Any Sotm 200 users in Delhi

panditji

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Hi

Have heard and read about the substantial difference the Sotm SMS 200 has made to the sound by replacing the laptop. Any users in Delhi who can help us in hearing the device?

Substantial difference is also quite relative from user to user and therefore I would like to hear it before pursuing this option.
 
Hi

Have heard and read about the substantial difference the Sotm SMS 200 has made to the sound by replacing the laptop. Any users in Delhi who can help us in hearing the device?

Substantial difference is also quite relative from user to user and therefore I would like to hear it before pursuing this option.

Hi , I have heard rave reviews about the SoTM too. Might get a chance to audition it shortly either in Pune or surat. I am however also waiting for the Roon nucleus which is a server made by Roon with its own OS for Roon. Since i use roon as my interface i'm just going to take my call after auditioning both. In the interim if you manage to audition either please do post your feedback.

Cheers !
Anand


STEREO: Transrotor zet 1 TT, Transrotor 8.2 MC reference phono stage, Ortofon rondo red cartridge, MSB Platinum iv DAC, MSB DATA TRANSPORT iv CD transport, mola mola Kaluga power amplifiers, Transparent audio Ultra cables and interconnects, Transparent audio premium USB cable, Transparent audio Reference Power cables Synology D 415 play 12 TB RAID NAS drive, Mac book air with Roon, Joseph Audio Perspectives Floor standers, Stillpoints Aperture Acoustic panels, Stillpoints Ultra mini isolators, Blue jeans CAT6a cables. Transparent Audio Power isolators MM2.

HT1: Optoma HD 82 projector, I box media player, Synology D 415 play 12 TB RAID NAS drive, Anthem MRX 500 AV receiver, B & W center & DALI surrounds, REL T5 subwoofer.

HT2: Panasonic 42' Plasma, Monitor audio Radius R250 center and front speakers, Radius R90 surrounds and radius R360 subwoofer. Dune & Zappiti media player and pioneer BDP 140 blu ray player.
 
Great.. I know Dheeraj is using the Sotm in Pune and is quite happy with the performance which made me curious. Do post your findings once you hear it.. If possible, please let us know the performance with Roon and other softwares as well.
 
this is for ALL not only for OP--
There are similar products like SOTM SMS 200-
Microrendu,
Bryston BDP-Pi at $1300, the Sonicorbiter SE at $300

With microrendu , you can not atach hard drive directly, you have to have NAS
for storing the songs.IMO, network related glitches always hit the SQ.
People have spent more than micrornedu, on fibre media converter and linear power supplies for the router, NAS and FMC.
So SOTM is very safe investment in that regard.

for the honest review , you can see the link below-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV-FvRF9KGA

for those who can hand carry the SOTM, below is the link-

https://sotm-usa.com/products/sotm-sms-200-mini-network-player-1

after its popularity SOTM has launched many products just to fetch the audiophile's never ending itches
they are mainly for the people who are playing music through NAS and other servers.
So in my opinion dont fall for those products, buy 450$ unit and later on you can add one by one other components for the upgrade BUG.

Linear power supply makes difference for sure. SBooster is very good affordable solution for that. there are others too like uptone audio, mojo illuminati, paul hynes SR7 and so on so sky is the limit.

as per review below sbooster is good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwSNUgqtOwI

I bought sbooster in USA from Hi-Fi Heaven

I have hand carried both the units, so I dont have any Idea of custom duties.

There are better products in the market and they are quiet expensive, but till now I have not heard any good about them, some are saying they sound not better than SOTM.

so choice is yours, almost all companies are cashing in, on such kind of audio players. Many more to come, but better start with inexpensive players like SOTM SMS 200.

There are more upgrades available as you can see online on top of SMS 200, Like clock improvement, USB regenerator and so on.

Do keep in mind that SMS 200 should be kept away from other electronics equipment per suggestion by Manufacturer. So any power cable passing adjacent to SMS 200 should be properly shielded so that EMF cannot affect the SOTM.

last but not the least, cost of SOTM is same as Laptop, so there is no harm in starting the audio journey with SMS 200 than laptop.

