Advice on Optical Ethernet Conversion

@sfpeloton 

I’m loving the M3.  It’s a significant improvement to my system. Very musical and articulate.

I run the OM via fibre direct into a Lumin U2, then to the Bricasti via Lumin’s dedicated USB port.  My M3 doesn’t have the Ethernet option.

im looking forward to experimenting further with DSD upsampling, just to see how the M3 DSD sounds versus USB.  Fun!

Best, JAMES

Got it. Your OM is on the upstream side of the fiber whereas mine is on the downstream side and feeds directly into my DAC. That probably explains some of the differences we are observing. Your Lumin probably does a very good job of feeding a clean signal to the M3.  

@sfpeloton 

Yes, the Lumin/Bricasti seems to be a lovely pairing.  Really enjoying it.

Took a look at your system page - nice stuff!  For DSD playback, did you have to set Roon to play DSD over DoP?  I tried sending native DSD via upsampling on the Lumin, but the Bricasti wouldn't play it back.  I'm thinking it's because my M3 doesn't have the MDx upgrade board in it (yet).  Going to reach out to support to see if I can get it working.

Speaking of box-checking, curious about your experience with the Mundorf cable.  That's from your LPS to the OM?  Did you feel it improved the SQ?  If so, can you describe the improvement?  Thanks.

Best, JAMES.

Hi @jimboman. Thanks for the kind words. I have an Audionet Amp heading to me to try replacing the Hegel, but it already sounds pretty great as is.

I am running Roon on a Sonicorbiter i9 optical server and going through fiber to the OM. I can upsample to NDSD and feed that without PCM conversion to the M3. I think native resolution vs DSD upsampling are pretty close in sound quality, but I have a preference for the slight sound improvement with the NDSD signal path on the M3. I know at least one other person here that prefers native with no upsampling so it is best to try it for yourself and decide. I do think bass is a little more prominent/full without upsampling, so it depends on whether that is something you prioritize.

Many times I have tried something in my system hoping for an improvement and end up disappointed by the change or lack of change. As for the Mundorf, I wasn't expecting too much from this cable. I was pleasantly surprised to hear a small but clearly noticeable improvement in ease (lower noise?), resolution and dynamics with this cable. Importantly, this is with the LPS and OM just ahead of my DAC so I think clean power here is critical. You may see less of an improvement given your network configuration where the Lumin is directly ahead of the M3. 

In testing it with the cheaper FMC, I would say the audible difference was marginal, but the overall quality seemed more refined.

@jimboman 

A few years ago I added a switch with fiber and an EtherRegen+LPS and created the 'fiber bridge' from my noisy equipment closet (switch location) to my clean audio room (all equipment on dedicated AC line, no switching power supplies).  I thought this offered a nice improvement (more detail, blacker background, etc.) for the $.

I then tried swapping the EtherRegen for a non audiophile ~$100 fiber converter and didn't really notice a difference, so sold the EtherRegen.   I'm still using the cheaper converter today into my Bricasti M5 with great results.   I don't know if the M5 plays a big part or not in making the fiber conversion not something I had to spend decent $ on.

What I do find interesting is I added an LPS to my Roon Server which is directly connected into my switch (dirty side of bridge) and it made a significant improvement to my ears.   I wasn't expecting power/noise-reduction changes on the dirty side of the bridge to make a difference.   That has me tempted to now try a LPS on my switch, not that I really want to buy another LPS :(     Some folks may call this expectation bias but I already had a dual output LPS with an unused output and with no expectations for improvement, I really just think it sounds better for some reason...