English Electric EE1 Plus

[simon.pepper]

So Chord has another Ethernet filter, the Plus.

Any experiences yet?
Maybe a with/without demo at the Bristol show? Can anyone give this a whirl and see if there is any merit?

[marcusman]

Could be interesting. I do like my EE1

[Osiris]

And, hey presto, the price just doubled! So, of course, it’ll eliminate twice the unwanted noise.

Really…….

ATB, J

[simon.pepper]

@Osiris

And, hey presto, the price just doubled!

Of course.

[Sloop_John_B]

I’d really love to be a fly on the wall at chord pricing discussion meetings.

I can only imagine at one stage in the past someone said “we can’t double the price, no one will buy it” and now after experience they say “we better double the price or no one will buy it”.

.sjb

[Dave]

I had a chat with Chord and it turns out that, although the name is the same with the added “Plus”, it’s actually quite different. A bigger, machined case, plus an Aray - essentially the tech that makes the M6 sound better than the S6 - and decoupled feet.

They’d kindly sent a pre-production version to try before Christmas as they wanted feedback from a variety of users with different streamer set ups - mine is an Innuos Zenith feeding a Linn KDSM (an “old” one, with Katalyst and Utopik) via a PhoenixNet. I had been using an EE1 but this is very much better in my set up. It’s reduced any desperate urge to upgrade to an Organik dac, not that it’s better than an Organik but it just helps everything to sound so damned good as it is.

[Osiris]

Ah, but are you in a position to compare it with the EE1?

ATB, J

[marcusman]

Thanks Dave this is great feedback. Everyone’s setup is different. The EE1 has made a nice difference in my setup and I’ve been considering getting another one. I’ll try to borrow an EE1+ when it’s available.

[Blackbird]

Couldn’t it be an option buying a better switch like Ansuz Powerswitch (used) with has similar stuff built in instead of adding more connections, cables etc which is destructive to the signal? The EE8 is OK but far from the performance of say Ansuz Powerswitch D2 IMO. Cables, dongles, power supplies etc rapidly adds up.

[Dave]

Yes, it was in comparison to an EE1, which I felt was better further down the line, so to speak.

I suspect that was because I use Music as the final streaming cable (originally between PhoenixNet and the KDSM) and was effectively “downgrading” the cable to Shawline from PhoenixNet to EE1 with the Music cable then from EE1 to KDSM. That wasn’t the case with the Plus.

I’ve since tried the Plus between Zenith and PhoenixNet, Mesh and EE8 and EE8 and PhoenixNet and it’s nice in all of those locations but gets better the closer it gets to the streamer.

To clarify the set up, pre EE1, was Mesh - CStream - EE8 - CStream - PhoenixNet - Sarum T - Zenith mk3 & Music - KDSM.

With EE1, I preferred it between Zenith and PhoenixNet when using Shawline. If I’d had an extra length of Music lying around (ha ha), I’m sure I’d have preferred the EE1 before the streamer.

With the EE1 Plus, and after all experiments, I’m now Mesh - CStream - EE8 - CStream - EE1 - Shawline - PhoenixNet - Sarum - Zenith & Sarum T - EE1 Plus - Music KDSM. Phew

[marcusman]

Awesome thanks. Even in my dreams I can’t imagine having an extra length of Music lying around lol. I’m looking forward to trying out the EE1 Plus.

[simon.pepper]

Interesting, many thanks for that.

I have been considering if further network filtering is required, what kind and where is best to introduce it within my network

My network re. Hifi is presently

I have the EtherREGEN switch on the ‘Hifi’ side serving the NDS from its isolated Port B, fed by the external OCXO 10MHz clock (with its dedicated PSU) with a Farad3 powering the EtherREGEN. Last ‘mile’ LAN cable to the NDS is Chord Sarum Tuned Array (not the T variant, but the earlier one). Other LAN cables are Chord Anthem on the UltraRendu and Audioquest Vodka for the RPi2.

The connection from the ‘Server’ side to the ‘Hifi’ side, highlighted Red, is actually 3 cables from the ‘Server’ side, namely “generic CAT6E → Inwall CAT5E infrastructure cable’ → Audioquest Vodka” which is then into the EtherREGEN ‘A’ ports on the ‘Hifi’ side.

