Measurements and Review of SOtM SMS-200 Network Player

[jtwrace]

Since we are talking about USB Streamers.... Just click the links.

I did. I guess you're just adding what you use then. Gotcha.

 

[Sal1950]

I have a BeeLink Mini-PC coming with the Celeron N3450 Quad CPU / 4GB RAM / 64GB eMMC for $169. I believe they can take additional M.2 Sata storage. Comes with a SMPS but they only need 1.5A / 12VDC so this LPS would work for $30.

So for $200 you could turn this into USB streamer. Probably run with the SoTM with no one knowing the difference if you didn't tell them.

Cute little guy, would make an excellent Linux music server. Personally I lament the lack of optical outs on the latest batch of mini boards.

 

[Jinjuku]

Cute little guy, would make an excellent Linux music server. Personally I lament the lack of optical outs on the latest batch of mini boards.

TOSLink is the next audio fax machine...

 

[DonH56]

I want a simple little box that I can plug a USB drive into as my music source. I have my library on my network and connect using a SONOS:Connect but WiFi is not terribly reliable in my media room. Unfortunately most USB inputs do not seem to accept an actual drive (SSD/HDD) as a music (file) source... Digital output (S/PDIF) is fine, that's what I use from my SONOS (the analog outputs appear to limit the lower end, not sure what else).

 

[amirm]

The SMS-200 reviewed here has USB inputs for exactly that purpose Don.

 

[DonH56]

Yah, it fits the bill, except for "cheap"... I see I just said "simple", though, my bad. Of course the SONOS wasn't cheap, either. Just seems like this ought to be a $25 or $50 product, no DAC needed, just USB to S/PDIF and SW stack on a micro plus interface chip or two. I keep thinking I'll do a little Raspberry PI server or something when I retire and have time to play, like in 147.34 years...

 

[jtwrace]

Yah, it fits the bill, except for "cheap"... I see I just said "simple", though, my bad. Of course the SONOS wasn't cheap, either. Just seems like this ought to be a $25 or $50 product, no DAC needed, just USB to S/PDIF and SW stack on a micro plus interface chip or two. I keep thinking I'll do a little Raspberry PI server or something when I retire and have time to play, like in 147.34 years...

The Allo USBridge will work $189
https://allo.com/sparky/usbridge.html

I have one here and wouldn't mind sending it in for some measurements if Amir was interested.

 

[Blumlein 88]

I want a simple little box that I can plug a USB drive into as my music source. I have my library on my network and connect using a SONOS:Connect but WiFi is not terribly reliable in my media room. Unfortunately most USB inputs do not seem to accept an actual drive (SSD/HDD) as a music (file) source... Digital output (S/PDIF) is fine, that's what I use from my SONOS (the analog outputs appear to limit the lower end, not sure what else).

Maybe an inexpensive Wifi extender would make WiFi good in the media room. Some for $30 USD seem quite useful. Likely you could put it in the media room and connect the SONOs to it via ethernet.

This one has worked nicely in a few installations for people I know.
https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Wi-F...&qid=1503542433&sr=1-4&keywords=wifi+extender

 

[DonH56]

@jtwrace -- Thanks, have to look into that.

@Blumlein 88 -- I bought a fairly nice range extender from Linksys a while back and it helped, some. All of my other gear is from Cicso/Linksys, and I have a slight bias for them since their (actually Cisco's) very first PCMCIA wifi network card (remember those?) used an ADC of my design in it. I also tried a powerline adapter, which helped in my son's room next door, but not the media room. The problem is related to the house design and how I have my router set up; it is in my second-floor office, with my NAS, and the media room is in the basement on the opposite side with a huge HVAC plenum on one side right in the direct signal path. No real good place to locate the extender to cover that one room, and it is on its own power circuit through a subpanel so broke the powerline adapter's connection. Yes I could buy or build a bridge but it gets complicated -- main panel in the garage would have to be bridged, then the subpanel in the basement as well, managed to completely isolate the media circuit. I considered a commercial wireless unit but got tired of messing with it. It is just the media room that seems to have problems.

I do have a Linksys media bridge (essentially a WAP) in the media room and could try switching the SONOS to the wifi instead of its own mesh network. I don't think the SONOS unit will play directly from a USB drive or Ethernet connection. I had hoped that with SONOS speakers on every floor including in my son's room next door that the mesh would work well but it still glitches now and then. I am not sure sure exactly the problem, but figured if I just moved the music files to a local disc directly feeding my pre/pro without the network I'd solve the problem. It is worse when my son is home eating up bandwidth even though I did switch him to the 5 GHz band and put the media server on 2.4 GHz (which should also improve coverage, natch) but... This is one of those times I wish I was more computer-savvy; I'm too much an old analog fart. I know a lot about computers but am more a user than builder, and networks leave me befuddled half the time despite mucking with them for decades.

Part of my problem is my work and life have been very demanding the past few years and so both free time and patience has been in very short supply. When I actually have time at home I just want to relax and listen, not mess with/fix things. Hopefully things will settle down a bit this fall.

