Wrestling to Gain Good Digital Performance

Introduction
In the last two days I have reached a point where I am actually HAPPY with what I am hearing, but it has taken MONTHS, and has not been without missteps. I suspect though that these solutions do not have universal applicability. You can have all the right equipment and still end up with less than good music. This post covers my attempts to get good digital sound outside of a Naim system, and so if you are a full Naimite there is probably less likely to be useful thoughts and information here; but, hopefully still of interest. I will be discussing what has worked for me, and what has seemed to work and then not remained such an apparent 'victory'. As always YMMV.

I would like to mention and thank rb2013 on various fora. He has invested a lot of his own time and money in investigating possible paths to digital audio nirvana, and I have profited from his work.

My personal experience is that the devil is in the detail, and far more so with digital than with analogue.

Setup
I won't go into detail here, more below, but the main elements are: Synology 1812+, Sonore microRendu, Singxer F1, Bel Canto 3.5vbs.

I will mention that my speakers are Focal 1008be IIs, and these are VERY sensitive to what is being fed into them - and lets you know in an uncomfortable way.

Software
Logitech Media Server 7.9.

Here I will mention some detail. I have been rather unsatisfied with my SQ for the past few months which has spurred changes. These have brought improvements, but still left an underlying dissatisfaction, and wondering why I feel I was getting better sound before in some ways....

Two days ago I found one reason for the decline:
I was playing some music and clicked on the track title within the GUI to get a bit of detail .....and noticed this - 1411kbps CBR (750kbps flac).

LMS was transcoding my WAV files to FLAC. I had played with the settings a few months ago as I found I couldn't stream 24/192 files, and patted myself on the back for solving it with a few config changes. Removing those changes restored my SQ, which I will describe below.

WAV is still very much king in my system.


Hardware
In moving away from my NAIM NS01 to the Sonore microRendu (mR) I was struck by two things, detail and dynamics. This is not a criticism of the NS01, when I bought it there were no streamers in the market and it has done sterling service for me .....and certainly not caused the heartache that trying to get good performance has from the mR has.

Once the immediate joy in the change to the mR had subsided I began to concentrate on elements that were less than satisfactory, in general I would describe this as spitting sibilance (SS). Not on all music, or even all tracks on certain albums, but enough to sensitise me and so find me listening out for it .....bloody irritating.

My immediate step was to swap out the IFI SMPS for an SBooster, this added to the detail and texture (air) of the sound, s small but worthwhile improvement.

My second line of attack was network cables. Rather than go into detail here I will say that I am currently back using plain old CAT5e cables. I find these are less prone to SS. My AQ Cinnamon and CAT7 cables are sitting to one side. Like all cables I find that they can act as tone controls and so I will be swapping them in and out as I make other changes. I DO think the AQ cables are more detailed & dynamic, but in my system there is a balance that I am seeking to maintain.

I then bought a MUTEC3+USB. This is a good box that certainly wrestled more detail from my system, but in the medium term I found that it also adversly highlighted the SS. I decided to sell it on. However, I would NOW like to try it again ....although I am not convinced it would add.

I changed my DDC from the Audio Breeze DU-U8 to the Singxer F1; this was nothing but positive, greater information, extended treble, more controlled bass. I will add that the mR includes upgraded Regen technology. The F1s increase in detail is one reason why I was not unhappy to sell the Mutec.

I then added an IFI iPurifer 2 between the mR and F1, a small but worthwhile lift in the performance, as with the SBooster a small increase in texture and air.

I was still suffering the SS - bear in mind that I hadn't discovered my LMS config glitch mentioned above. I read rb2013s extolling on the StarTech USB2G4LEXT2 that uses a Spartan6 FPGA to extend USB over network functionality. It can host up to four USB sticks. I started by simply plugging a USB stick into my NAS, this sounded different but did not really add anything. I bought the StarTech and then added a LPSU top power the 24VDC REX unit. This did not solve the SS, in fact it may have been slightly worse, although the bass was cleaner and better defined. However, the StarTech LEX box was being powered via the NAS SMPS USB bus.

Today I received my TeraDak X1/X2 LPSU. This has to DC outputs, one for USB (5vdc), and another with a standard 2.5mm barrel which can be configured in a range from 5 to 10vdc. It is supplied with two cables, one a 2.5mm barrel connector and the other a USB power cable with an USB type B input. I use the USB cable to power the USB StarTech LEX and the 9vdc output to power my FMC ...more below.

Result? SS substantially tamed!


Network Isolation
In conjunction with my HiFI changes I have also been investigating what is being fed across my network, i.e. do the cables pass other things than network packets? To address this I bought a pair of FMCs to translate my network traffic from UTP to FIBRE and back again. I placed this after my main CISCO switch and my cable drop to my living room where my HiFi lives.

My HiFi has a Netgear small switch, powered by a LPSU. This feeds my mR going though a EMO-70-HD network isolator.

Between my Bel-Canto 3.5vb DAC and EAR868 pre I use a Jensen Isolator.

I find these devices have a positive impact.


Sound Quality
In summary: detail, tamed sibilance, relaxed dynamics (if that makes sense!).

In my next post I will discuss in some detail what I am hearing comparing the SAME files being fed in turn from the StarTech and then the Synology NAS, once the new PSU is properly bedded in. I will be discussing a number of what I consider to be 'problem' files that I habitually use for testing, and music that I just like.


Conclusion
This has not been a happy process, and I am thoroughly relieved that things now appear to be resolving nicely. I find the sensitivity of HiFi systems to power and network 'noise' startling; again showing the value of care and R&D that Naim puts into its systems.


Next Steps
This doesn't end! My intention over the next few months is to:

1. Buy and install some Blue Jeans CAT6 cables;
2. Try an IFI DC Purifer;
3. Buy more USB sticks (256 and 512GB);
4. Investigate silver DC-DC cables; and
5. Investigate using USB SSD solutions into the StarTech.

Additionally, I am tempted to spend time and money on investigating further power isolations using the LPS-1 PSU.

M