For three years I struggled with my dedicated laptop with 10 GB RAM and what not optimization tricks to get the better sound and one point of time I thought
that there can be no better sound than this. Even Raspberry Pi with proper set-up , sounds better than PC or laptop IMO, YMMV.
But after seeing people leaving there laptops aside after getting SMS 200, I too jumped in, and have no regrets till day. SMS 200 is easy than laptop to play music
and it can be operated thru any handheld device. There may be good computer based solutions out there, but that requires heavy investment and lot of tricks.

I have written this all just for the sake of our community, who for long has been struggling to find that elusive sound:p from their system.
I have struggled a lot for that elusive sound:) and did waste my energy. First make your source better, then all other things will fall in place simultaneously as per my experience YMMV.

Thats all folks. You can search on google for more understanding about the audio players. I dont have any affiliations with the products as it may seem after reading this heartfelt long bak bak.
 
Another option is to use a small dedicated headless PC.
I have below configuration and I do feel the sound is very good.
I haven't done any tweaking. Only required software has been loaded.

Fanless Antec ISK110 cabinet
Asus J1800I-C board
4GB RAM
Win7
HDPlex linear PSU
 
there is one more option, those who have I2S connection in their DAC , Magna Hifi Mano IS and SPDIF streamer is good.

review is given below

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb1sv5k5QkM

I2S connection is considered to be best one, even my DAC has the same , but for that I need USB to I2S connector like Singxer SU-1. That will be another expense for me and another equipment in chain.
So those who want to have direct connection to DAC should go for Magna IMO.
 
hi friends have been a silent observer of the forum and have a moderate stereo set up and wanted opinion regarding sotm sms 200 ultra with ethernet mod n masterclock options with sps 500 since some of my relatives is going to usa and frequent alterations wont be possible . this post is primarily to THANK members like DHEERAJ from pune to whom i had pm d and asked for help and he was lightening quick in response and help ,he not only shared his experience of sotm but also helped me in making my descision ,this is what keeps this forum so unique so :clapping: for members like him .
secondly whats everyone elses opinion of
sotm with mods n one question can DIY audiophile usb cables / ethernet cables be made in india or any one has made or any experience coz the costs of ethernet n usb cables on these sites are scary.
 
Hi, I bought an SOTM SMS 200. I haven't compared it to any other similar product, but compared to my CD player or Laptop, it ticks the hifi tick boxes (greater transparency, and more details emerge due to perhaps lower noise levels (e.g. texture of bass), wider soundstage and it also helps the musical cause. I am very happy with this purchase (available in India with the Surat based Absolute Sound). For futher details read on.

I have been itching to buy a streamer for a while. While there were many (ahem) "reasons", essentially, I wanted to see what it about. However, a bum internet connection at home, my tehnophobia, love for physical media and the need for ethernet kept me away.

However, I decided to take the plunge. I also ordered a Netgear N300 wifi extender, which has an ethernet out and hence could be used (I did consider powerline extenders as well, but owing to costs, decided not to go for it till I was sure how the streamer would work).

I initially tried to set it up using my main router modem , but could not get to the Eunhasu (which is the software that controls the SOTM) site. I gave the device to my friend, who with a little help from his friends, set it up. Overall, he was happy with the potential, rather than the sound, believing that a better quality power supply would help. Thank you BPD, for without this, it may well be sitting in the box. Fortunately, I had a 12V linear power supply at home (yeah, DIY bugs bite hard - I made it with the Teddy Pardo super regulator), and it also helped that the SOTM accepts a wide Voltage Range.

So yesterday, I took a deep breath and decided to go for it. I must admit wasnt easy (local buying would also mean that Jignesh from Absolute Sound can help), and he's super good with this.

Eunhasu loaded finally, but it wasn’t intuitive – the manual is skimpy, and the one on the net which is more detailed doesn’t help either. I was going to use DLNA/MPD using JRiver as the player. The use of a wifi extender created its own set of problems and I got around that by referencing both the extender and router using Static connection mode. Fortunately, the DAC got recognised, which I took it as a “sign”.

