What server was it?
Steve N.
A Win10 i7 machine dedicated for audio as a Roon server.
What server was it?
Steve N.
A Win10 i7 machine dedicated for audio as a Roon server.
How does output go to the DAC? USB or S/PDDIF? is it a USB DAC?
What cable was used?
What playback software is being used?
What format were the tracks?
Has the PC software been optimized, stopping background tasks?
IS the PC powered from a floor-wart?
Any one of these things can corrupt the SQ. I never said the computer route was simple.
Steve N.
Ethernet, no USB. It goes through an ethernet network bridge to the DAC, via AES/EBU.
Right. Which means a computer doesn't automatically beat a very competent transport.
Which actually was the point.
I never said it would automatically beat a competent transport. I said that my selection of computer audio components and player S/W would beat a transport at the same price point.
Here are ways to make the Ethernet sound better:
1) feed the DAC from the router, not the switch
2) Power the router from an earth-grounded LPS with fast regulation response (earth ground connected to DC common)
3) Use a good CAT7 cable
4) put a good isolator in series with the cable from Router to DAC, like the EMO EN-70e. Use a short cable (0.5m) from router to isolator
5) always play a .wav track, so you are comparing apples to apples
You might pass these tips to your friend.
There is much more to the issue than just jitter. For example, it is known that computers can be quite noisy, which is why Shunyata even offers a power conditioner addressing this very issue:
http://shunyata.com/products/power-distributors/hydra-dpc-6-v3/
2) Power the router from an earth-grounded LPS with fast regulation response (earth ground connected to DC common)
+1. Jitter is a part of the issue but for most people ISTM the lowest hanging fruit is indeed noise. Which is easier to minimize in a transport because the power requirements are that much lower than for a PC. But the newer ARM-based systems are considerably lower power than PCs so I reckon if a computer's going to beat out a transport it will be an ARM-based one rather than a PC.
Is there a commercially available one you’d recommend?
I use a Laufer Teknik Memory Player. It’s the latest version and I output via AES EBU into my Soulution DAC. It beats my Soulution player and is an absolute delight.
Expensive though.. 52K
Something for your friend to try before buying different PSes - try grounding the negative poles of all PSes to a single ground point & from there to mains ground.
So ground the outer barrel of all SMPS DC plugs.
This will eliminate most leakage currents
Is there a “device” or adapter or connector that would make this easy? I have three devices to connect.
Is there a commercially available one you’d recommend?
The potential music/sonic gains of digital playback without a disc transport were certainly very intriguing. Even when I was using an Ayre C5xe MP to play physical discs and a Linn Akurate to play files from a QNAP NAS, I’ve always thought physical discs still sounded better, more alive, more drive, more… analog and musically involving… I realized from the learning and experimenting the entire ripping, storage, and playback of digital files was that everything made a difference. Windows rips better sounding files than Mac, WAV sounds better than FLAC, and I hated WiFi router between storage and playback.
Fast forward a couple of years and I ended up with CH D1/C1. I thought the dCS Vivaldi stack sounded just a bit better overall but I didn’t want to mess with that many components, and the CH combo sounded just fine to me so I went that route. For file playback I ended up with a Melco NAS (finally no WiFi router in signal transferring!), Acoustic Revive LAN isolator, and Audioquest Ethernet cable. However playback through physical discs still sounded better. Files in my system just sounded staler and not as open and exciting musically.
The potential music/sonic gains of digital playback without a disc transport were certainly very intriguing. Even when I was using an Ayre C5xe MP to play physical discs and a Linn Akurate to play files from a QNAP NAS, I’ve always thought physical discs still sounded better, more alive, more drive, more… analog and musically involving… I realized from the learning and experimenting the entire ripping, storage, and playback of digital files was that everything made a difference. Windows rips better sounding files than Mac, WAV sounds better than FLAC, and I hated WiFi router between storage and playback.
Fast forward a couple of years and I ended up with CH D1/C1. I thought the dCS Vivaldi stack sounded just a bit better overall but I didn’t want to mess with that many components, and the CH combo sounded just fine to me so I went that route. For file playback I ended up with a Melco NAS (finally no WiFi router in signal transferring!), Acoustic Revive LAN isolator, and Audioquest Ethernet cable. However playback through physical discs still sounded better. Files in my system just sounded staler and not as open and exciting musically.
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