panditji
Well-Known Member
Happy with the change Hydra? Is it really a substantial upgrade over a music PC? Your thoughts please...
Making baby steps into Hi-fi
- Thread starter hydra
- Start date
Very much happy, Panditji! The Pi/Digi+/MoODe/HDPlex Player is now my main source, and I've stopped using the MusicPC. The improvement over the MusicPC is significant. I've mentioned the differences and the improvement in the post I've linked to in my previous post.
Relevant portion reproduced here:
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It has been a long while since I've posted here. I was quite happy (and settled) with my setup, and for the last 5 to 6 years, I'd really not been spending a lot of time in sit-down listening sessions like I used to. I'd been outdoors a whole lot more, and sleeping early so I could wake early.
In between, I'd bought a Yamaha WXC-50 to act as a streamer, which I preferred to the RaspPi simply because of the convenience involved. I'd also stopped listening to the equipment and listening to just the music, while I moved around the house doing stuff.
But a lot of that changed during the lockdown that started in March 2020. I started to sit down to listen to music a whole lot more during those months I was stuck indoors, and after that too. And typically, when some of us start doing that, we also start listening to the equipment, as much as we start listening to the music. So about a month back, I decided that I would do away with 2 pieces of the chain: The Rega DAC & the Yamaha WXC-50, and get myself a Streamer/DAC to replace those.
Enter the Matrix
Two weeks ago, I bought a Matrix mini-i Pro 3 from theaudio.co . I also considered the Matrix Element-I, but the mini-i Pro 3 had a better clock and PSU, a BT module with AptX HD and LDAC, and a really beautiful screen. It is also MQA certified and supports Airplay 2. The only advantage with the Element-I (for my use case) was that it could play straight from 2 hard drives, and it supported UPNP/DLNA (which the mini-i Pro 3 does not). The mini-i Pro 3 is a Roon certified device, and the only way to stream directly to it is to use Roon or Airplay 2 or Bluetooth. I don't have a Roon subscription or a Core yet, but over the next few months, could build a Roon ROCK system on an i3 NUC and leave downstairs in the home office.
To say that the mini-i Pro 3 is an upgrade over the previous sources is a huge understatement! It changed virtually everything about the way my setup sounded. EVERYTHING! I've never been so happy with a source upgrade like I have been with this unit.
It is a very neutral sounding unit, and it lets the rest of the system take over, as far as the sound signature goes. And I think it has now let my speakers and amp truly shine! I find it hard to get up from my seat and switch off the system now. I typically switch off all electronics by 9PM, and sleep by 9.30PM. I've been doing this virtually every day for the last 5 years or so. But since this streamer/DAC came in, I'm always on the "one more track before I stop" mode, and I typically overshoot my into-bed time by and hour or even two. I know this sounds cliched (I'm trying my best not to pull out the usual cliched stuff), but all this is just touching the surface of how happy I am, with this unit.
Into the Deep
So what happened after this, is that I decided to go all in, and improve the low-end of the system. Since I've sacrificed bass response for soundstage width and depth, by pulling the speakers out by about 4.5 feet from the wall behind them, bass has always been just adequate. I also suspect that my room is not inherently very bass friendly, thanks to the odd dimensions. The isobaric subwoofers in the speakers can't be turned up too much, without affecting the quality of the midrange. They are designed to be tuned to a position where they compliment the midrange just right.
After much soul-searching (I'd decided that I was done with my HiFi for all time), I bought myself a REL T5/i. I bought it from theaudio.co after talking to them, and asking them for their advice: I wanted to choose between a REL Tzero and a REL T5/i. They guided me towards the T5/i and I'm glad I took their advice!
Getting a subwoofer was a bit of a risk for me, because I wasn't too sure if it would integrate well enough with the Rethm Trishnas: They are fast, and it would not be easy for a sub to work in sync with them. But the REL delivered in spades, probably because its not a conventional subwoofer system. It comes in just when its needed, and I don't even know its there otherwise. However, switching it off shows how much it is contributing to the overall texture of the sound.
