[audioengr]

. Steve, for the SM, would it be better to use the bnc connection with a bnc to RCA adaptor or the coax connection?

Definitely the BNC connection, no adapters.

Steve N.

[cooch]

Definitely the BNC connection, no adapters.

Steve N.

ok thanks, but if adaptor is no good I'll have to stick with coax because my dac won't take bnc

[Watthead]

I just realized when I use my computer digital output and connect directly via cable (toshlink)  into the Synchro Mesh, it sounds better then when I transmit the music wirelessly to my Apple TV, and then having the Apple TV send the music to the Mesh via toshlink cable. Any reason why? Since the Mesh resamples I thought it didn't matter where the signal came from. But to me (and my wife) it sounds better the computer connected direct to the SM vs using apple tv's wireless airplay. Am i going crazy? Do I need a vacation?

[path73]

After a few months listening and tesing with the SM, I must say this is an increadible piece of equipment and would like to give here some (positive) feedback.

Initially bought to enhance the sound of my Swisscom TV receiver box and for movie playback, I now feel I can use it as a main source for my pure audio listening sessions as well!

In my setup, I get a virtually identical sound quality as with my Win7 Jplay-v5 driven (the best one I found on Windows with ASIO driver now supporting song-seek and volume control, initially using the now relatively less convincing foobar0.8.3 on XP in unmapped mode) and Paul Hynes SR3-12 powered USB Off-Ramp (older but still gorgeous version Turbo 2 with SuperClock 4 upgrade) feeding my Empirical Audio modded Northstar Design m192 DAC through a Revelation Audio I2S silver cable.

It is noteworthy to mention that in order to get there I had to power the SM (standard 96kHz version with 24bit setting) with a Paul Hynes SR3-12 power supply and use a high performance SPDIF coax cable (found a fantastic 1.5m silver reference cable BNC-RCA from less-known CableDyne company at a very humble price tag). Both of these upgrades are absolutely necessary in my experience to really let the music shine through the SM (and totally forget about any technical audio aspects). Leave one of these two out and I would just go back to my OR-2 setup for ultimate enjoyment.

The rest of my audio chain is Empirical Audio Holophonic analog RCA cables (no longer in production) to a Vecteur Club Twelve MOS-FET amp (upgraded audio fuse and home-made solid wire power cord) and EA Clarity7 speaker cables (no longer in production) to a pair of B&W 3-way floorstanders.

From a usability point of view, the fact that I can simply connect my small fanless nettop PC running XBMC (latest v.12 frodo for ultimate functionality and content including SpotiMC add-on for Spotify streaming) through a simple HDMI cable, as well as my TV set-top box and other multimedia devices using HDMI cables to my Philips LED-LCD-TV, select the input on my TV and simply use an optical-SPDIF cable from TV to SM without any sound degradation compared to a straight optical out from my i7-MacBook Pro running Win7 Foobar to SM, this is an absolute killer!!

Thank you so much Steve for making this (as we would say here) "tour de force" possible!

Cheers, /patrick

[audioengr]

I just realized when I use my computer digital output and connect directly via cable (toshlink)  into the Synchro Mesh, it sounds better then when I transmit the music wirelessly to my Apple TV, and then having the Apple TV send the music to the Mesh via toshlink cable. Any reason why? Since the Mesh resamples I thought it didn't matter where the signal came from. But to me (and my wife) it sounds better the computer connected direct to the SM vs using apple tv's wireless airplay. Am i going crazy? Do I need a vacation?

Its Apples fault here I believe.  Unlike most WiFi applications like Sonos and Squeezebox, Apple converts all files to ALAC before transmitting.  It may even resample to 48.  Also, they use the audio stack whereas Sonos or SB does not.  I think the data must be modified.

Steve N.

[Watthead]

Its Apples fault here I believe.  Unlike most WiFi applications like Sonos and Squeezebox, Apple converts all files to ALAC before transmitting.  It may even resample to 48.  Also, they use the audio stack whereas Sonos or SB does not.  I think the data must be modified.

Steve N.

Good to know I'm not going crazy. I went ahead and bought a 5 meter long toslink mini to toslink, and bypassed my apple tv. So no wireless convenience, but it sounds better.

