[rumina]

Well I didn't have a whole lot of time but did sit down for an hour or so to listen to the Termy with and without my SU-6 DDC. My SU-6 has stayed powered on the whole time, I just swapped the USB cable from my Lumin U1 to the USB input on the Termy or to the SU-6 with HDMI out to the Termy.

I listened to my 2ch only (no headphones):https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=systems;area=browse;system=273


First I still like NOS more, I don't dislike OS but NOS sounds more natural. As far as the "slow" and "sharp" filters I love both of them It just depends on the recording, great recorded music sound awesome with the "sharp" filter, bad recordings is just too much of a good thing and I have to put it back on "Slow" filter where it will stay most of the time.


So cut to the chase, in my system going from the Lumin to the USB input of the Termy was preferred by my wife and I, and not by a little. I can go on and on but the bottom line what sold it for me was the micro-detail/micro-dynamics that the SU-6 would put a veil over it, I could hear subtle sounds from female voices (Diana Krall) that I didn't hear with the Singxer in the system. The bass was actually pretty close but on things like an upright bass you could hear the detail of the fingers plucking a lot better with the USB input.

my new dsp board has now more the 100h on it and my impression are quite similar to yours. used a roon rock - singxer su-6 - denafrips - pathos inpol/dynahi - susvara/abyss phi some months. with the new dsp board i prefer direct usb connection from my roon rock (with a regulated psu).

the difference os vs nos are now a lot smaler, befor i strongly preferd the os mode. a bit more dynamic even a bit agressive on some systems. now they are quite similar, that is really a fine enhancement, os delivers a tad more energy vs nos that is more relaxed (rounded?).

what i like the best is that the soundstage in all 3 dimension gained a lot of room (mainly deep) and refinement, imo was a weak point of this dac. befor it was fine (not bad vs others similar priced dac) but nothing special, now it has this quality which is hard to find also.

i like the sound not to sharp so i prefer the slow filter vs the fast one (via os mode). but overall all combinations nos-os + slow-fast are very good and well balanced, fine changes that makes this dac even more versatile. this update is great and for this price outstanding (as the dac overall).

realy love this dac which i buyed against some british contender.

ps if someone need a singxer su-6 for a nice price enhanced with a TPS7A4700 regulator pm me .

 

[Sage Encore]

Well I didn't have a whole lot of time but did sit down for an hour or so to listen to the Termy with and without my SU-6 DDC. My SU-6 has stayed powered on the whole time, I just swapped the USB cable from my Lumin U1 to the USB input on the Termy or to the SU-6 with HDMI out to the Termy.

I listened to my 2ch only (no headphones):https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=systems;area=browse;system=273


First I still like NOS more, I don't dislike OS but NOS sounds more natural. As far as the "slow" and "sharp" filters I love both of them It just depends on the recording, great recorded music sound awesome with the "sharp" filter, bad recordings is just too much of a good thing and I have to put it back on "Slow" filter where it will stay most of the time.


So cut to the chase, in my system going from the Lumin to the USB input of the Termy was preferred by my wife and I, and not by a little. I can go on and on but the bottom line what sold it for me was the micro-detail/micro-dynamics that the SU-6 would put a veil over it, I could hear subtle sounds from female voices (Diana Krall) that I didn't hear with the Singxer in the system. The bass was actually pretty close but on things like an upright bass you could hear the detail of the fingers plucking a lot better with the USB input.

Hi Peteq,
Just had the DSP board in, I completely agree with u. Its just brilliant with the USB connection, thank god I invested in a Tellurium Silver Diamond USB. Its just so musical with any filters chosen. I too prefer the NOS because it just natural, even in O/S there is not really much to choose between them. Exceptional upgrade.

 

[Sage Encore]

Alvin,
Thank you for the exceptional upgrade at the given price. It's much appreciated. Congrats to all at Denafrips. Once again, customer service was beyond top notch, solving a minor hitch at such pace and getting it delivered to my doorstep on a Sunday. Mightly impressed guys. All the best. Keep more of this lovely and affordable upgrades coming. To those sitting on a fence wondering, go ahead and sit there, while the rest of us enjoy a reborn DAC legend in the making. Just kidding guys. Enjoy the music guys. Hope I am able to pries my Abyss away from my ears, need to watch F1.

 

[peteg]

One more thing I’ve noticed today is with the new board the USB input is more sensitive to cables, I’m using a USB cable now that was just okay at best now it sounds great, I had a all silver cable I used the most but not now.

