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Post by stellabagpuss on Nov 23, 2022 0:16:55 GMT
And so l return back to the Blog.... Hopefully you all enjoyed my review of the MA Studio Studios, been really enjoying them,and the extra bits of details they bring.
So l took the plunge two days ago,swapped out my PC SSD drive, and replaced it with the Devils Own Software Volumio 3.
l haven't used Volumio since version 2. I am glad to report,the interface has improved,although it a miles away from the slick Jriver 2 remote app, although it's functional, and if you can live with 2 to 3 seconds delay searching for a artist via my 8tb hard drive,you'll be fine, l managed to add 8 tracks to a play list,without any hitches.l have over 1600 artists on the drive,that's a lot of music!
So on to the sound, since my new MA speakers have arrived, l noticed lots of micro details,and something l picked up on via PC when a over compressed track gets going, there seemed to actually hear it was Too Hot and forced, also this was slightly presence on certain Vocal tracks, l put this down to the warts and all of the MA speakers,l simply couldn't pick up in this with the D7.
Well l was very surprised indeed, once l dialled in my PEQ Settings, l was greeted with a nice clean full and lush sound. Straight off the bat, the sound reminded me of the ifi Zen Stream. What was noticeable, for some reason, Low frequencies output is louder, l had the reduced the volume of my Behringer amp,but it's definitely an improvement,it's seems the be more chunky,more weight, compared to Windows 10 with Jriver. l believe ifi ZS software app is written by Volumio, could this be why they sound similar.
So l replayed some of those forced over compressed songs, still Hot..but more Brearable, and the same with hot vocals.
The sound of Volumio is definitely a step up over Jriver on Windows 10, not massive, and not apparent Straight away, l enjoyed Tom Robinson "Old Friend" like l had nevered heard it before, this is a hard recording, and normally sounds forced,,not in this case.
Then l tried Rush's Hold Your Fire in 24/96, this another example of great album, crap production. This album is always a hard to unlock, again Volumio presents the album as best as l've heard it yet,although l hate the drum production.
So result again,l'm slowly getting there sound wise. l plan to test MoOde Audio shortly, should be interesting to see if there is a different sound signature.
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Post by MartinT on Nov 23, 2022 6:01:40 GMT
You could try a grounding box to the DAC to tame your hot vocals. This is the outcome of getting more resolution from the system.
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Post by stellabagpuss on Nov 23, 2022 7:49:53 GMT
You could try a grounding box to the DAC to tame your hot vocals. This is the outcome of getting more resolution from the system. That's a possibility for the future Martin, the occasional hot vocals seems to be only apprant using Windows 10 and Jriver, and with over compressed stuff. This isn't so with Volumio, l'm putting this down to ditching Windows OS altogether,even though l run Fidilizer,you still have minor tasks running on Windows, with Volumio l guess this is minimal. A example is Dokken's superb album Under Lock & Key, the track "ln My Dreams", the original release is fine,however the SHM CD is so over compressed, it's a hard listen,it works with the quieter tracks like "Jaded Heart", but is wrecked when the band rocks out, for myself it's a disappointment, but hey if you want hear terrible mastering, checkout some of the Iron Maiden remasters,the faders are on number 11. l guess the old fashion term applies on some remasters,regardless of your kit, you can't polish a turd. |
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Post by MartinT on Nov 23, 2022 10:14:52 GMT
You will never hear worse recording/mastering than Coldplay's X&Y. The engineer should have been taken round the back...
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Post by julesd68 on Nov 23, 2022 11:06:21 GMT
Over the years MA have always had a rep for producing speakers that are a bit "hot" sounding - I'd assumed the current gear had rectified this...
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Post by John on Nov 23, 2022 14:08:05 GMT
The silvers were not hot
I used to avoid due to this reputation
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Post by stellabagpuss on Dec 3, 2022 14:16:33 GMT
Haven't been on parade for a bit, due to lots happening, been on Holiday, but as nice as that sounds,it's been a busy week,ferrying Kids and now we have the builders in, that are starting on our extension.
l did have panic moment,as l thought l was going to be without power to my listening area for possibly weeks,thankfully that's not the case now.
So l've been getting on really well with Volumio and indeed the MA Studio, with at times the sound being fantastic.
A couple of months back,l was experiment with the Sound if SSD drives in PC.
The upshot,l found they had different sound and quality, with my favourite being the Samsung 860 Pro.
Of course, l'm no longer running a Windows OS set up,it's still the Gigabyte Brix NUC PC ,but running Volumio OS instead,anyway if you follow my blog you'll be aware that things have changed.
One of the biggest Wow moments was moving the SSD completely away in it's own metal container.
