[Jake2]

FMC is just a $60 upgrade (w/o LPS) minimum. Best tweak so far for me. Can't wait for an upgrade to ER2 when it comes 1Q next year.

You have more patience than me re the EtherRegen 2. FMC certainly sounds like the best bang for the buck upgrade.

 

[m-i-c-k-e-y]

No, I have not.

If you remembered it (FMC) was jus an experiment few weeks ago. The tweak was so good IMO, that can't wait what a good/proper tweak will sound.

 

[NoaHimesaka]

Survey for R26 owners. How do you prefer to listen: PCM NOS on or off ? If off, which PCM filter?

PCM NOS ON no matter what. I don't have DSDs (except testing file) and I mostly listen to anime musics using Roon local or TIDAL.

 

[Chodi]

I found myself doing this a few times over the last week too, just grinning to myself and saying similar or doing Tom Cruise/Maverick-style double thumbs up / fist-pumps. I know.

Just to test your resolve that you're done with tweaks here's my promised (and advance-apologised slightly OT) update on the LHY SW-8 switch / R26 / OCK-1 combo...

My setup is similar to yours with the OCK-1 & R26 but in lieu of your fibre convertors (which I've not yet tried) I have the SW-8 switch cleaning up the network. System sounds phenomenal now I've had the SW-8 and Athena preamp 2-3 weeks constantly running in the latter especially. All just clicked into place last week. I've found the gear needs to be switched on for at least 4-5 hours, preferably a day or more for it to hit its sweet spot. Some notes I took last week, switching (boom, boom) back and forth from my generic router with stock PS to the SW-8:

• much more expansive soundstage with a greater sense of depth and acoustic space
• treble of guitar strings has a beautiful shimmer and far longer decay
• instruments and vocalists are positioned far more precisely across the sound stage at different depths
• in the Riders on the Storm the thunder is more weighty and rolling, the rain in the background isn't just a homogenous wall of 'rain-like' sound, but has a more subtle ebb and flow, gets you closer (if not quite) to the sound of hearing rain out an open window
• overall great pace, rhythm, timing and energy… enough precision that all the separate elements in a busy soundstage can rise and fall dynamically and in their own spatial location without blurring.
• in Fever, Malia's vocals are more precisely imaged with more palpable and realistic texture. So good.
• HQP DSD512 sounds holographic in this setup. Simply amazing. Yes vocals not as forward as Roon but more nuanced and overall level of resolution vs Roon or even HQP PCM native res or PCM768 is on another level.

The above was based on Roon/HQP streaming directly to the R26.

The SW-8 is sufficiently good that it dramatically improves even the sound of streamed TV audio so there is genuine soundstage depth and some actual decay, realistic body and texture of sounds whether music, speech or atmospheric sounds in the show. Everything. And this is mere TV, let alone HQP DSD512. Chain is SW-8 > Panasonic TV (native HBO streaming app) > (toslink) > Ifi Purifier S/pdif v2 > R26 coax in (+OCK-1). If you take the SW-8 & Ifi out of the chain then comparatively it sounds exactly as thin, flat and edgy as you'd expect, though the R26/OCK do their best. My below reaction btw in response to Forgisound's question was actually after the previous evening streaming the HBO show The White Lotus. I have never heard AV sound remotely near this good. My newish Denon receiver already collecting dust is totally goneburger...



The above observations btw predate but are consistent with the just-posted review of the SW-8 by the Alpha Audio (AA) guys where they complained it was almost too detailed and holographic ('too much of a good thing'), but was the ideal switch to prove to sceptics that they make a difference. The funny thing with that sentiment is it's not the switch 'sounding' like that, it is the streaming endpoint/DAC doing that/being able to perform like that based on the super clean data stream they're provided. I'm not going to speculate on the precise technical mechanism of action that explains this, I mean it'd be cool to know, but I certainly don't wish to debate it here. AA:

Think of very large imaging, extreme detail, separation of instruments… sky… and a very black background. It's pretty bizarre what this switch does. Frankly, this is the perfect example to persuade a 'non-believer'. It's almost extreme.​

In their recent switch test the Delock FMC that AA tried just had a stock PS, as did all the switches, as it would've just made the test too unwieldy to introduce another variable of linear PSs. So not a fair comparison to the LHY, but it still rated well.

