corElement
Well-Known Member
Where did you get the foam pads from?
Making baby steps into Hi-fi
- Thread starter hydra
- Start date
corElement
Well-Known Member
I really like how private and personal your listening space is, you must be enjoying them on lazy weekends a lot 
Thank you, corElement!
I am a very private person, and this secluded space is quite essential to my way of living. This room is about 40% of my entire living space. (I live alone). My work lets me enjoy music and movies only late in the night and on weekends. And luckily for me, I can listen late into the night at the volume levels I'd like to, without imposing on the neighbors, or my parents (who live next door).
For a long while, this room was the only place I used to be in, if I'm not at work, or sleeping.
I have started going out a lot more nowadays, so I'm not home as much I used to be. In fact, over the last few months I've been listening to only half as much music, and watching less than half as many movies as I used to. But I'm happy in the knowledge that I have this place to come back to. Home sweet home!
I am a very private person, and this secluded space is quite essential to my way of living. This room is about 40% of my entire living space. (I live alone). My work lets me enjoy music and movies only late in the night and on weekends. And luckily for me, I can listen late into the night at the volume levels I'd like to, without imposing on the neighbors, or my parents (who live next door).
For a long while, this room was the only place I used to be in, if I'm not at work, or sleeping.
I have started going out a lot more nowadays, so I'm not home as much I used to be. In fact, over the last few months I've been listening to only half as much music, and watching less than half as many movies as I used to. But I'm happy in the knowledge that I have this place to come back to. Home sweet home!
corElement
Well-Known Member
Thank you, corElement!
I am a very private person, and this secluded space is quite essential to my way of living. This room is about 40% of my entire living space. (I live alone). My work lets me enjoy music and movies only late in the night and on weekends. And luckily for me, I can listen late into the night at the volume levels I'd like to, without imposing on the neighbors, or my parents (who live next door).
For a long while, this room was the only place I used to be in, if I'm not at work, or sleeping.
I have started going out a lot more nowadays, so I'm not home as much I used to be. In fact, over the last few months I've been listening to only half as much music, and watching less than half as many movies as I used to. But I'm happy in the knowledge that I have this place to come back to. Home sweet home!
I know exactly how you feel
vasishta.sushant
Active Member
Nothing to do with your zeal to get a better sound, hydra, but I feel that this is a mad world.
CD Player
I added a Marantz CD5004 to the rack last weekend. I'm using it as a digital transport, to spin CDs. I've hooked it up to the Rega DAC via a Chord Codac Silver Plus Digital Coaxial cable.
Some other pics:
...
Sorry for the bad pics. I'm no photographer!
Music PC Upgrade
I also upgraded the Music PC with a 60GB OCZ Agility III SSD (Boot Disk) and a 3TB Western Digital Green (Media Storage). I needed a 1TB disk in my office, so got the old 7200 RPM 1TB Seagate Barracuda out to make way.
The Music PC now looks like this:
Cabinet: Silverstone GD04-B
PSU: Silverstone ST50F-ES 500W
Mobo: Asus E35M1-M (AMD E350 Fusion)
RAM: Corsair 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3 1333MHz
Boot Drive: OCZ Agility III 60GB
Media Storage: WD Green 3TB
Optical Drive: Samsung DVD Writer
Sound Card: Asus Xonar Essence STX
Fan Controller: Lian Li PT-FN03
KB+Mouse: Lenovo N5901 wireless multimedia keyboard+trackball combo
I shifted loyalties from Foobar to JRiver Media Center for Music Playback a couple of months back. JRMC v17 does sound discernibly better than Foobar to me, both in terms of presentation and flavour.
I added a Marantz CD5004 to the rack last weekend. I'm using it as a digital transport, to spin CDs. I've hooked it up to the Rega DAC via a Chord Codac Silver Plus Digital Coaxial cable.
Some other pics:
...
Sorry for the bad pics. I'm no photographer!
Music PC Upgrade
I also upgraded the Music PC with a 60GB OCZ Agility III SSD (Boot Disk) and a 3TB Western Digital Green (Media Storage). I needed a 1TB disk in my office, so got the old 7200 RPM 1TB Seagate Barracuda out to make way.