 

[Saleh84]

yesterday I tried Chord M scaler for the 2nd time with terminator. first time was a while ago, via single BNC. I noticed some favorable outcome, but I didn't focus much then as I was still working on other things in the system.
with the new DSP, in NOS mode of course, I tried first with single BNC again, using two Atlas Marvos BNC cables - one from aurender n10 to M scaler, one from single spdif out of M scaler to terminator. to my complete shock, it was playing at max up scaling possible (white light on M scaler) flawlessly. that means terminator was accepting up to 384 khz via the single BNC it has. first time I tried, I could not go more than 192 khz without dropouts.

then I did the main test, which I bought 2 Neutrik AES Male to BNC female in order to try it, using a 3rd Atlas BNC cable in dual BNC out from M scaler to Dual AES mode on terminator. to my surprise, also full scaling up to 7xx khz was possible!!! it played beautifully. I thought only 192 + 192 was possible, but obviously the dual AES input was accepting 384+384 khz. notice that this is possible only via BNC cables. AES cables can't carry such bandwidth from my experiments. how was the outcome? vs my current sound, taking into account that 3 Altlas BNC cables were introduced (which sound slightly different from Wel signature AES I currently use but very very good indeed) and of course the works on M scaler at max up scaling, I noticed during a very quick listen (my friend who brought the M scaler didn't have much time); that things sounded more smoothed out without any loss of details, in fact more details were present. vocals are more realistic and fuller, more 3d effect over all (not as if its lacking any, just got better). I cant say it was not Night and day change, just more of "further worthy improvement" to a very beautiful sound. I'm very inclined to add m scaler, but I have to find out what to do with wel signature AES first! maybe in the months to come. I have confirmed and tested that this works, initial impressions of sound was positive - certainly a nice addition, like having the best of both worlds. will try to get the M scaler again over here over the weekend for an extended session, which a must to get a true feel of the magnitude of change, maybe even record with a Zoom H6 to be able to compare quicker than connecting /disconnecting, i will try to share these recordings if I make them.

quick follow up on m scaler use with DT, for those who care about this usage case

I have got to play with m scaler for a longer session. I noticed that even though max upscaling works on both Single BNC and dual BNC mode (to DT AES input with adapters) listening to regular PCM recordings even up to 24 bit 192 khz, wither from Qobuz or WAV from internal storage of N10, some functionalities do not work 100%, like for example pass through mode in Dual BNC, worked only with one channel, even though full upscaling worked perfectly. also another example, tried to play DSD 64 and128 via single BNC mode to DT BNC input, didn't work as well (while in dual BNC mode it did work flawlessly). so m scaler does work better with new DSP, with higher bandwidth acceptance, but still with reservations. I think that's normal, they were not designed for each other after all.
also, as great as the M scaler is with Chord DACs, and as much as I was impressed on the first session, with vocals sounding more "real" and focused, holographic presentation being slightly better, yesterday I felt that I didn't like certain changes, such as the sound was somehow getting "thinner" (could be the different digital cable/different connection also, I noticed in an A/B test that Atlas Marvos BNC sounded somehow thinner than my Wel Signature AES). I think the final sound judgment would be system dependent, so please try in your own system if you are interested in M scaler/DT combo, you might like it still. I just felt I have to update you on my earlier findings. personally, this project is dropped for me

 

[Tsyer]

quick follow up on m scaler use with DT, for those who care about this usage case

I have got to play with m scaler for a longer session. I noticed that even though max upscaling works on both Single BNC and dual BNC mode (to DT AES input with adapters) listening to regular PCM recordings even up to 24 bit 192 khz, wither from Qobuz or WAV from internal storage of N10, some functionalities do not work 100%, like for example pass through mode in Dual BNC, worked only with one channel, even though full upscaling worked perfectly. also another example, tried to play DSD 64 and128 via single BNC mode to DT BNC input, didn't work as well (while in dual BNC mode it did work flawlessly). so m scaler does work better with new DSP, with higher bandwidth acceptance, but still with reservations. I think that's normal, they were not designed for each other after all.
also, as great as the M scaler is with Chord DACs, and as much as I was impressed on the first session, with vocals sounding more "real" and focused, holographic presentation being slightly better, yesterday I felt that I didn't like certain changes, such as the sound was somehow getting "thinner" (could be the different digital cable/different connection also, I noticed in an A/B test that Atlas Marvos BNC sounded somehow thinner than my Wel Signature AES). I think the final sound judgment would be system dependent, so please try in your own system if you are interested in M scaler/DT combo, you might like it still. I just felt I have to update you on my earlier findings. personally, this project is dropped for me

Thanks for the update. I already ordered 2 units of Neutrix adapters bnc to aes to try using DT with the mscaler. Sad to hear that it won't fully work together. I am aiming for dual bnc and hope that would work for me. Can't wait to find out what sound will come out of it.

