How would you describe the differences you’re hearing with the addition of the Matrix into the I2S over the standard USB connection?
I ordered an Ultra MKII 9 volt add on for my Sbooster to replace the 7.5 volt model I tried before. It is feeding my Matrix the proper 9 volts now and it sounds correct. I really like this Sbooster gear. Their website might as well be in Latin though. I cannot make sense of any of it. Fortunately Upscale Audio exists as a great source for all things Sbooster. They are such a pleasure to deal with!
And there’s zero pressure if you can visit them in person too!
I would love to visit them. Oh my goodness!
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Been there a number of times and Kevin is a joy to deal with!
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I would describe the difference as with the I2S, you hear more inner detail and dimensionality and open soundstage. Much like when you change from a patch cord to a WW Platinum cable.
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Couldn’t agree more. Sbooster makes legit equipment! It’s a good thing that their technical prowess is decoupled from their digital marketing ineptness. I judged this company based on peer reviews, primarily from @cardri, as well as online reviews. Can’t stop scratching my head trying to figure out why Sbooster doesn’t invest in better translations/product description/digital presesence (including aesthetics). I seriously believe they could sell twice as much product with minimal investment.
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They are a 30 minute drive from my place. Come on down @aangen and we will make a weekend of it! 
Don’t worry, Ive got an extra one of these on hand…
Biochemical Protection Suit
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Oh man, that is an offer I cannot refuse. Best case scenario I arrive on my Ducati after a few days on the road. Worst case scenario I’ll fly in.
I hope to make this happen. Might be in the late summer or early fall.
Alrighty then… Whether Ducati facilitated or via a heavier-than-air powered flying vehicle, let’s do this!
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Here’s the D70 pin settings… Needless to say I’ve tried both configs. Also tried playing with the DIP switches on the Matrix (although I understand they’re only relevant for DSD).
I’ve moved the matrix/D70 to a secondary system, so I may muck with it again and see if a change of scenery will make it magically work. The frustrating thing is that the D70 display recognizes the bitrate coming through (whether 44.1 or 176.4 or 192, etc…) but there’s no output, no sound.
Coax/Optical/AES-EBU, all work just fine.
OK, comparing this diagram with the similar one in the X-SPDIF 2 manual, it appears that your ‘Standard phase (default)’ corresponds to the X-SPDIF 2 manual’s ‘A definition’. So you have a choice. You can either leave your D70 as is and flick the corresponding switch on the bottom of the X-SPDIF 2 to ‘on’ or leave the X-SPDIF 2 switch ‘off’ and change the setting in the D70 to ‘Reverse phase’.
I’m pretty sure this switch applies to both PCM and DSD. After all, at the interface level at least, data is data whether or not it’s PCM or DSD.
I’m not the expert, but the failure you describe sounds like a phase mismatch on the data pins. So it should work if you correctly match the phases between the X-SPDIF 2 and the D70.
No joy. Tried all possible combinations of DIP switches and D70 menu settings, and still no sound from I2S input.
I did a bunch of searching when i first got the D70, and found some guy on some forum or blog or whatever who said it worked, so I messaged him up. He has no memory of how he got it to work, and he got rid of both the Matrix and the D70 long ago.
The mystery remains.
That’s annoying. Well it’s got me beat. That’s the best I got.
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thanks for playing stump the matrix 
Regarding the Ultrarendu… a while back I initially connected it straight to my Comcast router and it was the worst SQ I had heard possibly in my life. The worst hearing fatique I have experienced, no bass, strange airy sound. The sound was much worse than just using an AQ Dragonfly from my Mac into the SGCD.
This led me down the rabbit hole and I moved on to FMC’s and a Dlink switch which both improved SQ much closer to what my Macbook outputs. From listening, I am a single data point but I suspect the UR has very poor isolation of network noise.
Currently I am using the Strata, and again I’m in the Ethernet rabbit hole. The Bridge on the Strata varies greatly from the Switch and the power supply on the switch. We have limited technical details on the Strata Bridge but from what i’m hearing… the isolation is limited.
Hi Al, how does the booster compare to Uptone LPS 1.2 sonically, why are you no longer using it?
Hi Chris. When the Sboosters became available to me at an attractive price I jumped at them. Can I hear a significant difference between them and the LPS 1.2? I would say no. But I did notice something else that was very significant to me. I was using an LPS 1.2 to power a UltraRendu and a Matrix. When trying to start the UltraRendu the LPS light would go to red and the UltraRendu would go into an endless loop of getting close to starting, losing power from the LPS 1.2, then rebooting. Disconnecting the LPS 1.2 and swapping in the Sbooster ended this. The UltraRendu would start up with no issues.
I believe the Sbooster provides more power, and possibly there is something wrong with the LPS 1.2. I don’t feel that there is anything bad about the LPS 1.2, but I do feel the Sbooster is more robust.
I will find other uses for the pair of LPS 1.2 power supplies.
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A part of my career involved investigating cults. I went undercover in two of them to better understand how they work. It’s very interesting to see how belief systems form, how things are accepted as fundamentally true without any proof to support it. Often the only proof is the way in which the minds of members interpret the reality around them. A dynamic intensified by the group mind. The delusion of one when corroborated by the delusion of another, and another, and another, suddenly becomes seen as fact thanks to corroboration.
While not exactly the same, there are certainly similar type of thought patterns in the minds of the audiophile community. I’m not suggesting it’s devoid of fact, but there is an enormous amount of subjectivity (and theory) taken as universal fact, and that part is very similar to cults.
To clarify, I’m not beating the ASR drum by any means. I do think it would be interesting for an unbiased scientific entity to undertake a genuine examination of audiophile beliefs through the lens of science based, comprehensive blind tests, etc.
I’m sure many audiophile credos would survive, yet I imagine many would also be exposed as false. Rest easy high end manufactures, those who possess the capacity to do such investigations don’t care about the topic!
The mind has the capacity to convince us of so many things, with complete certainty. The world was flat for thousands of years. It was beyond question. All the greatest minds agreed.
500 years from now, I wonder how the masters of high end audio will look back upon all that we audiophiles hold as fact today. I’m guessing, that through the lens of history, many of our current day audio beliefs will be viewed as, er, quaint.
As with most things, be leery of certainty, it is the enemy of discovery. Remember that our understanding is largely limited by our primitive primate minds. The wise are not sure, they are not certain, quite the contrary, the wise know that they know very little.
And that applies to all things, including high end audio.
Blessings,
John
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@dancingsea
Interesting take. I agree with much of your statements. At the same time I see this as a cult as much as groups like ASR. There is no definitive proof either way what is or isn’t audible. The difference is we are exploring and they are sitting at home claiming a spherical world is impossible.