Tír Na HiFi

jkeny wrote:Wow, Nige, you are forging ahead with your experiments. Interesting work on the PS changes to RAM. have to find some time soon to implement all these upgrades.

Here's an interesting link I came across about motherboard voltage regulators if anybody is looking into Nige's PS work on the motherboard http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/ ... cuit/616/1

BTW, has anybody tried this new kid-on-the-block free music playback software MQN? http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f11-s ... yer-15401/

good find on the motherboard regulator link,
i havent attacked my mobo yet, im afraid ill blow up a couple of them before i get it right.
id prefer to experiment on an old worthless pc first im keeping my eye out

theres so much on a mobo that could be improved it would be quite a task

think krill on jplay forum is right a special order audiophile board would be the way to go with a box full of linear power supplies providing the correct voltages

nige

Nigle brought all his pc/zuma kit to my place on thursday so had a decent listen to 6 Linear supplies (3 per PC) with a few observers on hand to pass judgement. Ken was on site also with his new Accoustic Revive LaN Cable. Both systems were running beta versions of Core server to try and ensure all was as equal as possible with the major exception of the power supply arrangement.

The comparison was between my set up (laptop and zuma with 1 Linear Supply) and there is no doubt that Nigels arrangement is well ahead. Separating out the individual components and supplying them with their own linear supply gives a significant improvement in tonal richness, inky black back ground. Test tracks were mainly jazz standards well recorded and generally known by the group. Sorry I didn't take a photo of the 3 maplin supplies bolted together as it looks the part(kindof). It is the best sound I have heard and I will try and replicate at least a 3 LS arrangement on the zuma.

The Lan cable was a surprise. It added another level of improvement. It was the icing on the cake and I will be adding it at some point.

The core server installed running beta version of Audiophil's(jplay forum) project which will be available for purchase soon plays a big part in getting the SQ to the level it is now at.

Unfortunately when one starts to add up the costs to get to this point one finds that there is no free lunch. I don't think this type of set up is for the faint hearted. Like a lot of computer software it can be prone to hiccups and unexpected problems. Is it worth it very much think so.

Many thanks to Nigel for all his unsung efforts here as he has singlehandly done most of the testing/software installs and electrical installs/investigations. His willingness to push the boat has brought huge leaps in performance in a short space of time. All his ideas have turned up trumps and have added massive improvements at relatively low cost(Linear supplies are cica €65 each)

Great write up Tony and sorry I missed that get together. I second the appreciation of all Nige's work and I look forward to playing with additional linear supplies.
I expect your room was getting quite toasty with the 6 linear supplies running together, probably not as bad as my Art Audio ovens but must be getting close :-))

Big thanks to Tony for letting me tag along and Nigel for all his work. Great sounding system Tony has there! I am also listening to Server Core and it does sound very very good!

Yes, muchos gratias to Tony for inviting me. I'm a bit behind the curve in all the latest hardware & software mods & it was great to hear Nige's supreme efforts in pushing this envelope - he deserves all the praise that he is getting & I'll add another note of appreciation to him.

The 6 Linear supplies did a great job of bringing added purity to the sound - it removed some grain that we didn't even know was in the sound. It's often only by hearing better reproduction that we identify some issues that were always there but remained unnoticed :)

Kens LAN isolator was initially hard to pin down but on repeated listening it seemed to subtly improve the sound - hard to put a finger on what was improved but very low level detail seemed to be better revealed. The track where I noticed this was in the Oscar Petterson one where there is some very low level sing along mumbling/muttering by the bass player, I think (?). This stood out more clearly to me.

Jeez, I have to clear the decks & get into some of this but keep up the great work guys & like Ivor, I'll join in when all has been ironed out :) :)

i dont think i deserve all that praise, its all a group effort

Fran was pushing linear supplies from the start, i just went ott on them and did a bit of testing

both john and fran found usb key operating system install methods, mine is just a mix of both methods

the guys that wrote the audiophile scripts

pearse found the solution to the icky ethernet driver for the intel chipset 79v

joesph and marcin for jplay

we have come far on this journey ive only had a very small part

nige

I just forgot to menton to
thank tony for hosting on Thursday
I hope another display of the power of computer audio

The future possibilities of this work nearly seems to be endless as there are many theorys of improvement
but as fran says they might become less financially feasible for the average guy

I must say I was slighty dismayed at the improvement doubling the equipment as it nearly doubles the cost

Nige

You're being modest Nigel - I know all these things are a group effort (thats the power of the internet isn't it?) but still you have done huge work on this.

I still have to wire in the 3rd supply on my own zuma - but thats hot on the agenda now......


Fran

Sligolad wrote:Great write up Tony and sorry I missed that get together. I second the appreciation of all Nige's work and I look forward to playing with additional linear supplies.
I expect your room was getting quite toasty with the 6 linear supplies running together, probably not as bad as my Art Audio ovens but must be getting close :-))

Don't worry Pearse your Giso will need to be evaluated against the Ken Ishiwata juniors cable. BTW There was a lot of hot air the other night not just from the amps.

tony wrote:

Sligolad wrote:Great write up Tony and sorry I missed that get together. I second the appreciation of all Nige's work and I look forward to playing with additional linear supplies.
I expect your room was getting quite toasty with the 6 linear supplies running together, probably not as bad as my Art Audio ovens but must be getting close :-))

Don't worry Pearse your Giso will need to be evaluated against the Ken Ishiwata juniors cable. BTW There was a lot of hot air the other night not just from the amps.

kens isolator cable seemed to do some nice work. it seemed to bring extra clarity /or more detail maybe at the expense of some body but that seemed to suit my pc system

im looking forward to the lan isolator shootout

must be my turn to host a meet, if the journey not too much for you guys

got a nice bit of listening this morning, listening not testing thats sort of new to me,
im ecstatic with the sound quality and i find it quite astonishing every time i turn it on

nige