itself is not a bad PSU at all.
It's a dilemma that I'm still thinking on: my head tells me to wait for the JS-4, my heart tells me I want more of what the JS-2 gives me.
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Post by MikeMusic on Dec 20, 2023 10:47:54 GMT
Give me patience - and make it fast ! |
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Post by MartinT on Dec 20, 2023 11:59:10 GMT
LOL, I don't think my decision will be about patience so much as I LOVE what the JS-2 does and want more of that rather than the unknown.
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Post by MartinT on Dec 20, 2023 14:50:01 GMT
The Ghent DC-4S8G OFC DC cable arrived today, beautifully made as ever and incredibly thick for a DC cable. The photo doesn't do it justice. It has gone in place of the Zero Zone freebie DC cable powering the router from the Coherent QP-2 12V PSU. Once again, the difference is audible (have I said before that digital is even more tweaky than analogue?) as a small but noticeable improvement in detail focus. I shall leave it to burn-in and then that is definitely it for 2023!  |
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Post by MartinT on Dec 21, 2023 16:26:37 GMT
Wow, this Canare cable certainly hit a record burn-in low last night, becoming dreadfully shrieky at some frequencies in the high midrange. Thankfully, that's now gone and it's settling into a nice level of performance. I did run the P3's Cleanwave a good few times to 'help it along'.
Being shielded, star-quad and having thick cores, it is already a good step ahead of the Zero Zone freebie DC cable. Lovely power supply cable for not a lot of money.
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Post by MikeMusic on Dec 21, 2023 17:04:05 GMT
A difficult one to explain to anyone who denies there is such a thing as cable burn in |
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Post by MartinT on Dec 27, 2023 17:08:40 GMT
Really pleasing to hear the JS-2 fully get into its stride and the Canare star-quad DC cable achieve a lovely level of performance, now higher than the Zero Zone cable. I am luxuriating in music, having been deprived for 36 hours.
I was also a bit naughty a week ago. I had already decided that the JS-2 is so exceptional that I would purchase another one next year. Well, I may have ordered it already...
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Post by petea on Dec 27, 2023 22:26:35 GMT
Weel I guess if it doesn't arrive in the next 4 days, you're in the clear!  |
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Post by MartinT on Dec 29, 2023 9:09:16 GMT
Here's my surprise package arriving from the inestimable Mr Brook. If you can even guess the type and brand of product you'll be doing well.  |
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Post by MartinT on Dec 29, 2023 12:18:33 GMT
Weel I guess if it doesn't arrive in the next 4 days, you're in the clear! Eternal hell for me, then. It's arriving today (not the parcel above, that's different). |
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📶NAS > Gustard x26p DAC > Benchmark LA4 Pre-Amp > NAD M22-V2 Amplifier > Revel F228Be Speakers
