LISTENING EXPERIENCE for linear ps and switches

With Roon handling my library, i pick and choose between local and Qobuz files and enjoy both at equal quality which is rather liberating. I’d still not want to rely solely on an internet service for my entertainment though. Artist licensing changes on the music service / internet outages etc, although rare are still a risk. Saying that i seem to be buying less physical media these days. Now if i could just run Qobuz in the car…

Just to add to the anecdote!

My locally streamed is better if the files are of equal quality …but not so much it really bothers me, it is a tad.

That said, I would not get rid of my local files as: I have things that are not on Qobuz; Things dissappear from Qobuz; Every now an then my internet connections goes dooooooooooown.

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These are my impressions of the Melco S100 switch with its supplied switch-mode power supply with around 75 hours of burn-in on both.

Overall, I am afraid I am disappointed. It has a typically smooth and polished high-end sound which lowers the noise floor at the expense of textural detail, which is something that gets on my nerves.

The loss of texture and expressiveness extends from female voice to cello, violin and piano, brass… you name it. It’s more pronounced in the midrange and treble, but still present (or absent if you prefer) in the bass registers. It’s also less dynamic than the EtherRegen, while in many ways being on a par with the Cisco Catalysts except in having a wider and more separated soundstage.

The loss of detail is really irritating for me, making piano sound comparatively flat and even losing some of the fricatives in lyrics, like the t in the famous Elisabeth Schwarzkopf “traumert” on the Strauss last Song September. The music is simply less articulate.

Whether you like the S100 will depend very much on what you listen to. The low noise floor, separated soundstage and generally warm tone make it quite intimate for jazz (although not very realistic for piano and trumpet), while also working nicely for electronica. Billie Eilish’s last album gets bloated in the bass, however, and the S100 flattens her voice. String quartets sound completely eviscerated.

So, without wanting to go on forever, it’s quite disappointing, as I wrote. Switching the LEDs on and off (the front one stays on) doesn’t seem to make a massive if any sonic difference.

Anyway, I am now trying it with a Sean Jacobs linear power supply to see how that changes things. It certainly opens the sound out and gives it more spring: rhythms tend to bounce along rather than be dynamic and decay is nice albeit a little muddy. There is definitely more energy in things. But it looks like I may have to wait a while to see what happens with the tonal purity and textural detail.

I’ll check back in after a couple of days. Many have expressed disappointment at how the S100 sounds with its supplied SMPS, stating it’s transformed by a linear power supply. I don’t know about that yet (the Sean Jacobs supply had a much bigger effect on the EtherRegens), but I’m willing to give it a good chance.

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How much was the Sean Jacobs PSU?

I followed your advice. My ear is gone…to service. Dena will take care on my baby.

Mine was quite expensive at £1,665, having three outputs of 12V max 3A each, Mundorf capacitors, regulators derived from the DC4 and a Statement transformer as well as a little earthing switch. A standard DC3 with suitable output starts from £750.

They do give an excellent AND VFM service.

Did you ask her how Tim is doing?

M

Hi Michael,

Thanks. That is what I expected, rather more than I will spend to power a switch. I did play with buying one eighteen months ago, I was running a complex front end:

As you can see a fair few LPSUs.

I did speak to Sean and priced a PSU to do the heavy lifting. A friend compared one of Seans to the Paul Haynes, and preferred the Haynes …but, his waiting list is rediculous.

In the event I then tried the dCS NB and felt that it was as good as my sprawling front end; although at three times the cost. Since then I have tried and bought the Meridian 210, which works VERY well with my Audio Note 2.1 sig(ish) DAC. What I like about this is that I am relaxing and listening to music, rather than tinkering with my system. But I did love the technical aspects of this - note the PoE & LT3045 in the graphic!

M

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Yes, it’s great when it’s all sorted, isn’t it? And that was certainly some chain you had there! I’m pleased with my setup as much as I could have done without all the extra faff, but it makes replay from my own collection and Qobuz over Roon much better and very nearly equal even on very hi-res stuff.