(Unrelated problems). My Mac had a depressing problem of audio getting muted out (initially, the Mute was permanently greyed out in Sound Preferences, one which I overcame by going to Audio Midi and removing mute, and finally, sticking my headphones into the output jack. Finally, with the power of internet searches, got JRiver going as the source.

There was sound, and then music! I listened the Rachmaninoff’s Trio Elegiaque (the one with Berezovsky), Symphony No. 2 (which I have started to love ever since I saw the movie The Birdman), Schiff playing Bach’s Well Tempered Klavier, Scriabin Piano Preludes with Lettberg, Stravinsky’s The Rites of Spring (Gergiev’s mayhem), assorted Jazz including Sonny Rollins’ I’m an Old Cowhand (listen closely, and you can hear Shelly Manne "speaking out" his solo as he plays it, which is great fun), Brubeck’s Take 5, Nat King Cole Trio, James Newton’s brilliant African Flower and Art Farmer’s Five Spot After Dark (about four minutes of joy), and Rumours from Fleewood Mac.

All the albums benefited from greater transparency, with increasing detail being evident (compared to my CD player playing through the same DAC). Notably, the bass output and quality (texture) also was much better (my Graham 5/9 cut off at about 50Hz), but without muddying up the the midrange. The treble was clean with no irritation. The soundstage also very good - wide! The sound was so clean that I was turning up the volume (fortunately it was New Year’s Eve) to enjoy myself. The sound also seemed to get better as the evening progressed (and no, I wasnt drinking!). However, some network issues cropped up now and then, but also they seem to go away (so you can be sure I wont be abandoning my CD player and LP player).

So I shut down reluctantly last night. Will it work as easily again? Fingers crossed. Importantly, get a good network connection..those who have “LAN” via cables at home will find this a breeze.

Perhaps worth setting up a separate thread in "Media Streamers". However, it helps if everything is in one place, so I put in here.

I have not listened to any other streamers (yes, I have Googled "MicroRendu SOTM compare" ;)). I am happy with this one - the price is right, but I would recommend adding a better quality Power Supply (and other audio voodoo).
 
Hi, I bought an SOTM SMS 200. I haven't compared it to any other similar product, but compared to my CD player or Laptop, it ticks the hifi tick boxes (greater transparency, and more details emerge due to perhaps lower noise levels (e.g. texture of bass), wider soundstage and it also helps the musical cause. I am very happy with this purchase (available in India with the Surat based Absolute Sound). For futher details read on.

I have been itching to buy a streamer for a while. While there were many (ahem) "reasons", essentially, I wanted to see what it about. However, a bum internet connection at home, my tehnophobia, love for physical media and the need for ethernet kept me away.

However, I decided to take the plunge. I also ordered a Netgear N300 wifi extender, which has an ethernet out and hence could be used (I did consider powerline extenders as well, but owing to costs, decided not to go for it till I was sure how the streamer would work).

I initially tried to set it up using my main router modem , but could not get to the Eunhasu (which is the software that controls the SOTM) site. I gave the device to my friend, who with a little help from his friends, set it up. Overall, he was happy with the potential, rather than the sound, believing that a better quality power supply would help. Thank you BPD, for without this, it may well be sitting in the box. Fortunately, I had a 12V linear power supply at home (yeah, DIY bugs bite hard - I made it with the Teddy Pardo super regulator), and it also helped that the SOTM accepts a wide Voltage Range.

So yesterday, I took a deep breath and decided to go for it. I must admit wasnt easy (local buying would also mean that Jignesh from Absolute Sound can help), and he's super good with this.

Eunhasu loaded finally, but it wasn’t intuitive – the manual is skimpy, and the one on the net which is more detailed doesn’t help either. I was going to use DLNA/MPD using JRiver as the player. The use of a wifi extender created its own set of problems and I got around that by referencing both the extender and router using Static connection mode. Fortunately, the DAC got recognised, which I took it as a “sign”.

(Unrelated problems). My Mac had a depressing problem of audio getting muted out (initially, the Mute was permanently greyed out in Sound Preferences, one which I overcame by going to Audio Midi and removing mute, and finally, sticking my headphones into the output jack. Finally, with the power of internet searches, got JRiver going as the source.

