LDMS Server

[Tuckia]

Hi Tuckia, as for cables. I saw you have Audio Sensibility cables, In fact I have a full loom of his cables. Really good. Actually I have recently bought Phasure Lush 3 USB cable and this one must be a real killer for the price. Very analog sounding with good details and bottom. What LDMS server did you descide for eventually. Was it the hybrid? I think its good to listen to Lucas advice. If one not upsample and only play easy files then go for the low power CPU. Did he suggest the wider case for eventual future upgrades? As for the reclocker I have not heard the difference between the stage 1 and 2. I used to have the Ideon stage 1 blackstar but sold it when I got the Aqua Linq. But this made may Antipodes EX better with USB no doubt. The Ideon products should get more attention in the hifiworld IMHO
Regards Magus

Hello Magnus,

I’m going with a hybrid between the Mini and Maximus. I can’t say this is a standard configuration or something specific to my request. So I’ll explain how this proceeded.

First, I emailed Lucas listing my system (I think this will be stable for a while - finally), which sonic attributes I value most, and the general type of music I listen to. I also indicated I run native and local off an SSD. From this he proposed a configuration unique to my request. This is what the spec. Looks like.

Full size Maximus case with (4) high speed drive bays.
Maximus type EMI/RFI suppression scheme
Single 6 core CPU (mini is 4 core, Maximus is 8 core)
External super capacitor based LPS (same spec as mini) with upgraded umbilical cord
External Ideon Reclocker 3R Master Time
Standard wiring
Configured with Roon and Embedded HQPlayer (which I currently run - my request)

I’ve added another FTA Callisto for the reclocker. So I will have two of these.

Note that the reclocker could have been mounted internally. For future flexibility I went with an external unit. Lucas states neither internal nor external has a sonic advantage. I already have a power cord and isolators for an external unit coming from the dual chassis CX/EX.

I don’t know if this looks like anyone else’s hybrid in specification. Depending on what you ask for, you might get something different.

Buyers who want to convert and/or upsample DSD will need to move to a full Maximus processor.

Currently I run a mix of cables. A few years ago I was mostly Audio Sensibility. As time goes on and equipment changes, I’ve acquired cables with synergy unique to each piece. For example, I found the Allnic components prefer, or should I say beg, to be paired with the Allnic ZL5000 power cords. Not cheap, but worth it. Clearly better than the Audio Sensibility Statement and Signature power cords I had on them. My server prefers the AS Statement power cords. My Pacific seems to be happy with a Wywires Platinum digital cord. I’ve tried the AS Statement and Signature USB cables. Very good values. The Callisto betters them in detail, presence, and separation. A very good cable. My main and best IC is the Audio Sensibility Signature OCC Silver. The best cable they make IMHO.

 

[Tuckia]

@Tuckia: I'm one of these two guys... Lucas will assemble the server for you as you discussed it. The probability that you'll be fully satisfied is very close to 100%... btw: I like the cables, which Goran's distributing a lot. Don't miss to try the Metis ethernet.

Soon I will explore streaming more seriously. Currently I use Google WiFi to receive signal, but suspect this won’t cut it. How much would 90 ft. Of Métis cost to connect my sever to the switch?
Listening to Radio Paradise in flac right now. Sounds way better than it should.

 

[Magnuska]

Hello Magnus,

I’m going with a hybrid between the Mini and Maximus. I can’t say this is a standard configuration or something specific to my request. So I’ll explain how this proceeded.

First, I emailed Lucas listing my system (I think this will be stable for a while - finally), which sonic attributes I value most, and the general type of music I listen to. I also indicated I run native and local off an SSD. From this he proposed a configuration unique to my request. This is what the spec. Looks like.

Full size Maximus case with (4) high speed drive bays.
Maximus type EMI/RFI suppression scheme
Single 6 core CPU (mini is 4 core, Maximus is 8 core)
External super capacitor based LPS (same spec as mini) with upgraded umbilical cord
External Ideon Reclocker 3R Master Time
Standard wiring
Configured with Roon and Embedded HQPlayer (which I currently run - my request)

I’ve added another FTA Callisto for the reclocker. So I will have two of these.

Note that the reclocker could have been mounted internally. For future flexibility I went with an external unit. Lucas states neither internal nor external has a sonic advantage. I already have a power cord and isolators for an external unit coming from the dual chassis CX/EX.

I don’t know if this looks like anyone else’s hybrid in specification. Depending on what you ask for, you might get something different.

