Review 432 EVO Music Server : Capable of Top Performance

hifi.nl Review 432 EVO Music Server : Capable of Top Performance THIS IS A PUBLICATION OF MUSIC EMOTION Ruud Jonker May 18, 2016 432 EVO The market is currently being flooded by music servers. The special feature of the 432 EVO Music Server is the possibility to convert the central pitch from 440Hz to 432Hz, but other frequencies are also possible. According to many, that gives better sound quality. In this review, the 432 EVO is assessed on the one hand as a 'standard' server and on the other hand with the 432 feature enabled. The 432 EVO Music Server is hand-built in Belgium. By default this is a server with which CDs can be ripped. Audio files (in almost any format) can be played back to 32/768 PCM (bit perfect), DXD and DSD (64, 128 and 256). DSD is executed as a bit perfect DoP file or rendered to PCM with or without 432Hz conversion. The files can be present on the built-in hard drive of 2TB, which can be expanded to 6TB on request. The 2TB drive has a storage capacity for 6000 CDs. Files can also be read from a NAS in the network. There is a possibility for streaming (almost all known services) and also internet radio can be displayed. It also managed to stream music from an Apple iphone 6 in the listening room. The EVO also works as an SMB file server (Samba), so it can communicate with any audio / video streamer over the network. Think of Bluesound, Sonos and Dune. The audio signal is available at the output of the server via HDMI (up to 192K) and via USB 2.0. The server comes in three configurations. Compared to the standard version, the high-end version is available with a modified power supply and a USB 3.0 low noise low jitter output. High

quality 2.5 inch drives are used that are mounted on a spring suspension system and the machine can play from the RAM. There are special facilities on board to reduce the amount of microwave RF, but given the curiosity of the competition, no further announcements are made in this review. Optionally, better power cables are available. This version also uses sata filtering. The 432 EVO Essence version has analog outputs and SPDIF. So there is a built-in converter on board. The intention is for the standard version and the high-end version to be connected to an external DAC. It can be loose or built into a modern amplifier. In addition to the deployment of a number of separate DACs, the EVO also ran with the McIntosh MA-8000. The operation of the server is via Android or Apple apps, such as ipeng (Apple) and Squeezepad (Apple). There are many different apps with which the EVO can be operated. Those who want to work without all those apps can use the built-in Logitech media server. The Vortexbox can be called up via any web browser and an icon inside it starts the Logitech Squeezebox. This controller works for Apple and Android and is suitable for operating the server. That went smoothly here from various Apple devices, such as the iphone 6, the mini ipad, the imac and the usual IBM, Dell and HP servers. Software updates are available from the own 432 EVO update server and online support is possible via the built-in VPN. The server is available in silver and black. There is still much to tell about the technology and all possibilities, but most of this can be found in the extensive documentation on this server.

432 as USP Well there are currently several servers on the market, varying in price, quality and features. Apart from a number of innovative solutions, it is mainly the 432 processing that gives the 432 EVO Music Server a special position. In the machine there is a plugin that offers live 432 editing that is not (yet) available elsewhere. The 432 plugin edits the following files: PCM from CD quality to 768 Khz, including DXD and DSD (64, 128 and 256) and also works with online streaming services. From a technical point of view, there are of course a number of possibilities to write a plugin that lowers the frequency from 440 Hz to 432 or another value. Such a pitch shift can be performed with digital studio processors. The frequency then goes down, but the duration of the track remains the same. That usually does not sound good with standard PCM processing. Digital artifacts and fake harmonics arise. Examples can be found on the EVO website. The pitch-shift often works well on modern electronic dance music. To reduce the central pitch to 432Hz, without loss of resolution and detail, with constant track time and without introducing audible digital artifacts, specific adjustments are needed in the algorithm included in the plugin. So there is the secret to 432Hz in a good way, says Klinkt Beter. Obviously, this algorithm is secret. Serious research About 432 is necessary. Here again, as elsewhere in the hifi, a large part of internet pollution. Many call, but there is almost no question of serious research or an acceptable substantiation of all kinds of wild standpoints. Two of the meaningful contributions consist of the book 'Intervals, Scales, Tones and the Concert Pitch C = 128 Hz' (Maria Renold, Temple Lodge Publishing, 9 Oct. 2003) and research by Trevor Cox. Renold was looking for the ideal 'concert pitch' and a scale that is not 'false' in principle, like most used scales. In her book she describes a test with thousands of listeners. These were exposed to music based on the 440Hz pitch and to music with the 432Hz central tuning. 90% preferred music in the 432-vote. It is important that we listened to real instruments here, so there was an acoustic re-tuning. Renold indicated in her research that the results were only achieved with non-electric instruments. Tests conducted by Renold with electronically produced tones did not show any significant differences. Trevor Cox, acoustical professor at Salford University, researched the preference of listeners for digitally altered pitches (digital re-tuning). It was an online research of an informal nature, in which the listeners were exposed to different pitches (7 pieces). In this study with 200 respondents there was a slight preference for 440Hz compared to 432Hz. Also Sounds Better did an investigation. Each person had to judge 6 tracks and give points on multiple parameters. 58 out of 60 people chose more tracks in 432 mode. The reader (s) of this story may now start to draw some conclusions. But, for many, the audio will unfortunately have a new issue, besides the prickling bickering about digital vs analogue, solid state vs. tubes, hi-rez vs cd, cables, filters and acoustics-improving lava lamps, while serious and scientific educated technicians already have a number of useful answers to this. Is 432Hz better? What matters is that various parties indicate that if the reference pitch is 432Hz, the music is more pleasant in the audience. In the west we have the so-called proportional floating mood. Musical instruments with a fixed tuning (piano, organ, guitar, etc.) have a distribution of 12 tones per octave. So there is a distance (interval) between two consecutive tones. Unfortunately, these intervals are only the same for the octave and not for other intervals, such as the fifth and third. In principle, 7 stacked octaves must produce the same tone as 12 stacked fifths. In fact, we want a scale where both the octaves and the fifths are clean (pure sound). Unfortunately that does not work, so that an Ais and a Berry sound different in principle. In principle, these intervals sound false, but the deviation is very minimal. The layout of the scale has been chosen because it is easy to transpose. That is switching to a different key.