There was sound, and then music! I listened the Rachmaninoff’s Trio Elegiaque (the one with Berezovsky), Symphony No. 2 (which I have started to love ever since I saw the movie The Birdman), Schiff playing Bach’s Well Tempered Klavier, Scriabin Piano Preludes with Lettberg, Stravinsky’s The Rites of Spring (Gergiev’s mayhem), assorted Jazz including Sonny Rollins’ I’m an Old Cowhand (listen closely, and you can hear Shelly Manne "speaking out" his solo as he plays it, which is great fun), Brubeck’s Take 5, Nat King Cole Trio, James Newton’s brilliant African Flower and Art Farmer’s Five Spot After Dark (about four minutes of joy), and Rumours from Fleewood Mac.

All the albums benefited from greater transparency, with increasing detail being evident (compared to my CD player playing through the same DAC). Notably, the bass output and quality (texture) also was much better (my Graham 5/9 cut off at about 50Hz), but without muddying up the the midrange. The treble was clean with no irritation. The soundstage also very good - wide! The sound was so clean that I was turning up the volume (fortunately it was New Year’s Eve) to enjoy myself. The sound also seemed to get better as the evening progressed (and no, I wasnt drinking!). However, some network issues cropped up now and then, but also they seem to go away (so you can be sure I wont be abandoning my CD player and LP player).

So I shut down reluctantly last night. Will it work as easily again? Fingers crossed. Importantly, get a good network connection..those who have “LAN” via cables at home will find this a breeze.

Perhaps worth setting up a separate thread in "Media Streamers". However, it helps if everything is in one place, so I put in here.

I have not listened to any other streamers (yes, I have Googled "MicroRendu SOTM compare" ;)). I am happy with this one - the price is right, but I would recommend adding a better quality Power Supply (and other audio voodoo).

Thanks for the review Vivek.... Were you able to use the linear power supply with your laptop/PC earlier? Did it make any difference in the sound? If possible, can you let us know a very brief comparison of your Laptop/PC with linear power supply versus the SOTM with linear power supply?
 
Hi, Good point! The laptop did not use a linear power supply - it was the Mac's usual one - and yes to that extent, the comparison is not fully correct. For a more like-to-like, my friend used the SOTM with the regular power supply, and felt in aspects like noise floor the SOTM was better than his laptop, though he found that overall the sound was a bit lacking in refinement.

This linear power supply was one that I made for a phono stage earlier (step down transformer, schottky rectifier, capacitor, Pardo SuperTeddy Reg) earlier.
 
I have been researching most of the computer based audio sources and feel the difference between a simple music only laptop and devices such as Sotm may not be a lot as I found a substantial increase in sound quality by simply optimising the laptop recently (I am an idiot for not doing the same when I bought the laptop 3 years back). I feel if an LPS can increase the sound quality of the Sotm when it is built better than a cheap laptop, then why won't the LPS result in the same for a laptop as well.. I am also thinking of asking Teddy Pardo to make an LPS to power both my laptop as well as my DAC... Would be great if you could let me know if there is an increase in sound quality when adding an LPS to your laptop...
 
Panditji, can you please provide some more light on " I found a substantial increase in sound quality by simply optimising the laptop recently".
Its really very interesting to know for us.
 
Also Panditji did you try running laptop solely on battery during music playback
Does it make any difference? Keeping power disconnected

From what I read on various threads across internet many people claim that powering a desktop pc or a laptop with a LPS makes no sense as internally both have many switching regulators as it has to power various components within itself with varied voltages

The best way to get out of a PC is powering a specific interface used for audio with a LPS. I think that's been referred to special USB interface PCI express cards by Paul pang and SOTM

As expected my engineer friend not knowing anything about audio was asking me why do we need a linear supply in first place

Also some claim that a well made SMPS should out perform a LPS as it has a to work with a smaller transformer

So there are different theroies by different people as many swear by their HD Plex LOSS for their PCs

On other hand some companies like antecedents make SMPS for desktop PCs with very low noise at 50 percent loads

