[Beatles1966]

Also I wanted to extend this to anyone interested in using Roon/HQ/Jriver and wanted to try out the DSP/Room correction Convolution filters capabilities.
I use a very powerful, professional program called Focus Fidelity to calibrate loudspeakers and room acoustics in both the frequency and time domain.
Send me your speaker measurements and I’ll design a filter for you.
All you need to get is a UMIK 1 or 2 (which you can returned after) and take some measurements using the free program Focus Fidelity Impala.

I cannot express how much this can improve your system.
Just PM me if you are interested.

Thanks. Sent measurements.

 

[labeelen]

Also I wanted to extend this to anyone interested in using Roon/HQ/Jriver and wanted to try out the DSP/Room correction Convolution filters capabilities.
I use a very powerful, professional program called Focus Fidelity to calibrate loudspeakers and room acoustics in both the frequency and time domain.
Send me your speaker measurements and I’ll design a filter for you.
All you need to get is a UMIK 1 or 2 (which you can returned after) and take some measurements using the free program Focus Fidelity Impala.

I cannot express how much this can improve your system.
Just PM me if you are interested.

Hi Cam, did you know that in a Roon / HQ setup there are three ways to do EQ:
1. Load convolution file in Roon
2. Load convolution file in HQ
3. Load EQ filter.txt file under the ‘Matrix’ tab (for both channels individually)

Option 2 and 3 sound better than 1 to my ears and 3 is easier and offers more flexibility.
I use the Matrix functionality fot each of my headphone EQ files to adapt them to my preferred HP target curve.

Where do you load your convolution files ?

 

[Odezra]

Hi Cam, did you know that in a Roon / HQ setup there are three ways to do EQ:
1. Load convolution file in Roon
2. Load convolution file in HQ
3. Load EQ filter.txt file under the ‘Matrix’ tab (for both channels individually)

Option 2 and 3 sound better than 1 to my ears and 3 is easier and offers more flexibility.
I use the Matrix functionality fot each of my headphone EQ files to adapt them to my preferred HP target curve.

Where do you load your convolution files ?

I went with @camrector recommendation to try housecurve on iOS and generated an impulse response curve at the highest sample rate (198 iirc) and loaded that into the left and right channels of the HQP matrix menu and enabled ‘extend HF’. It’s important to adjust for gain to avoid clipping.

To my ears, room correction works a lot better on HQP than using Roon’s convolution filter and seems to be less resource intensive on my Mac mini.

The difference is v good. It’s hard to describe but there’s a degree of ringing / reverb in the room that goes away post using the convolution filter. Everything sounds a tad ‘clearer’.

i am going to look at some acoustic panels next and the UMIK mic. There’s some
pretty aggressive adjustments that I am seeing in the convolution filter that I’d like to tame via room treatment first.

 

[camrector]

Hi Cam, did you know that in a Roon / HQ setup there are three ways to do EQ:
1. Load convolution file in Roon
2. Load convolution file in HQ
3. Load EQ filter.txt file under the ‘Matrix’ tab (for both channels individually)

Option 2 and 3 sound better than 1 to my ears and 3 is easier and offers more flexibility.
I use the Matrix functionality fot each of my headphone EQ files to adapt them to my preferred HP target curve.

Where do you load your convolution files ?

Yes. That’s what Im saying here is that I will make a filter for you to load into the convolution engine of either Roon, HQ, or Jriver.
The measurement process does both left and right speakers and the filter is created for each speaker then combined.

 

[vvume]

I am somewhat new to I2S and DAC clocks. I have an R26 with the signal fed from an SU-6 through I2S. Does it make sense to add a 10Mhz clock to the R26 in this situation? Or is this useless/redundant given the SU-6's clock through I2S? I don't understand how a dac's clock plays into the equation when using I2S.

I was looking at something cheaper like the LHY OCK-1 fever audio 10Mhz SC cut OCXO on Aliexpress which seem to have good reviews.

 

[Odezra]

Yeah I didn’t understand that either.
That’s all I really listen to on my home system. I found the R26 better than the Venus2 I was auditioning.

Another thing that kills me is none of these reviewers have touched the streamer/Lan connection.
It’s crazy!!

I found it really odd that he said he wasn’t interested in reviewing the streamer. You’d think he’d review all the inputs and see if they all perform equally! I don’t think he was clear either on what input he preferred.

Overall - it seems a balanced review.

 

[gammi]

Has anyone tried using a USB isolator on the R26? I think a big reason the LAN performs so much better than USB is because the USB doesn't have any isolation unlike other high end DACs. I bought a Topping HS01 for $69 and I suspect that will help a lot.

https://archimago.blogspot.com/2022/03/measurements-topping-hs01-usb-20.html

Cheaper than a DDC and doesn't add latency. Won't help jitter though.