The Music PC now looks like this:
Cabinet: Silverstone GD04-B
PSU: Silverstone ST50F-ES 500W
Mobo: Asus E35M1-M (AMD E350 Fusion)
RAM: Corsair 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3 1333MHz
Boot Drive: OCZ Agility III 60GB
Media Storage: WD Green 3TB
Optical Drive: Samsung DVD Writer
Sound Card: Asus Xonar Essence STX
Fan Controller: Lian Li PT-FN03
KB+Mouse: Lenovo N5901 wireless multimedia keyboard+trackball combo
I shifted loyalties from Foobar to JRiver Media Center for Music Playback a couple of months back. JRMC v17 does sound discernibly better than Foobar to me, both in terms of presentation and flavour.
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iaudio
Well-Known Member
The Marantz looks really good on the rack.
How is the SSD in your system?
I wish the TT could also be seen in the photos!
How is the SSD in your system?
I wish the TT could also be seen in the photos!
cha_indian
Active Member
Hydra, How is SQ of Asus Xonar card when compared to the Marantz Cd player ??? If you find Marantz superior.....in what way ?
@iaudio, thanks Yup, the TT and Phono stage placement is kind of hidden and away to the side, so it can't be seen. I'm still thinking of whether I should get a low platform made to shift the TT to between the speakers. I'd also be able to use really short interconnects from the phono stage to the amp that way. The current ones are 12 ft long 
The SSD does speed up the boot-up time a bit (vis-a-vis the old 7200rpm Seagate), but not as much as I would have thought. Shutdown is almost instant. But I'm sure the 5400rpm WD Green would be much slower than the old 7200rpm Seagate, so net-net ther is enough improvement there. Moving around the OS, and Navigating JRMC is a real snap after the SSD has gone in. I really didn;t expect too much difference in boot-ups as the E350 platform seems to have a bad rep with not being really fast with SSDs.
About whether the SSD has made the music sound better, I don't think it has. It definitely has not made the music sound worse.
@cha_indian,
(1) Marantz > Amp does not sound as good as the Music PC/JRMC/Xonar STX > Amp. The sound stage is discernibly narrow and less open from the Marantz's analog outs. Vocals from the Marantz have a bit more body than the vocals from the STX.
(2) Marantz > Amp sounds substantially inferior to the Music PC/JRMC/Xonar STX > Amp. Obviously so, I guess.
(3) Marantz > Amp sounds substantially inferior to the Marantz > Rega DAC > Amp. Again, obviously so.
(4) Marantz > Rega DAC > Amp vs. Music PC/JRMC/Xonar STX > Rega DAC > Amp is a bit tough to judge, unless I'm being quite critical. In the case of some CDs (vs. FLACs/WAVs on the Music PC), the first combo sounds better, and the second combo sounds better in the case of other CDs. But in general, the Music PC (through the Rega) seems to have better pace, dynamics and presentation (= soundstage and image focus). This is a fair compromise for the convenience of being able to directly spin CDs, I guess.
All comparisons are subjective and some involved switching interconnects between tests (I have only one pair of ICs in the rack for the digital setup) so please consider my comments with that in mind.
Yup, the TT and Phono stage placement is kind of hidden and away to the side, so it can't be seen. I'm still thinking of whether I should get a low platform made to shift the TT to between the speakers. I'd also be able to use really short interconnects from the phono stage to the amp that way. The current ones are 12 ft long The SSD does speed up the boot-up time a bit (vis-a-vis the old 7200rpm Seagate), but not as much as I would have thought. Shutdown is almost instant. But I'm sure the 5400rpm WD Green would be much slower than the old 7200rpm Seagate, so net-net ther is enough improvement there. Moving around the OS, and Navigating JRMC is a real snap after the SSD has gone in. I really didn;t expect too much difference in boot-ups as the E350 platform seems to have a bad rep with not being really fast with SSDs.
About whether the SSD has made the music sound better, I don't think it has. It definitely has not made the music sound worse.