 

[Saleh84]

Thanks for the update. I already ordered 2 units of Neutrix adapters bnc to aes to try using DT with the mscaler. Sad to hear that it won't fully work together. I am aiming for dual bnc and hope that would work for me. Can't wait to find out what sound will come out of it.

well, if you are planning to use dual BNC with adapters, don't worry; it does work at full up scaling for sure, and it plays anything you throw at it (PCM, DSD and double DSD). in fact, you wont be adding an m scaler to use it in pass-through mode. I did that just as a test to see what the m scaler does, minus the difference Atlas cables would introduce. that's how I found that out about the issue while in pass through mode. me being somehow a perfectionist (unfortunately), it put me off a bit. plus me preferring the sound in NOS mainly due to how my system sound, its very transparent and on the edge between warm and cold - I didn't even like the built in OS, as it tilted things towards being "colder". the raw NOS sound in my case was more natural. your experience might vary a lot depending on over signature of your system. also, I haven't tried to restart both devices, nor check connections further much. it could be just a glitch. please let us know how it works for you!

 

[Thenewguy007]

All the people who are using USB direct to the PC, I suggesting looking into a Pink Faun 12s soundcard bridge for your PC. So you can use a i2s cable direct to your PC.

https://www.pinkfaun.com/shop/bridg...bridge-ocxo/194-bracket_height-120_mm_74_inch

They even have options to add a on-board COXO clock, though the price skyrockets.

 

[hontored]

Did some tests today.

Compared
1 nuc->matrix x-spdif 2->i2s terminator
2 nuc->usb terminator
3 nuc->sotm txusbhubex->usb terminator
4 nuc->sotm txusbhubex->x-spdif 2->i2s terminator

And the winner is number 3...

I used to prefer 1 before dsp upgrade but at the time i didn't have the sotm. Anyway usb direct from nuc has improved with the dsp upgrade.

The matrix is good but sotm is better. Background noise is very very quiet. I hear more details. It is not a night and day difference but enough for me to replace the matrix by the sotm.

 

[Sage Encore]

Did some tests today.

Compared
1 nuc->matrix x-spdif 2->i2s terminator
2 nuc->usb terminator
3 nuc->sotm txusbhubex->usb terminator
4 nuc->sotm txusbhubex->x-spdif 2->i2s terminator

And the winner is number 3...

I used to prefer 1 before dsp upgrade but at the time i didn't have the sotm. Anyway usb direct from nuc has improved with the dsp upgrade.

The matrix is good but sotm is better. Background noise is very very quiet. I hear more details. It is not a night and day difference but enough for me to replace the matrix by the sotm.

It concurs with my findings as well.

 

[S Crowther]

It concurs with my findings as well.

Expecting my new board tomorrow.
Simple question: which are the 2 screws on the rear panel of the Terminator I need to loose to remove the top cover? There seem to be a lot of them. The screws at the far corners at the top of the rear panel?

 

[Saleh84]

Expecting my new board tomorrow.
Simple question: which are the 2 screws on the rear panel of the Terminator I need to loose to remove the top cover? There seem to be a lot of them. The screws at the far corners at the top of the rear panel?

Yes you need to remove these two screws fully then slide top cover slightly back then upwards. These two screws are not far sides but closer to middle, one on the left and one on the right, very close to the top of the back panel. Check the instructions that Alvin shared earlier, should be easy to identify them.

 

[S Crowther]

Yes you need to remove these two screws fully then slide top cover slightly back then upwards. These two screws are not far sides but closer to middle, one on the left and one on the right, very close to the top of the back panel. Check the instructions that Alvin shared earlier, should be easy to identify them.

Thanks. Alvin has now updated his instructions to make it clearer.

 

[S Crowther]

Thanks. Alvin has now updated his instructions to make it clearer.

Having lived with the new board for only 1 day and switching often between usb and i2s from Singxter SU-6 I prefer the i2s: the usb is a little brighter and more transparent/detailed but the i2s is more natural and analogue sounding to my ears. What is clear is that the usb is a big improvement over the old DSP board. I still don't like OS. The difference in the filters is subtle: I think I generally prefer the brighter one. I can never remember which LEDs light up for which setting so I'm never sure which filter is being used.

 

[S Crowther]

Having lived with the new board for only 1 day and switching often between usb and i2s from Singxter SU-6 I prefer the i2s: the usb is a little brighter and more transparent/detailed but the i2s is more natural and analogue sounding to my ears. What is clear is that the usb is a big improvement over the old DSP board. I still don't like OS. The difference in the filters is subtle: I think I generally prefer the brighter one. I can never remember which LEDs light up for which setting so I'm never sure which filter is being used.

Following from Alvin:


1x 8x led on = slow filter
1x off 8x led on = sharp filter