The REL was delivered early this week. I hooked it up late that night, via the REL's famous Hi-level inputs. REL's suggested corner placement setup did not work for me, mostly because of the way my room is. I only have a kinda-sorta corner behind the right speakers (the real corner is obscured inside a 1.5 ft deep cupboard). After some moving about, I found a position about mid-way on the long left wall that sounded best to me, and integrated really well with the speakers. I left it there, and I've been keeping it there since. I'm told that it will get even better (in terms of volume and depth) after more running in, and at that point I may have to redo the crossover and gain settings, and maybe re-position it too.
Pics of the units, and of the setup as it is now. No pics of the REL in position, as I've left the Hi-level and other cables running all over the place (It's messy), and I'll clean up the cable positions only after I finalize the position.
Apologies for the really long post. I always get very talky when I'm excited with new kit, heh heh.
In between, I'd bought a Yamaha WXC-50 to act as a streamer, which I preferred to the RaspPi simply because of the convenience involved. I'd also stopped listening to the equipment and listening to just the music, while I moved around the house doing stuff.
But a lot of that changed during the lockdown that started in March 2020. I started to sit down to listen to music a whole lot more during those months I was stuck indoors, and after that too. And typically, when some of us start doing that, we also start listening to the equipment, as much as we start listening to the music. So about a month back, I decided that I would do away with 2 pieces of the chain: The Rega DAC & the Yamaha WXC-50, and get myself a Streamer/DAC to replace those.
Enter the Matrix
Two weeks ago, I bought a Matrix mini-i Pro 3 from theaudio.co . I also considered the Matrix Element-I, but the mini-i Pro 3 had a better clock and PSU, a BT module with AptX HD and LDAC, and a really beautiful screen. It is also MQA certified and supports Airplay 2. The only advantage with the Element-I (for my use case) was that it could play straight from 2 hard drives, and it supported UPNP/DLNA (which the mini-i Pro 3 does not). The mini-i Pro 3 is a Roon certified device, and the only way to stream directly to it is to use Roon or Airplay 2 or Bluetooth. I don't have a Roon subscription or a Core yet, but over the next few months, could build a Roon ROCK system on an i3 NUC and leave downstairs in the home office.
To say that the mini-i Pro 3 is an upgrade over the previous sources is a huge understatement! It changed virtually everything about the way my setup sounded. EVERYTHING! I've never been so happy with a source upgrade like I have been with this unit.
It is a very neutral sounding unit, and it lets the rest of the system take over, as far as the sound signature goes. And I think it has now let my speakers and amp truly shine! I find it hard to get up from my seat and switch off the system now. I typically switch off all electronics by 9PM, and sleep by 9.30PM. I've been doing this virtually every day for the last 5 years or so. But since this streamer/DAC came in, I'm always on the "one more track before I stop" mode, and I typically overshoot my into-bed time by and hour or even two. I know this sounds cliched (I'm trying my best not to pull out the usual cliched stuff), but all this is just touching the surface of how happy I am, with this unit.
Into the Deep
So what happened after this, is that I decided to go all in, and improve the low-end of the system. Since I've sacrificed bass response for soundstage width and depth, by pulling the speakers out by about 4.5 feet from the wall behind them, bass has always been just adequate. I also suspect that my room is not inherently very bass friendly, thanks to the odd dimensions. The isobaric subwoofers in the speakers can't be turned up too much, without affecting the quality of the midrange. They are designed to be tuned to a position where they compliment the midrange just right.
After much soul-searching (I'd decided that I was done with my HiFi for all time), I bought myself a REL T5/i. I bought it from theaudio.co after talking to them, and asking them for their advice: I wanted to choose between a REL Tzero and a REL T5/i. They guided me towards the T5/i and I'm glad I took their advice!
Getting a subwoofer was a bit of a risk for me, because I wasn't too sure if it would integrate well enough with the Rethm Trishnas: They are fast, and it would not be easy for a sub to work in sync with them. But the REL delivered in spades, probably because its not a conventional subwoofer system. It comes in just when its needed, and I don't even know its there otherwise. However, switching it off shows how much it is contributing to the overall texture of the sound.
