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Article: Computer Audiophile Pocket Server C.A.P.S. v3 Carbon


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If anyone has bought that HDplex case can you please confirm how you went slotting in the Intel motherboard. The MB described in this CAPS build has a built in Atom processor with a black heat sink already on top. Does this fit in under that copper pipe arrangement built into the HDplex? Do you have to bend the pipes to get the MB in, or did you have to remove the Atom heat sink off the Intel board? Cheers.

New simplified setup: STEREO- Primary listening Area: Cullen Circuits Mod ZP90> Benchmark DAC1>RotelRKB250 Power amp>KEF Q Series. Secondary listening areas: 1/ QNAP 119P II(running MinimServer)>UPnP>Linn Majik DSI>Linn Majik 140's. 2/ (Source awaiting)>Invicta DAC>RotelRKB2100 Power amp>Rega's. Tertiary multiroom areas: Same QNAP>SMB>Sonos>Various. MULTICHANNEL- MacMini>A+(Standalone mode)>Exasound e28 >5.1 analog out>Yamaha Avantage Receiver>Pre-outs>Linn Chakra power amps>Linn Katan front and sides. Linn Trikan Centre. Velodyne SPL1000 Ultra

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If anyone has bought that HDplex case can you please confirm how you went slotting in the Intel motherboard. The MB described in this CAPS build has a built in Atom processor with a black heat sink already on top. Does this fit in under that copper pipe arrangement built into the HDplex? Do you have to bend the pipes to get the MB in, or did you have to remove the Atom heat sink off the Intel board? Cheers.

Seems to me that, with the Intel 2800 MB, you would simply not use the HDplex sink/pipes. Perhaps a bigger obstacle with using an HDplex with CAPS 3 components would regard installing the SOtM USB card?

Roon ROCK (Roon 1.7; NUC7i3) > Ayre QB-9 Twenty > Ayre AX-5 Twenty > Thiel CS2.4SE (crossovers rebuilt with Clarity CSA and Multicap RTX caps, Mills MRA-12 resistors; ERSE and Jantzen coils; Cardas binding posts and hookup wire); Cardas and OEM power cables, interconnects, and speaker cables

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There are reports that linux users will have problems with these new Intel Atom boards. Here is the link : http://www.pcworld.com/article/262324/intel_clover_trail_atom_chip_wont_work_with_linux.html

 

This CAPS intel board is one of these clover trails, correct?

 

Are there any alternatives from say Gigabit which also can be externally power from a battery?

New simplified setup: STEREO- Primary listening Area: Cullen Circuits Mod ZP90> Benchmark DAC1>RotelRKB250 Power amp>KEF Q Series. Secondary listening areas: 1/ QNAP 119P II(running MinimServer)>UPnP>Linn Majik DSI>Linn Majik 140's. 2/ (Source awaiting)>Invicta DAC>RotelRKB2100 Power amp>Rega's. Tertiary multiroom areas: Same QNAP>SMB>Sonos>Various. MULTICHANNEL- MacMini>A+(Standalone mode)>Exasound e28 >5.1 analog out>Yamaha Avantage Receiver>Pre-outs>Linn Chakra power amps>Linn Katan front and sides. Linn Trikan Centre. Velodyne SPL1000 Ultra

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Hi Chris,

 

Got a reccomended SATA cable? I know this is probably a very 'needy' question, but in the world of $1k+ USB cables, I figured it's best to get something of baseline quality.

 

Thanks,

 

aj

 

No need for a special SATA cables. They are designed to handle all you data moving needs with error recovery and business grade data integrity built in. The regular old in-the-motherboard-box SATA cables are as good as any other out there.

 

The only time you *might* need a special cable is for external connections or long runs, neither of which are applicable inside a CAPS case, or any normal computer case for that matter.

Whatever works.

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Hi All,

 

Chris mentioned not to have any other USB devices connected due to the way USB protocol operates in the PC.... Is it ok to use one of the powered USB ports on the DN2800mt to power a battery powered DAC (eg JKDAC)? I would assume since no data is transferring from the USB port it would be ok but not sure how the PC will treat this.

 

Many thanks,

ejn1

Equipment:

Auralic Vega DAC, Auralic Taurus Preamp, KEF LS50 Speakers, Hypex Ncore400 monoblock amps, CAPs V3, Paul Hynes SR5 (12v and 9v rails), Audioquest King Cobra XLRs, Signal Cable speaker cable, Furutech power and USB cable

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Wap,

powering the motherboard via the dc plug does not insure that the motherboard will then send clean power to its peripherals. In fact, it is this precise issue that has me wondering what can be done to separately power everything in the design. For example, I have a massive Hynes linear power supply sending good clean power to the mobo (in my CAPS v2=) but the SOtM, a well-filtered design in an of itself, clearly benefits from its own dedicated external power (battery pack, iFi, etc). So, it goes to reason that the motherboard is not passing this clean Hynesian power along...so I am not really sure how much benefit the Hynes (or any dc-plugged external power source) is providing...if in fact the SSD and whatever else are getting this dirty mobo power too.

 

Hi Ted,

 

I have a Hynes PS on order to power the main board just like you have and have debated getting the SOTM battery supply for their USB card... But was thinking another solution might be to pick up a battery powered DAC that does not take the 5v power from the mobo (other than to charge the battery)... Maybe this is a solution.... Back to your point above though, I was inspired by your Caps V2+ design and went in that direction except I used the Msata drive and 1 4gb memory stick. You had mentioned that when you built the V2+ that it was the best music you have ever heard from a server before you had the SOTM battery charger. So I would have to deduce that your PH supply had something to do with that assessment? and that your SOTM battery charger only added slightly to that improvement??? I guess I'm thinking that you have a better ear than me and when you say "best ever", I think that is probably more than enough for my ears! Just trying to figure out when the curve of benefit versus cost starts to get really exotic when it comes to power supplies on every step in the audio chain.

