Very quick question:

Does the NOS1 use a switch-mode or linear power supply?

(The reason I ask is that I am currently getting a dedicated mains circuit installed in my main room and will run all SMPSs off an isolation transformer and all linear PSs off my PurePower 2000 - I just need to get appropriate length mains cables ready for the NOS1...)

Mani.

Yep, that's what I'm doing with the Weiss - I use a 6pin-4pin adaptor. I agree that this doesn't address the noise issues, but that's exactly where AES3 comes in - it should provide common mode noise attenuation (30dB, if I understand the AES3 standards correctly).


Ah, OK. To be replaced by what?

Mani.

Marcin, I think Peter is rubbing off on you - you're starting to talk double-Dutch

So, you're convinced that the DAC should be fed by an outside source (e.g. firewire), and yet the source that you say sounds great (the RME) is internal (PCI). Hmmm... Care to explain???

FWIW, I can feed my ADC/DAC with an internal (RME AES-32 - PCI) or external (Weiss AFI1 - firewire) source. Both provide a dual-wire AES input to, and take a BNC wordclock from, the ADC/DAC. I'm not sure that I hear any obvious advantage of the external over the internal... What should I be listening out for?

Mani.

Just ordered the two Bob James Trio CDs - but they're coming from the US, so wil be a while now. Will look into the other albums mentioned in this thread... Incidentally, Melody Gardot did a great live set on 'Later with Jools Holland' on the BBC a couple of months ago.

Peter, looking forward to hearing the new feature on XX... and that DAC, but think I'll probably be wearing a hearing aid by the time it's finally released

Mani.

 

Marcin, how does the dCS compare with the Cantatis now that the dCS in being fed by an RME AES-32? Just interested...

(I've noticed that Peter is getting a bit grumpy in his old age, so if you have a lot to say then maybe you should start a new 'PC/DAC interface' topic or something.)

Mani.

I've had the weekend to play around with the PurePower 2000i. Overall, I like the change in sound. It's 'calmer' and a lot less 'edgy'. The sound stage seems to have been pushed right back, and the sound itself is less in your face - more laid back. It seems to be accentuating the LF region and attenuating the HF region, which I really like. Since getting it, I've tended to load an album and just listen to it all the way through, which is a really good sign.

With my whole system plugged into the unit, I can run it for ~10 minutes by unplugging the 2000i from the wall and using it's internal battery. What's interesting is that there is absolutely no change in sound when the unit is plugged back into the wall. This is a very good sign IMO.

However, it seeems that I've lost some dynamics. This is actually quite hard to figure out. Is this down to the removal of edgy distortion, or is it a compression of dynamic peaks, which has been the universal criticism of other power cleaning devices? I'm not sure. I can say though that the protection circuits in my Quad speakers seem to be kicking in more often. I attribute this to the increased LF energy and the fact that I'm tending to listen at higher volumes now because the sound is so laid back and easy on the ear.

My biggest concern though is the output voltage from the 2000i. In compliance with EU regulations, it outputs a rock steady 230V (even when unplugged from the wall). Ordinarily, this is great. However, my power-amp, pre-amp and ADC/DAC only have switchable 100V, 120V, 220V and 240V inputs. So, I can set them to 220V and have them overvolted by 10V, or set them to 240V and have them undervolted by 10V. Theoretically, a 5% difference shouldn't make a difference of course. But IME, undervolting seems to provide a more laid-back sound... which is exactly what I'm getting. Now the 2000i can output 240V, but this is set at the factory. I will contact PurePower to see if this is something I can do easily. If so, I'd like to increase the output to 240V.

Any thoughts welcome.

Mani.

I've just ordered a 'Purepower 2000' unit (not cheap at £2500). This is a true AC regenerator, totally isolated from the mains by a battery. My main interest is in feeding clean power to my ADC/DAC, which draws ~200W. But I'm going to try connecting as many devices with linear PSs to it as possible, including my power amp.

Will let you know what I think...

Mani.

This is getting complicated...

I've just switched to listening to my speakers (as opposed to my headphones, with which I've done all my listening recently, because I just love their sound). Through my speakers, I can't listen to SFS.ini = 21, or indeed 11. They're both just too much... too edgy (a bit like having the SFS set too low with earlier XX versions). And taking the SFS value as high as I can doesn't seem to help with 11 or 21.

So, with my speakers, I'm back to SFS.ini = 00 and the SFS value set to ~65. Also, curiously, I quite like the sound of Scheme 4 - very 'organic' and laid back... a bit like vinyl.

But isn't it amazing that we're discussing this at all? I mean, so much affects the sound, even in the 'bit perfect' realm!

Mani.

I use a totally fanless setup, more because it seemed like a good idea at the time than anything else. But I have to agree with Peter here - there are some massive constraints going this way. I am very limited with mobos/CPUs/GPUs - it was a nightmare getting an i7 to work in my case (Zalman TNN300). Although with this case, I actually can use everything at full power.

But the craziest thing with my setup is that my pro ADC/DAC has a (very silent) fan built in anyway!!!

Mani.

I'm continuing to like SFS.ini = 21, Scheme 1 and an SFS size of 200. I'm not sure if the 'extra' dynamics are artificial and the sound a little too forward, but I like it.

However... I really, really like the sound of 21 and Scheme 1 with "Do not Start Playback at all"!!!! I was a total skeptic at first, thinking that "Copy to XX-drive" is all that should be necessary and that any other copying would be a waste of time. But not so! Engaging "Do not Start Playback at all" brings a welcome smoothness to the sound with 21 and Scheme 1. The only downside is that I invariably forget to press alt-P...

As with many of you, I will leave my sig as it is for now, until I'm convinced this is what I like.

Mani.

I'm in a bit of a jet-lagged state, but I really like the sound of both 11 and 21. Right now, I'm leaning towards 21... but I haven't played around with SFS values, or with the new 'Do not Start Playback at all' feature.

In any event, 0.9-z3 sounds really, really great! Thanks Peter!

Mani.

Here's a blue... But I've really got to get down to some serious listening today...

Mani.

Russ, like you, I use UN-attended mode. My background stays...

Mani.

Thanks Russ, really useful.

For anyone who's interested, I've created a jpeg of these AutoHotKeys (attached) that I use as a desktop background on my dedicated XX PC...

Mani

Just a small request:

In your signatures, could you include whether you listen to XX in 'Attended' or 'Unattended' mode please? This is important in a thread such as this one...

Mani.