The DIY'rs Cookbook

[johnjen]

Excellent!
I do look forward to hearing your setup, and I have a question or 2 about your NUC setup as well.
 
REALISM for me, is now so compelling that it's like putting SuperDuperGlue on steroids.
 
And as for better than what we now are enjoying, I do truly wonder how far we can take all of this, as the bar keeps getting raised with all to much regularity it seems.
 
JJ

 

[Muziqboy]

The only other thing that I might try next year is to re-purchase a Startech USB2.0 to Gigabit Lan Extender. I used to have this before during the Bottlehead meet and was the one that got me to thinking to go straight from Ethernet instead of usb>ethernet>usb which is what the Startech is. Thus, the search began that eventually got me to the RN3.

There has been an improvement in the SQ as Rob has mentioned in his new thread by storing the music files on usb flash drives and connecting it to the Startech REX module like this.

PC > usb cable > Startech LEX module > CAT6 cable > Startech REX module > usb flash drives

I asked him if he tried this with the AOIP setup but he said no since he no longer have it. So I am curious if this will elevate the SQ another notch and the only way to find out is to dive in and try it.

The NUC that I am using is a low powered fanless computer with the OS installed on a M.2 SSD drive and the music files stored on a 2TB SATA laptop hard drive. It's sole purpose is for reproducing music with the occasional movie watching and nothing else which I think is the reason why I never experienced the dropouts, clicks and ticks, and latency issues that other folks are having with AOIP.

And I am with you on the REALISM being so compelling that the SuperDuperGlue is in full effect and makes it real hard for me to hang up the headphones even though it is way past my bedtime. lol

 

[gefski]

Congrats guys! You've now got Mike Moffat interested enough to listen to it (and build something better)!

I knew it sounded very good, but wasn't expecting this complete opening of windows on what Yggy does. Daily living with it -- REALISM indeed. My enthusiastic uDO review is not enthusiastic enough.

 

[Muziqboy]

I am glad that Mike is at least exploring the AOIP path and hopefully will come up with a very good and reasonably priced product.
Will be good for everyone on the sidelines waiting for a cheaper alternative hopefully.

 

[ericr]

They would sell thousands.

 

[johnjen]

  I am glad that Mike is at least exploring the AOIP path and hopefully will come up with a very good and reasonably priced product.
Will be good for everyone on the sidelines waiting for a cheaper alternative hopefully.

I kinda figure he's working on a Wyrd on steroids maybe something like a Mutec 3+, only with a twist or 2 in their usually Schiity fashion.
 
The thing is jumping into the middle of AOIP requires the marriage of ethernet h/w and s/w along with the digital audio h/w and s/w which is as Mike pointed out, a support nightmare just waiting to happen.
 
But adding a 'box' between source and the dac is eminently doable and also seems like what the Manhatten project is all about as well.
 
Time will tell.
 
JJ

 

[johnjen]

Congrats guys! You've now got Mike Moffat interested enough to listen to it (and build something better)!

I knew it sounded very good, but wasn't expecting this complete opening of windows on what Yggy does. Daily living with it -- REALISM indeed. My enthusiastic uDO review is not enthusiastic enough.

I sure hope that Mike M does come up with a suitable enhancement to AOIP in some form or other, as it would certainly lower the cost of implementation of tweako AOIP.
 
And it seems like the Dante network has a leg up, but it remains unclear if it's their s/w solution or if the majority of the SQ improvement is due to ethernet alone.
 
But really it's the results and not the devices themselves that is so compelling.
And there are secrets yet to be unveiled buried deep in all of this.
And the removal of these layers will potentially be even more compelling since so much has already been removed.
 
And I figure REALISM will develop 'flavors' or variations as we uncover more and more of just what is truly going on with this digital signal path to the dac.
And really all of this flies in the face of the expectation that bits are bits and none of this should make any difference,
only it all does, and to varying degrees.
 
JJ

 

[johnjen]

Ok so status report of the 'extended settling time' for these connectors.
I'm just shy of 1100hrs and I still haven't reached peak SQ yet.
 
But the degree of SQ is beyond anon-do and to the degree of being able to describe and explain what I'm hearing in terms of REALNESS.
 
One aspect that is significant is the ability to deliver near instantaneous dynamic acoustical sound pressure, at any frequency.
This 'trait' is a result of Coupling of the entire audio spectrum in such a way that any instrument with a percussive aspect to its sound signature from drums to violins to tambourines to piccolos, all can have a sharp and steep leading edge which has a percussive impact.
 
But it’s the speed of the percussive impact that is most impressive.
It happens and is over with before you even noticed it, yet the percussive effect is felt and noticed.
I attribute this to a lack of smearing of the acoustic energy being created thru time as the music is playing.
 
Put another way.
The acoustic pressure that is generated is presented where and as it should be, with a minimal amount of bleed over into where this acoustic energy shouldn't be.
Focus would be a single word description.
 
