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The AC Plug Thread / The Benefits of Upgrading to Hospital Grade AC Plugs! |
dontsleep33
Premium Member
Rank: Sonyphile
Joined: May 03, 2008
Posts: 742
From: MG,Brazil
 |  Posted: 2010-08-03 18:58
So what was the transfer rate before the new power cord was attached?
  
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Maxxwire
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Premium Member
Rank: Sony Adept
Joined: Aug 29, 2002
Posts: 25772
From: Portland, Oregon - USA
 | Posted: 2010-08-03 19:44
On 2010-08-03 08:21, dontsleep33 wrote:
Interesting Maxx.Please Let me know what your conclusions are?
Btw,that's a beast of a computer there Maxx!
What is your take on hifi sound from it? Have you run a digital out to your d/a converter or something like that?I have found much bliss using my netbook as a music source!
dontsleep- Unlike most Digital front ends the components I set up have a pair of IS Bus interfaced Digital processors between the Transport and the DAC. I have done many listening experiments using different Transports up to and including the Counterpoint DA 11 which is compared quite favorably to the Mark Levinson No. 31.5 which many consider the best Digital Transport ever made and it did not sound nearly as good as my $350 Sony CX 300 Megachanger when connected trough the Audio Alchemy IS Bus Digital Processors with their 5 ps jitter 5 wire .99999 pure silver Digital interface to the DAC. As a reference the iLink jitter spec measured on Sony's XA9000ES reference level player was 40 ps which is 800% higher than on the IS Bus Digital interface.
This is why I have little confidence that the sound card in my computer will sound better than what I've already got set up in my Audio System sounds although I could easily see how you could be getting much higher quality sound from the usb recording interface/soundcard in your netbook.
As far as the transfer rate of my computer goes as I said I did not do a baseline measurement with the funky OEM power cord that came with it in place in that I had a lot of other things on my mind at the time and I figured that my new computer deserved better than cut rate copper conductors and molded plugs. Just for the record though I have never known any electronics equipment to perform better with a compromised power cord than a high quality cord with better quality plugs which give it much lower resistance.
~Maxx~
[ This message was edited by: Maxxwire on 2010-08-04 00:27 ]
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dontsleep33
Premium Member
Rank: Sonyphile
Joined: May 03, 2008
Posts: 742
From: MG,Brazil
| Posted: 2010-08-03 23:32
Well if you ran a toslink or digital coax you to your system's digital to analog converter from the computer then you would bypass the computer's sound card,dac,and analog output stage and hear the music files files the right way which would be through your great audo playback system.
Have you ever done that?
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Maxxwire
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Premium Member
Rank: Sony Adept
Joined: Aug 29, 2002
Posts: 25772
From: Portland, Oregon - USA
| Posted: 2010-08-04 00:56
dontsleep- Yes, you are right I could bypass the D/A functions of the computer's sound card by wiring directly into the DAC, but I would also be bypassing the Audio Alchemy I2S Bus interfaced Digital processors which break the LPCM Digital Audio signal down into its component parts which are the Data, Master Clock, Word Clock, Bit Clock and Emphasis Flag and transmit it over the 5 fine silver wires of the I2S Bus interface which has a lower jitter spec than any other Digital interface.
On the other hand I could use high bandwidth Glass Toslink to connect the computer's sound card to the I2S Bus processors and I may just do that when I get a chance, but for the time being I'm busy setting up my new Win 7 x64 computer which I am finding out is radically different from Vista in some aspects for example it took me nearly a month to figure out how to add a 3rd party Rescue Disc Backup option that the computer would recognize during its 20 second boot time.
~Maxx~
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jeromelang
Rank: Sony Devotee
Joined: Oct 30, 2003
Posts: 71
From: Marketing Executive
 | Posted: 2010-08-04 04:17
dontsleep- Unlike most Digital front ends the components I set up have a pair of IS Bus interfaced Digital processors between the Transport and the DAC. I have done many listening experiments using different Transports up to and including the Counterpoint DA 11 which is compared quite favorably to the Mark Levinson No. 31.5 which many consider the best Digital Transport ever made and it did not sound nearly as good as my $350 Sony CX 300 Megachanger when connected trough the Audio Alchemy IS Bus Digital Processors with their 5 ps jitter 5 wire .99999 pure silver Digital interface to the DAC. As a reference the iLink jitter spec measured on Sony's XA9000ES reference level player was 40 ps which is 800% higher than on the IS Bus Digital interface.
where did you get those scd-xa9000es jitter measurement from?
Did you measure them yourself?
can you explain how you do the measurements?
TIA!
