How do you intend/ would you use the etheregen in your Melco set up??? Thx
I use my ER to feed my Melco which in turn feeds the ND555.
The ER is fed from a Cisco 2960 switch nearby.
DB.
Nd555 connected to Melco switch, Melco to Etheregen.
did it give you an uplift in performance playing directly from the melco drives OR just from streaming ??
thx
Wired in series with chord c stream, powered with chord cpower. No poe.
DB - have you tried the ER without any Ciscos feeding it?
FR and @Michaelb - have you tried putting one or more Ciscos in front of your ER now that they are well run in?
Having spent a few days doing some successful troubleshooting, inc. code reviews, testing and re-coding - I have decided to reward myself with some HiFi hi-jinks.
I really have GOT ro stop reading this thread, I came VERY close to calling Martin at Audiostore! I even considered the fact that I have an unused 12v SBooster in the loft.
In the event I have put it off to another day - wipes forehead and keeps typing with shaking hands. I AM going to put my Audioprestige server back in circuit on my clean AC supply and see if that makes a difference wrt my File NAS.
I played around with that when the EtherRegens were newish and then had around 100 hrs on them. When the EtherRegens were new, the Cisco tamed some of the brasher, harsher characteristics they had when new, but once they had burned in the Cisco brought no benefits: the sound was more alive, detailed and nuanced without - and that was with the ER after the Cisco.
Both. I mainly use the Melco stored rips to WAV as these give the best music quality in my system - but the ER really brought-up the level of remote streamed content a lot more, but it started lower. So improved both a lot - crisper cleaner removal of coloration, tighter deeper bass with clan articulation of low bass notes - just better in many important respects. What it did on female vocals was the final decider if I needed it, as it allows far better inflection, subtlety and intent to the Artist that I was hooked.
There is a fair bit of run-in to clear - two weeks the worst and another month for it to really open-out and then it just continues to improve.
Again - these are empirical results from actually listening and not those obtained by now doing that!
I did - in my system, at the time I was doing the tests, if lost something in terms of intent of Artist voice - the time-resolution of the what and how something is put for impact - so I kept it as I have it now.
I found the ER definitely does not isolate the world the other side from the HiFi by a long long way it does not - again by experiments and listening and not by presumptions otherwise. It is ājustā a good bit of HiFi item that you can integrate into the system to excellent effect.
Mostly people donāt want to try these things as they require effort and exertions they are not too capable of achieving, so intellectual fantasy utilizing other peoples pre-thought thoughts saves them both any efforts thinking or experimenting.
DB.
Thanks DB.
Very useful info.
I do quite a lot of testing and experimenting myself.
e.g. Using 2 Ciscos connected via PoE was a nice improvement for my system.
I may get an ER and PSU like FR (although the ER not for sale new in the UK or anywhere I can see for a month or so).
It was not you I had in mind - others that usually chime-in with the verdicts of their non-experiments is who I had in mind. Generally they appear like the inquisition into such threads - and it is time to go!
Indeed - I only used two normal Cisco switches before - it was me that made the original observation it had an effect at all, much to my pleasant surprise! I do like pleasant surprises.
That then caused an apocalypse of 'canāt beā, ānoooo!ā, āfooolsāā¦etc.
Always good to experiment and try these things and be able to accept the āyes/no/nothingā results and then assess the scale and character of any changes - and more importantly - do you want them in your system, for you!
DB.
Same for me, better sound without the Cisco in the chain.
I may have suffered with run-in earlier on with my ER more - at some point Iāll again try without the Cisco feeding it - but I only have one ER. You did say two gave benefits.
All useful to know about - Iāll always have a free upgrade (remove an item) when available.
I found - when I tried it - that it made things sound ānicerā in a correct way - but the timing slackened-off and performances lost a bit of tightness and focus, so I had to decide which I wanted to retain. Ideally Iād like the nicer tonality and the improved timing-focus, but I had (at the time) to choose one of these - and with Active systems it always is better to choose better timing, as you get plenty more better harmonic-structure rendering ability anyway and they are very revealing of timing when better or worse.
ā¦but run-in may have changed that assessment for that time.
I have been very slack recently!
DB.
Thatās exactly what I found with mine earlier on in the run-in journey, but it became irrelevant as the ER itself mellowed into greater tonal nuance and texture with more breath and space in the soundstage. That also improved the timing focus (which improved still further with a better power supply).
thanks darkebear very informative / useful
interesting that improvement from the melco, i have made some efforts to improve melco isolation from the main network (feed it via audioquest diamond, LPS on what is still GS108 netgear swich and network isolater then audioquest cable back to another switch), guess shows importance of good network isolation in a streaming/digital set up and not being afraid to try new products
Over the more extended time now since you upgraded the ER power supply from the stock one supplied (which Iām still using for now) - how would you describe the upgrade in its essentials?
It seemed that spending more on the PS than the switch was getting silly - but then I would not own Naim equipment if I follow that line of thinking too farā¦but it seems a new PS must happen here this summer.
DB.
Would you remind me how much your Sean Jacobs PSU was?
If I got one do you think I could also use it to power my first PoE Cisco as well as an ER? (IIRC it can power more than one device?)
And (impossible question this one unless someone has tried both PSUs) would it be likely to improve SQ on one ER as much as or more than the MCRU PSU that FR got?
This is what I wrote on the day it arrived, or perhaps the day after:
āMore extended bass, more articulate midrange, more detailed and sweeter treble; everything much more in the room, instruments much more separate organic wholes. The better the recording, the more outstanding the improvement. God alone knows what itās going to be like when itās burnt in.ā
The run-in process after this was very steady but gradual and basically a bit more of the same thing. There was also a very slight gradual improvement in texture, timing/PRaT and impact. Overall it was a bit like almost doubling the dose of adding an EtherRegen. I thought it well worthwhile, but the power supply cost more than 2 EtherRegens (albeit it has 3 rails, just in case I fall for a clock that takes an external PSU).
Mine is daftly expensive, basically having every available extra shoehorned in there (Mundorf capacitors, regulators derived from the DC4, a big Statement transformer and three separate rails, one with a toggle switch to earth if required). A standard DC3 with single rail is Ā£750, mine was Ā£1,645. Youād have to ask Sean about getting two rails, one with 12V and one with 48V - the latter makes it a bit non-standard, but he is happy to do pretty much anything. Heās even found a way to split his big DC4 into 2 boxed for those who need it.
I value the Prat as one of the most important part of the Music.
Then tones, colors, and natural sound.
I donāt find that prat diminished when putting out the Cisco, perhaps even the contrary.
The Cisco tended to globalize the sound, the sound was less fruitful with it.
The MCRU was a big uplift. All sounded better and more natural, without a hint of grain. Like my turntable source.