Some also claim proper gaming motherboards are better as they have much better internal voltage regulation as they are meant to be used with overclocking

On the other hand devices like SOTM and microrendu use internal lienar regulators where ever needed and much better internal clocks then pc motherboards

Also they have much lesser power demanding CPU and much less components on the boards comparing conventional motherboards leading to lesser noise

And finally with all this the OS running such devices is just build to run audio , so it's super optimised in that aspect
 
Panditji, can you please provide some more light on " I found a substantial increase in sound quality by simply optimising the laptop recently".
Its really very interesting to know for us.

https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-gb/articles/207359245-Optimising-your-PC-for-audio-on-Windows-7

The above link has been shared by many and most recently by Nikhil and since I have a laptop dedicated for music playback, I made all the changes as in the above link. It has resulted in a huge cleanup of the sound and I feel like an idiot for not making these changes earlier as it took just 5 minutes.....Do try it sir as it will clean up your sound a lot by making very basic changes.. And mind you, I still run Windows 7...
 
Also Panditji did you try running laptop solely on battery during music playback
Does it make any difference? Keeping power disconnected

From what I read on various threads across internet many people claim that powering a desktop pc or a laptop with a LPS makes no sense as internally both have many switching regulators as it has to power various components within itself with varied voltages

The best way to get out of a PC is powering a specific interface used for audio with a LPS. I think that's been referred to special USB interface PCI express cards by Paul pang and SOTM

As expected my engineer friend not knowing anything about audio was asking me why do we need a linear supply in first place

Also some claim that a well made SMPS should out perform a LPS as it has a to work with a smaller transformer

So there are different theroies by different people as many swear by their HD Plex LOSS for their PCs

On other hand some companies like antecedents make SMPS for desktop PCs with very low noise at 50 percent loads

Some also claim proper gaming motherboards are better as they have much better internal voltage regulation as they are meant to be used with overclocking

On the other hand devices like SOTM and microrendu use internal lienar regulators where ever needed and much better internal clocks then pc motherboards

Also they have much lesser power demanding CPU and much less components on the boards comparing conventional motherboards leading to lesser noise

And finally with all this the OS running such devices is just build to run audio , so it's super optimised in that aspect

I did try listening with the battery on and was not able to make out any difference and therefore I have been asking others about powering the laptop with an LPS...

I have been confused whether to buy an SOtm which can become obsolete later or invest in a good LPS from say a Teddy Pardo to power the DAC and PC... Both cost the same but the latter option can be used forever and therefore higher return on the investment.... By simply optimising the laptop as per the above article, I was able to get an improvement in sound so I feel that maybe I can do more without paying too much and get even better sound from the laptop..... Also the extra amount spent on an LPS can be better utilised to buy an upgraded DAC later this year as well so still exploring all options before taking a plunge...
 
Hi Panditji
Yes I agree with you as it becomes confusing to gauge what kind of sound quality improvement one can get without actually trying it out in one's setup

As I said before everyone has a different approach and it's not sure what would work best

Can I suggest something in between ?

Why don't you try the Allo audio usbridge combo
They have put up graphs of the level of noise it's usb interface has and it surely has lesser then a pc

Plus being a sort of a computer by itself you can always get updates if anything like room becomes popular later on

It can be powered by a single dc adapter or a linear supply but many are powering the sparky ( the single Board computer ) by the supplied dc adapter and the usbridge board by a LPS

I am expecting the components used not to be at par with SOTM or microrendu but still it's made from grounds up keeping aduio in mind

Like the raspberry pi it does not share it's bus between usb and LAN port and it has dediacted usb port where the usbridge connects

For powering it you can also think of ifi power supply which won't be as expensive as a LPS but a much better job then run of the mill supplied power supplies
 
Panditji, try this

https://www.arraysolutions.com/ac-7


Irrespective of what LPS you use, the biggest problem is the digital hash that is generated and that goes back into the power line and corrupts the sound. The Array Solution AC power filter prevents this.

According to me irrespective of whether you use a LPS or not, the Array Solution AC power filter is an absolute essential when listening to digital. The other solution is an isolation transformer which is both huge and expensive
 
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