 

[Jake2]

I have an R26 with the signal fed from an SU-6 through I2S. Does it make sense to add a 10Mhz clock to the R26 in this situation?

I have an SU-6 and can confirm that the sound of the SU-6 feeding the R26 (via I2S in my case) is satisfyingly improved by connecting the OCK-1 to the R26 and selecting external clock. The same is true with the U18, irrespective of whether the U18 is using its internal clock or also using the OCK-1 as external/master clock.

 

[Odezra]

Has anyone tried using a USB isolator on the R26? I think a big reason the LAN performs so much better than USB is because the USB doesn't have any isolation unlike other high end DACs. I bought a Topping HS01 for $69 and I suspect that will help a lot.

https://archimago.blogspot.com/2022/03/measurements-topping-hs01-usb-20.html

Cheaper than a DDC and doesn't add latency. Won't help jitter though.

No - I’d like to hear whether an intona usb isolator works - as I suspect that’s equivalent / similar to the fmc. However, I prefer LAN as it means I don’t need a seperate streamer (eg the zen) which are also limited by upsample rates.

 

[camrector]

I went with @camrector recommendation to try housecurve on iOS and generated an impulse response curve at the highest sample rate (198 iirc) and loaded that into the left and right channels of the HQP matrix menu and enabled ‘extend HF’. It’s important to adjust for gain to avoid clipping.

To my ears, room correction works a lot better on HQP than using Roon’s convolution filter and seems to be less resource intensive on my Mac mini.

The difference is v good. It’s hard to describe but there’s a degree of ringing / reverb in the room that goes away post using the convolution filter. Everything sounds a tad ‘clearer’.

i am going to look at some acoustic panels next and the UMIK mic. There’s some
pretty aggressive adjustments that I am seeing in the convolution filter that I’d like to tame via room treatment first.

Grab a UMIK and send me those measurements!
House curve doesn’t correct in the phase and time domain. just wait!

 

[gammi]

No - I’d like to hear whether an intona usb isolator works - as I suspect that’s equivalent / similar to the fmc. However, I prefer LAN as it means I don’t need a seperate streamer (eg the zen) which are also limited by upsample rates.

I use LAN where I can but if a song isn't on Qobuz and I need to use Spotify, I'm forced to use USB.
I also use USB for gaming where latency matters so I don't want to use a DDC where the re-clocking adds latency.

 

[Deleeh]

@vvume,
Good question, theoretically yes.
I think with the 10mhz clock, the signal has to be converted once less than usual.
I don't know if it's an advantage in terms of sound.
I have never tried it myself on the Su2.

@gammi
I have had the Matrix Audio Element H card in my PC for over 2 years.
Since then I have never had any problems on the PC with the Dacs.
The sound was a bit colder and more analytical, which was compensated with the Su2.
I have used the R26 for burn-in via USB and have not done any tests beyond that.
It was always connected to the card and I found the usb on the R26 to be quite good but not the best.
I have had much worse dacs where the usb was used.

As long as you don't have any problems I wouldn't use something like that.
It only makes sense when the problems are there.
As a small upgrade I would save the money and use a DDC.
It definitely eliminates the jitter and noise before it gets to the dac, if it helps the head get it out.

 

[Deleeh]

I have an SU-6 and can confirm that the sound of the SU-6 feeding the R26 (via I2S in my case) is satisfyingly improved by connecting the OCK-1 to the R26 and selecting external clock. The same is true with the U18, irrespective of whether the U18 is using its internal clock or also using the OCK-1 as external/master clock.

@Jake2

What kind of cable do you use to drive the external clock?

 

[Dandoudou]

Has anyone tried using a USB isolator on the R26? I think a big reason the LAN performs so much better than USB is because the USB doesn't have any isolation unlike other high end DACs. I bought a Topping HS01 for $69 and I suspect that will help a lot.

No, an isolator won't be enough to make the USB input from your PC come close to the LAN. The LAN input of this DAC is too good.
To beat the LAN of the R26, I use an optimized streaming setup + a USB isolator + a DDC.
Look at my signature.

 

[gammi]

No, an isolator won't be enough to make the USB input from your PC come close to the LAN. The LAN input of this DAC is too good.
To beat the LAN of the R26, I use an optimized streaming setup + a USB isolator + a DDC.
Look at my signature.

I didn't say that noise was the only reason, I didn't even imply it would make it better than LAN (it won't) just that noise is a big part (not the only part) of USB being worse and this should fix the noise. Also isolator + DDC seems redundant since any good DDC should already have isolation. Thank you for the input though.

@Deleeh
Thanks, yes, a DDC would be nice. That's not an option for me though since it adds unacceptable latency for gaming.
I use LAN for music and direct USB for gaming.