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Main System: Sources EMM LAB TSDX/DAC2X, SCD-1, SCD-XA9000ES, ELP Laser Turntable, Michel Gyro SE, SME V, Lyra Skala. Amplifiers Pass Lab Aleph Ono, Pass XP20, Pass X350. Speakers Sony SS-M9ED. Cables Straightwire Crescendo interconnects, double run speak
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AaronB
Rank: Sonyphile
Joined: Nov 26, 2002
Posts: 622
From: Ottawa, Canada
 | Posted: 2010-08-04 12:00
On 2010-08-03 19:44, Maxxwire wrote:
As a reference the iLink jitter spec measured on Sony's XA9000ES reference level player was 40 ps which is 800% higher than on the IS Bus Digital interface.
~Maxx~
I call BS on that. Firewire/iLink uses isonchronous transmission for audio streams. The receving component's clocks are used for audio reproduction, not the transmitting component's clock. That by definition means that the receving end component, and only the receiving end component, defines the jitter. The source component does not and can not contribute any jitter whatsoever.
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Maxxwire
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Rank: Sony Adept
Joined: Aug 29, 2002
Posts: 25772
From: Portland, Oregon - USA
| Posted: 2010-08-04 16:25
AaronB- These jitter specs taken directly from the Hi Fi News Magazine Lab Report were published over 6 years ago here at Agoraquest and have been accepted as accurate so if you want to challenge the accuracy of the Lab Report I would suggest that you take your objections up with the Techs who performed the measurements.
LAB REPORT
Ultrasonic noise is well managed for a digital amplifier while jitter increases only slightly from ~40psec (SCD-XA9000ES) to 150psec (SCD-XA9000ES/TA-DA9000ES) via the i.Link/HATS connection.
Please excuse me for being so kind to iLink as to quote its jitter spec at the source measurement. When the Lab evaluated the iLink jitter spec at the receiving end it was measured at 150 psec giving iLink 3,000% more measured jitter than I2S Bus.
~Maxx~
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A Satisfied Sony Fan Since 1974!
Explore The New Sony MaxxPix
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jehill
Premium Member
Rank: Sony Senior Advisor
Joined: Mar 13, 2003
Posts: 13823
From: Sewell, NJ
 | Posted: 2010-08-05 16:09
Yes, and 346 MBps = 2.768 Gbps rate of transfer.
Whoops! My bad! You were just copying from one folder to another.
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Maxxwire
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Premium Member
Rank: Sony Adept
Joined: Aug 29, 2002
Posts: 25772
From: Portland, Oregon - USA
| Posted: 2010-08-06 00:10
On 2010-08-05 16:09, jehill wrote:
Whoops! My bad! You were just copying from one folder to another.
It may be 'just' a file transfer to you, but the very best transfer speed I could get on my Vista x32 laptop was 38.3 MBps = .3064 Gbps...
For me the 903% increase to 2,768 MBps transfer rate was an welcomed increase in speed as I move a lot of 2.5 - 10+ GB Video files to a pair of 1 TB Western Digital storage drives as well as a LaCie 2TB eSata Drive which is configured in Raid 0. It may be 'just' a file transfer to you, but to me the vastly increased transfer rates of this Win 7 x64 desktop with its Core i7 930 Quad Core processing are going to save me many hours of transfer time from the computer's 1 TB onboard drive to over 4 TB of external storage...
 
~Maxx~
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A Satisfied Sony Fan Since 1974!
Explore The New Sony MaxxPix
[ This message was edited by: Maxxwire on 2010-08-17 19:46 ]
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dontsleep33
Premium Member
Rank: Sonyphile
Joined: May 03, 2008
Posts: 742
From: MG,Brazil
| Posted: 2010-08-07 01:04
I want to buy 2 affordable power cords.One for my netbook power supply and one for my M-Audio powered stereo monitors.I bet I can get a great improvement in sound from doing this.
Can anyone recommend a particular power cord around $100 or less each?
Both need one side terminated with the IEC plug on one side.
Thanks in advance,
Tony,
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Maxxwire
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Rank: Sony Adept
Joined: Aug 29, 2002
Posts: 25772
From: Portland, Oregon - USA
| Posted: 2010-08-07 01:26
When I began this Thread nearly 4 years ago its message concerning the benefits to the performance and sound quality of Audio equipment that can be had simply by replacing poor quality low conductance OEM nickel bladed molded plugs with much higher quality Hospital Grade Plugs which use 87% higher conductivity brass blades has been built upon the foundation of comparative listening tests.
Getting my new Win 7 x64 computer has provided me with an opportunity to test the ability of an enhanced quality power cord to bring a higher level of performance to this kind of gear not with listening impressions but by being able to take a series of screen captures of the transfer progress bar and its associated specs as the computer at work transferring the identical 2.77 GB file to the same location on an external drive.
The OEM power cord that came with the computer had the typical 18 AWG conductors and was terminated with molded plastic plugs with 15% IACS conductivity nickel blades.
