One of the reasons I dislike system threads/photos. They typically come across as Bring and Brag, the older person’s version of Show and Tell.
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Yes, then you can get into routers, fans, sata ports where does it end and we just listen to some music?
I do know a lot of people going for better routers, switches with PSU’s and all. Mine is already isolated from the front end of the network so I will leave it at that.
I appreciate you were not taken aback by the “scalability” of my previous posting.
I can’t believe I actually, knew this information, had long since forgotten it and just now stumbled across it again. my gain. whoot!
I do not know about the Phoenix. It is certainly more of a complex circuit design. the Sotm is almost unanimously accepted as producing squeaky clean USB signals. Here is the kicker. much as the PS Audio Ilan was the Icrom product. The Sotom USBULtra for about $650 is an off the shelf startech.com USB hub that costs $49.99 each! It’s power supply is of the “switchmode” variety, selling for $950 and does not measure as well as IFI’s unit’s. It is a “HP” Laptop part#! the full MSRP is $109. the street price on it is about $79-$89.
You can build their “silver” cable for it for it for less than $10 if you feel you need that. Or you can build a much better one for $25. a very good power cord for the PSU can be had from tripp Lite which actually fares better than most "audiophile’ cords in low draw applications and has the lowest dielectric of any cable on the planet. look for their Xhple power cord in IEC/C15.It is about $15 for 6’. so I just did your $1,640++ best sound I have heard yet for less than the matrix. go figure.
Now, it will be interesting when we find out what the Matrix and Phoenix really are? do you really think these small companies design these things? they cost a fortune to design. they just repurpose the idea and sell it to us! As soon as the cat is out of the bag we are getting it for 1/4 the price and they are already out of business! This is usually the case with this stuff. Or someone in China lets the units out the “back” door on Ebay. It is from China anyways, so no laws have been broken in the US by purchasing it!
I do not mind to pay $$$ for “legit” stuff, but I also will not stand to be ripped off! Tomorrow I do the same exact thing the right way for less than 3 bills. Enjoy your return Sotm! Of course, they are known to refute these claims. Ours has better…Mil-spec…We upgraded to our spec… Nope, off the shelf.
Starchech.com/cdw.com not far from us as much as we drive either. One stop shopping for the entire unit! Plus most likely I even get a discount on it! Just goes to show, you do not necessarily need fancy components at play but ones that do the correct job! In fact I just saw an even better Startech hub off the same chip/clock I think I will go with instead. Instead of MSRP $49,99 it is MSRP $89.99 Again, I will most likely get a 25%+ discount on whichever products I may choose since we have a corporate account with them.
Dancing, this is absolutely true as you say it but not true about me. I have only spoken about very specific audiophile stuff. all I really enjoy in my life. I give all the rest to charity. I honestly do. I just keep what I need to get my audio gear. It is not even the very best there is. I am not a flash in the pan. I never mean to hurt anyone else’s feelings either. I am sensitive to others as well. If I had to save 10 years to get what I wanted it would be the same way, it would just take me 10 years then. It is no different. this is my only interest. Probably, why I am a past middle aged male and have no relationship. I do not even mind. I am too enveloped in listening to music! Please, yes understand all manner of jerks on the internet but do not get the wrong idea about me. I have a big heart.
OH, I just do not show my home. that is my personal space. I seem to be the odd guy out now! how times have changed. years ago, you would never show strangers pictures inside your home! Like I said though, I put it out there if Paul wants/can he can at least vouch for me on big bucks PSA.
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I find WIFI to the G2 to be as good, or better than, wired connection.
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This is a forum of audiophiles, poor or rich, and whatever else would put people in different boxes. But our common interest is our hobby.
I can enjoy reading about somebody who gets a kick out of used, vintage or the least expensive gear, knowing or even teaching us to enjoy music as much as reading about somebody showing us the pinnacle of technology. As long as it’s about quality rather than quantity. I am also very much interested in how much the components that you talk about cost. It helps to put a lot in perspective. Nothing more.
I compare it to spotting a Bugatti on the road. I can never afford it, am happy I don’t even have to contemplate about it, but I love seeing it as much as the kid next door making a wreck looking like a million dollar car, at least in its own eyes and being very happy.
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Well said!
Back on topic…Emperical Audio makes a DDR, The Offramp, never had the pleasure but some say it is at least on par with the SOtM. Won’t win any beauty contests but fully loaded for under 2K
I use a Kitsune KTE SU-DDR (modded out for $800) I don’t know if it makes a huge sonic impact but the background is definitely a little “blacker”
-JP
The problem is, there are so many of these “solutions”. Without hearing all of them, how does one know that they got the “best” one? Even, system independent? These things seem to be a “cottage” industry. Every time I think I have mentioned them all, up pops another I failed to do so. I have no clue if I have the most “resolving” USB front end or not? I wish to have that claim to fame! It is not a Monopoly either. So can 5 Million other people for all I care. I just want the finest sound I can obtain via USB. Now, I am lost. I have no clue what achieves it. It was funny my other post “aren’t high end Audiophile USB filters just hubs ETC.” I completely forgot that the Sotm is a stock hub and Laptop SW PSU until there it was in my face again.
