Fidata HFAS1-S10U

toetapaudio

Well-Known Member
Feb 13, 2017
53
2
138
Forest of Dean UK
Fidata review here:

http://www.the-ear.net/review-hardware/fidata-hfas1-s10u-network-server

I have been using the fidata for over 6 months and find the it performs extremely well, and thought you should know about it since it is not very well known at the moment. It is expensive(£5900 in UK) but compares favourably with other top of the line servers, some costing more.

If you are considering a top flight server than definitely put the fidata on your list. We have a demo unit available.

USB output to a DAC. Ethernet input from router and out to network audio player. Overall plan dimensions exactly the same as Lumin A1/U1/S1 streamers. On off button on the front panel with white led. Brushed silver. Case made from thick plates of aluminium. It looks classy and sounds amazing.
 
Last edited:

Pb Blimp

Well-Known Member
Oct 30, 2017
518
25
140
USA

I am looking seriously at the Fidata, Melco, Innuos, and Mojo. The Fidata has some very positive attributes but several problems IMO:

Why Twonky instead of Roon?

Why cheap TDK switching power supplies instead of high performance linear?

Why middle grade EVO as opposed to PRO Samsung SSDs?

Why no support on USA?

For an alleged "all out assault" on ethernet performance these decisions are quite odd to me.
 

paul79

Well-Known Member
Nov 2, 2014
216
33
258
OK, USA
www.manymoonsaudio.com
I will reply based on some of my findings in this area in general:

Why Twonky instead of Roon? I prefer a couple other players over Roon for sonics in my setup.

Why cheap TDK switching power supplies instead of high performance linear? Switching supplies implemented correctly, are much faster responding than most linear supplies.

Why middle grade EVO as opposed to PRO Samsung SSDs? Sometimes a bit slower drive can sound better. I don't know why.

Why no support on USA? This sucks.

I'll also add that the Fidata here is way too expensive for what you get IMO.

So I agree with some of your issues, but do see where their choices might have been due to sonic comparisons in their machine.
 

Pb Blimp

Well-Known Member
Oct 30, 2017
518
25
140
USA
I will reply based on some of my findings in this area in general:

Why Twonky instead of Roon? I prefer a couple other players over Roon for sonics in my setup.

Why cheap TDK switching power supplies instead of high performance linear? Switching supplies implemented correctly, are much faster responding than most linear supplies.

Why middle grade EVO as opposed to PRO Samsung SSDs? Sometimes a bit slower drive can sound better. I don't know why.

Why no support on USA? This sucks.

I'll also add that the Fidata here is way too expensive for what you get IMO.

So I agree with some of your issues, but do see where their choices might have been due to sonic comparisons in their machine.

Interesting. Thanks.
 

asiufy

Industry Expert/VIP Donor
Jul 8, 2011
3,711
723
1,200
San Diego, CA
almaaudio.com
No Roon is a non starter for me.
A friend has the Memory Player, and apparently the gentleman behind it is working on Roon compatibility, as it uses the rather clunky JRiver currently.
A big part of the fun and joy of having a server is Roon. Remove that, and it's not nearly as interesting, IMHO.


cheers,
alex
 

Pb Blimp

Well-Known Member
Oct 30, 2017
518
25
140
USA
Alex, what do you think about the comments that Roon as a player is not as good as other players from an SQ perspective? I was recently told by another server manufacturer they include HQplayer with Roon strictly for serving and playing files (i.e., not for HQ upsampling) because it sounds better than Roon. Do you ever put HQ on the Innuos for this reason?
 

asiufy

Industry Expert/VIP Donor
Jul 8, 2011
3,711
723
1,200
San Diego, CA
almaaudio.com
Paul,

I've done a few quicks tests with SGM on the MSB SELECT, which does not require (or like) upsampling. So, the tests were basically Roon playing directly into the MSB, versus Roon feeding HQplayer, with all the filtering and upsampling turned off, which then fed the MSB.
There was a very slight improvement there indeed, and that surprised me a bit, since you'd figure not having something in the chain, even software, would be better...
But here's the fun bit: once I put SGM into "Roon Player" mode, and switched off the "Core" functionality (using a Core elsewhere on my network), that performance penalty was gone!

I haven't tried putting HQplayer into Innuos, as it's more of a closed system, and I didn't feel like hacking into it... But perhaps Innuos can be convinced to put at least the "NAA" (player) portion of HQplayer in the units. That way, you can run Roon Core + HQplayer elsewhere, and use the Innuos as a network player.

