That is completely unacceptable 
We need a thorough report both with and without the SOtM.
I figured I'd update this thread with my progress with my CAPS server.
I must say that I really struggled through this one. Between sound issues caused by my power conditioner with the CAPS server, J.River Media Center lock ups, JPLAY in general, and friggin' Windows 8, this thing almost drove me nuts!
So I guess the place to start is what I found running the CAPS plugged into my PS Audio Duet power conditioner. When I unplugged my Touch setup from the power conditioner, I plugged the CAPS into the same spot. I never gave this any thought at all. The power conditioner made things better with the Touch, so why not the CAPS? WRONG!!
To keep this post as short as possible, the sound was different from the Touch setup I had, but it was more trade offs than anything. There were things the Touch setup did better, and things the CAPS did better. There was no clear winner in overall sound quality or enjoyment.
This was also when I was trying to run JPLAY as well. I state "trying" because JPLAY was the most annoying program ever. It locked up JRMC if I tried doing anything but let the music play. If I paused or stopped playback, or switched tracks too quickly, JRMC was sure to lock up. This often made me have to reboot the CAPS server to get things going again. JPLAY was clearly making things sound better by adding clarity, sound stage separation and depth, and overall tone improvements. I came so close to buying JPLAY like 10 times and didn't because of the issues I was having. This turned out to be a great thing.
A few weeks back, I got fed up with the whole thing and got desperate. I needed to experiment with things, and decide whether or not I should just go back to the Touch. After all, it never locked up, had MUCH better remote control systems, IR remote control, and sounded better in some ways.
The first test I did was to bypass the SOtM USB card's output and just use the CAPS' motherboard USB ports. HUGE improvement in sound quality. In what way? In every way! Clarity, imaging, separation, everything. I was not VERY disappointed with the SOtM USB card, and even inquired about returning it.
I was talking with a friend of mine, and he brought up that there is no way the SOtM card should sound bad after all the great reviews it gets. He thought something was wrong with the card, and it should be replaced. But during our phone conversation, I mentioned that I was thinking about bypassing the power conditioner altogether, but hadn't tried it yet.
So I plug the CAPS server into the wall bypassing the power conditioner, and the sound get worse...a lot worse. I wasn't surprised by this as the power conditioner usually did very positive things for everything but my DAC (long story there). To be clear, I was also still bypassing the SOtM USB card.
So now that I heard the CAPS server both plugged into the power conditioner and directly into the wall, the power conditioner really made things sound great. I was still VERY disappointed with the very pricey SOtM card and I felt I could have easily lived with the CAPS server's motherboard USB outs while plugged into the power conditioner. Well, that was until I tried the SOtM card again with the CAPS plugged into the wall.
I plugged the USB cable back into the SOtM card with the CAPS plugged directly into the wall, and was greeted by the best sound I've ever heard from my setup...by a LOT! So what was different? Mainly the difference was the clarity improved so much, it was like hearing through the music. Everything just seemed to fall into place. Sound stage, clarity, micro detail, you name it, all outstanding. The level of realism that I didn't think could be improved upon from my setup was immediately noticeable. I can't really describe it. Just know that the sound has been incredible ever since. It's so good, I never even wanted to go back and compare the sound to bypassing the SOtM card, nor even bother plugging the Touch back in. It seems like I can play anything in my library, and I can enjoy it thoroughly. I have never heard so few compromises from my setup before.
So what about JPLAY? It actually makes things sound worse now. Not by a lot, but some. I even had a friend the loves JPLAY over to compare, and he too thought JPLAY was making things slightly worse. GREAT!! You know why? Not only did I save the ~$130 for the program, but while not using JPLAY, JRMC was running rock solid. Not a lockup, or any type of issue since not running JPLAY. This was now getting good...really good!
Since figuring out that the SOtM card might be one of the greatest things in digital audio when not being messed up by my power conditioner, I decided to put a fresh install of Windows 8 and JRMC. I even got the IR remote feature to work, so now I really don't miss the Touch.
I have also found Splashtop remote software, and got Windows 8 figured out. Things have been running flawlessly for the last couple of weeks. My new headless CAPS server is now one of the best purchases I have ever made for my audio setup.
So things are perfect, right? Nope. I grew very tired of the remote control for JRMC. The Android phone app is ok, using Splashtop to control JRMC directly is kind of busy, and the web interface (Webgizmo) is a clunky piece of crap that is very slow. I had been digging around and found Jremote to control JRMC, but it was an iOS only app. I don't have any iOS devices that I could use, and I didn't want to buy an iPad to control my music server. This is why I didn't go with a Mac Mini to begin with. But as things turned out, my wife let me buy an iPad 2 16mb for $400. I wasn't happy about spending the money, but wow is Jremote sexy! It is blazing fast, has one of the most functional interfaces I've ever used, and it looks incredible. I'd say worth every single penny it cost me.
I never wanted to spend this much on my digital source (CAPS server, JRMC, and an iPad 2 with Jremote), but I think it's worth much more than I paid. My friend said he's never heard my setup sound more "analog" than it does now. I never really understood what "analog" meant, but I struggle to find any other word that describes the sound better. I guess I now know what "analog" means.
I'm also very surprised how well my Eastern Electric DAC Plus is sounding via its USB input. I'm a cable guy, and I'm currently using a Pangea USB-PC cable I picked up for $27 shipped. The sound is so good, I have no plans to even try other USB cables. For me, that says everything.