Every other of the 12 possible keys sounds just as (minimal) false as the other keys, so that the musician has the possibility to transpose indeed. Our most commonly used scale is therefore a compromise. If we start tuning within the scale, the A will get a frequency of 440Hz. There are many other scales, but in the west the proportional floating mood is established, with the A of 440Hz as the central voice reference. For example, the A string on a guitar should display a frequency of 440Hz and from that reference the other strings are tuned. Tuning from a central reference is identical for other string instruments, pianos, synthesizers, organs etc. If you are ever present during a performance of a classical concert, you know that the orchestra always agrees before the conductor appears. Well, that 440Hz has not always been a reference. In 1936 the 440Hz was declared standard by the American Standards Association and in 1955 it was also declared as an international standard (known in 1975 as ISO16). As usual with standards and during periods when standards have not yet been available, we see many deviations. In Europe there is a baroque pitch of 415Hz and around 1885 435Hz was popular as standard in Austria and France. It is interesting to read the entire history of the origin of those standards and there is nothing humanly foreign to us. At one time there was a rat race between musicians. The pitch was raised to be able to stand out within the orchestra. In music for opera we sometimes see a pitch around 435. It makes the life of the singers more pleasant. Modern orchestras often play from a higher pitch than 440Hz. So everyone had and own arguments to choose a certain pitch.

It is known that several former composers wrote music in a certain pitch because of musical and sound technical reasons. Behind the choice of the 440Hz reference is of course a very mathematical theory, which is not elaborated here. Why did a link between the reference frequency and the scale be made in the foregoing? Because the key chosen by the composer has a purpose. Each key has a form of character. If you lower (or increase) the central frequency of 440Hz, you are actually transposing. The character of a piece of music will then change. The important question in relation to the reference pitch is what the consequences are for our used tone system (that is where most of the music is recorded) when the reference pitch changes. The proportions will undoubtedly remain the same, but music consists of an interplay of tones in chords, along with a pattern of harmonics. Will it not be possible to create specific combinations that are better or worse in the hearing as a result of shifting the reference pitch? This can have consequences in a certain way because our tone system is basically not clean.

Listen Because a number of listeners indicate that 432 is more pleasant, the EVO music server has an algorithm on board to switch to that 432. Music is therefore played in the listening room in the normal 440Hz tuning and then with the enabled 432 plugin. It is of course plausible that listeners perceive a difference between 440Hz and 432Hz, but how much experience do those listeners have in assessing whether sound comes closer to realism? The fact that sound sounds 'more pleasant' does not mean that it also comes closer to reality. The 432 EVO Music Server was listened to via various DACs and different speaker systems. Among others on the Elac Debut B5, which has been here for a while, developed by Andrew Jones (from TAD) and one of the best mini's currently on the market. With a fabulous layer, homogeneity, integration and a sublime middle area they give many other mini's to check. In the first instance, the EVO was listened to in the 'normal' 440Hz setting. There is played from the internal hard drive and from network resources. There are currently many listeners who have problems with streaming. Often it is reported that the sound from a CD player is better. That would be possible, but that usually says something about the streamer in use and much less about the technique of streaming in itself. There are many factors why a streamer with built-in or connected loose DAC could get into trouble. Most streamers are computer-based and a computer is not always an optimal environment for audio signals. In addition, cheaper streamers are always a compromise, of which you can expect that there is not much attention for countering jitter, RF pollution and other problems. From the manufacturer's point of view, the functionality is sold (being able to stream). The sound quality really comes second. The expectation is that streaming will become a kind of mass activity. Commerce wants to benefit from this dairy cow on all sides. So streamers are put on the market for the lowest possible amount. For the vast majority of the consumer market this is ok, because there is no concept about quality. The EVO shows (literally) other sounds. Of course, the end result is also dependent on the connected DAC, but 'garbage' is 'garbage' out. If the streamer does not provide a good signal, many DACS can also do less with this. It must be said that the EVO is capable of top performance with regard to sound quality. Do not compromise for digital sources from discs, played from memory or from professional tape machines. Also in comparison with the (often more expensive) competition, the EVO stands out positively. In addition to the sound quality, the EVO is also excellent to operate and has functioned smoothly during the review period.