The aftermarket power cord that I built and have been using with the Win 7 computer uses 10 AWG LAT International .999999 Pure OFHC Silverfuse conductors which have a diameter that is slightly larger than the required size. It is then pulled through a trough of molten silver. The wire with a silver deposit is then forced through a compacting process where it is subject to tremendous pressure. The silver and the high purity copper are fused together into a near alloy. The Silverfuse conductors with their PTFE dielectric were then terminated with a Furutech FI-11MG Gold Plated 100% IACS Pure Copper bladed plug and a Furutech Gold Plated Pure Copper FI-11 IEC. My total cost for this enhanced build power cord was $120 which is a sight more than the $7 Leviton Hospital Grade Plugs that I used at the beginning of this thread, but back then I was using a computer with 167 Mhz processing and a total of 1 MB of RAM. Nevertheless I still have far more of the $7 Leviton 8215c Hospital Grade Plugs in my A/V System than any other kind of plug making them the backbone of my Power Delivery System.
I did 10 file transfer tests using each of these power cords and I will post the 3 fastest transfer rates for each of them beginning with the nickel bladed OEM power cord...
The next three results were taken when the computer was using the Silverfuse Power Cord...
I tried to do my best to do justice to the capabilities of each power cord and I would have done more trials, but it quickly became clear that there was an undeniable difference between them under this kind of testing. Based on the results of these 20 tests the Win 7 x64 computer runs an average of 32% faster when using the enhanced quality power cord.
  
This is an example of what goes on with the Win 7 x64 computer's processing and RAM use during a typical file transfer. Note the additional allocation of over 1 GB of 1333 Mhz DDR3 RAM with an overall 3% use of processing with only one of the logical processing cores showing any significant sign of activity.
~Maxx~
PS- An interesting thing happened after I took the OEM cord off of the computer and put the Furutech/Silverfuse power cord back on by way of the Win 7 computer turning in its best start time to the desktop ever with a boot time of 17.85 seconds! It could be that it was glad to
have its premium power cord back.
[ This message was edited by: Maxxwire on 2010-08-08 19:01 ]
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Maxxwire
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Premium Member
Rank: Sony Adept
Joined: Aug 29, 2002
Posts: 25772
From: Portland, Oregon - USA
| Posted: 2010-08-07 01:48
On 2010-08-07 01:04, dontsleep33 wrote:
I want to buy 2 affordable power cords.One for my netbook power supply and one for my M-Audio powered stereo monitors.I bet I can get a great improvement in sound from doing this.
Can anyone recommend a particular power cord around $100 or less each?
Both need one side terminated with the IEC plug on one side.
Thanks in advance,
Tony,
Tony- Things have changed since I built my Furutech/Silverfuse power cords for $120 each, but even at today's prices you could get some bulk 12 or 10 AWG AC Power cord conductor wire and terminate it with Hubbell Hospital Grade Plugs and IECs or Leviton terminations would be even less expensive and still give you the improvement in sound quality from your Netbook and M-Audio Powered Monitors that you are seeking. Its getting kind of late here now, but tomorrow I'll see if I can make some more specific suggestions for a pair of DIY power cords that will both elicit better performance from your gear and fit your budget at the same time.
~Maxx~
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A Satisfied Sony Fan Since 1974!
The OCCC Furu-Charged Sony DB 930
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dontsleep33
Premium Member
Rank: Sonyphile
Joined: May 03, 2008
Posts: 742
From: MG,Brazil
| Posted: 2010-08-07 01:59
Great! Thanks for your time Maxx .
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nightmare
Rank: Sony Devotee
Joined: Feb 05, 2003
Posts: 95
From: US
 | Posted: 2010-08-07 16:02
Does anyone know some decent IEC sockets that would properly fit the E9000ES/N9000ES rear casing? So far I am only interested in being able to disconnect the power cord from the back, but it will give the flexibility of potentially using superior cords in the future.
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Maxxwire
Moderator
Premium Member
Rank: Sony Adept
Joined: Aug 29, 2002
Posts: 25772
From: Portland, Oregon - USA
| Posted: 2010-08-07 16:16
dontsleep- There are literally 100's of different combinations of highly competent Plugs and power cords that you could put together any one of which would provide much better performance for your Audio equipment than an OEM factory issue power cord would. That said here is an example that I came up with that you may like which offers Audiophile Grade performance and a very clear aftermarket power cord look...
This is the $16.95 Wattgate 5266i AC Plug and the matching $19.95 Wattgate 320i IEC when used to terminate your chosen length of $6.75 / foot DH Labs Power Plus bulk power cable you will have a pair of great performing power cords that are sure to enhance your listening experience for well under your $100 per power cord budget...
~Maxx~
PS- I usually recommend Leviton products which are on a par with Wattgate and Hubbell, but in this case Leviton does not make the matching IEC Plug for its 8215c Hospital Grade Plug which would be appropriate for building a power cord from component parts.
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A Satisfied Sony Fan Since 1974!
The OCCC Furu-Charged Sony DB 930
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