Bilbo

I wonder whether Internode will offer the same deal. Here’s hoping!

Further Information: I bought these some years ago and no longer burn CD's (or play them) so they are no longer required. They are shrink wrapped into a single block of 100 and new. There is no identifying brand on them but if my memory serves me correctly I believe they were Mitsui CD-R's and highly rated for long term archiving or audio CD use.

Further Information: Dimensions (WxDxH): 2.4″x1.2″ (61x30mm) Weight Capacity: 20lbs (9kg) per unit Quantity: 2 units per box Features: Maximise the sound quality of existing monitors Decouples speakers/turntables from the supporting surface Reflections from the supporting surface are attenuated to eliminate the smear Provided greater sound clarity and opens up the stereo image "Suction cup” design provides stable mounting Works well with guitar and bass amps/cabinets as well as DJ gear Small and easy to transport The IsoAcoustics ISO-PUCK Series provide an innovative new approach in isolating studio monitors, speakers and other systems. This unique patented design provides a high degree of isolation while resisting lateral movement and oscillations, which results in greater sound clarity and focus. This versatile isolation tool is possibly the most cost effective upgrade available for improving the performance and clarity of your speakers or monitors.

Yes, a WiFi dongle is probably the next logical thing to try but it will have to wait until the abuse my wallet is going to suffer this month abates!!

Yes, these are the topics that arise from discussions on another forum. The contributors go to great depths to hypothesize the reasons for these observations but it does my head in most of the time.

I can use a WiFi dongle and the SOtM does have control settings to manage the connection. I guess I'm a bit reluctant because it means adding another gadget to the system!

Yes I can and that seems to be a logical step in trying to eliminate the problems that a physical Ethernet connection introduces. I have yet to try this. The iPad app connects via WiFi to the modem/router which connects to the SOtM via Ethernet, and as I understand it, that is where the problems arise.

First question: "your music path doesn't pass through your in-house Ethernet network" Correct - the connection is only required to allow the MPD control app on my iPad - via WiFi connection to the home network - to access and play the library files attached to the SOtM via USB. The SOtM is connected to the home network via Ethernet. Second question: "temporarily don't need control from your iPad" Correct - if you play a track or for that matter a playlist using MPD, once you hit "play" in the iPad control app the entire song or playlist will play - even if you remove the Ethernet cable and shut down the iPad app. If you want to stop the song or playlist, you have to reconnect the Ethernet cable to regain control of MPD player on the SOtM using iPad control app. When I discovered the impact of the Ethernet connection on my system I was shocked. How could it be? My audio signal path does not utilise the Ethernet system to pass a single bit - so what gives??? Well far greater minds than mine have presented various explanations (which I can barely understand) - with most appearing to hover around the idea that ground differentials and noise leakage through the ground plain are the most likely culprits. (I think that's what they mean). Me - I don't know why - but based on my observations through extensive listening - there sure is something going on because it does matter to my ears!

This is my digital signal path for serious listening. Western Digital Purple 4Tb HDD in Voyager S3 Caddy (music library in WAV format) > via USB > SOtm SMS-200Ultra Neo (running MPD) > via USB > Holo May KTE 3 > Tortuga LDR V2.5 Preamp > Sanders Magtech Power Amp > Magneplanar 20.7 > DSPeaker Antimode 2.0 > Rythmik Audio F12SE Sub x 2 The SOtM in MPD mode is controlled by "Soundirok" an app on my iPad and so a network connection is required for the SOtM. This is my current network signal path. NBN > FitzBox 7490 Modem Router (with LPS) > 20m Cat6 Ethernet Cable > Netgear Prosafe GS105E Switch > 1m Ethernet Cable > SOtM SMS-200 Ultra Neo The recent changes to the Ethernet setup (mostly prompted by this thread) are a Linear Power Supply for the Modem Router, the Netgear Switch and better quality Ethernet cables. I have several friends who have the same digital front end and the variations only start at the DAC stage. One of these friends brought around an Ediscreation Silent Switch OCXO some months ago and swore blind it would improve the sound of my system. I initially scoffed at this assertion as I reasoned that, as I did not have a network connection in the digital signal path it would have no effect. Well I was proven wrong and I was quite surprised that it made a pleasant difference. The real revelation however came when one of the contributors here suggested I remove the Ethernet connection from the SOtM whilst playing a track and see what it sounded like. Well low and behold it was an even bigger improvement than obtained with the Ediscreation Silent Switch OCXO in the network path. This new and improved sound captured my ears and I set about trying to get my setup as close as possible to having no connection at all, which to me was the gold standard. The bonus with these changes was that streamed audio from my PC now sounded substantially better and therefore a viable alternative for serious listening. There is more to this Ethernet journey than the simple changes I have made, so I enjoy reading this thread to give me motivation and ideas on how to achieve improvements to my system.

I can't recall what the details were but it was an intro offer for Qobuz that I accessed through my PC and then fed to the SOtM. When the offer period expired I cancelled the subscription because as I said I wasn't impressed with the sound. I now have a much better Ethernet setup and probably should sign up again but the main reason I have worked on the Ethernet is because it makes such a difference to my system despite not being in the signal path.