@cha_indian,
(1) Marantz > Amp does not sound as good as the Music PC/JRMC/Xonar STX > Amp. The sound stage is discernibly narrow and less open from the Marantz's analog outs. Vocals from the Marantz have a bit more body than the vocals from the STX.
(2) Marantz > Amp sounds substantially inferior to the Music PC/JRMC/Xonar STX > Amp. Obviously so, I guess.
(3) Marantz > Amp sounds substantially inferior to the Marantz > Rega DAC > Amp. Again, obviously so.
(4) Marantz > Rega DAC > Amp vs. Music PC/JRMC/Xonar STX > Rega DAC > Amp is a bit tough to judge, unless I'm being quite critical. In the case of some CDs (vs. FLACs/WAVs on the Music PC), the first combo sounds better, and the second combo sounds better in the case of other CDs. But in general, the Music PC (through the Rega) seems to have better pace, dynamics and presentation (= soundstage and image focus). This is a fair compromise for the convenience of being able to directly spin CDs, I guess.
All comparisons are subjective and some involved switching interconnects between tests (I have only one pair of ICs in the rack for the digital setup) so please consider my comments with that in mind.
Congratulations on a quality setup! Time spent into this hobby is almost always rewarding. Because it is internally satisfying .
After having spent a little time customizing PC sources for music playback I would recommend using cPlay (cMP | Main / HomePage) for audio playback. It does make a difference.
Foobar with ASIO (ASIO4ALL) along with the Sox Resampler is also good - if only slightly behind cPlay for FLAC formats.
Lastly as good as the analog out of the ASUS card is, over time I would recommend using the Digital outputs and introducing a quality DAC into the setup. I noticed a sea change after doing this. Sound smoothened quite a bit and the tendency to present tizzy detail was brought under more control. It became a system to be enjoyed on long afternoons and longer nights. Problem is you will have to spend quite a bit to better the internal DAC of the Xonars. But mind you, this will be very subjective
Wish you all the very best!
. After having spent a little time customizing PC sources for music playback I would recommend using cPlay (cMP | Main / HomePage) for audio playback. It does make a difference.
Foobar with ASIO (ASIO4ALL) along with the Sox Resampler is also good - if only slightly behind cPlay for FLAC formats.
Lastly as good as the analog out of the ASUS card is, over time I would recommend using the Digital outputs and introducing a quality DAC into the setup. I noticed a sea change after doing this. Sound smoothened quite a bit and the tendency to present tizzy detail was brought under more control. It became a system to be enjoyed on long afternoons and longer nights
. Problem is you will have to spend quite a bit to better the internal DAC of the Xonars. But mind you, this will be very subjective Wish you all the very best!
iaudio
Well-Known Member
thevortex, He already has a Rega DAC.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk 2
Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk 2
@thevortex, thank you for the nice words. I do prefer the Rega DAC by far now.
I've not yet tried cPlay. I'm a bit old-school and find creating playlists a bit cumbersome, heh heh. That's the only thing that's held me back. And after trying JRMC a few times, I've kind of settled on it for music playback purposes. I prefer JRMC (with WASAPI Event Style) over Foobar + WASAPI.
It is a bit of a coincidence that you posted on the thread when you did, because I was planning on posting an update
I've not yet tried cPlay. I'm a bit old-school and find creating playlists a bit cumbersome, heh heh. That's the only thing that's held me back. And after trying JRMC a few times, I've kind of settled on it for music playback purposes. I prefer JRMC (with WASAPI Event Style) over Foobar + WASAPI.
It is a bit of a coincidence that you posted on the thread when you did, because I was planning on posting an update
I'd bought the CD5004 to use it with the Rega DAC to play CDs when I could not be bothered to switch on the TV and boot up the Music PC, when I just wanted to put in a CD and listen to it with the least activity around it.
I had been using Vibrapods under the CD5004 from the first week I started using it. I had since bought a set of Vibracones also, but I hadn't used them because the slot in the rack that the CD5004 was placed was not tall enough. I wasn't quite sure if the Vibrapods made a big enough difference that I could identify. And I found the Music PC sounding better most of the time.