Buyers who want to convert and/or upsample DSD will need to move to a full Maximus processor.

Currently I run a mix of cables. A few years ago I was mostly Audio Sensibility. As time goes on and equipment changes, I’ve acquired cables with synergy unique to each piece. For example, I found the Allnic components prefer, or should I say beg, to be paired with the Allnic ZL5000 power cords. Not cheap, but worth it. Clearly better than the Audio Sensibility Statement and Signature power cords I had on them. My server prefers the AS Statement power cords. My Pacific seems to be happy with a Wywires Platinum digital cord. I’ve tried the AS Statement and Signature USB cables. Very good values. The Callisto betters them in detail, presence, and separation. A very good cable. My main and best IC is the Audio Sensibility Signature OCC Silver. The best cable they make IMHO.

Hi Tuckia,

thanks for the extensive answer, interesting about your experiments and trialouts of powercables.

Yesterday evening I was contacted via remote by Antipodes Mark, who helped with transfering my files to the S40. He was 12 hours ahead of me, so I had to go to bed in the evening and in the morning he was there finalizing the session. All worked out, amazing service from Antipodes.

 

[Tuckia]

Hi Tuckia,

thanks for the extensive answer, interesting about your experiments and trialouts of powercables.

Yesterday evening I was contacted via remote by Antipodes Mark, who helped with transfering my files to the S40. He was 12 hours ahead of me, so I had to go to bed in the evening and in the morning he was there finalizing the session. All worked out, amazing service from Antipodes.

Magnus,

12 hours ahead. They truly are your antipodes! I've heard they are good with their service. Haven't needed their help so far.

Have you learned any more about the Pico?

 

[Magnuska]

Magnus,

12 hours ahead. They truly are your antipodes! I've heard they are good with their service. Haven't needed their help so far.

Have you learned any more about the Pico?

No I have not seen anybody using the Pico on the web. I hope it will give enough of the LDMS flavour to satisfy me.

 

[jw67]

Hi, I’m new to this forum but I thought I would chip in as someone was asking. Just before Xmas I bought from Lucas the Pico system with external power supply, black star reclocker along with the David laboga emerald cables x2. It is my first digital system and I’m very happy wIt’s it I was given the previous reclocker to try and some other cables which were the same price as the emerald so I assume they were the ofc solid core on his site but I don’t know. The black star reclocker is a lot better than the previous model, tighter bass, more accurate. The emerald cables were a very obvious and massive improvement over the other cables, quite stunning. I believe in cables making a difference but I wasn’t expecting them to make that much, fantastic cables.

I would say the user interface via phone or iPad is a bit clunky but perfectly workable, reliable and I have no complaints. I use qobuz and Tidal. Very occasionally I have a 5 min connectivity issue, hardly at all and easily resolved by rebooting the phone or the app or as a last resort the server but I would say very reliable.

As has been mentioned before Lucas is exceptional with his customer service, incredibly helpful and talked me through everything.

I am curious about the bigger reclocker, I think that’s my next venture on the digital side. I need to investigate other brands to see if there is anything else out there comparable price /sq. .. down the road a bit. In the meantime im very happy with the Pico.

 

[ferrox]

Hi, I’m new to this forum but I thought I would chip in as someone was asking. Just before Xmas I bought from Lucas the Pico system with external power supply, black star reclocker along with the David laboga emerald cables x2. It is my first digital system and I’m very happy wIt’s it I was given the previous reclocker to try and some other cables which were the same price as the emerald so I assume they were the ofc solid core on his site but I don’t know. The black star reclocker is a lot better than the previous model, tighter bass, more accurate. The emerald cables were a very obvious and massive improvement over the other cables, quite stunning. I believe in cables making a difference but I wasn’t expecting them to make that much, fantastic cables.

I would say the user interface via phone or iPad is a bit clunky but perfectly workable, reliable and I have no complaints. I use qobuz and Tidal. Very occasionally I have a 5 min connectivity issue, hardly at all and easily resolved by rebooting the phone or the app or as a last resort the server but I would say very reliable.

As has been mentioned before Lucas is exceptional with his customer service, incredibly helpful and talked me through everything.

I am curious about the bigger reclocker, I think that’s my next venture on the digital side. I need to investigate other brands to see if there is anything else out there comparable price /sq. .. down the road a bit. In the meantime im very happy with the Pico.