And again, all this exercise was done routing the audio through USB ports. I'm dying to get MSB's new Renderer with Roon endpoint compatibility, as that might change the whole game (at least for me).



cheers,
alex
 

Pb Blimp

Well-Known Member
Oct 30, 2017
518
25
140
USA
Paul,

I've done a few quicks tests with SGM on the MSB SELECT, which does not require (or like) upsampling. So, the tests were basically Roon playing directly into the MSB, versus Roon feeding HQplayer, with all the filtering and upsampling turned off, which then fed the MSB.
There was a very slight improvement there indeed, and that surprised me a bit, since you'd figure not having something in the chain, even software, would be better...
But here's the fun bit: once I put SGM into "Roon Player" mode, and switched off the "Core" functionality (using a Core elsewhere on my network), that performance penalty was gone!

I haven't tried putting HQplayer into Innuos, as it's more of a closed system, and I didn't feel like hacking into it... But perhaps Innuos can be convinced to put at least the "NAA" (player) portion of HQplayer in the units. That way, you can run Roon Core + HQplayer elsewhere, and use the Innuos as a network player.

And again, all this exercise was done routing the audio through USB ports. I'm dying to get MSB's new Renderer with Roon endpoint compatibility, as that might change the whole game (at least for me).



cheers,
alex

Thanks Alex.....as usual very helpful. Yes the question for me is how Roon compares serving the files over ethernet not USB as I plan to use the MSB renderer. It is hard for me to imagine why HQ would sound better in a server role only (i.e., over ethernet) as opposed to playing the file to USB which is easier to understand.
 

Pb Blimp

Well-Known Member
Oct 30, 2017
518
25
140
USA
I will reply based on some of my findings in this area in general:

Why Twonky instead of Roon? I prefer a couple other players over Roon for sonics in my setup.

Paul, Have you found this to be true when Roon is used to stream to a DAC's ethernet renderer or only for playing files to a USB?
 

nonesup

VIP/Donor
Feb 15, 2017
1,044
623
355
Spain
I am looking seriously at the Fidata, Melco, Innuos, and Mojo. The Fidata has some very positive attributes but several problems IMO:

Why Twonky instead of Roon?

Why cheap TDK switching power supplies instead of high performance linear?

Why middle grade EVO as opposed to PRO Samsung SSDs?

Why no support on USA?

For an alleged "all out assault" on ethernet performance these decisions are quite odd to me.

Roon Core, can only be installed on servers that have an x86 processor. Melco does not have it and I think Fidata does not either.
 

Pb Blimp

Well-Known Member
Oct 30, 2017
518
25
140
USA

toetapaudio

Well-Known Member
Feb 13, 2017
53
2
138
Forest of Dean UK
I am looking seriously at the Fidata, Melco, Innuos, and Mojo. The Fidata has some very positive attributes but several problems IMO:

Why Twonky instead of Roon?

Why cheap TDK switching power supplies instead of high performance linear?

Why middle grade EVO as opposed to PRO Samsung SSDs?

Why no support on USA?

For an alleged "all out assault" on ethernet performance these decisions are quite odd to me.


Answers from fidata

Why Twonky instead of Roon?
The UPnP AV / DLNA server is common in the world of network audio.
You can expect to connect with many devices.
Especially, Twonky Server has adopted it because its history is old
and it is a server that can say de facto standard.

2) Why cheap TDK switching power supplies instead of high performance linear?
We adopt the switching power supply of high level sound quality by
audibility evaluation.
Also, we are designing to reduce the noise sufficiently on the board side.
In HFAS1-XS20U, two "Linear Power Conditioner" are adopted, and noise
reduceof a higher level is realized.

3) Why middle grade EVO as opposed to PRO Samsung SSDs?
The grade of the product certainly "PRO" is high.
However, in our auditory assessment, "EVO" adopted "EVO" because the
quality was higher.

4) Why no support on USA?
We have not distribution route in the US yet.
We still looking for the distributor.
 

Pb Blimp

Well-Known Member
Oct 30, 2017
518
25
140
USA
Answers from fidata

Why Twonky instead of Roon?
The UPnP AV / DLNA server is common in the world of network audio.
You can expect to connect with many devices.
Especially, Twonky Server has adopted it because its history is old
and it is a server that can say de facto standard.

2) Why cheap TDK switching power supplies instead of high performance linear?
We adopt the switching power supply of high level sound quality by
audibility evaluation.
Also, we are designing to reduce the noise sufficiently on the board side.
In HFAS1-XS20U, two "Linear Power Conditioner" are adopted, and noise
reduceof a higher level is realized.

3) Why middle grade EVO as opposed to PRO Samsung SSDs?
The grade of the product certainly "PRO" is high.
However, in our auditory assessment, "EVO" adopted "EVO" because the
quality was higher.

