[audioengr]

Thanks, Steve!

Any consideration for an HQ Player NAA implementation?

(I only use Roon for the user interface. I have HQPlayer doing the upsampling, convolution, etc.)

Thanks!

I'll read up on this.  I think it requires a new firmware.

BTW, will HQplayer convert DSD to PCM on the fly or statically?

Steve N.

[BCRich1]

On the fly....

[andrewd01]

Thanks Steve

[firedog]

No Roon.  I want better audio quality.

Do you use Roon because of Tidal streaming?

Steve N.

Tidal integration into my library is one of the reasons. Others are the use of metadata and all the information it puts at my fingertips, and the ability to also use it with HQPlayer.

[ALRAINBOW]

STEVE i have read of the virtues of war over flac for years
Putting asside the meta data issues is this
What wave are you using
There are two I know of and the wav 64 is the betters
One ??
Flac I use is uncompressed and to be honest I cannot tell
Any wav from flac when I rip them
I use dB power amp
J river as well for conversion rips
As for roon I turn off all settings and stream to HQ
hq is set to none none in pcm as a pass though and dsm dsd as a pass through too
I use three PCs for playback
One a synology hack SAN with a full size Main board Zeon cpu
Player pc uses roon server and accesses the music drives and also has two one Tb drives
The second third pc is just hq player
I have tried usb and a few naa boards
Raspberry
HB
Nuc
all of the above are on many lps voltage busses
I do and have tried a few network isolation technics
One your suggestion in network isolater. I have offers that for a few people to get rid of there opticle
Isolaters. 
Some do have some advantages in some uses
At present I use the San and a usb doggle for networking control only
It sounds great.  But I do love tidal too and roon server may not be as good as the desktop app but it’s close
Lastly about roon was it sever or GUI
server is better by a margin over gui
Be it direct or streamed
 And if omen uses the roon combo and HQ roon server is a must
I know the new wave is data to dacs and usb is the enimy but I for one have not found network
To be better yet. Even Ina Msb sel 2 amd its own renderer

[audioengr]

STEVE i have read of the virtues of war over flac for years
Putting asside the meta data issues is this
What wave are you using
There are two I know of and the wav 64 is the betters
One ??

I only have one option with my version of DBpoweramp and XLD.  Was not aware of WAV64.

Flac I use is uncompressed and to be honest I cannot tell
Any wav from flac when I rip them
I use dB power amp
J river as well for conversion rips

I have always heard a difference with any other format than wav, even uncompressed FLAC and AIFF.  Each system is different.

I know the new wave is data to dacs and usb is the enimy but I for one have not found network
To be better yet. Even Ina Msb sel 2 amd its own renderer

The devil is in the details.  In order to get the magic that trounces USB, I need ALL of the ingredients:
1) fast reacting LPS for the router
2) modded router
3) good Ethernet cables
4) EMO EN-70e isolator
5) my Interchange renderer and LPS
6) Linn Kinsky controlling Minimserver  or Minimserver with BubbleUPnP as proxy
7) wav files

I can mod and tweak my USB interfaces until the cows come home (and I have) and never achieve what I get with my Ethernet interface.

Steve N.

[audioengr]

After making a significant improvement in jitter on my Synchro-Mesh (22psec -> 8psec), I decided to investigate whether I could make an equivalent change to the Interchange and my Ethernet interface on the Overdrive SX DAC.

The good news is that I designed a change and it reduces jitter significantly for the Ethernet interfaces also.  This eliminates the slight "bloom" that you get with a little jitter.  It is squeaky-clean sounding now.

It's an inexpensive mod at $150 plus shipping and PayPal fee.

Steve N.

[audioengr]

Latest Interchange jitter plots with the latest mods:

Jitter distribution:




Jitter in the 10-12 psec range.

Jitter spectrum:




No spikes over 1.3psec, and nice even spectrum at very high frequencies.  Jitter in the audio range in the low Femtoseconds.

This latest version is very focused and clear now, no "echoes" or "halos".  Acoustic guitar is in the room with you.

Steve N.

[sbank]

Just discovered, thanks to a European poster on What'sbest forum, that running BubbleUPnP as a proxy server with Minimserver improves the SQ even more.  You set proxy server inside BubbleUPnP and then select the Minimserver proxy rather than Minimserver for the music library inside Kinsky or Lumin control point.

Also, I am auditioning some really good Ethernet cables.  I was skeptical whether they would be an improvement on my CAT7 generic cables, but I was pleasantly surprised.  So far I have tested the WireWorld Starlight CAT8 and it is definitely better.  Much more live.  Next I will compare the Starlight Platinum CAT8.

Steve N.

Steve, thanks a bunch for that suggestion, "running BubbleUPnP as a proxy server with Minimserver improves the SQ even more.  You set proxy server inside BubbleUPnP and then select the Minimserver proxy rather than Minimserver for the music library inside Kinsky or Lumin control point." Just setup the proxy to run with my Lumin app, and immediately hear an improvement!

[audioengr]

Steve, thanks a bunch for that suggestion, "running BubbleUPnP as a proxy server with Minimserver improves the SQ even more.  You set proxy server inside BubbleUPnP and then select the Minimserver proxy rather than Minimserver for the music library inside Kinsky or Lumin control point." Just setup the proxy to run with my Lumin app, and immediately hear an improvement!

I guess the Bubble server software is better.  Make sure you set Open Home and Gapless playback under the renderer tab.  This makes it better with Minimserver.

Steve N.

[audioengr]

Muy buddy from SOtM brought over an Ethernet cable to try:

https://sotm-usa.com/collections/high-performance-cables/products/iso-cat6-special-edition?variant=31573186188

It has a built-in filter in the cable.

I liked it much better as the cable after the isolator than my current Wireworld Platinum cable.  Better separation and clarity.  The current optimal config. is:

Router/Switch -> Wireworld 0.5m Platinum Ethernet cable -> EMO EN-70e isolator -> SOtM Ethernet cable -> Interchange Renderer

Steve N.

[paul79]

Hi Steve,

Have you tried the new switch from SOtM? Any thoughts about the performance vs. the AQVOX?

[audioengr]

Hi Steve,

Have you tried the new switch from SOtM? Any thoughts about the performance vs. the AQVOX?

He has not been over yet with the SOtM switch.  Soon I think.