 

[amirm]

I have one here and wouldn't mind sending it in for some measurements if Amir was interested.

I could never get mine working. So if yours is working as Roon endpoint, I would love to test it. Send it along!

 

[Blumlein 88]

@jtwrace -- Thanks, have to look into that.

@Blumlein 88 -- I bought a fairly nice range extender from Linksys a while back and it helped, some. All of my other gear is from Cicso/Linksys, and I have a slight bias for them since their (actually Cisco's) very first PCMCIA wifi network card (remember those?) used an ADC of my design in it. I also tried a powerline adapter, which helped in my son's room next door, but not the media room. The problem is related to the house design and how I have my router set up; it is in my second-floor office, with my NAS, and the media room is in the basement on the opposite side with a huge HVAC plenum on one side right in the direct signal path. No real good place to locate the extender to cover that one room, and it is on its own power circuit through a subpanel so broke the powerline adapter's connection. Yes I could buy or build a bridge but it gets complicated -- main panel in the garage would have to be bridged, then the subpanel in the basement as well, managed to completely isolate the media circuit. I considered a commercial wireless unit but got tired of messing with it. It is just the media room that seems to have problems.

I do have a Linksys media bridge (essentially a WAP) in the media room and could try switching the SONOS to the wifi instead of its own mesh network. I don't think the SONOS unit will play directly from a USB drive or Ethernet connection. I had hoped that with SONOS speakers on every floor including in my son's room next door that the mesh would work well but it still glitches now and then. I am not sure sure exactly the problem, but figured if I just moved the music files to a local disc directly feeding my pre/pro without the network I'd solve the problem. It is worse when my son is home eating up bandwidth even though I did switch him to the 5 GHz band and put the media server on 2.4 GHz (which should also improve coverage, natch) but... This is one of those times I wish I was more computer-savvy; I'm too much an old analog fart. I know a lot about computers but am more a user than builder, and networks leave me befuddled half the time despite mucking with them for decades.

Part of my problem is my work and life have been very demanding the past few years and so both free time and patience has been in very short supply. When I actually have time at home I just want to relax and listen, not mess with/fix things. Hopefully things will settle down a bit this fall.

I definitely get wanting to just plug it in and have it work. I do remember the PCMCIA cards.

Probably telling you something you know. There are several good apps for smartphones that will give you a read out of wifi signal strength. Find a good spot near the media room for the Linksys extender. Yes, I know I am assuming there is one. It likely can then retransmit a better signal to the Sonos. That might even mean putting the Linksys extender rather near the router, but in a direction that the extender can retransmit without interference to the media room.

 

[Don Hills]

Look at Google Wifi. They are small access points that are basically plug'n'play, they set up a mesh network between themselves using different channels than the ones used for your devices. You get high speed and seamless roaming within the coverage area.

 

[watchnerd]

CNET ranks the Linksys Vulva as the best mesh network.

 

[watchnerd]

Hello everyone.

Courtesy of a kind forum member, I have had in my possession an SOtM SMS-200 Network Player.

It retails for $450: http://www.sotm-audio.com/sotmwp/english/shop/sms-200/

So what's the advantage of using one of these $450 boxes vs a <$100 Raspberry Pi based box, running Roon Bridge, that outputs S/PDIF?

DARKO reviews one here that has BNC and Coax out, plus dual oscillators for stupid low jitter claims.

http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2...ive-star-sound-quality-from-the-raspberry-pi/

 

[Don Hills]

CNET ranks the Linksys Vulva as the best mesh network.

Unfortunate case of autocorrect?

 

[watchnerd]

Unfortunate case of autocorrect?

Sorry.

Linksys Velop.

Not Vulva.

 

[watchnerd]

I mean from a POV of wanting the best performance from products that come with unknown cheap SMPS.

Audible or not now you have shown a trend that cheap wall mounted SMPS inject mains harmonics , people will want to avoid them.

I know I will now most likely not want to use the one that came with my arcam IDAC for example, I'm now insecure about them if you like as will most audiophiles after reading this.

Testing A few cheap but well engineered alternatives would be great.

What about using a UPS meant for computers?

 

[watchnerd]

I'd like to see this done too, they can be roon endpoints so have the same functionality as this, be interesting to see if it's better, same or worse than the much more expensive options. The basic functionality of allowing your music server to be outside of your listening room is desirable to many.

If both objects are digital out only and have:

-Jitter below audibility
-Noise below audibility
-Bitperfect output

They should be equally suitable to the task regardless of price.

 

[amirm]

So what's the advantage of using one of these $450 boxes vs a <$100 Raspberry Pi based box, running Roon Bridge, that outputs S/PDIF?

You just turn them on and they work. You don't need to rummage around for bootimage, tool for making the SD card image, etc.

Personally I like my silent PC better because I run other software on it but if someone wants to get a remote solution, I would send them to a turnkey one.

 

[alfe]

-Bitperfect output

Marketing works also with objectivists