Went to Startech today. Went from $1,640 to $276. For an actually nicer hub that has industrial galvanic isolation for surges. The Sotm does not, it is just a “reclocker”, ie hub. Honestly, I hear no difference. Then again, with my clean sources I hear no difference straight cable in either! I figure, 1 “box” no more why not. Not start daisy chaining these things. That, may in fact degrade SQ. Not sure about that either but more in signal path does not make much sense to me, Phoenix is the same darn thing AFAIK. They are cashing in on us as they always have IMO. To answer my own question in a different thread, yes they are all hubs of sorts. Every one of them has been thus far. Some more elaborate than others, but at their heart all hubs,
Not even being of much importance in my instance apparently I went right to the source. As did many with Icron networking products. I guess, If I continuously hear no difference, then there is little or any to be had. From any of them. Since they are all more or less the same. The “clock” does not matter here. It is a selling point. A $3 clock is fine all day long in this application. This, mainly being each units claim to fame. I have yet to hear the word “Femto”. I just forewent a Chinese dual Femto device with the clocks in an “oven”. Once again, the sound no different to me! Not my hearing I assure you, but rather this simply is not the thing that makes a difference. It is “noisy” USB and Packet loss. Both really only fixed with a clean source. Not Band Aides.
For now, I guess I will just rest assured I have achieved the best USB Audio communications that are available to me. It is at this point, fruitless to keep searching for better I now figure. I am at once content. One very nice thing about my systems, as you change digital inputs(say from USB to AES3) one shall most likely hear no difference in sound quality or level! I worked very hard on that goal. That is not to say someone with an Ear of “Gold” will not, but the vast majority of us. It was no small feet indeed. So, in closing one cannot simply say USB stinks. It is just much to conducive to loaning itself to doing so. Unless you start picking up HDMI cables at the filling station to even out the playing ground. Rarely done. So therein lies the answer. Not the protocol, but it’s intended application.
BTW, can we please forget “wealth” from now on? Across this entire forum? If I mentioned a component was$500,000 pretend I just said $1,500, okay? It really does not help any of us. ell, as pointed out it does but arguments often raise from the ashes. Let’s just please keep it cool. I do not mind if you ask questions about my “gear” but not price tag questions please. I know it is a very touchy subject. Since it is myself in question, I am just trying to “diffuse” this situation. We all share the same passion or we would not be here! I for one am thankful for this board. It is not “running loose”. It is indeed a “manufacturers” website we are on here! Most of these Forums are not. I am appreciative of this, so please let us treat it as such!
I am just amazed I messed up this entire post to begin with. It was not the best one box solution for $1,640 but for $275. I am sure they are going to love this all over again . kick scream, prove it! made in China, not touched outside of the same factory, other than the side door. I have advised the proper authorities, once again. it seems this type of thing just cannot be stopped. best sound? I am all for that! great, sign me up1 then buy the legit product(s) for $275 from startech. that is all. it in fact really does work wonders. especially paired with an AQ jitterbug. ahead of stream on a Dragontail. hooray, I just pulled it off “cheap”!
As usual, my apologies on the length of this posting. However I see it better to 4-5 multi-part “spam” style postings that then no one ever ends up seeing anyways! Peace!
Regarding USB cables, you might be interested in considering these - Intona Ultimate USB. Here’s a wonderful technical description:
Just an FYI. USB 3.1 GEN2 ports are standard 5KV Galvanically isolated, data and power. They have much higher signal integrity over previous generations. They are backwards compatible with 2.0. If you happen to have a brand new PC, use these for your Audio and you ‘should’ not need much else. Constantly improving things,
I don’t do any streaming these days, but do have my old Squeezebox Touch hooked up with an off-the-shelf USB cable in case I should ever want to. Will this confession get me booted from the thread? 
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No but you might have to appear before the board of redirectors 
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“re-directors”. LOL.
This morning I took delivery of a desktop “super” computer. Linux is preloaded. It has no fans. I enjoy to upsample like “crazy” before the DAC. Just me. I see no reason this cannot be my music server. It makes no self noise in the room. The only reason it matters is my favoring USB. with USB the shorter the cable the better. No matter how good the cables IMO. So I am just going to put it on a .5M cable to my DAC and a 1M cable from the PC(if you could even call it that). Goodbye, trusty NUC you have served me well…
I would sincerely hope you folks take things more light heartedly around here. It is just music. After all, it is supposed to be something we enjoy! Regardless of in what absurd(or not so much) manner we all do so! It is not like we are discussing anything very serious? Okay, yes I do take my “sound” seriously. As in the best I feel that I can obtain, but it is not like my dog died. It really is just “fun and games”. Half the fun is “getting” there. Even if one has a “budget”. That is just my take on this “hobby”. If I should indeed take it more seriously than my sincere apologies for not realizing so. I say, just “enjoy the music”!
I “LOL” to that, to use the modern vernacular 
Music is the best, and some of us enjoy hooking stuff up and changing configs in itself as well (I can recommend just getting a mixing desk and having done with it, if signal routing really is your hobby).
“It’s all good fun (or we are not doing it right)” as I keep telling my boss at work 
So, now it has the Pink faun USB bridge with super OCXO, powered by Uptone JS-2 straight out to DAC with Cardas Clear high Speed USB Cable. I found that adding any “boxes” such as the intona ETC simply degrades the sound. Probably due to redundancy in the audio path. With this computer upsampled to 512 DSD before the DAC, all the filters, shelves ETC I like I am extremely pleased with the sound. I personally do not think USB could sound any better but I would like to hear the I2S bridge for comparison. I kind of doubt I could tell any difference though. I doubt they would sell them both if USB were not a viable option. That is the end of my USB odyssey! It took longer than it seems, I just did not speak much about it here. It has been achieved with no outboard “boxes”! You could do this for way less money too with a Pardo card or something. so money is not the barrier here either. You do not have to use the Matrix or I2S for that matter. in fact the pardo card is half the price of the Matrix.
The Paul Hynes SR7 came Today! Now The Pink Faun is running off of that. I would like to run a lower power computer off of the other rail of it but I think I prefer the sound oversampling like this. I am not sure something like a Pentium or even I3 will run these algorithms. I guess everyone has lot interest in this anyways. I will shut up and go enjoy my music now! I think I am pretty much set, no?
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LOL, yeah okay… priceless (so to speak), very entertaining 