Only a few weeks ago I made some changes to the digital side of my set-up. I took out two switches, a Cisco 2960-C which was located in my IT cupboard adjacent to the listening room, and an EE8 which was sat at the bottom of the ‘brains’ stack which was feeding my NSS333/NPX300. In their place went a Reiki Audio Superswitch with its Pro power supply.
I tried both network cables offered from Reiki Audio, the Rakustream and the Jundostream. The Rakustream was impressive enough, but the Jundostream was another level altogether. As previously mentioned, the combined effect of the Reiki gear on my system was transformational. Overall, the presentation has become far less ‘digital’ and more natural sounding. Vocals in particular are now much more convincing than they were previously.
Having written enthusiastically of improvements brought in my system Nigel Bell director of Reiki Audio got in touch to offer me the chance to listen to the latest incarnation of the Reiki Audio range - the Superswitch X and Pro X power supply. Reiki have upgraded the case work on the switch and power supply from 5mm to 10mm (hence the X) and have made further improvements such as a 25% increase in toroidal transformer size, and alterations to the noise reduction measures employed inside the switch. New isolation feet are fitted, with an upgrade to Stack Audio feet an option available.
I expected there to be some fairly marginal improvement in sound quality over the standard Superswitch/PSU, but I was wrong. It’s a substantial improvement. For me, the impact was similar to that I found when I added a NPX300 power supply to the NAC332 pre-amplifier. Greater clarity and resolution, an extension and tightening of the bass end and a sweetening of the mid and upper frequencies. Plus the sound stage deepened dramatically, with instruments and vocals clearly demarcated in a three-dimensional space. In short, a more natural sounding presentation. It’s drawing me in to the music in a quite addictive way. The other night I was trying to find a track on Paul Simon’s ‘You’re The One’ album and I found that I ended up playing the whole recording as once a track had started, I didn’t want to skip to the next one before it had finished.
The units in question are ‘B’ grade, with some minor cosmetic issues with the ceramic coating. Functionally, they’re perfect. So, I expect to trade in the Superswitch/PSU for its X equivalent. It’s seriously good.
Agree that it’s not cheap, but ‘B’ grade units are considerably below list price, so if you are not concerned about minor cosmetic imperfections, substantial savings may be attained. Not unlike buying pre-owned gear, but with full warranty.
I just got a Roon Nucleus One. I have a Intel NUC I built over seven years ago, but after running 24/7 all those years it was running a bit long in the tooth and was starting to have some reliability issues. The Nucleus One is about as costly as building a new NUC, so I just took the path of least resistance, even if it isn’t a capable. I don’t have large libraries and don’t use the Roon DSP features so I’ll likely be fine with the Nucleus One.
It was pretty straightforward to setup. From opening the box to plaing music again took me maybe an hour, and that included moving the 1 TB SSD with all my local files from my NUC to the Nucleus One, and restoring a backup of all the database files, settings, etc.
Like the previous poster I’ve just taken delivery of a Roon Nucleus One. I’ve been running Roon first on an NUC which was great for a couple of years but then died. I had a break but got sick of the Bluesound App and started using an old laptop as a core but this proved unreliable so I bought the Nucleus. Very affordable (for me anyway) now compared to the eye watering cost previously. Took me about 10mins to be up and running, just plugged in my hard drive with music files in and that’s busily adding music in the background. Happy so far
Delivered and installed today: IsoTek V5 Gemini. The difference is subtle. Sounds a bit more detailed and with a slightly smoother top-end. But it could just as well be my brain playing tricks. Nice build.
I had some time to listen properly. It is not my brain. There definitely is a change. The top-end is indeed smoother. That is a good thing in my setup, because HF could be a bit much on some tracks. I am happy with this upgrade.
Last weekend I took myself off to south London and came back with a Innuos Phoenix USB reclocker to fit between a Innous Zenith mk3 & Chord M-Scaler. I’m very happy with the result.
I have not tried the product but why would it do anything different to something like this; DoukAudio U2PRO USB Digital Interface: XMOS XU316 DDC Reclocker, available for a 60th of the cost?
It replaced an iFi USB micro 3.0 which did improve the resolution over a direct connection between all the different combinations I’ve tried over the years that I’ve owned it.
The Phoenix has increased the resolution and improved the soundstage. The latter is the most impressive part of the change to me. The sound is slightly less stressed, the sort of thing you don’t notice until it’s no longer there, more relaxed, yet not dull just effortless.
Almost forty years since I bought my first one, this is my latest system addition; Linn Sondek LP12 with Simon Price Reference plinth, Karousel, Kore, Valhalla Zeus and Ekos 2 fitted with an Audio Technica AT-VM760xSL cartridge. Built by Paul at Moorgate Acoustics in Sheffield.
Thanks for the kind words @Cat7 and @naimophile It was listed as birds eye maple but it doesn’t have the small tight rings usually associated with that wood, it’s more of a tight quilt. Either way I think it’s absolutely stunning and was very happy when I picked it up a few months back.
