nzlowie Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 Music Server Hi guys, I’m not really clear on the music server thing…. At the moment I have a Raspberry Pi - Hifiberry Digi + board feeding my Klien DAC, this sound good and is so simple. As always I’m looking for improvements so I’ve got a SOTM SMS200 to try, I’ve connected a wifi dongle to control it and a usb stick for my music files. First impressions say its better but not a lot… Everything I’ve been reading about these servers talk about improvements due to better clocking over the network, in fact most of the info I’ve read all relates to network improvements. I’m not using a network so what improvements are there for direct playback? The Pi and Digi + board are said to export a true digital stream out to the DAC, shouldn’t this be all we need? As mentioned at the start, I don’t really know much about these server / streamer units so please feel free to correct me if I’ve got it all wrong! Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoopy8 Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 1 hour ago, nzlowie said: At the moment I have a Raspberry Pi - Hifiberry Digi + board feeding my Klien DAC, this sound good and is so simple. As always I’m looking for improvements so I’ve got a SOTM SMS200 to try, I’ve connected a wifi dongle to control it and a usb stick for my music files. First impressions say its better but not a lot… Please have look at this Sotm SMS-200 thread. Some potential improvements for your setup are to use a powered usb drive and a low noise power source (the one supplied had a crappy Aus adpator as well!). Also remove wifi dongle and use a network cable. 1 hour ago, nzlowie said: I’m not using a network so what improvements are there for direct playback? The Pi and Digi + board are said to export a true digital stream out to the DAC, shouldn’t this be all we need? For a long, long time, I had the same misconception. I had a laptop running Foobar2000 to my DAC, using a spare generic usb cable. 1's and 0's in a true digital stream - that is all that is needed! And a cable is cable. Unfortunately, jitter and noise affects the digital stream, which in turn impacts the music production. Since getting the SMS-200, a mid priced usb cable and a Gieseler PSU, music has improved markedly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nzlowie Posted July 17, 2017 Author Share Posted July 17, 2017 Also remove wifi dongle and use a network cable.The wifi is only to control the player section, the router is no where near the my music room so I can't remove the wifi dongle.Will read the suggested thread.ThanksSent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bunno77 Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 Yep the WiFi dongle and USB stick is meant to be the worst configuration for the SMS. As suggested a powered hdd or better yet a NAS/server/pc for your files. If getting a cat5/6 cable from your router isn't going to happen then maybe a ethernet over power line system could improve things. They aren't very expensive. As suggested above a better psu will help a lot tooThe SMS 200 is more of a dedicated audio device so like you said the clocking, isolation etc will be an improvement over the pi Sent from my JAZZ using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoopy8 Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 1 hour ago, nzlowie said: Also remove wifi dongle and use a network cable. The wifi is only to control the player section, the router is no where near the my music room so I can't remove the wifi dongle Anything which draws power from the SMS-200 reduces its music performance eg. wifi dongle, non-powered usb. Note that you do not need to place the SMS-200 in your music room to use it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nzlowie Posted July 17, 2017 Author Share Posted July 17, 2017 Note that you do not need to place the SMS-200 in your music room to use it.But that would mean a long USB audio lead, Yea? Eg audio output from the sms200 to the amp....So are we saying that adding a whole lot more wiring and router (or having go over the power lines) will be better than having the files on a USB stick right at the unit? Just doesn't seem right to me....Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoopy8 Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 49 minutes ago, nzlowie said: Note that you do not need to place the SMS-200 in your music room to use it. But that would mean a long USB audio lead, Yea? Eg audio output from the sms200 to the amp.... So are we saying that adding a whole lot more wiring and router (or having go over the power lines) will be better than having the files on a USB stick right at the unit? Just doesn't seem right to me.... Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk Oops, forgot about your dac! Pls ignore previous post, was not thinking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest scumbag Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 I was using my sms200 with an external 2.5" hdd with no issues. Obviously running a full sized hdd would be a problem as the required volts are a lot higher to spin one of them up. A 2.5 and thumb drive will require much lower volts which the sms200 seems to have no issues with. To the OP, the wifi dongle is a bit trickier from an energy usage pov. Most new units will be power optimised I would assume. The only real need for a higher bandwidth solution would be if you want to use Internet radio, streaming services or Roon. As soon as you need that level of bandwidth, using a wifi dongle will most likely be problematic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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