Keith_W system

[Purité Audio]

I just must be fortunate that I have never encountered thumps through the speakers or some weird digital noise. ( moderated, Keith go and get some qualifications before you cast dispersions on the design merrit of people's kit)
Keith.

 

[Keith_W]

Well, my Uptone Audio JS-2 Linear Power Supply arrived. I know you guys will never believe me, but I can make a Youtube recording to prove it. All the thumps and clicks are gone. It also sounds better to boot - far more transparent. I know that quite a few guys claim that power supplies make no difference, and maybe they don't. But it is definitely not my imagination. So, could one of you who don't believe in power supplies, speculate on how it made such a difference?

 

[Thomas savage]

Pops and clicks? My old krell CDP used to click out when the fridge came on but nothing I have these days does that...

The central heating kicking in used to do it as well, there would be a click and the music would shut off for half a second then come back on...

 

[Purité Audio]

I guess your equipments power regulation/filtration must be very poorly designed.
Remember that in isolation one power supply may measure better than another ,but what we are interested in is the measured performance of the power supply and the unit it is powering.
So if there is an improvement it will be measureable at the output of your device.
Keith.

 

[amirm]

Well, my Uptone Audio JS-2 Linear Power Supply arrived. I know you guys will never believe me, but I can make a Youtube recording to prove it. All the thumps and clicks are gone.

What pops and clicks did you have before?

 

[Keith_W]

I am getting exasperated with this forum.

I came into computer audio with no prejudice. If there is bias, the bias is towards my shiny new toy. I do not want to believe that my brand new PC is inferior to the setup it is replacing.

I listen honestly, and I report the results. I do come across a few surprises, for example I did not expect that the optical drive on the PC would sound better than FLAC. But it does. I was skeptical about the effect of a linear PSU. The vendor offered a money back guarantee if I was not satisfied with my purchase. So I took a leap of faith, knowing that the only money I will lose is in the cost of shipping. And it works. Really well.

Given that my specialist knowledge is in another field, and not in computers, or computer audio - I am not able to explain why. Or even prove my perception with measurements. All I can tell you is that I am happy to submit myself to a blind test to "prove" that these tics, pops, and the difference in sound is quite real. BUT WHY THE HELL SHOULD I DO THAT! Just to prove to some random doubter on the internet? Do you really think I should rush out and buy an oscilloscope and get a degree in audio engineering just to prove to people that I am not lying? I am not out to convince you, or even sell something. I am just here reporting my experience!

 

[amirm]

You don't need any degrees or measurements Keith. Your ears without the knowledge of what you are listening to is enough for us. I hear you don't want to do that which is fine. But not sure why you are getting frustrated if convincing us is not important.

 

[Sal1950]

I have no background in the technology but it just seems to me if you have audible pops and clicks there is something more basic at the root cause? Maybe your old PS or some other component is malfunctioning?
Audible issues like yours sure shouldn't require a blind listening test and their existance would be easily measureable so I see no reason to question what you hear, but would very much question why you've had the results you did.

 

[NorthSky]

I came into computer audio with no prejudice. If there is bias, the bias is towards my shiny new toy. I do not want to believe that my brand new PC is inferior to the setup it is replacing.

I listen honestly, and I report the results. I do come across a few surprises, for example I did not expect that the optical drive on the PC would sound better than FLAC. But it does. I was skeptical about the effect of a linear PSU. The vendor offered a money back guarantee if I was not satisfied with my purchase. So I took a leap of faith, knowing that the only money I will lose is in the cost of shipping. And it works. Really well.

Given that my specialist knowledge is in another field, and not in computers, or computer audio - I am not able to explain why. Or even prove my perception with measurements. All I can tell you is that I am happy to submit myself to a blind test to "prove" that these tics, pops, and the difference in sound is quite real. BUT WHY THE HELL SHOULD I DO THAT! Just to prove to some random doubter on the internet? Do you really think I should rush out and buy an oscilloscope and get a degree in audio engineering just to prove to people that I am not lying? I am not out to convince you, or even sell something. I am just here reporting my experience!

One of the best posts I've read today.

 

[Thomas savage]

I am getting exasperated with this forum.

I came into computer audio with no prejudice. If there is bias, the bias is towards my shiny new toy. I do not want to believe that my brand new PC is inferior to the setup it is replacing.

I listen honestly, and I report the results. I do come across a few surprises, for example I did not expect that the optical drive on the PC would sound better than FLAC. But it does. I was skeptical about the effect of a linear PSU. The vendor offered a money back guarantee if I was not satisfied with my purchase. So I took a leap of faith, knowing that the only money I will lose is in the cost of shipping. And it works. Really well.