And for the first time I can actually easily hear differences between different sample rates of the same track, which is a renderer issue to be sure.
 
REALNESS is simply astounding, no matter how you can describe it or categorize it.
 
And there are multiple ways of achieving REALNESS, it would appear, but a basic aspect is a 'tweako' (AOIP and others) digital audio signal path from the source to the dac.
I've given up trying to figure out why this approach is so superior to any other approach I have ever heard.
 
Instead I'm just getting sucked into the music and going with the flow.
 
JJ

 

[Muziqboy]

An accidental tweak discovery.
 
So last night when I was re-arranging my gear, I accidentally bumped and broke the plastic fuse holder on my Theta Dac. Being it a vintage gear, the plastic fuse holder was probably already brittle because of age so the screw cap that holds the fuse would no longer lock and hold the fuse in place. I opened up the dac to see if I can fix it and found out that I would have to order a new fuse holder if I can still find one.
 
So when I was looking at the internals, an idea came up and I went to work. I unsoldered the two wires from the fuse holder and proceeded to solder them directly to the two ends of the fuse using some silver solder that I have. I covered up the ends with tape to insulate it and used some 3M double sided tape to affix it to the back of the DAC housing. I screwed back the bottom plate of the DAC and plugged it back in to my power distribution block and let it warm up for a couple of hours.
When I had a listen, I was surprised to hear an increase in Dynamics and lifelike Realism so I guess, that fuse holder was a choke point.
 
I will leave it like this and will not even bother to replace the fuse holder since the fuse still retain it's functionality.

 

[Middy]

That makes so much sense when you think about it. You can still use the fuse holder as anti vibration a place holder in other equipment.. Nice..
Just use a thicker wire so no heat issues, sometimes getting rid of the fuse isn't an option but this is the next best thing.
Thank you for the tip. Just any safety issues from the experts before I sort out my soldering iron.
oh 1 issue can this be done on higher amp ratings above internal fuses like plugs ?
Good luck
Dave

 

[johnjen]

KEWL!
Verification and the removal of yet another CP, as your findings mirrors my own findings, albeit from a different direction.
 
IOW I used silver paste on the contacts of the fuse holder where they contact the fuse itself.
This also resulted in a 'Better' degree of SQ, so I can see where soldering directly to the fuse could be a step up yet again.
 
But be careful when you solder to the endcaps of the fuse and don't apply to much heat because it could be fairly easy to over heat the solder blob on the inside of the fuse where the fine wire is connected to the endcap as well.
 
This in effect could 'brick' (turn it into a tosser) your fuse, or perhaps change its operating characteristics, so just be careful, use a low wattage iron, very small gauge solder, and solder flux, to as quickly as possible, attache the wire to the outside of the fuse.
 
Sometimes CP's can be completely invisible, that is until we stumble over them and discover 'better' on the other side. 

 
JJ

 

[Middy]

A good soldering practice that can be used here to avoid thermal shock by over soldering /contact time is heat up the fuse with the wife's hair dryer.
Add/ tin the wire first. Degrease the contact area before fluxing...
Give the flux a few minutes for the acid to remove oxide.
I know most here can solder but simple stuff can make life easier... And practice on cheap ones first...

Have fun guys

Dave

 

[Muziqboy]

I guess I got lucky when I was soldering to the endcaps of the fuse as I absolutely forgot about that fine wire inside the fuse. I mean I was really applying heat to the endcaps and thankfully did not brick the fuse. And that was also an audiophile fuse costing about $120.
 
Listening to the rig right now, I am just lost in audio nirvana!
Can't wait for that meet so you ( JJ ) can hear and see if you agree with what I am hearing.

 

[johnjen]

That makes 2 of us.
And I want you to hear my 800's in their current iteration as well.
 
And the next meet is on the 5th of Feb in West Seattle.
 
Perhaps by then I'll have implemented my next generation of mods to my 800's.
 
And I do want to learn more about your NUC mostly to see if your setup would be compatible with what I have here.
I'm experiencing complex interaction between my Mac, the PWD dac, the RN3 and even the Mutec 3+.
Nothing bad or problematic but noticeable SQ improvements happen when things are restarted in both h/w and s/w.
 
It's odd…
 
JJ

 

[johnjen]

So Bob and I had a 'chat' about my further refinement of my 800 mods and as a result I've gone off in a different direction, which in turn delays this mod for a bit.
 
So instead I'm gunna finish my ac power cable connector project.
And as I post this I have over 1270hrs and still no peak, just simply wonderful SQ.
The various SQ traits that tell me I've peaked all keep peeking from around the corner but never settling down.
 
I do however have a 'plan', having experienced this sort of SQ behavior before.
Both of my power cables need to be cooked (it seems to be a yearly thing) so after I mod my 2nd power cable, I'll cook both of them and my newly modded balanced IC's as well.
 
JJ