Sound Galleries SGM 2015

Blue58 · Dec 6, 2016

I agree with Sablon Audio re. Burn in and For comparison I'd say the SR Black ads dynamics, resolution and a more forward presentation. The AM Beeswax has dynamics, greater resolution, not as forward but most importantly for me is the huge soundstage in all dimensions particularly depth and height, perhaps width compromised by my narrow room.

Entirely system dependent of course with maybe the Lampizator preferring SR black and the SGM a AM Beeswax.
All worth a try and though expensive, worthwhile to experiment.

Blue58

Elberoth · Dec 6, 2016

Who makes those AM Beewax fuses ? Link ?

Blue58 · Dec 6, 2016

Elberoth said:
Who makes those AM Beewax fuses ? Link ?

http://store.jaguaraudiodesign.com/audio-magic-premium-super-premier-beeswax-liquid-fuses/

http://www.audio-magic.com/Prod-NanoFuse.html

Elberoth · Dec 6, 2016

$174.95 ... Omg !

MadFloyd · Dec 6, 2016

hifial said:
I would think once you have a good 700 to 1,000 hours on the Mundorf Caps your SGM will surprise you further. .

There are caps inside the computer that affect sound?

EuroDriver · Dec 6, 2016

MadFloyd said:
There are caps inside the computer that affect sound?

MadFloyd

I would have had the same reaction 30 months ago !

The surprise for me, but not to quite a few audio PC builders, especially in Eastern Europe and in Asia, is that the sort of power supply electronics good practice for analog electronics, also has a surprisingly large effect on digital electronics with high frequency processors. Don't ask me for an explanation, we only have amusing speculative theories about what is going on.

What we do have is consistent, repeatable results from audio testing. We have taken the approach, if it works to improve the sound, and the cost is reasonable, then it has earned a place in the SGM

There is costly stuff we do in the manufacturing of the SGM which a majority of electrical and computer engineers would say is nonsense, so we just hold our tongues, and let audiophiles decide if they hear a worthwhile difference.

The posts from blue58 and others about fuses sounding different on a SGM (which we can confirm) is an indication that there is something going on with the power supply side that is not explained by conventional circuit theory.

hifial · Dec 7, 2016

COME HEAR the SOUND GALLERIES SGM 2015 MUSIC SERVER and T+A DAC 8 DSD LIVE

hifial said:
This is an invitation to anyone that is interested to hear the Sound Galleries SGM 2015 music server and the T+A DAC 8 DSD. I will be showcasing them in my home system in Nutley, NJ 07110 on Dec 11th 2016.

This will be during the NJ Audiophile Society Holiday Party which is being held at the Clubhouse in the private community that I live in. You will be welcomed to check out both.

You will be asked to first stop at the Clubhouse to wait for the next available seating at my house, which is next door. Arrival time will be 4:00-6:00PM but no one will be rushed out the door.

Anyone who is interested needs to PM and I will give you the info. Seating may be limited depending on the response but I will endeavor to accommodate everyone.

Besides the above my system consists of the following: B+W 802D; Merrill Audio Veritas Amps; Interconnect and speaker cables by Merrill Audio; High Fidelity Cables power cables and power conditioning; Anti-vibration under all equipment and speakers by Stillpoints.

Cheers

If someone needs to come earlier please let me know. We can accommodate you.

Food will be Italian (and very good) with accommodation for some meatless dishes.

There will be a DIY room and a swap/sell/buy room too.

Cheers, Al.

the sound of Tao · Dec 8, 2016

EuroDriver said:
Hi Caesar,

When we first tested the DAVE in March this year we could not find the software settings to improve the sound quality of the playback over the DAVE's internal PCM >PCM upsampling. However we learnt a lot about working with top end PCM DAC's during July, and in September we were able to get results with the SGM to the DAVE that to our ears was even better than the DAVE upsampling internally.

The DAVE joins the highly recommended list which now reads as follows

Nagra HD
Lampizator Golden Gate with Superclocks and DSD 512
Lampizator Siebener DSD512
Lampizator Atlantic
T+A DAC 8 DSD

TotalDAC D1-6 and D1-12
Trinity DAC
Chord DAVE

Hi EuroDriver,
Just noticed that in your recommended list that the Lampi Big 7 isn't shown in the lampi spread between GG and Atlantic. Is it excluded for any reason or just untried as yet?

TIA
Tao

EuroDriver · Dec 8, 2016

the sound of Tao said:
Hi EuroDriver,
Just noticed that in your recommended list that the Lampi Big 7 isn't shown in the lampi spread between GG and Atlantic. Is it excluded for any reason or just untried as yet?

TIA
Tao

The performance slot that the Big 7 used to occupy is bettered in price / performance by the Siebener with DSD 512

The B7 magic has been upgraded big time with the Golden Gate. If you like the B7, the GG will knock your socks off as it did ours

EuroDriver · Dec 17, 2016

New DAC on the block is very, very good

This week i had the pleasure of spending a few hours with the new Aqua Formula DAC which recently gained a Blue Moon award from 6 moons. With the limited playing time that I had, and being able to benchmark the sound quality characteristics against a DAC I know very well, I concur with the main points of Srajan's evaluation, that is to say IMHO, what Srajan has written can be taken very much at face value.

Using a SGM running Roon and HQ Player, we fed the Aqua Formula with a diet of Upsampled Redbook and Hi Res all upsampled to 24/352 or 384, the sonic results were superb for detail, timbre and tonal density

A real stunner for me was the quality of DSD 64 converted to DXD by HQ Player, and then fed to the Aqua, really jaw droppingly good.

