Apple Lover
SOtM sPS-500 Power Suply
In the search for a better musical experience extracting better sound from my recent iFi DAC upgrade and get more pleasure in the sound presentation I discovered SOTM products, I searched for information of network streamers and similar user opinions about them, saw videos and all that I can find about on the web, and after reading lots of average consensus of users in their with their experience, and after some weeks acquired an SOTM sMS-200 Ultra without listening.
I have to admit that acquiring without listening is risky decision, and sometimes you could end with a unit that do not give any positive enhancement to your system. The intent was to remove my noisy Mac Pro from degrading the sound of the DAC, is this case an iFi iDSD Pro that has galvanic isolation but is very sensible to all cables and accessories before it, as any other DAC the quality of the USB connection is primordial to a better sound experience.
You can clean your computer USB, but you will pay the same or more than buy a optimised and clean dedicated computer exclusively for audio.
It’s that quality USB connection I was searching and found it on the SOTM sMS-200 Ultra, it impressive how a single device for giving you a great USB link affects the final sound.
Computers are terribly noisy devices, electricity in an apartment is full of noise, that contaminates the computer, processor, motherboard, fan, hard drive, external devices with bad power supply’s, even software resource needs generate noise, and that noise affects the link that is made from the computer to the DAC.
Any user like me trying to get better audio will start a journey of cleaning that USB transmission with galvanic isolated solutions, USB regenerators and re-clockers, and many other solutions that exist on the market and stores that clean the USB signal. Some of devices at every step give you an extra more, or a different presentation, or change the total presentation, sometimes in a good way, other times not accomplishing what they promote or I expect for the price
What did SOtM do, they produced a small audio optimised network computer to connect to your DAC by USB, it has an optimised and excellent internal clock board, but they build it with high quality audiophile components, for me they have made something very special that results very well on my system.
The SOtM SMS-200 Ultra is a simple audiophile network streamer for the only propose to pass the bits to your DAC in the cleanest way possible.
The sMS-200 Ultra supports various audio standard protocols like the Roon RAAT, HQPlayer, LibreSpot, Minim Server, Airplay, Bubble UPnP, DLNA, Squeezelite, and runs a light linux optimised version for audio called Eunhasu that can be upgraded with more functionality and add support for future DAC hardware.
Their service and support has been very receptive to beginner questions, with fast reply and helpful responses, thats a thumbs up for support. For me, product support is one of the most important features of any product.
The sOTM sMS-200 Ultra is an awesome product it made a big change for the better to my music enjoyment… The final result is based on my personal system, room, cables, and could be different on your system, but one thing I have certain, If anyone tries one of this units the change will be noticed for the better.
When I dedicate some of my time to write about it, it’s because I the product quality and benefit it gave me. Is common that the new upgraded unit is better than the last used solution, and the big motive I upgraded an stayed in the system. But regarding the presence I feel now when I listen to a good album, the SOtM sMS-200 Ultra is one of the best upgrades I have done in the last few years, and the upgrades where a lot.
Apart from some rock concerts, small jazz groups and some classical music concerts, my live music experience is not that active, I will not compare the real presentation that I can achieve, but instead the enjoyment the SOtM offered to me from my system, and with it came a new musical experience. The difference of hearing a real orchestra in plain euforia is something that I never heard any system being capable of, the real thing is a more powerful experience that any system or my small one can reproduce, I herd systems close to that reality with prices impossible to archive by a normal person, but with my hardware limitation, the emulation of the artist presence was upgraded to a new level.
All of this to explain that is difficult to quantify how better in my case the SOtM is compared to reality, but I can quantify listen experience before and after the SOtM, and here it goes.
The SOtM is all about music, after changing the in the box power supply for an SBooster it really shines, the music presentation grows a lot, and the speakers grow the sound to a huge presentation, the sound is so big that the room feels larger, a friend of mine when showing the music, started to look behind searching for surround speakers on the back wall, the SOtM sMS 200 Ultra really made the presentation of some albums impressive. One example of this is the Pink Floyd track On The Run from the Dark Side of the Moon album, or tracks from the album Blood from This Mortal Coil.
The SOtM sMS-200 Ultra is musical and not aggressive in any way, and has this 3D way of presenting the sound a sensation of magical sweetness without loss of information, I am loving it and ordered an SPS-500 Power supply with silver cable, it deserves the best friend to complement and shine even more.
The sound from my Mac Pro was somehow a little bi dimensional when compared to the SOtM, the highs sometimes where to much, and lacked the dimension that the SOtM has, it sounded ok but was not holographic like the sound I have now, and lacked some musicality, some albums where too harsh and very aggressive to be played, this doesn’t mean a bad recording will sound good, the bad will sound always bad, but good recording elevate your experience in a way with the SOtM that the computer did not acomplished.
When used with a good DAC and a quality usb cable, in my case the iFi iDSD Pro DAC and the Audioquest Diamond USB, it gave me impressive results connected to my Focal Solo 6be.
I find the SOtM sMS-200 Ultra very sensitive to power cables, I used Audioquest tornado cables on the iFI and SOtM, and they proved to result very well in my setup.
So I think audiophiles will love it, for me is not an option to revert back to my Mac Pro as a USB source.
If you are using a DAC connected to your computer, you have to try an SOtM streamer and see what you have been loosing in sound with your computer, and pair the SOtM with a good and decent power supply and it will really shine.
