Hello Alex,
It's possible to use different software. We are currently working with a software vendor who can integrate qobuz, hiresaudio and possibly even spotify, the latter obviously currently obviously not being lossless.
The 1st SGM Server EVO Edition in Hong Kong
- Thread starter CKKeung
- Start date
Hello Alex,
It's possible to use different software. We are currently working with a software vendor who can integrate qobuz, hiresaudio and possibly even spotify, the latter obviously currently obviously not being lossless.
Right from the beginning of this thread, I mentioned that IMHO the SGM Evo Edition was the best CAS server I had ever auditioned.
But can its sonic performance be further improved?
Yes of course!
Yesterday I passed-by the Volent HK showroom, the SGM dealer in Hong Kong.
Volent HK has co-developed an oxco/tcxo-clocked audiophile switch with Clones Audio.
( https://www.clonesaudio.com/networking )
Ben Lau, boss of Volent HK had installed an optical ethernet card onto the SGM EVO.
Together with the Clones Audio optical switch, the performance of playing music via streaming is greatly enhanced in all sonic aspects.
Even for those who prefer playing files rather than streaming, this optical ethernet card is beneficial.
There was clearly audible sonic improvement when playing music files stored in the internal SSD of the EVO too.
Ben has sourced several different single-mode transievers and optical fibers for his customers to choose from.
I guess the SGM dealers in N America and Europe must do so as well.
But can its sonic performance be further improved?
Yes of course!
Yesterday I passed-by the Volent HK showroom, the SGM dealer in Hong Kong.
Volent HK has co-developed an oxco/tcxo-clocked audiophile switch with Clones Audio.
( https://www.clonesaudio.com/networking )
Ben Lau, boss of Volent HK had installed an optical ethernet card onto the SGM EVO.
Together with the Clones Audio optical switch, the performance of playing music via streaming is greatly enhanced in all sonic aspects.
Even for those who prefer playing files rather than streaming, this optical ethernet card is beneficial.
There was clearly audible sonic improvement when playing music files stored in the internal SSD of the EVO too.
Ben has sourced several different single-mode transievers and optical fibers for his customers to choose from.
I guess the SGM dealers in N America and Europe must do so as well.
I'm first SGM 2015 EVO user in S. Korea.
Because I didn't use normal SGM 2015, I can't know EVO quality.
I used a music server made by myself.
I spent about $ 28,000 to my music server.
When I received SGM 2015 EVO, I regretted to spend $ 28,000.
I think EVO is the best music server in the world.
I'll do comparison test soon.
SGM 2015 EVO (cables : total $1,200) vs Metronome T6 Signature (cables : total $ 25,000)
Because I didn't use normal SGM 2015, I can't know EVO quality.
I used a music server made by myself.
I spent about $ 28,000 to my music server.
When I received SGM 2015 EVO, I regretted to spend $ 28,000.
I think EVO is the best music server in the world.
I'll do comparison test soon.
SGM 2015 EVO (cables : total $1,200) vs Metronome T6 Signature (cables : total $ 25,000)
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Hello Esotar,
You mean you have spent US$28,000 on your DIY server? Wow.
Is it the silver/whitish component underneath the black colour SGM EVO in the photo?
BTW I notice that you are using a lot of Entreq grounding gadgets in your system.
Audiophiles in Hong Kong find that the Taiko Audio Setchi electrical groundboxes D2 or D3 work very nicely with SGM EVO.
These Setchis are much cheaper than the Entreqs. You may consider to get one for your EVO too.
Yes, I spent $ 28,000 in my diy music server.
I installed three Neutron Star Clocks, three Synergistic Research Mini Grounding Boxes
with 20 high-end grounding cables of SR, Linear Power with all flagship parts, two Hard Point Trinia sets,
three SATA Cables, and etc.
After using EVO, I realized my diy server is meaningless.
I have Setchi D-3 USB, LAN, RCA boxes.
Setchi D-3 is awesome~!
I'm no. 1 Entreq collector in the world.
Setchi D-3's efficiency of decreasing noise is much better than Entreq Olympus Ten.
Setchi D-3 is not perfect, but it is the best reasonable products, I think~!
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I tested SGM 2015 EVO with JCAT USB, LAN Cards.
The result is bad.
In case of USB, SGM 2015 EVO's mainboard USB port is much better than JCAT.
