SOtM, a Korean company, had caught my attention at a number of shows with their way cool looking and affordably priced products that allow one to get their files from A to B. SOtM offers three lines of products: the Ultimate, the Advanced I, the Advanced II, along with a good number of accessories. You really need to go to their site to sort these lines out as each offers the listener anything from a streamer to a renderer to a DAC to a preamplifier to a USB reclocker to an LPS to a whole lot more… all offering more or less based on price. Well thought out and quite extensive, SOtM has also received a number of very complimentary reviews elsewhere… and so here I am with the SMS-200ultra (12V 75ohm Clock input $1400 or $1200 without) renderer/network player, the tx-USBultra (9V $990) USB signal regenerator/reclocker, and sPS-500 ($500) power supply. Like I said, go the the SOtM website as there is a lot going on here… more than I want to copy and paste!
SMS-200ultra front
All the SOtM units are housed in identical boxes, of which they receive much praise on my part for not being just another black box. No, in this case—pun intended—the cases are smallish and look simply way cool. The name in the upper left differentiates the units from each other in looking at any from the front.
I decided to review these as a trio, since, well, that is how I see them being used to get the best for the price. The sPS-500 can power two units, but only if they are of the same voltage. Since the tx-USBultra USB USB signal regenerator/reclocker is 6V and the SMS-200ultra is 12V, I was forced to use the supplied wall-wart for the tx-USBultra. I would like to hear both units driven by the better power supply as I suspect that even further gains—sonically and musically—could be obtained.
tx-USBultra rear
So, the set up was this… the SMS-200ultra connected to the tx-USBultra via a 1.5 meter of WyWires' Platinum USB and the tx-USBultra was connected to the PS Audio Directsream DAC via another 1.5 meter of WyWires' Platinum USB cable. Ethernet cables were all Wireworld Starlight. Files were streamed from the Antipodes CORE using Roon server… while the SMS-200ultra works with SqueezeLite, MPD, HQ Player NAA, and others… and can also be set as a DLNA Renderer, yeah, but I went with Roon as the SMS-200ultra is Roon Ready, and well… that is where my comfort zone lies in terms of experience with sonics and music and not with SqueezeLite, MPD, HQ Player NAA, and the others. Besides, I see most users going the Roon route anyhow… and using all three units together since the worked so well… together!
Yeah, feeding the trio files from the CORE via Roon presented the music as a complete whole. Clean and articulate… a wonderful sense of rightness that showed itself where the music just was… or is… there. Just was or is?! Just there?! What does that mean…? Well, the music came across in a way that drew you in, something that never made you think of the pieces or parts. I never felt a need to listen for anything as it was there… it was or is there. Complete with a wonderful sense of presence. For me, I would attribute this to the three pieces working together, synergistically and as a complete unit. Not individual parts, but parts that form a one. And for sure, what I was hearing was a result of less crap and noise getting in the way… the benefits of the tx-USBultra were quite evident if I took it out of the chain… more pieces to the music and less of the whole or completeness as heard with it as part of the trio. Having it in the chain, clearly allowed more of the music to come across with less grain and grit, less hardness and glare… no make that no grain or grit… or hardness and glare. Smooth and yet articulate, resolving and, well that sense of a smooth visceral liquidity… and as a whole.
SMS-200ultra rear
The trio gives a lot of space and resolve. Bass is deep and articulate, dynamic and clean. The room is filled with the music and, like I said, one is not drawn to picking this or that out—nothing is spotlit for you to go… "oooh, listen to that!" In some sense, I found the music tidy and to a great extent, luxurious… and refined... for lack of better words. Tidy in how the music came across as a whole and with all the pieces. But the pieces were there within the whole and not drawing attention to themselves as previously noted. Luxurious in how the music just flowed with a wonderful sense of movement and presence. Refined in that the music was presented with nary a quibble. I spent a lot of time playing this or that from my 38k plus songs—ranging Burial to Ricardo Villalobos (the remixes of ECM titles) to Aleksi Perala (the Colundi Sequence titles) to Mogwai to Eno to U-Men to PiL to UNKLE to... whatever. And all the while the trio competed with what I had heard with the Antipodes' CORE and EDGE (read that review HERE), and my older AURALiC Aries. For sure the CORE/EDGE combo or simply the CORE by itself gets more of that organic quality across. They sound richer and warmer than the SOtM trio… and for sure dig deeper into the music. But damn, the SOtM trio is so much fun to listen to…. the music is well-balanced. Even and right. Refined and elegant.
Dynamics and control? Check. Bass extension and power? Check. Clean and articulate? Check. Resolving while not being analytical or annoyingly this or that? Check. Musical? Check. Cool to look at? Check. Easy and simple to use? Check. Quality for the money? Check.
And the SMS-200ultra was easy to set up with the web interface. Choose the playback option and away you go. It popped up in the Roon window and was stable from day one. No issues in any area—network, USB connection, whatever. Plug and play. Nice.
sPS-500 rear
How would they perform or sound with SqueezeLite, MPD, HQ Player NAA as the software for playback? Probably like those sound… or make your music sound. As I said earlier, Roon is here and was the obvious way to go, it is becoming the "the go to" choice anyhow… so there you go. Obviously, one is not going to go out and buy the Antipodes' CORE or EDGE to play Roon back as most would use a PC, Mac, or once released, Roon's own sever. So, for sure the CORE is overkill and no doubt a part of what I heard… or what was not heard. Even so… I liked what I heard… or what was not heard… here. I would speculate that using a dedicated PC, Mac, or other server would result in very similar findings.
I did give the trio a good 100 hours of music and such to settle in prior to listening. One thing to note is the need to be sure that the sPS-500 is set to the correct voltage. There is a recessed selector on the rear to choose between 7v, 9v, 12v, and 19v… easy. The stock AC cord, as supplied, was used to power the sPS-500.
Recommended? Hell yeah… a real no brainer. For the money, the SOtM units are a real bargin. Now I want to try the tx-USBultra and sPS-500 together and see what they can do with either the CORE or the recently arrived, AURLiC Aries G2… next time!