The REL was delivered early this week. I hooked it up late that night, via the REL's famous Hi-level inputs. REL's suggested corner placement setup did not work for me, mostly because of the way my room is. I only have a kinda-sorta corner behind the right speakers (the real corner is obscured inside a 1.5 ft deep cupboard). After some moving about, I found a position about mid-way on the long left wall that sounded best to me, and integrated really well with the speakers. I left it there, and I've been keeping it there since. I'm told that it will get even better (in terms of volume and depth) after more running in, and at that point I may have to redo the crossover and gain settings, and maybe re-position it too.
Pics of the units, and of the setup as it is now. No pics of the REL in position, as I've left the Hi-level and other cables running all over the place (It's messy), and I'll clean up the cable positions only after I finalize the position.
Apologies for the really long post. I always get very talky when I'm excited with new kit, heh heh.
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Lovely to hear from you in a looong time.
Great to see you loving the new gear.
Curious if you also checked with Jacob if he would suggest a sub?
Great to see you loving the new gear.
Curious if you also checked with Jacob if he would suggest a sub?
Is it true about the psb alpha P5s as well???
Thank you, Naturelover!
No, I hadn't checked with Jacob. This was a bit of a calculated risk.
I would say so. I've listened to two other setups with PSB Alpha B1s (older generation) and with Alpha P5s. One was powered by a NAD Amp (I don't remember which one but I think it was a 316BEE), and the other was powered by a DIY amp (build by a hobbyist who knows his stuff). Both were quite consistent with their family sound.
PSBs are really good value for money, and I regret having sold the PSB Image B6 (with the SF Stands) and NAD 326 to help fund the Trishnas. I should have retained them for use in my office.
I built myself a Roon ROCK server today. I based it off a NUC8i5BEH (an 8th Gen i5 Intel NUC), with a 250GB m.2 SSD (Crucial MX500) and 8GB RAM (Crucial). I left the 2.5" drive slot free, and chose to use a 1TB USB External Drive as my music storage.
Roon Labs offer extensive documentation on the ROCK (and encourage people to build them), and there's CA thread with plenty of info on building it too. A ROCK is a dedicated machine that runs Roon's Server OS, houses and maintains the music database, and it can also function as music storage. A ROCK and Roon's Nucleus are the most efficient and least trouble-prone ways of using Roon.
It took me just about 15 minutes to unbox the parts, configure the BIOS and install the Roon OS. I'd gone through the documentation and downloaded the software and the necessary codec yesterday, and made the bootable USB drive ready.
I was able to site the NUC on a shelf in the music room well away from the rest of the playback equipment, and I also spent some time making sure the network cables were as far away from power cables as possible. The NUC is about 6 feet away from me, and is dead quiet.
I had been previously using my Music PC to play stored FLACs and an iPad (via a Lightning to USB adapter) to stream TIDAL to the Mini-i Pro 3. Now, with the Roon Rock in the equation, I'm able to stream stored music and TIDAL to the Mini-i Pro 3 via network. And it does make a _very_ perceptible improvement in the sound. The background is now the blackest black! Roon insists that connecting a DAC via USB to the Server (or the final playback unit that processes music) is a recipe for having EMI and noise mess with the sound. I can now see why they do that!
Before this, I was very skeptical about how much improvement there would be, and paying for a subscription to what I thought was essentially a music sorting service was not something I was happy about. Now I have absolutely no doubts. While most people rave about the interface, sorting and presentation and mostly the music discovery advantages of Roon, I'd pay the subscription simply for the improvement in sound alone! The rest of the eye candy is just the cherry on top for me. I do look forward very much to enjoying the music discovery engine too! I will be paying for a yearly subscription when the trial period ends.
Roon Labs offer extensive documentation on the ROCK (and encourage people to build them), and there's CA thread with plenty of info on building it too. A ROCK is a dedicated machine that runs Roon's Server OS, houses and maintains the music database, and it can also function as music storage. A ROCK and Roon's Nucleus are the most efficient and least trouble-prone ways of using Roon.
It took me just about 15 minutes to unbox the parts, configure the BIOS and install the Roon OS. I'd gone through the documentation and downloaded the software and the necessary codec yesterday, and made the bootable USB drive ready.