In case of LAN, I didn't feel difference.
But in case of my idiot diy server, JCAT products make wonderful quality up~!
You will notice how does SGM 2015 EVO is made fantastic.
If you'll order SGM 2015 EVO or upgrade, JCAT is needless.
The result is bad.
In case of USB, SGM 2015 EVO's mainboard USB port is much better than JCAT.
In case of LAN, I didn't feel difference.
But in case of my idiot diy server, JCAT products make wonderful quality up~!
You will notice how does SGM 2015 EVO is made fantastic.
If you'll order SGM 2015 EVO or upgrade, JCAT is needless.
If I have understood things correctly, the optional Jcat network card can also be used for ethernet input in the Evo doing away with external switches.
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Hello Esotar,
I fully agree that the Setchi D2 and D3 are best-buys among audiophile grounding gadgets.
They are cheap yet can rival the effect of more expensive groundbox brands.
I have several of them, mixing&matching D2 and D3 to diff components of my audio system.
BTW the effect of attaching one D2 to the metallic enclosure of my home powerline fusebox is NOT small!
Admittedly I did not care much for FC before, I found it lacking dynamics, somewhat dead and flat sounding. As it turns out the SFP modules used were the root cause of that! My general rule of thumb is forget multi mode and go single mode, longer distance capability sounds better, I'm using 80km 1550nm wavelength SFP's now while the actual distance is just a few meters. And now Ben tells me there's personal taste involved when choosing between modules. There's more to this then just "electrical isolation", an interesting story:
We are located in an old industrial building, the industry here has moved away ages ago, but what's left is a very heavy power utility installation, we have multiple 50KW supplies entering the building over 4" thick powerlines. I've hooked up my system to one of these and my network setup is running on a different one. The system is connected to the network over fibre channel. One could argue this is about as "isolated" as it gets for a mains connected solution. Yet everything I do on the networking side is clearly audible, switches (clocking), power supplies, cabling used.
Thank you for your feedback, I look forward to the results of your comparison test!
Yes it's a means of adding additional networking ports to the SGM, for example to interface directly to a renderer. This may be a good time to add we still have not come across a renderer solution outperforming USB and/or AES/EBU.
Hello Emile,
Some CAS audiophiles in Hong Kong, including me myself have been "playing" optical fiber connection for nearly 10 years!
We started our adventure by installing the Canadian Adnaco PCIe optical cards on our diy CAS desktops (http://www.adnaco.com/products/ ).
We then discovered the industrial/IT switches which have SFP ports for optical ethernet connection.
And of course Adnaco and later Trinity DAC have optical USB connection solutions too.
Devils are in the details!
We noticed that sonic performance was affected by multi-mode vs single-mode connection despite the optical fibers were just 1 or 2 metres long.
The quality of the transceivers and optical cables were also important, affecting both the level of performance and the resulting sonic character.
These phenomena are easily audible, yet difficult to be fully explained by the current scientific theories/knowledge.
Anyway, listening is believing.
Ben frequently demos these gadgets and the Clones Audio Switch in his Volent HK showroom to customers.
Most of them are convinced after the demos and some of them will take the plunge to install optical ethernet isolation in their CAS systems.
The main advantage of optical fiber connections is large bandwidth full galvanic isolation. We can easily get a cheap optical link anywhere in the system using two Tp-Link Gigabit Single-Mode Media Converter 1310N and a fiber optic - I have been playing with such system (but just occasionally for some months...). Still not sure where is the best part to insert it - system includes W10 server with JCat card and a switch, the NAS is a Synology.
Surely the type of transceiver and fiber will affect noise and digital wave-shape - but as this part of digital audio is system dependent voodoo we must try and listen - a time consuming affair. And each case can be a very different case - just changing the power cables in your system can reverse results.
Maybe superfluous, but to avoid any confusion, inserting 2 Tplink FMC's is not a straight upgrade for the SGM. I used to use Allied Telesys FMC's, a noticeable qualitative step up over Tplink, with a distributed PC system setup (also referred to as a dual-pc setup, or source-renderer, or source - network audio adapter) before we developed the SGM, but I stopped using them as the SGM was better off without. It was designed as a single box solution not benefitting from all of these setup complicating tweaks. The improvement in playback quality reported here involves a Fibre PCIe card installed directly into the SGM with specific types of SFP modules combined with a high quality switch.
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