I'd like to thank all the contributors to this thread that have provided perspectives that encouraged me to start putting together my Ethernet system for audio. The assembly of this system is only happening because one contributor gave me a suggestion to test my perception of what mattered in obtaining the best result I could within my limited ambitions. That, added to the experiences and suggestions of other contributors has been why I follow this thread. Quite frankly I did not believe the Ethernet connection to my renderer had any influence over the sound I was obtaining. I store files on an external 4Tb hard drive in a caddy that is accessed by a SOtM SMS-200 Neo Ultra that feeds my DAC and so the Ethernet connection is not in the signal chain. It is only used to control the SOtM renderer via an iPad. When I carried out the suggested test I was excited because the improvement was quite noticeable and I remain grateful for the offered suggestion. The result is that I dismissed streaming audio a couple of years ago because the primitive system I was using only delivered a mediocre result. Streaming audio had its virtues of convenience and enormous libraries but for serious listening my hard drive was clearly superior. Thanks to this thread I have dived into the rabbit hole this element of my system presents and have improved the result I previously dismissed. So thanks folks - keep up the good work and share your experiences and opinions to keep beginners like me confident to venture into the deep dark depths of putting it all together.

@andyr One thing I should mention, have you tried running your router with a linear power supply? That was the first step I took and it got me 50% of the way to the sound when there was no ethernet cable plugged in at all. I'm not sure how much it would effect the WiFi performance but it is worth the experiment to see if you hear an improvement.

I get the impression that WiFi actually mitigates some of the noise of the network as there is no physical connection. Devices like the EtherREGEN are aimed at this problem for ethernet connections. You should be able to switch off/disable the WiFi connection through the network settings on the PC. Not sure what version of Windows you're running but Google is a great help for things like that.

That's what I thought too however when I disconnected the ethernet cable whilst a track was playing from my HDD I got quite a shock. The sound improved markedly and that led me down the rabbit hole of getting rid of noise that resides on the ethernet even though it is not part of the signal path. There is quite a bit of information on this and other sites dealing with this issue but it invariably involves buying filters to minimise the noise and it's definitely a rabbit hole!!

I’ve been with Internode since the early nineties and the last thing I need now is to deal with changes to the email service. But such is life and I may now be motivated to ditch the current email address and start anew. A hassle for sure but at least free from spam (for a while at least).

It's clearly the case that we have our own views, though if you had read the bottom of the page on the Origin Live website that I provided a link to, you should have read the following and I quote: "These wall warts deliver AC current not DC and can be 9 Volt, 12Volt or 15 Volt with approx 1Amp delivery - all work well but can be massively improved by changing to the "Upgrade Transformer". The output lead plugs directly into Origin Live decks and DC motor kit." 'Nuff said I think. Have a good day.

There is no doubt in my mind that capacitors do make a difference but I have never given much thought to playing around with the caps in the O.L. speed control unit. Reading other peoples adventures with these mods aroused my curiosity given all my DC linear power supplies are modified with what I believe are better sounding caps. When I have some time I'll give this a go on the O.L. unit for sure. My confusion arose with people substituting a DC power supply to the speed control unit when the original kit provided an AC power supply (specifically a step down transformer from 240VAC to 9VAC in my case). Instead of purchasing the O.L. "upgrade" transformer I simply put a quality toroidal in a box (as in my first picture in the previous post), which gave me 9VAC and 3.3A and did improve the sound to a pleasant degree. It appears that they now supply a 12VAC transformer as the standard unit though they specify that a 9V, 12V or 15V AC supply will be suitable as per their website as below. https://www.originlive.com/shop/wall-wart-not-sure-of-my-mains-supply.html The speed control unit accepts an AC input supply because the first stage of the unit is a rectifier/regulator which generates the stable DC voltage that feeds the rest of the control circuit. Why anyone would want to run a low noise DC power supply through another rectifier/regulator stage baffles me - that's all. The rectifier is certainly not there to "simply help avoid damage if a user accidentally wires the SCU polarity wrongly" because with an AC input this cannot be the case.

Thanks @SONDEKNZ . After reading the other link I have in mind to bypass the rectifier, bypass capacitor and 1,000uF storage capacitor and provide the rest of the circuit with a low noise 24V LPS (assuming that the rectified DC is around that value). I can't see any need for keeping them in circuit when I can provide a very stable, regulated, low noise 24VDC from one of my LPS units.

I would love to know what modifications you made on the old card. I have found capacitors have a significant effect on the sound and careful tuning creates excellent results. Care to share??

Further Information: I bought these some years ago and no longer burn CD's (or play them) so they are no longer required. They are shrink wrapped into a single block of 100 and new. There is no identifying brand on them but if my memory serves me correctly I believe they were Mitsui CD-R's and highly rated for long term archiving or audio CD use.

Further Information: I bought these some years ago and no longer burn CD's (or play them) so they are no longer required. They are shrink wrapped into a single block of 100 and new. There is no identifying brand on them but if my memory serves me correctly I believe they were Mitsui CD-R's and highly rated for long term archiving or audio CD use.

I presume you’ve checked out DIYAudio. https://www.diyaudio.com/community/forums/-/list

This is a bargain. I can’t believe it hasn’t sold!

I use the same reo bar lifters and they work a treat! Love the painting lifters - it's great when someone applies some lateral thinking - well done @powerav !

Another observation I have made is that steel/iron weights are detrimental to the sound. There was/is a lot of folks that use door stop weights (with the ones from Bunnings being a particular favourite) to add mass to various components. My theory was that components inside (particularly transformers) were detrimentally influenced by having a lump of iron in close proximity. As a result of my observations I now use sand bags which do not detrimentally influence the sound and can be tuned (by weight) to match the footers on the component for a better result.