The inwall cable was wired many years ago intended for telephone points upstairs and downstairs, which I have repurposed as a point-to-point LAN cable. It is capable of Gigabit transfers i.e. Speedtest at the ‘Hifi’ measures the 1Gbps download rate my ISP provides, as it does within the ‘Server’ side. It can’t be upgraded, replaced or changed in any way. I just have a CAT6E RJ45 wallplate on each end of it.

Questions I have been grappling with

1. Is there noise on these LAN cabling? All ‘Hifi’ side components are on Low-Noise LPS supplies e.g. Farad3 for the EtherREGEN, UltraCap LPS1 for the UltraRendu running the SonoreUPnP Bridge, LPS for the OCXO, LPS for the RPi.
   Can I measure this, without some serious Spectrum Analyser Lab equipment?

The Internet feed is coming over Coax to a Cable Modem in ‘Modem only’ mode, into the 1st switch, a Firewall Router, and then into another switch with Galvanic isolation, before hitting the ‘HiFi’ side.
Local files are streamed from the NAS (on LPS PSU) by the Roon Server (on LPS PSU) through one switch to the EtherREGEN switch.
So the data file stream is cascading through multiple switches and NIC cards.

The ‘A’ ports of the EtherREGEN have better quality Galvanic transformers specified, and the ‘B’ port is electrically isolated again, the Uptone ‘Moat’

2. Is further Galvanic isolation, by a Line filter such as EE1, EE1+, Muon, Stack, Pink Faun, etc.necessary? And where is best positioned?
   Would a filter between the generic CAT6E at the top of the inwall cable, to clean up the feed be best, or the bottom before the EtherREGEN? Not sure I want another box there, as the cable coming out of the wall is visible.

3. Or use the STP cage on the EtherREGEN to introduce a FibreOptic leg, but I would then need a Media Convertor for the RJ45 → Fibre → EtherREGEN.
   But are the STP transceivers and FMC going to be further points of possible noise injection into the system?

Or just accept that I have a performing network, the NDS sounds great and there is only fractional improvement now possible and leave it all alone?

[Geko]

I always find it interesting to see how others deal with digital streaming and how complex or simple things can get to extract that last ounce of performance. However, with the various issues that have affected my ND555 I’ve had to endure a lengthy time making things as simple as possible and have removed everything between the router and ND except for a single unbroken length of BJC ethernet cable. Whilst this made everything more listenable the musical resolution took a big hit.

I’ve now managed to find some settings that have allowed me to reintroduce my EE8 and SR Sigma patch cable that make things now sound acceptable again but the question I wanted to answer was what it the purest and most unprocessed signal you can get from the ND555? I know most would say ripped or stored music from a good server but with the recent USB trick for the ND I wondered if the simple USB was better? No attached power supply, no moving parts and if you use the rear port it’s direct into boards (no cable like the front).

I ask this particular question as it would be really handy to have a fixed reference point i.e. this is what ‘good’ sounds like. Then all the future tweaking you do things should sound like music from the USB. If it doesn’t you are moving further away from the ideal.

I have an inkling things are much more complicated than this, so it would be good to chuck it out to a wider and more knowledge audience to see where the flaws are in my thinking?

[frenchrooster]

Who has the most complicated, you, or the past MrUnderhill one?

[simon.pepper]

Haha, I haven’t included the AV side, the work or the IOT elements, which are all separated traffic by switch or port, never mind the multiple backup NAS units running rsync, of the network configuration. Or the multiroom configurations.
Nor the Vinyl, CD & headphone elements of the main Hi-fi !!

[Bjorn]

Went to a Chord demo at my dealer today, it will definitely be a home loan on the new EE1 Plus for evaluation, sounded very promising I must say.

[marcusman]

Looking forward to reading your thoughts about it.

[Bjorn]

On the previous Chord demo when the regular EE1 was demoed there was a minor improvement that didn’t lead to any home loan for me but this time there was a clear almost dramatic improvement. Very interesting I must say.

[marcusman]

I have an EE1 and over time, I noticed the improvement. It wasn’t dramatic but it was/is noticeable. I’m more interested in dramatic. After reading @Dave post and your encounter at a dealership I’m looking forward to trying one out.

[pt96hni]

I was on the same demo but the day before in a different store and there they demoed without anything and with the EE1 plus and the change was noticeable.

They used ND5 XS2, Nait XS3 and Focal Aria Evo X No 2 for the demo in that store.