For speakers / 2 channel listening I found this to be the best bang for buck thing I did… It was free and only cost me my time but so much better than Z’s “shape of sound” nonsense.
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This thread rocks.
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Speaking of rocks.
I have small smiling rock buddha statue that holds small cup of 3.5 → 1/4 adapters.
Like to think he likes the audio thing going on and smiles. Makes me smile to. Better audio when happy.
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Latest update… The Ethernet cables arrived Thursday afternoon. I made the runs today. Not the easiest as I had to go across 2 rooms! But it’s in. now all the Ethernet that feeds the PC is now Double shielded Hi-speed CAT 8. THe cable itself is really nice and is way more flexible than I thought it would be. I had a crappy old CAT 5 going from the router to the office - Shameful. I wasn’t even getting Gig! I am now, man. Network performance has definitely increased. So really, everything is better! Including the music.
So check that box. Now we just need to have the re-locker arrive. That should be here early next week.
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I’m surprised the level of poor network performance people are willing to put up with. Modern modems, router, switches, WiFi, mesh networking, and even a good 'ol long (high quality) Ethernet cable make all the difference. Glad to hear the upgrade is paying off for you.
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And here is some good old fashion cable management, separating power from signal
This has been fun to put together. What was there really wasn’t so great!
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I don’t know why @Marzipan keeps mentioning “audio poop” but I can’t say I have any of that lying around at the moment lol
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There is almost no limit to what I will do to get a good signal. That said, I will have to pass on the poop. Unless someone can show me a data set that proves the case. In other words, I want to see the poop sheet. 
perhaps I should create an audio ionizer. something that prepares the air for audio waves and allows them to move better / faster due to less resistance or something, LoL!
Didn’t Nelson Pass make a set of speakers that ionize the air? They were affecting his health so he stopped lol.
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The Wyred for Sound USB Re-Locker came in today. It is a wee thing! It’s basically an in-line device so it won’t even sit on the desk. The provided USB cable is a nice one but it’s not even 6 inches long, so yeah - it’s an in-line device! They also provide the small power pack and a small USB A to B adapter which gives you installation options. I didn’t even bother, I’m perfectly fine with it being an in-line device. Installation took about 2 minutes!
When I first fired up the system after install I was a little worried because it took a while for the DAC to get a signal lock. Then I wasn’t sure I liked what I was initially hearing. But after a couple moments everything seemed to settle in and now I’m sitting here kinda giggling. I can’t believe that music that is being streamed from the Internet can sound this good. The accuracy and detail that is coming out of these speakers is amazing. This device has cleaned up the signal in a way I wasn’t expecting.
Because of my ears I often have problems with vocals, female vocals in particular. This re-locker has made everything more accurate, more well-defined. There is no roll-off, no ambiguity there anymore. This is big for me. Music is delivered with much more authority and clarity. You can hear every instrument even better than before. I feel like I am closer to being in the room. The things you notice are very subtle, but they add up collectively. I need to spend more time with it, but it’s made a big first impression.
And with that, I am done with operation signal clean. It turned out to be a great project. I am very happy with the result. And now to pour a glass of wine and enjoy a successful effort.
AMHD > USB Re-Locker > S.M.S.L. S-8 Stack (Balanced) > Triangle Borea BR02
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Cat 8? I was just getting used to cat7
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LOL! I know. Haven’t seen it much in the Enterprise just yet, but I see it’s potential. Hopefully it will replace that horrible twinax stuff in use now, especially for switch-to-server.
On the consumer side, it worked a treat for me.
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How was cost over running something like cat 6
I feel it’s very reasonable. The 10 footer was only 6 dollars and the 40-footer was 19. CAT6A is pretty much the same price! Frankly the CAT8 is a much better cable.
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OK, I had to wake this thread up because I had an “Ah-Ha” moment last night. Now that I am basically done buying things for a while I was looking at the desktop system and was wondering if there were any adjustments I could make, and it hit me square in the face… SPEAKER POSITIONING!
As I looked at them sitting on my desk, I suddenly realized I needed to get them up higher. So I figured out a way to raise them up 3 inches, which now places them 4.2 inches up from the surface of the desk, with a 15 degree incline. Then I got them properly toed in.
Well slap my ass and call me Judy… what a difference! 
I have no idea why I didn’t think of this before, but the improvement is significant. The tweeters are right at ear level now, and the drivers are delivering bass that you can feel in your chest with no loss of clarity or control. These speakers are really showing me what they have now. I was actually looking at the KEF LS50 Meta as a possible alternative, but no more. I’m good!
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funny you mention speaker position Raptor…check out this video by Paul.
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I like his work. I will definitely check this out when I get a chance. Thanks for the link!
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the title doesn’t lend itself readily to your comment…but believe me, it does, so do not delay. 
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Aye, he makes much hay about “The Room”!! 
Makes perfect sense, though. He also makes the reasonable case for a sub. However, due to constraints, that won’t happen here unfortunately. And that’s OK. This little desktop system sounds really good. This latest speaker adjustment has made a huge improvement, and for now at least, that’ll do.