[Stephen]

If you are interested in streaming from iTunes and assuming you have an iPad, check out this article:

http://www.audiostream.com/content/ipad-wireless-2496-music-streamer-2900

It shows how to wirelessly stream through your iPad at 24 bit/96 kHz - and inexpensively too!

Stephen

[RDaneel]

Steve,

Can you say what the draw is for the SM?  I see Pangea offers a 12V PSU with 500ma output.  Stereophile liked the unit, and the price is far far lower than a Hynes.  Would 500ma run the SM adequately?

Thanks in advance,
RDaneel

[audioengr]

Steve,

Can you say what the draw is for the SM?  I see Pangea offers a 12V PSU with 500ma output.  Stereophile liked the unit, and the price is far far lower than a Hynes.  Would 500ma run the SM adequately?

Thanks in advance,
RDaneel

Current draw is about 200ma, but the di/dt is much larger.  You need a really fast regulating supply for this or its a waste of money.

Steve N.

[Watthead]

Just wanted to report,

I've been using the Cabledyne Silver Reference Digital Coaxial and have gotten very good results connected from the Synhro-Mesh to my Dac. Very clear sound, big soundstage, not bright or edgy, but good presence and pace. Bass is very good good to, good extension without ever contributing to bloat. Very impressed with the cable.

[path73]

Watthead - you give a pretty good description of what I hear, too, from the Cabledyne silver ref digital coax cable connecting SM to DAC in my setup.
How would you compare it to the Wireworld starlight 6 coaxial rca that you mentioned in a previous post?
/path

[Watthead]

Watthead - you give a pretty good description of what I hear, too, from the Cabledyne silver ref digital coax cable connecting SM to DAC in my setup.
How would you compare it to the Wireworld starlight 6 coaxial rca that you mentioned in a previous post?
/path

I don't believe it's a fair comparison, due to the price gap between both. At around 75/meter I don't believe there is a better performer than the Starlight 6. Having said that, the Cabledyne beats it in every department. It has more reach, presence, texture and better bass. This is not your usual silver cable, when one associates with being forward or edgy. It's none of that. It has a very welcome clarity and fullness to the way it goes about doing it's business, and as I said before presents it all in a big soundstage. It doesn't color up any particular frequency, so it does well by presenting everything in a balanced fashion. As i said, i'm very impressed by the cable.

[Karl91]

Hey Watthead,

I actually just bought the silver starlight 6 based on your positive reviews of the starlight. Without having heard the silver starlight, do you think it's comparable to the Cabledyne? The prices are almost the same.

[steve in jersey]

One day last week I took my SM out of the playback chain, for a day & a half, to see how things would sound. It made a pretty nice improvement when I was using it between my Auraliti & Metrum Octave DAC. The soundstage really "opens up" with the 24bit switch engaged. I initially thought that I was hearing a bit less low frequency response & a slightly less focused imaging at 24bit, but it turned out there were no losses in those areas. (I know, this is old news I've already reported... I getting to it..).

Some time in early Jan. I switched my DAC to the Metrum Hex, but I kept the SM inline. Curiosity got the better of me & I decided to see how the Hex would fare w/o the SM in front of it. The Hex sounded pretty good as it's portrayal of "micro detail" is off the charts, but I finally realized the elements of Orchestral width & height had moved back into the shadows a bit. After putting the SM back in place all that nice staging information came back.

There is no going back to listening to music at a 16bit depth for me (unless it's to listen to CD in my car). At various times my own attempts to increase the bit depth of rips ,through software, were less than satisfying. Whatever chip is being used in the SM for the bit depth change is worth it's weight in platinum as far as I'm concerned. Things would be so much easier if they had'nt settled on 16bit/44.1khz as the digital standard(& of the two ,the bit depth was less sufficient)

[Watthead]

Hey Watthead,

I actually just bought the silver starlight 6 based on your positive reviews of the starlight. Without having heard the silver starlight, do you think it's comparable to the Cabledyne? The prices are almost the same.

Karl91,

I haven't had the pleasure of auditioning the Silver Starlight so i'm in no position to give you any pointers. However, I've heard nothing but good things about the cable from solid sources, so I suspect you're in for a treat. Care to share your experience?