Kudos to Aqua for really well done discrete R2R boards, and clearly a very good XMOS USB implementation

What I have not been able to compare the Aqua Formula with are the Nagra HD doing all tracks converted to DSD 128, or the latest GG with the PCM R2R. Of course tastes vary, results are system dependant, but these 3 DAC's are on the must seriously audition list IMHO

bibo01 · Dec 17, 2016

EuroDriver said:
This week i had the pleasure of spending a few hours with the new Aqua Formula DAC which recently gained a Blue Moon award from 6 moons. With the limited playing time that I had, and being able to benchmark the sound quality characteristics against a DAC I know very well, I concur with the main points of Srajan's evaluation, that is to say IMHO, what Srajan has written can be taken very much at face value.

Using a SGM running Roon and HQ Player, we fed the Aqua Formula with a diet of Upsampled Redbook and Hi Res all upsampled to 24/352 or 384, the sonic results were superb for detail, timbre and tonal density

A real stunner for me was the quality of DSD 64 converted to DXD by HQ Player, and then fed to the Aqua, really jaw droppingly good.

Kudos to Aqua for really well done discrete R2R boards, and clearly a very good XMOS USB implementation

What I have not been able to compare the Aqua Formula with are the Nagra HD doing all tracks converted to DSD 128, or the latest GG with the PCM R2R. Of course tastes vary, results are system dependant, but these 3 DAC's are on the must seriously audition list IMHO

From an Aqua Formula DAC point of view, also convolution would be easier on resources.
When doing DSD-to-PCM conversion, the convolution is performed at 1/16th of the DSD frequency in the PCM domain. Since DSD64 corresponds to 2.8224 MHz, the convolution occurs at 176.4 kHz. Consequently, since the "1/16th" rule applies, for DSD128 or 256 PCM occurs at higher frequencies.
When possible, it's recommend using generated filters for frequencies of 352.8 or 384 kHz, since this is the suitable midpoint between PCM and DSD and it works fine without the "HF-Expand" option in HQPlayer (there is less change of the filter and if necessary it must be downsampled). Even filters at 176.4/192 kHz go well without "Expand-HF", since usually the useful frequency of the source content does not exceed that bandwidth (there is little music content close to the Nyquist frequency).

EuroDriver · Dec 18, 2016

bibo01 said:
From an Aqua Formula DAC point of view, also convolution would be easier on resources.
When doing DSD-to-PCM conversion, the convolution is performed at 1/16th of the DSD frequency in the PCM domain. Since DSD64 corresponds to 2.8224 MHz, the convolution occurs at 176.4 kHz. Consequently, since the "1/16th" rule applies, for DSD128 or 256 PCM occurs at higher frequencies.
When possible, it's recommend using generated filters for frequencies of 352.8 or 384 kHz, since this is the suitable midpoint between PCM and DSD and it works fine without the "HF-Expand" option in HQPlayer (there is less change of the filter and if necessary it must be downsampled). Even filters at 176.4/192 kHz go well without "Expand-HF", since usually the useful frequency of the source content does not exceed that bandwidth (there is little music content close to the Nyquist frequency).

Gianluca,

You make an excellent point. For an acoustically challenged listening room, where room correction can be very effective, DSD 64, 128 or 256 material converted to 352 KHz PCM will "convolute" very well

I have to say I have been very impressed with the results tsaett has been getting with filters generated by Acourate and convolved by HQ Player

EuroDriver · Dec 24, 2016

SGM paired with Piega dipole speakers delivers a holographic soundstage

SGM > T+A DAC 8 DSD > TAD electronics > Piega dipoles and woofer towers at Linzbach in Bonn

A truly impressive deep and holographic sound stage. The little engine that could (DAC 8 DSD) will be swapped out for a top of the line DAC in January. Linzbach is still reviewing the contenders

EuroDriver · Dec 31, 2016

SGM receives a Blue Moon Award

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews2/soundgalleries/1.html

This was totally unexpected ! A good review, but we were not expecting a Blue Moon

Happy New Year to all WBF members, happy listening in 2017

Elberoth · Dec 31, 2016

EuroDriver said:
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews2/soundgalleries/1.html
A good review, but not a Blue Moon

What do you mean by 'not a Blue Moon' ?

EuroDriver · Dec 31, 2016

Elberoth said:
What do you mean by 'not a Blue Moon' ?

Thanks Adam, I have added some extra words to clarify my sentence above

I never expected a Music Server would receiver a Blue Moon

Blue58 · Jan 2, 2017

EuroDriver said:
Thanks Adam, I have added some extra words to clarify my sentence above

I never expected a Music Server would receiver a Blue Moon

Congratulations to you, Geoffrey and Emile on your award which is well deserved.

Best wishes for 2017

Blue58

EuroDriver · Jan 3, 2017

Blue58 said:
Congratulations to you, Geoffrey and Emile on your award which is well deserved.

Best wishes for 2017

Blue58

Hi Barry,

Thank you for being a manufacturer's dream customer ! Your pioneering experiments with different fuses on the SGM, has raised the musical enjoyment for pretty much the whole SGM owner community.

Elberoth · Jan 3, 2017

EuroDriver said:
Thanks Adam, I have added some extra words to clarify my sentence above

I never expected a Music Server would receiver a Blue Moon

Edward,

I think you have earned it ! Congrats, I'm really happy for you as I have followed your project very closely and know how much work went into it.

Pls remember to PM me if you ever send your server for evaluation to anyone in Poland.

caesar · Jan 4, 2017

Congratulations on the award!

Quick Questions:

1. If HQ player makes a change to their algorithms, how does it affect one's setup? Do things need to be recalibrated every time?
2. Can the unit support guys who have more than one DAC? If so, how?

Sound Galleries SGM 2015

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