4) Why no support on USA?
We have not distribution route in the US yet.
We still looking for the distributor.

Thank you very much for this effort. Is indeed helpful. Wish they were set up in the USA. Maybe down the road.
 

Marcin_gps

VIP Donor/Industry Expert
Jun 24, 2015
232
163
420
jcat.eu
Maybe I'll add few cents. I've had the HFAS1-S10U server in my system in December 2016 after Mr. Sugimori of Fidata visited me in my city.
I used it as a media server only (via ethernet) with my JPLAYStreamer setup. The fidata server works with UPnP and OpenHome standards, so it was plug & play for my JPLAYStreamer renderer which is also OpenHome based.
I compared it to my highly optimized PC media server running windows 2012 server and MinimServer as a media server software. The server is fully tweaked based on industrial motherboard, low-power Xeon CPU, industrial ram, SLC industrial SSD for the OS, low-power low-rpm drive for music library, audio-grade sata cables for the drives, JCAT NET Card FEMTO for network, everything on linear power.
Fidata is a great sounding server, a big improvement over a standard PC or NAS. However my server simply sounded better, but it took me years to get to this level of performance and it's still a PC with all its advantages and disadvantages. For an average user who is not very tech savvy, wants a great sounding product and trouble-free operation, I'd definitely recommend the fidata server. It's beautifully finished too and can sit on an audio rack next to any hifi component looking nothing like a computer. Unless you need more options like roon or want to upgrade hardware once in a while - then a PC music server would be a better choice.

btw - MSB network renderer module will not work with roon. It needs a UPnP server and roon doesn't support UPnP

BR
Marcin
 

Pb Blimp

Well-Known Member
Oct 30, 2017
518
25
140
USA
Maybe I'll add few cents. I've had the HFAS1-S10U server in my system in December 2016 after Mr. Sugimori of Fidata visited me in my city.
I used it as a media server only (via ethernet) with my JPLAYStreamer setup. The fidata server works with UPnP and OpenHome standards, so it was plug & play for my JPLAYStreamer renderer which is also OpenHome based.
I compared it to my highly optimized PC media server running windows 2012 server and MinimServer as a media server software. The server is fully tweaked based on industrial motherboard, low-power Xeon CPU, industrial ram, SLC industrial SSD for the OS, low-power low-rpm drive for music library, audio-grade sata cables for the drives, JCAT NET Card FEMTO for network, everything on linear power.
Fidata is a great sounding server, a big improvement over a standard PC or NAS. However my server simply sounded better, but it took me years to get to this level of performance and it's still a PC with all its advantages and disadvantages. For an average user who is not very tech savvy, wants a great sounding product and trouble-free operation, I'd definitely recommend the fidata server. It's beautifully finished too and can sit on an audio rack next to any hifi component looking nothing like a computer. Unless you need more options like roon or want to upgrade hardware once in a while - then a PC music server would be a better choice.

btw - MSB network renderer module will not work with roon. It needs a UPnP server and roon doesn't support UPnP

BR
Marcin

Thanks Marcin. I presume this comment does not override your recommendation of the Mojo with JCAT Ethernet over Fidata, Innuos, and Melco? Also, just fyi -- MSB has a new roon compliant renderer.
 

Marcin_gps

VIP Donor/Industry Expert
Jun 24, 2015
232
163
420
jcat.eu
Thanks Marcin. I presume this comment does not override your recommendation of the Mojo with JCAT Ethernet over Fidata, Innuos, and Melco? Also, just fyi -- MSB has a new roon compliant renderer.

No, Mojo Audio server is close to mine, so I'd recommend it over Fidata if SQ is your top priority.
Thanks for the info about the new MSB renderer & roon. I was not aware of it.

BR
Marcin
 

About us

  • What’s Best Forum is THE forum for high end audio, product reviews, advice and sharing experiences on the best of everything else. This is THE place where audiophiles and audio companies discuss vintage, contemporary and new audio products, music servers, music streamers, computer audio, digital-to-analog converters, turntables, phono stages, cartridges, reel-to-reel tape machines, speakers, headphones and tube and solid-state amplification. Founded in 2010 What’s Best Forum invites intelligent and courteous people of all interests and backgrounds to describe and discuss the best of everything. From beginners to life-long hobbyists to industry professionals, we enjoy learning about new things and meeting new people, and participating in spirited debates.

Quick Navigation

User Menu

Steve Williams
Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator
Ron Resnick
Site Co-Owner | Administrator
Julian (The Fixer)
Website Build | Marketing Managersing