After reading @Darren69 system thread, I've decided to look at what I can do optimise the sound of the Neucleus+.  I've started by ordering a Keces P8 linear power supply for it.  It should arrive in 2 - 3 weeks time.  Hopefully it won't take me 15 months to comments on what I think of it.

 

I'll also start looking at the streaming threads around ethernet cable and switch quality as these have now become key components in my system.   

32 minutes ago, jt301 said:

After reading @Darren69 system thread, I've decided to look at what I can do optimise the sound of the Neucleus+.  I've started by ordering a Keces P8 linear power supply for it.  It should arrive in 2 - 3 weeks time.  Hopefully it won't take me 15 months to comments on what I think of it.

 

I'll also start looking at the streaming threads around ethernet cable and switch quality as these have now become key components in my system.   

It comes with stuff to play with

 

https://kb.roonlabs.com/DSP_Engine  

 

also immerse yourself in the ROON knowledge base (forum).

Edited June 18, 20205 yr by Darren69

One day, maybe. For now I’m keeping things as simple as I can.

The Keces P8 has arrived today. I’ll try do some a/b comparisons this weekend with the wall wart power supply.  Although I’m not good at describing the differences I hear, I’ll post my thoughts afterwards.

 

Meanwhile here are some pics.

 

Edited July 13, 20205 yr by jt301

16 hours ago, jt301 said:

The Keces P8 has arrived today. I’ll try do some a/b comparisons this weekend with the wall wart power supply.  Although I’m not good at describing the differences I hear, I’ll post my thoughts afterwards.

 

 

You will love it, the only thing I didn't like was the non-dimmable display, some display stickers fixes that.

 

I have a P3 now as well powering the DSPeaker Anti Mode and the Empirical Audio Offramp. Great devices, the only PS to own IMO for the DC type appliances.

53 minutes ago, Darren69 said:

You will love it, the only thing I didn't like was the non-dimmable display, some display stickers fixes that.

That’s not a problem for me. The cabinet door is normally shut.

I spent a couple hours yesterday doing a/b comparisons between the provided wall wart power supply and Keces P8 linear power supply both plugged into the Isotek evo3 sigma power conditioner.

 

Let me preface my comments by saying I don’t think I’m particularly good at critical listening and picking up relatively subtle differences and even less capable of describing the differences I believe I do hear.  Also I acknowledge the distinct possibility of positive bias for this comparison.

 

My overall impression before direct comparison was the Keces provided a calmer, slightly less edgy presentation.  This was confirmed when listening to the dynamic peaks heard in songs like Tin Pan Alley and Private Investigations. This impression was backed up by a slightly less edgy violin in the song Strange Fruit.

 

Background noise also seemed to be reduced providing a clearer picture of instruments or other sounds buried in the mix, such as the breaking glass in Private Investigations. It’s probably also responsible for clearer vocals particularly in busy tracks.

 

These differences aren’t chalk and cheese but are sufficient for me to happily keep the Keces P8 in my system.

It’s been a long time coming but this week I’ve purchased power cables for Devialet LE400 amp. I chose the Shunyata Venom NR V10 power cables. Sounds more like the name of a car than a cable.  The “NR” part stands for “Noise Reduction”.

 

I’ve spent a lot time in front of the stereo today and yes, I do think it’s improved the clarity of the system. I’m not doing an A/B comparison though as the back of Devialet is difficult to access and these cables are a particularly tight fit.

 

I think I’ll just sit back and enjoy the music.  Currently listening to E.S.T. Live in London. ?

 

I ordered a few audioquest cinnanon Ethernet cables the weekend before last to between my NAS drive, Nucleus+, Devialet amp and the ethernet switch.  They arrived Tuesday and I installed them immediately.  I’m glad I did or they may not have got installed for a couple of months.

 

Thursday lunchtime I went for a walk and tripped and fell on an uneven path. I was a bit embarrassed and shocked but I didn’t think it was serious.  When I went to get up I couldn’t move my left arm very far and my left shoulder was hurting.  Well I’ve just come out of hospital and a 7 hour operation to repair a comminuted fracture of glenoid bone (shoulder joint). I’ve done the same to my scapular bone.

 

I’m now home facing several weeks of having my arm in a sling. Listening to music on my system this afternoon and oh my god it sounded good.  Even my wife, who normally switches off when I play music, commented on how good David Gilmours Rattle that lock album sounded.  And she doesn’t know about the cable upgrades.

 

 

 

 

Possibly the final bit of the puzzle for my digital sources.  An English Electric audiophile switch arrived today and has been installed.

 

 

It's been a while since I updated my system thread.  There's been a few changes but not much that's visible from the pictures.

 

After doing some reading, I was inspired to buy an MiniDSP UMIK1 and boom stand and measure my room using the Room EQ wizard software.

 

This made it a lot easier to set up my subwoofer just right.  As part of these adjustments I also moved the subwoofer so it's now hiding behind the arm of the couch on the right side of my room and almost in line with my speakers.

 

I've also played around the parametric equaliser that's included with Roon to try to even out some of the frequency response, especially in the bass region.  I'll see if I can include some graphs from REW later.

 

Late last year the disc failed on my basic WD NAS drive which stored my music library.  No problems as this has been backed up to multiple USB hard drives.  I bit the bullet and purchased a proper 4 bay Synology NAS and pointed Roon to this.  You can just see this at rear of the left side of my Entertainment unit.

 

Lastly, but certainly not least, I've invested in a Network Acoustics Muon streaming system.  This is used to filter noise and has been placed between my English Electric Ethernet switch and Roon Nucleus+.  There is a recommended run in time of 120 hours.  I'm only 30 hours into that so far, so I haven't done any comparisons with a normal ethernet cable.  When I do so, I'll update this thread again with my findings.

 

Edited January 31, 20233 yr by jt301
Adding a picture

My room is not treated at all.  Anyone who's measure their room will tell you how scary the frequency response graphs can look.   Mine is no exception.

 

All measurements were done with all furniture still in place.

 

The following are the frequency response graphs with no parametric EQ applied, both at psychoacoustic smooth (approx. 1/3 octave) and 1/12th octave smoothing.

 

Here's the frequency response showing what the sub adds.

 

Red line is with sub.  Blue line, without the sub.

 

Edited January 31, 20233 yr by jt301

Finally, here's the difference in frequency response before and after changes were made to Roon's parametric EQ.

Red line, no EQ.  Green line with EQ.

 

Edited January 31, 20233 yr by jt301