There's a guy on another thread who has FMCs + linear PS > SW-8 > externally clocked R26 and reckons this works very well. I'll have to try this once I've back home after our summer Christmas break.

Just to be clear, are you saying the SW8 switch has more effect and more value than the external clock? Or are you saying they must be used together to achive your results?

 

[kumar402]

If there is such a stark difference in sound with better network switch and clock, does it mean the noise filter of streamer inside R26 and it’s clock implementation of DAC is mediocre at best ? I can understand subtle change in SQ but few impressions here are suggesting stark change.

 

[WolfP]

Temporary survey results

PCM NOS off: 2 votes
PCM NOS on: 1 vote
PCM NOS on + upsampling: 2 votes
PCM Fast filter: 1 vote
PCM Mid filter: 4 votes
PCM Slow filter: 0

Please vote...

 

[domiji]

PCM NOS off +1

 

[WolfP]

PCM NOS off +1

Which filter ?

 

[domiji]

Sorry i meant NOS on

 

[m-i-c-k-e-y]

If there is such a stark difference in sound with better network switch and clock, does it mean the noise filter of streamer inside R26 and it’s clock implementation of DAC is mediocre at best ? I can understand subtle change in SQ but few impressions here are suggesting stark change.

I think the built-in streamer was a nice addition to the price point Gustard is after. Of course they can add a more powerful streamer w/ better performance. But we're talking also economies of scale here. Besides I think you already know that the tweaks we we're discussing are general and are used too on higher priced equipments.

If you have a Streamer, do suggest try the tweaks we have duscussed. Some are not generally that expensive.

 

[Forgisound]

I think the built-in streamer was a nice addition to the price point Gustard is after. Of course they can add a more powerful streamer w/ better performance. But we're talking also economies of scale here. Besides I think you already know that the tweaks we we're discussing are general and are used too on higher priced equipments.

If you have a Streamer, do suggest try the tweaks we have duscussed. Some are not generally that expensive.

I think Streamer is a better part of this device. The weakest part is Clock. The second weakest part is 1-bit DSD DAC, which is actually a bonus with R2R dac. Although I love more DSD files, even with a little noise.

 

[camrector]

Temporary survey results

PCM NOS off: 2 votes
PCM NOS on: 1 vote
PCM NOS on + upsampling: 2 votes
PCM Fast filter: 1 vote
PCM Mid filter: 4 votes
PCM Slow filter: 0

Please vote...

NOS off
Mid filter

 

[kumar402]

I think the built-in streamer was a nice addition to the price point Gustard is after. Of course they can add a more powerful streamer w/ better performance. But we're talking also economies of scale here. Besides I think you already know that the tweaks we we're discussing are general and are used too on higher priced equipments.

If you have a Streamer, do suggest try the tweaks we have duscussed. Some are not generally that expensive.

Yes, I do agree with media converter and ethernet switches and Clocks as subtle add on but if we get this level of performance improvement then should we rather upgrade or get better streamer first or should we get network and clock tweaks first.

 

[Forgisound]

Yes, I do agree with media converter and ethernet switches and Clocks as subtle add on but if we get this level of performance improvement then should we rather upgrade or get better streamer first or should we get network and clock tweaks first.

The streamer works well for me. With the fact that I play from the local NAS. There are no interruptions. And the sound is much better than via USB. SPDIF and AES/EBU are limited by format and resolution. I have no need for a better streamer than the R26 LAN input.

 

[camrector]

Yes, I do agree with media converter and ethernet switches and Clocks as subtle add on but if we get this level of performance improvement then should we rather upgrade or get better streamer first or should we get network and clock tweaks first.

The switch is more of a system foundation upgrade. Any device you use it with would see an upgrade. Saying that it’s a weak part of the R26 streamer is not correct. Similar to getting really high quality speaker cables. You wouldn’t say that a speaker isn’t good because you are using cheap cables.