I was able to site the NUC on a shelf in the music room well away from the rest of the playback equipment, and I also spent some time making sure the network cables were as far away from power cables as possible. The NUC is about 6 feet away from me, and is dead quiet.
I had been previously using my Music PC to play stored FLACs and an iPad (via a Lightning to USB adapter) to stream TIDAL to the Mini-i Pro 3. Now, with the Roon Rock in the equation, I'm able to stream stored music and TIDAL to the Mini-i Pro 3 via network. And it does make a _very_ perceptible improvement in the sound. The background is now the blackest black! Roon insists that connecting a DAC via USB to the Server (or the final playback unit that processes music) is a recipe for having EMI and noise mess with the sound. I can now see why they do that!
Before this, I was very skeptical about how much improvement there would be, and paying for a subscription to what I thought was essentially a music sorting service was not something I was happy about. Now I have absolutely no doubts. While most people rave about the interface, sorting and presentation and mostly the music discovery advantages of Roon, I'd pay the subscription simply for the improvement in sound alone! The rest of the eye candy is just the cherry on top for me. I do look forward very much to enjoying the music discovery engine too! I will be paying for a yearly subscription when the trial period ends.
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I setup a system with all Pro-Audio Kit in my home office today.
- Adam Audio T5V Monitors
- Audient Evo 4 USB Interface
- Belden 1813A + Neutrik Balanced cables
- Ultimate Support Jamstands
I'm playing music via Roon's Windows Client App on the computer. The Roon ROCK is upstairs, on the same network.
The system sounds really, really good, especially considering the non-HiFi outlay for this entire setup.
The speakers are very detailed with a nice, airy top end. They never get harsh and I could easily listen to these all day.
They are not optimally setup (the left ones are in a corner) because of space constraints, and because the room is primarily meant for work. I have about a foot of space behind the speaker and the front wall, and about 8 inches between the left speaker and the side wall. The right speaker has about 5 feet between it and the side wall. I could lean a board with studio foam on the front wall (behind the speakers), but I don't think I'll bother just yet.
The USB audio interface is surprisingly good sounding. It has a nice nifty knob on it with a ring of leds that indicate volume level and peak level. It acts as a master volume control. I have the speakers at 0db (knobs behind them) and maxing out the system level via the interface is plenty loud. Listenable, but a bit too loud to enjoy for most music.
- Adam Audio T5V Monitors
- Audient Evo 4 USB Interface
- Belden 1813A + Neutrik Balanced cables
- Ultimate Support Jamstands
I'm playing music via Roon's Windows Client App on the computer. The Roon ROCK is upstairs, on the same network.
The system sounds really, really good, especially considering the non-HiFi outlay for this entire setup.
The speakers are very detailed with a nice, airy top end. They never get harsh and I could easily listen to these all day.
They are not optimally setup (the left ones are in a corner) because of space constraints, and because the room is primarily meant for work. I have about a foot of space behind the speaker and the front wall, and about 8 inches between the left speaker and the side wall. The right speaker has about 5 feet between it and the side wall. I could lean a board with studio foam on the front wall (behind the speakers), but I don't think I'll bother just yet.
The USB audio interface is surprisingly good sounding. It has a nice nifty knob on it with a ring of leds that indicate volume level and peak level. It acts as a master volume control. I have the speakers at 0db (knobs behind them) and maxing out the system level via the interface is plenty loud. Listenable, but a bit too loud to enjoy for most music.
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Great to hear from you, Rikhav!
The Evo 4 USB interface is connected to the Laptop via USB (USB A --> USB C). It is powered via the laptop.
I have a Roon Windows Client App running on the Laptop. Roon sees the USB Interface (both ASIO and WASAPI), and uses the one I choose as the endpoint. I'm using the ASIO endpoint.
[The USB Interface is also plug-n-play with my iPad (via Apple CCK + powered USB Hub).]
The USB interface is connected to the Adams via balanced cable (TRS to XLR).
rikhav
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Okay now I understood after seeing the pictures properly
I did not realise there is a laptop on the table.
Could never decide between asio and wasapi but I guess for this setup you dont have to be too critical.
Enjoy your setup
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