cazzesman Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 Advice please folks I recently purchased a JCat XE USB card and I'm told the next shipments for the XE are going out at the end of October. Hohum. In the mean time my ghent cables have been posted. Any thoughts on the following. I ordered the USB to 2.1mm cable to power the XE from the Keces. Keces P8 has the 5vlt usb 1amp output which is the specs required for the XE. My current Sotm PCIe has a 2.1 jack input for external power that I have never used. The spec on the Sotm PCIe external power recommendations are 6-9.5 vlt and 2amp max. Any thoughts on what the outcome will be using the 5v 1amp Keces output into the Sotm PCIe card. I'm not fussed if it simply doesn't work but I don't want to damage the PCIe card. Regards Cazzesman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frednork Posted October 17, 2020 Share Posted October 17, 2020 Not sure if you need to change jumpers on the SOTM, check manual, but Keces should be fine to try, if it works will probably still be better than MB power if not it just wont work. To be sure perhaps @Chanh could confirm. I think he is very familiar with the power supply circuit on these. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AccuTidal Posted October 17, 2020 Share Posted October 17, 2020 I found when power the SOtM PCIe card with 7.5vdc yields best SQ outcome. However, from memory, 5vdc will still work. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AccuTidal Posted October 29, 2020 Share Posted October 29, 2020 @cazzesman - How did you go with the psu? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cazzesman Posted October 29, 2020 Author Share Posted October 29, 2020 Still waiting on the cable to arrive. You will be the 1st to know Regards Cazzesman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cazzesman Posted November 2, 2020 Author Share Posted November 2, 2020 (edited) @Chanh cables arrived yesterday. In today and zero issues. Sotm appears to be working fine via the Keces 5v 1amp output. I will give it a few days of burn in before I offer some thoughts. Initial listening over a few hours of my go to tracks, gives the impression of greater depth and richness. Ghent cables get 10/10 for high quality fit and finish. Extremely impressed. Well worth a look and not expensive. Regards Cazzesman Edited November 2, 2020 by cazzesman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AccuTidal Posted November 2, 2020 Share Posted November 2, 2020 I am currently put together a Shunt 5vdc PSU for USB card only. If you are near Mark, may be you could loan his for a trail in near future? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frednork Posted November 2, 2020 Share Posted November 2, 2020 4 hours ago, Chanh said: I am currently put together a Shunt 5vdc PSU for USB card only. If you are near Mark, may be you could loan his for a trail in near future? Happy to lend to you @cazzesman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cazzesman Posted November 2, 2020 Author Share Posted November 2, 2020 Thanks Fred, appreciate the offer. I will see how this Covid thingy is tracking over the next month. I just heard from JCat and my XE Card is held up. No deliveries of the new batches until Mid November. Regards Cazzesman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cazzesman Posted November 3, 2020 Author Share Posted November 3, 2020 I placed an order with Ghentaudio for 2 cables; a USB to 2.1mm and 2.5 to 2.5 power cord. The USB cable is to power the XE (when it arrives) from the Keces. Keces P8 has a 5vlt 1amp output which is the specs required for the XE. The current Sotm PCIe USB card is still in place and successfully running off the Keces 5v 1amp output. The 2.5 to 2.5 power cable is running from the Keces to the CAPS Lagoon mini PC. After a few days in situ I believe the cables have done the following....... A richer, more 3d presentation of vocals. Snares and piano notes have more snap to them. Bass notes are more authentic sounding. Overall there is a greater ease of overall presentation across the range. Very happy with the improvement in SQ. Looking forward to the arrival of the JCat XE USB card, whenever that may be. Regards Cazzesman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AccuTidal Posted November 3, 2020 Share Posted November 3, 2020 Enjoy the journey @cazzesman! Viewers like myself is very illiterate. Any chance of a photo or video from your setup? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cazzesman Posted November 4, 2020 Author Share Posted November 4, 2020 (edited) Top left in cabinet. Mutec USB 3 into minidsp 22d with Dirac Live. CAPS lagoon PC Top right HD tuner (plasma needs some help with HD Chanel’s). Nuc for Kodi Bottom left Kii 3 controller and Oppo 105D Bottom right Keces P8 LPS, All driving my beloved Kii 3’s. Simple really. Regards Cazzesman Edited November 4, 2020 by cazzesman 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cazzesman Posted December 14, 2020 Author Share Posted December 14, 2020 Just got the email from the delivery man that my new JCat XE usb card will be arriving tomorrow. Xmas come early. Woohoo!!!!!! Here's to hoping it is plug and play Regards Cazzesman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cazzesman Posted December 21, 2020 Author Share Posted December 21, 2020 Well the UPS man got abit carried away. The Monday delivery turned out to be Monday-week i.e. yesterday. The changeover from Sotm to XE in my Music PC took all of 5 mins today. Powering the XE via the Keces LPS 5v 1amp output. The internal power to the card from the MB is disconnected as recommended by JCat. Low and behold we instantly had music after hooking it back up. Started with Bruce Springsteen - Letter to you flac. Right off the bat there is a wonderful rich tone to Bruce's voice and noticeable heft to the bottom end. I won't say much more than that until I have let it burn in and done some in depth listening. The darling wife is Xmas lunching tomorrow so set you engines to 11. Happy Holidays you lot. Regards Cazzesman 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cazzesman Posted December 22, 2020 Author Share Posted December 22, 2020 Over on Audiophile Style I asked Marcin from JPlay about burn in times for the XE and got this reply...... Hi Cazzesman, Yes, there is a long burn-in period. I suggest a minimum 48 hours, but the card will improve up to 200-250h Enjoy Best regards, Marcin Ostapowicz JPLAY & JCAT Founder .................................................. Regards Cazzesman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cazzesman Posted February 14, 2021 Author Share Posted February 14, 2021 (edited) Melbourne in lockdown again, so on the bright side the Music is getting a thrashing. I have had the JCat XE card in my CAPS for almost 9 weeks now. Not sure how many hours, but I'm guessing at 63 days x 2 to 3 ave hours per day, call it 150+ hours. Simple question I had before the install was - Will the XE be better than the Sotm PCIe Card it replaces? The answer is a resounding - Yes in all areas. Smoother, more dynamic and greater depth at the low end. It is punchier with the right music. What I am realising more and more, as my system improves, is how rubbish, rubbish recordings are. On the plus side the better recording are amazing. I was playing Peter Gabriel's - Security the other day. The DR Website has the following for the 82 version. http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/view/11633 The Dynamics are up the wazoo and the XE/Kii 3 duo sounded stunning. On the flip side I obtained a flac version of Kiss - Alive (for old times sake) Man that recording is the pits. My two recent purchases - the Keces P8 ($900) and the JCat XE USB ($1300) card have been right on the money for SQ Improvement. P8 driving both the CAPS and XE card. As an aside I can also recommend a Laptop/Computer repair shop for those in need. The DC power jack on my CAPS MB was faulty, causing the power drop out from time to time. I had it taped up to ensure a positive connection but eventually that failed. I did some research via youtube and it is a tricky job to replace with the tools and skill set. I was tossing up whether to get a new MB or have it repaired. Laptopkings was my savior. https://laptopkings.com.au/ Great reviews on Google led me there. Great service. Turnaround was 3 days. In the end the cost was the same as a new MB but it came with far less hassle. CAPS working like a dream now with zero issues. If anyone has the Kii 3 - BXT speaker modals going up for sale 2nd hand please drop me a PM. If you are looking at building your own Audio PC, I highly recommend considering building the unit around a JCat XE USB card. Regards Cazzesman Edited February 14, 2021 by cazzesman 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Parin Posted March 31, 2021 Share Posted March 31, 2021 (edited) Hi all , can anyone suggest a $500ish 9v LPS for my soon to be delivered Matrix Element H USB card? https://matrix-digi.com/en/products/333.html I have contacted MCRU in the UK and Teradak and neither has even replied to my email ( over a week now) Thanks Michael Edited March 31, 2021 by michaelp2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoopy8 Posted March 31, 2021 Share Posted March 31, 2021 11 minutes ago, michaelp2 said: Hi all , can anyone suggest a $500ish 9v LPS for my soon to be delivered Matrix Element H USB card? https://matrix-digi.com/en/products/333.html I have contacted MCRU in the UK and Teradak and neither has even replied to my email ( over a week now) Thanks Michael Aside from being over budget, why not https://www.gieseler.com.au/product-page/kraftwerk-ii Clay @Gieseler Audio provides some of the best customer service for audio products, and all made in Australia.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Parin Posted March 31, 2021 Share Posted March 31, 2021 23 minutes ago, Snoopy8 said: Aside from being over budget, why not https://www.gieseler.com.au/product-page/kraftwerk-ii Clay @Gieseler Audio provides some of the best customer service for audio products, and all made in Australia.. Thanks Snoopy, hadn't thought of Gieseler, think I can stretch another $150 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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