[Karl91]

Will do when it comes. Although I'm several weeks away from upgrading my system significantly (new amp and speaker wire are on their way). And the silver starlight will be replacing a very inexpensive cable. Returning to the thread topic, I'm excited to add the synchro mesh soon as well.

[kzhtoo]

After a few months listening and tesing with the SM, I must say this is an increadible piece of equipment and would like to give here some (positive) feedback.

Initially bought to enhance the sound of my Swisscom TV receiver box and for movie playback, I now feel I can use it as a main source for my pure audio listening sessions as well!

In my setup, I get a virtually identical sound quality as with my Win7 Jplay-v5 driven (the best one I found on Windows with ASIO driver now supporting song-seek and volume control, initially using the now relatively less convincing foobar0.8.3 on XP in unmapped mode) and Paul Hynes SR3-12 powered USB Off-Ramp (older but still gorgeous version Turbo 2 with SuperClock 4 upgrade) feeding my Empirical Audio modded Northstar Design m192 DAC through a Revelation Audio I2S silver cable.

It is noteworthy to mention that in order to get there I had to power the SM (standard 96kHz version with 24bit setting) with a Paul Hynes SR3-12 power supply and use a high performance SPDIF coax cable (found a fantastic 1.5m silver reference cable BNC-RCA from less-known CableDyne company at a very humble price tag). Both of these upgrades are absolutely necessary in my experience to really let the music shine through the SM (and totally forget about any technical audio aspects). Leave one of these two out and I would just go back to my OR-2 setup for ultimate enjoyment.

The rest of my audio chain is Empirical Audio Holophonic analog RCA cables (no longer in production) to a Vecteur Club Twelve MOS-FET amp (upgraded audio fuse and home-made solid wire power cord) and EA Clarity7 speaker cables (no longer in production) to a pair of B&W 3-way floorstanders.

From a usability point of view, the fact that I can simply connect my small fanless nettop PC running XBMC (latest v.12 frodo for ultimate functionality and content including SpotiMC add-on for Spotify streaming) through a simple HDMI cable, as well as my TV set-top box and other multimedia devices using HDMI cables to my Philips LED-LCD-TV, select the input on my TV and simply use an optical-SPDIF cable from TV to SM without any sound degradation compared to a straight optical out from my i7-MacBook Pro running Win7 Foobar to SM, this is an absolute killer!!

Thank you so much Steve for making this (as we would say here) "tour de force" possible!

Cheers, /patrick

Hi Patrick,
Would you mind sharing where I can purchase Paul Hynes SR3-12 for my Synchro-mesh? I looked it up on Paul's site and didn't see SR3-12.

Best,

[paul79]

Just contact Paul through the website... He is planning updates to the site from what I have read..

He may be slow to answer, but he likely will. I ordered a SR3-12 in January, but have not heard from him since, and he has not answered any emails since then... I'm sure he is very busy though... I just keep hoping to find it on my porch one of these days.

[path73]

Hi Patrick,
Would you mind sharing where I can purchase Paul Hynes SR3-12 for my Synchro-mesh? I looked it up on Paul's site and didn't see SR3-12.

Best,

kzhtoo,
I read that Steve is going to stock and offer them for sales in the US, which is good news!
I bought a European version a few years ago directly from Paul Hynes.
Obviously, his website is a bit outdated.
I ordered a new DC umbilical for my SM before his surgical operation and am now waiting until he gets a chance to processes all the pending orders (including mine), procedure which I fully agreed with before ordering. I hope he will recover quickly. He is such a friendly and competent guy.
Cheers,

[steve in jersey]

Just contact Paul through the website... He is planning updates to the site from what I have read..

He may be slow to answer, but he likely will. I ordered a SR3-12 in January, but have not heard from him since, and he has not answered any emails since then... I'm sure he is very busy though... I just keep hoping to find it on my porch one of these days.

Paul,

If you don't mind my asking , what was the cost of the SR3-12 ? (USD if possible; if not any currency price will do) thanks. (That is, of course, if Paul has'nt requested that you not pass on this information at this time)