So today l decided to swap out the Toshiba SSD for my preferred Samsung 860 Pro, and indeed, there was a small lift in quality, wider soundstage. But l must point out, not as big of a margin as the PC test was, that really does backup the improvement that can be gained by moving your OS SSD into its own enclosure.
Got plenty to play with, and some more things to sort out,including a change to a different Gigabyte Brix NUC that offers slightly better performance, but in theory, not at the cost of Sound Quality.
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Post by stellabagpuss on Dec 12, 2022 23:26:05 GMT
Okay, today l swapped out my Seagate 8tb for Samsung SSD 8tb.
Strange, my TecDeck drive holder didn't like my Zero Zone 01 psu, it started making clicks that got worse.And can only be described as sounding slow, l don't plan to use this method anyway, just a temporary set up, until my next NUC gets built.
Out comes the ifi Power X 12volt, that's better. Sound is cleaner, speed faster, one disappointment, Volumio access is still clunky, only slightly faster.
l may revist Jriver, but on Linux OS. l love the sound of Volumio 3, but it's so clunky in operation looking for files.
l am hoping that ditching Windows OS, will have the same effect with Jriver on Linux. l just need to research a bit,l know Zero about Linux,so anyone out there can offer some advice,l'd appreciate it.
l haven't really mentioned the Leaf Audio USB to SPDIF I2s Optical converter much, but l can highly recommend it,at least the Twin CRYSTEK 957 Femto Crystal version of it. No doubt,there are better units,but what l can say l2s into my R26 sounds fantastic, coaxial does as well, l just have preference for it,over Coaxial.
Damien
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Post by stellabagpuss on Dec 28, 2022 22:54:41 GMT
Okay, been a while seen l've added anything.Im loving the precision the Leo Bodnar clock brings.And here are my views on two changes l made....
Ifi Elite 5v DC PSU
Thought l'd satisfy my curiosity on the psu front to the LB clock
The ifi Elite does improve things, slightly better lows,and better positioning in mixes, ultra low background. Guess it's a hard one, does it improve the LB yes, but it's double the price of the LB. The Elite sounds better than the Zero Zone 01 on the LB, with Zero having more of a warm sound, but not as good at retaining the soundstage and air, this is small margins,but can be heard,actually it's a strange one,as l even prefer the standard black lfi psu suppling the LB over the Zero Zone, the Elite improves things further.
So on to the Tellurium Q Ultra Blue II speaker cable, what a great sounding cable, neutral, improved the mids nicely, more air and snap, and quite dynamic a great find, and doesn't add to much personality, a upgrade for myself.
Again this was a curiosity purchase, and good one indeed.
Damien
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Post by John on Dec 29, 2022 5:45:59 GMT
Thanks for the update. This helps where to push the system for marginal gains next year.
The Ultra Blue is a good bargain cable nice and clean and has been a good addition to my system.
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Post by stellabagpuss on Jan 16, 2023 0:01:50 GMT
Well now that l've got the Christmas bout of flu out of the way,l had a chance to play this weekend.
Before Christmas l purchased a more modern NUC, a Gigabyte Brix 5105. The attraction was it's still low powered, has a faster CPU, takes more RAM, and also takes a NVM hard drive.
l actually only got around to this,as just before Christmas,l couldn't get the unit to boot up,then l was ill. So after a revist,l discovered the RAM l purchased was not compatible, or possibly faulty.
So with the set up, l purchased a Samsung 980 Pro SSD drive, and Installed Volumio 3. This meant l could ditch having my OS SSD in its own enclosure and it's independent PSU.
Well as l listen, as everything is still burning in, l'm pretty pleased.l would say mids and highs are slightly clearer,and the flow,seems slightly faster.
l am unfortunately having to run my storage via USB. l was hoping to use my now spare SATA cable to plug my SSD direct,which has my music stored on it. However Volumio refuses to read the drive when connected to the SATA port,and the funny thing, Volumio actually sees the drive, perhaps there is a work around this.
So is this a marginal improvement,we will have to see, access to files is stuttered at time,it's when you open a folder, but once opened, playback is instance, so it's more of a speed of access. l will simply have to wait for things to burn in.
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Post by stellabagpuss on Jan 22, 2023 13:21:22 GMT
Had a good result today,making a couple of changes to the the Gigabyte Brix 5105 today.
Firstly l took advantage of the ability of taking more RAM,so l have gone from 8gb to 16gb.
Secondly l reported a strange issue with Volumio 3, not reading music data from an interal SATA. Thankfully a user on the Volumio forum reached out and helped.All that had to be done was to rename the SSD drive,so instead Volume B,C or D etc,just name it 'ihdd', and presto.This adjustment can be made in WindowsOS
This now allows me to ditch the USB Dock, and go back to my independently powering the drive in a metal enclosure,if you recall, l had great success on my N4000 Brix when running the operating system.
l also discovered that a M.2 drives run very hot,so l also added a Heatsink, not that the drive going to be taxed from running audio.