The Melco S100 was irresistible to try, particularly since it has been reported as equalling or surpassing an EtherRegen with Mutec clock, though I can’t see that here even without the clock unless something truly surprising happens with the burn-in…

I can give it a blast for you. From memory I’d say the EtherRegen gives a colder but more natural tone with greater detail, texture and punch, while the S100 gives a more lush and rolling, warmer sound with a more spacious but slightly artificial soundstage (acoustic instruments larger than life and more massed in symphonies, less able to hear them as individuals) and less textural detail. The both have good bass extension, but on the EtherRegen it is much more detailed and textured. Decay is seductive on the S100 but sometimes overextended. It has a somewhat sweet toffee rounded sound.

Adding a second EtherRegen opens things out a bit and makes them more composed, but it’s a subtle albeit pleasant change. Definitely not up there in the VFM stakes compared to one, though. For the money, I’d say adding a linear power supply makes much more sense, bringing greater detail, tonal refinement, textural information, soundstage depth and more solid positioning.

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Interesting. Michael. I went back and re-read the Signals hifi blog on facebook. They normally have a mix of HP and a Cisco 2960 switches. They felt the Melco moved it on a little, but needed a 4 amp Plixir power supply to really come in song, even the 2 amp Plixir was so…so. I think the larger Plixir is about £800. Hopefully yours will improve, best of luck.

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If one has PS DYI skills- SJ does sell his DC3 level regulators or even the ‘Statement’ level ones, but they are not cheap. He also is quite helpful in pointing one in the ‘right’ direction or answering any tech queries. Forget trying to purchase the DC4 ones however (not at this point in time anyways)!

Well, I’ve had few minutes to play around this morning, having left the Melco busy all night streaming to the (muted) ND555.

The problem is that having a few minutes free to actually listen to the music, the Melco’s limitations (even with the DC3+ power supply) were starting to really irritate me on piano at first and then everything. So I’ve switched over to just one the EtherRegens, also on the DC3+.

What a relief! There’s more air in everything, the instruments sound more like themselves now and can achieve their full expressive range, the soundstage is seems less expansive because there’s less of a pop-out effect. More importantly, the instruments remain intact (one of this morning’s last straw was a drumkit that was spread all over the place).

I also had the love of my life on hand for me to ruin a few moments of her time doing a bit of blind test box swapping. She also preferred the EtherRegen and for the same reasons, though the Melco has a bit of a bass hump she found initially attractive on a Chopin nocturne before deciding that it was also blurred and that the upper registers were more two-dimensional and less expressive.

So there you are. I shall grit my teeth for a while to see if there is any burn-in miracle, though I normally find things go in the other direction, with lots of in-your-face detail that mellows into something more mature and nuanced, which is what happened with the EtherRegen.

I’m going back just to the Melco for the time being. As my last bit of pratting around, I’ve been comparing it the EtherRegen for the track Brush Magic on the Kenny Burrell album The Road to Love, where the characteristics of the two switches are very evident: the Melco highlighting of instruments against a low noise floor, together with its upper bass-low mid bloom and long decay brings a nice sensuous touch to the brush and bass drum, together with a soft edge to the brass, but the EtherRegen is more textured, propulsive and live sounding - including the applause at the end (the Melco low noise floor also loses some ambient as well as textural detail). With the EtherRegen, the instruments across the board are more textured and therefore more expressive and less bland. The Melco has a lush, laid back sound and is not realistic in its portrayal of instrumental tone and texture or of soundstage, but grabs your attention in the way things pop out smoothly and almost soothingly. Not my cup of tea at all, but I can imagine some will love it.

Anyway, I’ll give it a day or two more on this leg of the Sean Jacobs, which has never been used before, while leaving the stock SMPS powered up (as well as the EtherRegens).

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Thanks MrUnderhill. I didn’t ask, but will do when she will contact me to send me the invoice to payment.
Dena is a woman ?

:wink: Yes, she is.

Once they have done the work she will email you with the invoice.

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Yes, I read that a while back, following a link rom somewhere here if I remember correctly. So, based on that and the big difference the LPS made to the EtherRegen, I was expecting a transformation, but it was far from massive and certainly not enough - so far at least - to revaluate the S100.

Let’s see what happens over the next few days. It could be that it needs more time to run in completely than Richard remembered.

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£2,000 for a switch and another £1,000 for a power supply to make it listenable. Has the world gone mad? Someone is taking the piss. I suppose we pay £3,000 for a pair of wires but things seem to have got a bit out of proportion.

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And it still doesn’t sound like a piano! :slight_smile:

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That is the gold standard of any sound system.

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