I bought my LDM server about 27 months ago and guess what? Lucas is still providing his excellent after sales service as if it were newly bought. During my audio venture since the 90's, I have never had this level of customer service from any audio brands, period! You bought a product, you earn a friend for life. Lucas Domansky is the guy!!!

 

[Golum]

I bought my LDM server about 27 months ago and guess what? Lucas is still providing his excellent after sales service as if it were newly bought. During my audio venture since the 90's, I have never had this level of customer service from any audio brands, period! You bought a product, you earn a friend for life. Lucas Domansky is the guy!!!

You forgot to say - and it works/sounds better then on day 1 with all the tweaks and updates implemented during those months

 

[Magnuska]

Hi, I’m new to this forum but I thought I would chip in as someone was asking. Just before Xmas I bought from Lucas the Pico system with external power supply, black star reclocker along with the David laboga emerald cables x2. It is my first digital system and I’m very happy wIt’s it I was given the previous reclocker to try and some other cables which were the same price as the emerald so I assume they were the ofc solid core on his site but I don’t know. The black star reclocker is a lot better than the previous model, tighter bass, more accurate. The emerald cables were a very obvious and massive improvement over the other cables, quite stunning. I believe in cables making a difference but I wasn’t expecting them to make that much, fantastic cables.

I would say the user interface via phone or iPad is a bit clunky but perfectly workable, reliable and I have no complaints. I use qobuz and Tidal. Very occasionally I have a 5 min connectivity issue, hardly at all and easily resolved by rebooting the phone or the app or as a last resort the server but I would say very reliable.

As has been mentioned before Lucas is exceptional with his customer service, incredibly helpful and talked me through everything.

I am curious about the bigger reclocker, I think that’s my next venture on the digital side. I need to investigate other brands to see if there is anything else out there comparable price /sq. .. down the road a bit. In the meantime im very happy with the Pico.

Hi jw67.

Thanks for your input. Interesting since I am waiting for my Pico.

Can you explain more of how your pico is configurated. Do you have your music stored on it too or is it just the player?

Regards Magnus

 

[jw67]

Hi Magnus,
just on tidal and Qobuz currently. im new to the digital world really, the main system is a turntable upstairs. This is in the evening listening with my wife. I have a hard drive which Greg from G point lent me but I haven’t got it going yet, I should hook it up.

I’m sorry I am not quite sure what you mean configured ? The external psu, connected to which are the reclocker and the Pico itself. Signal from the Pico goes into the reclocker with DL emerald cable and then out from reclocker into the dac with the second D/L cable. If you get a chance to try those cables I would. I had a set that caused all sorts of crackling and distortion, apparently they were an early incarnation. They were replaced with an up to date set and no issues at all. So you may need to check that they are up recent model.

Good luck with it all. Lucas is one of a kind with the customer support as I’m sure you know by now.

 

[Magnuska]

Hi Magnus,
just on tidal and Qobuz currently. im new to the digital world really, the main system is a turntable upstairs. This is in the evening listening with my wife. I have a hard drive which Greg from G point lent me but I haven’t got it going yet, I should hook it up.

I’m sorry I am not quite sure what you mean configured ? The external psu, connected to which are the reclocker and the Pico itself. Signal from the Pico goes into the reclocker with DL emerald cable and then out from reclocker into the dac with the second D/L cable. If you get a chance to try those cables I would. I had a set that caused all sorts of crackling and distortion, apparently they were an early incarnation. They were replaced with an up to date set and no issues at all. So you may need to check that they are up recent model.

Good luck with it all. Lucas is one of a kind with the customer support as I’m sure you know by now.

Hi jw67,

Thanks for explaining your setup. I will use my Pico as a ROON player only. Lucas is placing my reclocker inside the box.
My files are on my Antipodes S40. Yes I hear what you say about cables and I understand the David Laboga USB is an interesting cable, A bit of difficult website - hard to find his USB purchase side. I have the lush 3 USB wich I m very pleased with. Last week I received 2 addtional Sablon ethernet cables and a new powercord from Triode wire labs called obsession. Still burning in but all makes a real difference. More music and analog touch to it now.

/Magnus

 

[jw67]

Hi jw67,

Thanks for explaining your setup. I will use my Pico as a ROON player only. Lucas is placing my reclocker inside the box.
My files are on my Antipodes S40. Yes I hear what you say about cables and I understand the David Laboga USB is an interesting cable, A bit of difficult website - hard to find his USB purchase side. I have the lush 3 USB wich I m very pleased with. Last week I received 2 addtional Sablon ethernet cables and a new powercord from Triode wire labs called obsession. Still burning in but all makes a real difference. More music and analog touch to it now.