Last week, I decided to try out what the vibrapod folks call a vibrapod sandwich. I got a 5mm clear acrylic sheet cut to size, rearranged the kit in the rack (a LOT of wiring management work) and placed the acrylic sheet on vibracones, which were placed on vibrapods. I was expecting the acrylic sheet to slide around, but once the CD5004 was placed on the acrylic sheet, everything was sitting in place quite firmly.
I'm very familiar with how my Patricia Barber Cafe Blue CD sounds in my setup and I typically use it to check for changes in placement and kit. In went the CD.
Believe me, this new arrangement made a HUGE difference in the way the music sounded. I was surprised at how much better things were sounding! The reproduction of lower frequencies improved substantially, and so did the overall imaging. The biggest change is something I can't describe: The music just sounds so much fun and lively that it makes me want to keep on listening to it. I'm sure this sounds corny, but that's really how it is!
I'm very happy with the way this has turned out. I'm now wondering if I should do the same with the RP3 too.
Now, the CD5004 + Rega DAC combo sounds clearly better than the Music PC/JRMC + Rega DAC combo.
It has just been a week, but I now prefer playing CDs. I now use the Music PC only to listen to music I no longer have on CD (I was fool enough to rip a LOT of my CDs and sell them after), or for hi-res music.
I had been using Vibrapods under the CD5004 from the first week I started using it. I had since bought a set of Vibracones also, but I hadn't used them because the slot in the rack that the CD5004 was placed was not tall enough. I wasn't quite sure if the Vibrapods made a big enough difference that I could identify. And I found the Music PC sounding better most of the time.
Last week, I decided to try out what the vibrapod folks call a vibrapod sandwich. I got a 5mm clear acrylic sheet cut to size, rearranged the kit in the rack (a LOT of wiring management work) and placed the acrylic sheet on vibracones, which were placed on vibrapods. I was expecting the acrylic sheet to slide around, but once the CD5004 was placed on the acrylic sheet, everything was sitting in place quite firmly.
I'm very familiar with how my Patricia Barber Cafe Blue CD sounds in my setup and I typically use it to check for changes in placement and kit. In went the CD.
Believe me, this new arrangement made a HUGE difference in the way the music sounded. I was surprised at how much better things were sounding! The reproduction of lower frequencies improved substantially, and so did the overall imaging. The biggest change is something I can't describe: The music just sounds so much fun and lively that it makes me want to keep on listening to it. I'm sure this sounds corny, but that's really how it is!
I'm very happy with the way this has turned out. I'm now wondering if I should do the same with the RP3 too.
Now, the CD5004 + Rega DAC combo sounds clearly better than the Music PC/JRMC + Rega DAC combo.
It has just been a week, but I now prefer playing CDs. I now use the Music PC only to listen to music I no longer have on CD (I was fool enough to rip a LOT of my CDs and sell them after), or for hi-res music.
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reignofchaos
Well-Known Member
Well the biggest difference is that the material under the cd player has changed from plywood to acrylic.
This plus the isolation that the transport is getting from the vibrapods is making a difference.
If you wanna go the whole hog, look for symposium labs roller blocks under your cd player. You'll be amazed as to what is possible with them.
This plus the isolation that the transport is getting from the vibrapods is making a difference.
If you wanna go the whole hog, look for symposium labs roller blocks under your cd player. You'll be amazed as to what is possible with them.
rikhav
Well-Known Member
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ROC
So can we use acrylic as a material for making rack shelves? Maybe a thicker one to withstand the weight of an amp
reignofchaos
Well-Known Member
Yup its a good material to use. Acrylic, Wood, Glass etc all sound very different and based upon your equipment, choose the material that complements you setup the best. Most folks normally avoid glass though because of ringing problems.
Rega DAC = Better than Asus Xonar STX's Analog outputs.
Rega DAC = Better than internal DAC of the CD5004
Asus Xonar STX = Better than onboard sound of the motherboard.
Internal DAC of CD5004 = Better than onboard sound of the motherboard.
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