Given that my specialist knowledge is in another field, and not in computers, or computer audio - I am not able to explain why. Or even prove my perception with measurements. All I can tell you is that I am happy to submit myself to a blind test to "prove" that these tics, pops, and the difference in sound is quite real. BUT WHY THE HELL SHOULD I DO THAT! Just to prove to some random doubter on the internet? Do you really think I should rush out and buy an oscilloscope and get a degree in audio engineering just to prove to people that I am not lying? I am not out to convince you, or even sell something. I am just here reporting my experience!

Not really sure why your getting exasperated, many here make subjective assessments they happily share without any accompanying objective data. It's fine by me, there is the distinct odour of hipocaracy emanating from a few mind your making no bold claims nor are you arguing against science/audio engineering etc so again I am more than happy with you contributions and find your gear thread very Intresting

What will happen here that won't nessersary elsewhere is some guys will seek to try and understand 'why' ,to investigate what's going on to some degree. To do this they may ask questions... Is that a bad thing?

What ever the reason, from a subjective POV I have found many aspects of the system can effect the sound, very often this effect has been negative and indeed that conclusion often went against my biases not with them...

The plot thickens

I changed my rack from audiophile base ( that I hated because was expensive and company was bit pants) to a craktiv rack that I was sure would 'sound better'. Straight away I was not happy with the change even though it looked better and had magic electro fog technology... I gave it a week as the dealer said it needed to ' settle down' but it got replaced with my old rack and I lost out having to give a little cash back on the creaktiv too so that blasts out the water any obvious bias Imo.

Hope that makes you feel better

 

[fas42]

What ever the reasons from a subjective POV I have found many aspects of the system can effect the sound, very often this effect has been negative and indeed that conclusion often went against my biases not with them...

The plot thickens

I changed my rack from audiophile base ( that I hated because was expensive and company was bit pants) to a craktiv rack that I was sure would 'sound better'. Straight away I was not happy with the change even though it looked better and had magic electro fog technology... I gave it a week as the dealer said it needed to ' settle down' but it got replaced with my old rack and I lost out having to give a little cash back on the creaktiv too so that blasts out the water any obvious bias Imo.

Which is what one has to be always open to ... the "I changed something, therefore it must sound better" mantra applied to subjectivists is flimsy as hell - sometimes, things ... get ... worse. Which is one reason why when I make changes that it looks rough as guts - if it was a bad move, then it needs to be undoable with minimal tears - the wasted effort should be as little as possible.

 

[Chuck Gerlach]

1. CD Player --> Preamp.
Easily sounds the best.

We came to a different conclusion. We blind compared CD player, Up-sampler, Clock, DAC [these were the 4 piece dCS system] against Music Server as the source and it was no contest. Everything about the server was better: depth; space around the notes; imaging. Had its to been blind, I don't know if I would have possibly believed the Server/computer could have bettered one of the best CD transports available - but it did.

But that's what makes the world go around - we all have different opinions!!

 

[watchnerd]

All these ASIO driver issues with the Windows audio stack.

Not sure why you guys use Windows for music...

Linux and Mac can handle USB audio without extra drivers.

 

[RayDunzl]

All these ASIO driver issues with the Windows audio stack.

Careful, Amir wrote all that code.

 

[watchnerd]

Careful, Amir wrote all that code.

Well, I'll assume they must have had kernel-based or HAL-based engineering constraints.

But the net result is the same.

 

[amirm]

Careful, Amir wrote all that code.

Asio belongs to Steinberg so no, we didn't touch or support it in Windows. WASAPI came out of my team with similar functionality. That is what I use. ASIO emulation (ASIO4ALL) which many people use over standard drivers has always been problematic for me too.

 

[Fitzcaraldo215]

All these ASIO driver issues with the Windows audio stack.

Not sure why you guys use Windows for music...

Linux and Mac can handle USB audio without extra drivers.

I have had zero issues with Win 7 Pro, which I have used for years with the ASIO driver that comes with my Exasound DAC. OTOH, the versions of JRiver and Dirac Live software I use are much more complete, up to date feature-wise and bug free in their more widely used Windows versions than they are in Mac or Linux versions. There are a few other apps that I use which I think are non-existent in non-Windows setups.

So, personally, I have no regrets at all about being in Windows. No one has proven a sonic advantage doing otherwise, but, hey, knock yourself out on Linux or iOS.

 

[watchnerd]

No one has proven a sonic advantage doing otherwise, but, hey, knock yourself out on Linux or iOS.

There shouldn't be any sonic differences between any OS that is able to put out bit perfect streams.