432 mode The claim with 432 is that the music would sound more restful, less 'harsh' and that it is better for your ears because fierce peaks are tempered. That led to an evening switching on a number of different systems with many different types of music. As always, the listening impressions are described here as objectively as possible. Your reviewer has a completely different sound-technical frame of reference than many readers, is not an audiophile and has no emotion whatsoever with equipment. Take them for what they are and especially listen yourself. What happens technically when the reference frequency of the scale shifts from 440Hz to 432Hz? That is simple and immediately perceptible. Voices and instruments go 'lower' and therefore sound slightly darker. Because you simultaneously 'push down' the spectral energy, a number of tones end up in the frequency range that determines the so-called 'firmness' and often 'heat' of the sound image. Every mastering technician knows that. You can also clearly hear that. Sound is a kind of 'thickening' perceptible (in the low middle area) with increased energy and heat. Energy is lost at the top of the spectrum. The end result is a calmer and warmer (= pleasanter / smoother) sound image, in which a part of the energy (attack and clarity) of percussion and wind instruments is reduced. This means that the claim that EVO makes about 432 representation is correct. The sound sounds pleasant, quiet, less harsh and slightly warmer. Nevertheless, the EVO offers the user the possibility to adjust the sound within 432 mode. Energy, dynamics and clarity can be set. The 'very high' setting (instead of the standard 'ultra high') offers slightly tighter low, faster transients and dynamics. This recipe has only post-ringing and no pre-ringing. The standard 'ultra high' setting has symmetric post and pre ringing. Audiophiles often find that more pleasant. The EVO can thus function in the 'normal' 440Hz mode, where both modes can be configured in different ways. In 440Hz mode the signal can be transmitted 'bit-perfect' or resampled. The EVO resampled all source files, streaming services and DSD on the fly to a fixed output resolution in case of 432Hz playback. Resampling ensures that the EVO can also play files that do not fall within the capabilities of the customer's DAC, such as DSD on a traditional PCM DAC, or ultra high-rez studio files (eg DXD 24 / 352.8) on a 24-hour basis. / 192 or 24/96 DAC. The standard output with 432 display is 24/192, but can be set by the user from 16 / 44.1 to 32/768 and any possible variation in between. From a musical point of view, it is still interesting to describe what the EVO does in 432 fashion. In fact, you are transposing, because you play the music in a different key. The A on the keyboard is not quite a Gis, but something in between. The music is thus not fully transposed to the scale of Gis. That sounds (in the ears of the undersigned) light alienating and sometimes here and there dissonant, especially if you have the voices of artists in your head. So a piece of music gets a different atmosphere. A curious sensation is listening to piano or guitar in 432 mode. It experiences as listening to an instrument that is not properly tuned. Where the undersigned does not yet have a clear view, what happens to music is played on acoustic instruments that are recorded natively with a reference of 432Hz. In other words : are a number of these observations the result of the digital processing or really due to the 432Hz tuning?

Conclusion It is not the intention to make a statement about 432Hz processing here. In that case, your reviewer could, without proper research, be able to connect with all the non-nuanced opinions on the internet. In the article researchers are therefore mentioned who are/were seriously involved with the 432-matter. The sound changes as the manufacturer of the EVO server describes it and as was also observed during the listening sessions. Others also came up with similar observations during the review period. You have to decide yourself if you are enthusiastic about 432. The basic principle is that if a system does what you expect, it will be good (for yourself). What others think or say is simply unimportant. You must listen daily. Then back to the EVO server itself. In terms of building technology, there is top quality with good documentation and all kinds of interfaces for operation. In principle, the device is compatible with all streaming sites and can be made compatible with future sites by writing a piece of Java and / or XML. This can of course be left to the service of the manufacturer. Thanks to the smart VPN connection, many problems can be resolved online and provided updates. Sound-technical this device performs very well. If this streamer is compared with the other (440Hz) streamers in the market, the EVO distinguishes itself with an exceptionally good streaming audio quality. There is enthusiasm about this.