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How to make a streamer (Pro-Ject Stream Box S2 Ultra) playing Qobuz & Tidal to sound better than CD

Just make sure you buy a 2960 that's been fully reset by the vendor - if not it's time to get out a console cable and do it yourself. Then just plug in and go - no config needed for most simple networks. I'm sure you could replace the internal SMPS if you wanted (and knew what you were doing) but it's best left alone.
 
scotty38 said:
Cisco switches are used in medical, financial, military, governmental and scientific networks all over the world and I can almost guarantee none of them have ever needed to consider its power supply (apart from resilience reasons) yet here we are......
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I read this sort of thread only for the comedy value with my jaw on the floor.
 
Tw99 said:
I read this sort of thread only for the comedy value with my jaw on the floor.
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I am pleased to hear it fulfils both a comedic role and also a hopefully a helpful one for other owners of the Pro-Ject Stream Box (and maybe other streamers? though I have not tested these changes on other streamers).
 
scotty38 said:
Definitely a useful thread then as it's likely only folk with no IT skills that will be considering changing the power supplies in a Cisco switch....
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I believe that was just one person offering a view on potentially improving the Cisco switch, the rest of the thread is aimed at people with no IT skills.
 
stevec67 said:
Funny how in our computer-savvy age a £600 computer elicits a "HOW MUCH?" response but we have been living with a Naim Flatcap for decades (A metal box, transformer, rectifier, possibly a single voltage reg, and £900 in its latest incarnation) without comment.
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The "HOW MUCH" comments are more about the "£35 computer being sold for £600" issue. I've no particular issue with £600 (or indeed a lot more) for a computer.
 
SteveG said:
The "HOW MUCH" comments are more about the "£35 computer being sold for £600" issue. I've no particular issue with £600 (or indeed a lot more) for a computer.
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That's what I'm saying, a Flatcap contains a toroid, a couple of caps and a little PCB in a big box full of air, not much more than £35 worth of bits, sold at £several hundred, but apparently this is OK to us hifi buyers. The proof of the pudding is in the listening, they say. It may be, but even I can design a Flatcap. I can draw the circuit!
 
stevec67 said:
That's what I'm saying, a Flatcap contains a toroid, a couple of caps and a little PCB in a big box full of air, not much more than £35 worth of bits, sold at £several hundred, but apparently this is OK to us hifi buyers. The proof of the pudding is in the listening, they say. It may be, but even I can design a Flatcap. I can draw the circuit!
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Naim aren't taking someone elses power supply, sticking it in their case and charging 20x the cost for it though, and I've yet to see a decent Naim power supply being sold by someone else for £35.
 
They're taking a generic transformer that anyone can buy, generic rectifier and capacitors, i don't see a difference.
 
stevec67 said:
They're taking a generic transformer that anyone can buy, generic rectifier and capacitors, i don't see a difference.
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And where can I buy such a Naim power supply for £35 though? On the other hand I can (and in fact did) buy a Raspberry Pi for £35 and stick Volumio on it (for a short while anyway, given Volumio isn't great) for free and use that for a streamer. And while I do agree that it might well not sound the best feeding a DAC from it's USB outputs there is an easy option for that as well, which was to buy a £35 DacHat and stick that on and avoid using USB (as the majority upgrades from a standard Pi appear to be focused on making the USB digital output sound decent) completely.

Having said that I do accept that I haven't heard the Project thing and it might well sound good value enough to be worth £600 if the option you want or need is to get a decent performing USB output.
 
SteveG said:
The "HOW MUCH" comments are more about the "£35 computer being sold for £600" issue. I've no particular issue with £600 (or indeed a lot more) for a computer.
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If you take off the dealer margin difference and the VAT then the difference is around £220 or so. The designer, John Westlake, explains here why the price difference, plus a good looking quality metal case of course.

https://www.avforums.com/threads/wh...ve-700euro-for-an-r-pi.2175090/#post-26431682
 
I'd find it easier and more fun to solder up half a dozen generic electronic components in a case than try to sort out a RPi. I know that it would work, too.
 
stevec67 said:
I'd find it easier and more fun to solder up half a dozen generic electronic components in a case than try to sort out a RPi. I know that it would work, too.
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Maybe we should trade skills! I've got a few soldering jobs I need done...

Getting the Pi's up and running is easy though, as mostly you can just use a pre-built operating system install with whatever audio stuff you need pre-installed. I used to be a Unix sysadmin back in the day but so far haven't had to dip into any of that experience yet.
 
Just got the stream box s2 ultra. Noticeable improvement in sound quality from switching from a pc. In fact more noticeable improvement then when I upgraded my DACs usb input with better galvanic isolation.

Also great by not having any computer fans playing in the background.
 
I've taken my lakewest variant of this out of the cupboard and connected it to a supercaps supply (Farad Super3) @19v. I've also placed it on a platform that has pulsar points, along with 5kg on top (chassis is very light). It's now giving my modified NUC some real trouble ....
 
I use a Pi with PiCorePlayer, LMS running on a Synology, Teac DAC direct into power amp (DAC has a volume control). I can't easily compare it to a CD player but the sound is very good. It feels very transparent to the source. Ethernet cable is cheap CAT5 and the switch is Netgear :)

Tim
 
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