SOtM sPS-500 Power Suply
In the search for a better musical experience extracting better sound from my recent iFi DAC upgrade and get more pleasure in the sound presentation I discovered SOTM products, I searched for information of network streamers and similar user opinions about them, saw videos and all that I can find about on the web, and after reading lots of average consensus of users in their with their experience, and after some weeks acquired an SOTM sMS-200 Ultra without listening.
I have to admit that acquiring without listening is risky decision, and sometimes you could end with a unit that do not give any positive enhancement to your system. The intent was to remove my noisy Mac Pro from degrading the sound of the DAC, is this case an iFi iDSD Pro that has galvanic isolation but is very sensible to all cables and accessories before it, as any other DAC the quality of the USB connection is primordial to a better sound experience.
You can clean your computer USB, but you will pay the same or more than buy a optimised and clean dedicated computer exclusively for audio.
It’s that quality USB connection I was searching and found it on the SOTM sMS-200 Ultra, it impressive how a single device for giving you a great USB link affects the final sound.
Computers are terribly noisy devices, electricity in an apartment is full of noise, that contaminates the computer, processor, motherboard, fan, hard drive, external devices with bad power supply’s, even software resource needs generate noise, and that noise affects the link that is made from the computer to the DAC.
Any user like me trying to get better audio will start a journey of cleaning that USB transmission with galvanic isolated solutions, USB regenerators and re-clockers, and many other solutions that exist on the market and stores that clean the USB signal. Some of devices at every step give you an extra more, or a different presentation, or change the total presentation, sometimes in a good way, other times not accomplishing what they promote or I expect for the price
What did SOtM do, they produced a small audio optimised network computer to connect to your DAC by USB, it has an optimised and excellent internal clock board, but they build it with high quality audiophile components, for me they have made something very special that results very well on my system.
The SOtM SMS-200 Ultra is a simple audiophile network streamer for the only propose to pass the bits to your DAC in the cleanest way possible.
The sMS-200 Ultra supports various audio standard protocols like the Roon RAAT, HQPlayer, LibreSpot, Minim Server, Airplay, Bubble UPnP, DLNA, Squeezelite, and runs a light linux optimised version for audio called Eunhasu that can be upgraded with more functionality and add support for future DAC hardware.
Their service and support has been very receptive to beginner questions, with fast reply and helpful responses, thats a thumbs up for support. For me, product support is one of the most important features of any product.
The sOTM sMS-200 Ultra is an awesome product it made a big change for the better to my music enjoyment… The final result is based on my personal system, room, cables, and could be different on your system, but one thing I have certain, If anyone tries one of this units the change will be noticed for the better.
When I dedicate some of my time to write about it, it’s because I the product quality and benefit it gave me. Is common that the new upgraded unit is better than the last used solution, and the big motive I upgraded an stayed in the system. But regarding the presence I feel now when I listen to a good album, the SOtM sMS-200 Ultra is one of the best upgrades I have done in the last few years, and the upgrades where a lot.
Apart from some rock concerts, small jazz groups and some classical music concerts, my live music experience is not that active, I will not compare the real presentation that I can achieve, but instead the enjoyment the SOtM offered to me from my system, and with it came a new musical experience. The difference of hearing a real orchestra in plain euforia is something that I never heard any system being capable of, the real thing is a more powerful experience that any system or my small one can reproduce, I herd systems close to that reality with prices impossible to archive by a normal person, but with my hardware limitation, the emulation of the artist presence was upgraded to a new level.
All of this to explain that is difficult to quantify how better in my case the SOtM is compared to reality, but I can quantify listen experience before and after the SOtM, and here it goes.
The SOtM is all about music, after changing the in the box power supply for an SBooster it really shines, the music presentation grows a lot, and the speakers grow the sound to a huge presentation, the sound is so big that the room feels larger, a friend of mine when showing the music, started to look behind searching for surround speakers on the back wall, the SOtM sMS 200 Ultra really made the presentation of some albums impressive. One example of this is the Pink Floyd track On The Run from the Dark Side of the Moon album, or tracks from the album Blood from This Mortal Coil.
The SOtM sMS-200 Ultra is musical and not aggressive in any way, and has this 3D way of presenting the sound a sensation of magical sweetness without loss of information, I am loving it and ordered an SPS-500 Power supply with silver cable, it deserves the best friend to complement and shine even more.
The sound from my Mac Pro was somehow a little bi dimensional when compared to the SOtM, the highs sometimes where to much, and lacked the dimension that the SOtM has, it sounded ok but was not holographic like the sound I have now, and lacked some musicality, some albums where too harsh and very aggressive to be played, this doesn’t mean a bad recording will sound good, the bad will sound always bad, but good recording elevate your experience in a way with the SOtM that the computer did not acomplished.
When used with a good DAC and a quality usb cable, in my case the iFi iDSD Pro DAC and the Audioquest Diamond USB, it gave me impressive results connected to my Focal Solo 6be.
I find the SOtM sMS-200 Ultra very sensitive to power cables, I used Audioquest tornado cables on the iFI and SOtM, and they proved to result very well in my setup.
So I think audiophiles will love it, for me is not an option to revert back to my Mac Pro as a USB source.
If you are using a DAC connected to your computer, you have to try an SOtM streamer and see what you have been loosing in sound with your computer, and pair the SOtM with a good and decent power supply and it will really shine.