Well l'm pleased to report, that l can report a improvement over the USB Dock,additional air is present,speed of delivery is definitely faster,and positioning more solid in the mix.
Doing these additional things has pushed things a little further in my view.
Access is faster again, however l have still got the stuttering of opening a new file whilst playing a track exists. I think this is possibly a software thing, where Volumio is prioritising the sound over a file search. And l plan to look into this in the further,via the Volumio forum.
Thanks you for putting up with, what is probably a boring post to many, but hopefully it will be a resource for others in the future.
More updates as they happen. And l see others are discovering the joys of screening plugs are leads. l plan to do a bit more of this,after much success with my PC internals and leads.
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Post by julesd68 on Jan 22, 2023 13:44:13 GMT
Yes keep it going D - definitely a useful resource for PCers ...
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Post by John on Jan 22, 2023 14:18:30 GMT
Yes keep it going
I wish I had the skills and knowledge to do this myself
Unfortunately I gave up on pc audio a few years ago. Having gone fanless and playing with bughead for a few years
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Post by stellabagpuss on Jan 22, 2023 14:43:27 GMT
Thanks chaps for the nice comments.
To be honest Volumio is Linux based,so it's the same principles if it's a streamer or a PC, they all have a cpu,ram and storage and software.
It's NUC is where it's at for me, there small,low wattage, a million miles from the ATX stuff l used to run,and far better quality.
l have to thank Tony for educating me along the way
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Post by julesd68 on Jan 23, 2023 18:18:59 GMT
I can't remember if I asked you - is the Audio GD back in the system?
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Post by stellabagpuss on Jan 23, 2023 18:54:15 GMT
I can't remember if I asked you - is the Audio GD back in the system? No it's been returned for a warranty repair. Once returned, l going to sell on. My set up now surpasses the GD |
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Post by julesd68 on Jan 23, 2023 20:06:23 GMT
Ah yes, now I remember, you did tell me!   |
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Post by stellabagpuss on Jan 30, 2023 19:35:51 GMT
What an interesting week we had with the screening, my set up has now gone up a few levels,thanks to copper shielding tape and Rustins G Sheild. I have to thank John for letting in on the Ground Box tip, his recomandation after putting Faraday Tape on the Box set a light bulb off in my head, and the fact I'd been sat on tin of G Sheild for months,was an opportunity not to be missed. As you probably read, John and myself where amazed at the effect this had on our ground boxes, mine on the ground was subtle to OMG. I also learnt a few things along the way, and it's a reminder about shielding, you need to totally cover your ground box in a outer shielding, be it with Faraday or Copper Tape or Rustins ,or Rustins in a closed carboard box,for the shielding to work properly.
You can demostrate that with a mobile phone app, or a SW FM portable radio, once covered or in a box closed, the signal should be reduced or gone. It's worth pointing out that doing this test on the LW MW bands is a waste of time, due to the low frequencies,and what is call the skin effect, you would have to have a thick copper or metal covering for it to be effective. One things for sure, just using cardboard sheilds on one or two sides won't work, and you can test this yourself,by using the methods I have outlined. It's really ironic that after I applied all the shielding to my set up,plugs connectors etc and it's sounding superb, that I have to report I will be without my HI-FI for about 4 weeks !! We have the builders in doing an extention. Just my luck, but it does bring my other project forward, I can sit around twiddleling my fingers. O, I nearly forgot, I also added some sheilding to my Leaf Audio USB device, and a bit for the crystals and some sorbanthane damping I had kicking around. Again a very positive result,thats removed a the trace of harshness, it's hard to say in regards to noise floor, a it's already low, but the flow is better, and it's seems more relaxed...if thats a thing! My next plan to open up my Gustard R26 and do a bit of shielding inside  20230130_123823 by Damien Read, on Flickr I am open to suggestions, but as you can see from my unit, sheilding can be applied on the PSU cables, a couple of ribbon cables. The transformers have there own covers, I'm thinking some G Shield on the covers, the power section,has been sectioned away,so shielding will help on the metal barrier. Another area that can't been seen in my photo, the the back of the LCD display that overlooks all the board. A bit of damping for the case,,basic stuff really. I don't intend to replace any components, it's beyond my skill set. Thankfully, this is pretty easy to carry out. Feel free to suggest anything, and I'll try to give you a update picture once finished. |
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Post by John on Jan 30, 2023 20:28:42 GMT
I suggest do it stages as you can then identify if you go wrong and then reverse the process
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