/Magnus

You seem clearly set for cables! As a newcomer to the digital world I’m not quite sure how or what ROON is. I will investigate.

Yes I thought about the box, it appeals actually but I also like the freedom of pulling cables out if there are connectivity issues. I’ll probably get one though ultimately, I think he does some fancy wood finishes.

Good luck with it when it arrives.

 

[heihei]

Great to hear you are enjoying your LDMS - me too!

For me, there are two big advantages of downloading the music onto a hard drive for reproduction: (1) there is an improvement in sound quality, and (2) you are providing the artists far more in revenue / earnings than you would via streaming.

 

[jw67]

Great to hear you are enjoying your LDMS - me too!

For me, there are two big advantages of downloading the music onto a hard drive for reproduction: (1) there is an improvement in sound quality, and (2) you are providing the artists far more in revenue / earnings than you would via streaming.

Hello, just to be clear the sound quality is better if you download to a hard drive- Is it always better? I’m still getting used to the different quality rates on Qobuz/Tidal but my understanding was that the minimum quality was at least as good as cd and there seems to be a variety of rates associated with ’hi-res’ files. Can you get an improvement in sound quality over the ‘hi-res‘ Qobuz files if you download to a hard drive? Please excuse my ignorance- it’s a new world to me.

 

[Tuckia]

Regarding streaming, the streamed signal path has an adverse effect on quality, regardless of how good the front end signal is at the source. The signal path from an internal drive is much shorter, simpler, and less susceptible to the admission of noise. The streamed path is much more susceptible to introducing RFI, EMI, power supply artifacts, equipment self noise, and every other kind of noise. All of these noises mess with the analog waveform which is trying to represent the digital signal. These additive effects/noises make it more difficult for downstream decoders to read the signal correctly.

In the end, the streamed signal sounds softer, less dynamic, less defined, and lacking in tone color. This can be helped significantly with upgraded switches, linear power supplies, cables, and clocks utilized on the stream path. This is a maturing industry all by itself.

 

[jw67]

Regarding streaming, the streamed signal path has an adverse effect on quality, regardless of how good the front end signal is at the source. The signal path from an internal drive is much shorter, simpler, and less susceptible to the admission of noise. The streamed path is much more susceptible to introducing RFI, EMI, power supply artifacts, equipment self noise, and every other kind of noise. All of these noises mess with the analog waveform which is trying to represent the digital signal. These additive effects/noises make it more difficult for downstream decoders to read the signal correctly.

In the end, the streamed signal sounds softer, less dynamic, less defined, and lacking in tone color. This can be helped significantly with upgraded switches, linear power supplies, cables, and clocks utilized on the stream path. This is a maturing industry all by itself.

Thank you for taking the time to explain, that makes perfect sense. Purchased, stored music is clearly the better option. Thanks.

 

[Tuckia]

But considering overall cost and variety, streaming is the way to go. Buying a local library carries considerable cost. Improvements to the stream as delivered to your household, while not insignificant, are much less overall. Some report near equal quality after implementing these improvements.

 

[Magnuska]

Its not easy to say which sounds best. I have for a long time used a 2- part source containing of server like Innuos zen min mk3 with inbuilt CD ripper. All my old cds are ripped onto the internal memory. From this a short direct ethernet cable to the streamer that act as the Roon player in my setup. BUT in your case playing High resoulution Tidal or Oubuz may also have an advantage or may I say close the gap a bit to lets say 16bit/44khz redbook cd rips. So as Tuckia says if one takes care of the noise assosiated with network. I have for example changed SMPS powersupplies for both routhers and audiophile switch etherregen for Linear powersupplies. Changing LAN cables for the like of Sablon has also improved my sound. So unfortunately there is quit a bit to consider.

 

[jw67]

Thanks Tuckia and Magnuska for your input, clearly many things to consider. I’ll take things slowly and develop but now I understand a little clearer. I will try and get this hard drive hooked up and I have a few albums I can download as the codes came with the vinyl when I bought them and see how that goes.
I tend to listen to to the streaming in the evening and try and discover new music. It’s great for that - then buy on vinyl if I like it a lot. it’s quite incredible how listening to music has changed over the last 30 years.

 

[heihei]

I cannot overstate how important buying music is - artists get a pittance from streaming, and given the amount we collectively spend on hifi it shouldn't be too much to ask to buy some music.