 

Value your thoughts,

ejn1

Equipment:

Auralic Vega DAC, Auralic Taurus Preamp, KEF LS50 Speakers, Hypex Ncore400 monoblock amps, CAPs V3, Paul Hynes SR5 (12v and 9v rails), Audioquest King Cobra XLRs, Signal Cable speaker cable, Furutech power and USB cable

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Has anyone thought of actually powering components with small lithium batteries. You know AA, AAA even those you find in garage remotes or watches? Seriously. Once you have the motherboard and SOTM USB card powered, how much power do these smaller components need? Chris said this CAPS case had a real easy flip top case. Why not power the SSD's with disposable lithium batteries? How many other components are we talking about? Without spinning discs, add on estata cards, video cards etc etc...ie if one builds a "pure" CAPS, what else do you need to power? I know jack sh*t what I'm talking about here and no idea if it could be done, but seriously why not ?

New simplified setup: STEREO- Primary listening Area: Cullen Circuits Mod ZP90> Benchmark DAC1>RotelRKB250 Power amp>KEF Q Series. Secondary listening areas: 1/ QNAP 119P II(running MinimServer)>UPnP>Linn Majik DSI>Linn Majik 140's. 2/ (Source awaiting)>Invicta DAC>RotelRKB2100 Power amp>Rega's. Tertiary multiroom areas: Same QNAP>SMB>Sonos>Various. MULTICHANNEL- MacMini>A+(Standalone mode)>Exasound e28 >5.1 analog out>Yamaha Avantage Receiver>Pre-outs>Linn Chakra power amps>Linn Katan front and sides. Linn Trikan Centre. Velodyne SPL1000 Ultra

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^ I mean this is where CAPS is heading folks..

 

Raspberry Pi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Model B has 2 USB ports and one Ethernet. For storage: well Lexar just released a 256 GB SD card: and eventually we'll get 2TB SD cards.

 

The rasberry pi costs $25 runs Linux right now, soon XBMC..who knows even Frodo XBMC and 24/192 files. Probably other Linux based audiophile media players too ... Heck I don't know!

 

All potentially powered by lithium disposable batteries...

 

I know this sounds far fetched..but these things are available *now*..

 

So dont spend too much on all these "powering stuff" options guys.. Just saying.

New simplified setup: STEREO- Primary listening Area: Cullen Circuits Mod ZP90> Benchmark DAC1>RotelRKB250 Power amp>KEF Q Series. Secondary listening areas: 1/ QNAP 119P II(running MinimServer)>UPnP>Linn Majik DSI>Linn Majik 140's. 2/ (Source awaiting)>Invicta DAC>RotelRKB2100 Power amp>Rega's. Tertiary multiroom areas: Same QNAP>SMB>Sonos>Various. MULTICHANNEL- MacMini>A+(Standalone mode)>Exasound e28 >5.1 analog out>Yamaha Avantage Receiver>Pre-outs>Linn Chakra power amps>Linn Katan front and sides. Linn Trikan Centre. Velodyne SPL1000 Ultra

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Seems to me that, with the Intel 2800 MB, you would simply not use the HDplex sink/pipes. Perhaps a bigger obstacle with using an HDplex with CAPS 3 components would regard installing the SOtM USB card?

 

I am now building a HDplex box. The SOtM card fits in fine with a riser card. I got mine from HDplex, but I'm sure they're available elsewhere - probably cheaper.

Auctioneer: How much do I hear?[br]Audience member: That\'s metaphysically absurd, man! How can I know what you hear?[br] — The Firesign Theatre, [br] Don\'t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers

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I am now building a HDplex box. The SOtM card fits in fine with a riser card. I got mine from HDplex, but I'm sure they're available elsewhere - probably cheaper.

Nice! So, are the HDplex sink/pipes an obstacle per the above post?

 

I see that Small Green Computer is now building Carbon using the CAPS 2.0 case. Too bad. The HDplex is, IMO, the best looking computer case I've seen and appears to be a high quality product made in US - for only $100 more than the Wesena case Chris selected.

Roon ROCK (Roon 1.7; NUC7i3) > Ayre QB-9 Twenty > Ayre AX-5 Twenty > Thiel CS2.4SE (crossovers rebuilt with Clarity CSA and Multicap RTX caps, Mills MRA-12 resistors; ERSE and Jantzen coils; Cardas binding posts and hookup wire); Cardas and OEM power cables, interconnects, and speaker cables

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. . . I couldn't count on them being in stock. HDPlex has been around for a few years but keeping cases in stock has always been an issue.

 

Given the lack of Wesena availability, I'm happy to know you have a good sense of irony ;^)

Roon ROCK (Roon 1.7; NUC7i3) > Ayre QB-9 Twenty > Ayre AX-5 Twenty > Thiel CS2.4SE (crossovers rebuilt with Clarity CSA and Multicap RTX caps, Mills MRA-12 resistors; ERSE and Jantzen coils; Cardas binding posts and hookup wire); Cardas and OEM power cables, interconnects, and speaker cables

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Maybe this has been asked before (although I couldn't find it on this thread) but what reasons, if any, could a CAPS 3 Carbon configuration not be used in the CAPS 2 Origen Case?

 

Joel

 

I dont see why you can't use just about any case that will fit a mini atx board and a have a slot for the SOTM USB card plus any desired extra space you want for future expansion. A lot of the origen cases have front panel screens whether this creates software conflicts, RF noise etc I dont know but you can always not connect the screen. IMO, the Streacom cases have the same look and build quality as the Origen and are less money but this is just an opinion.

Equipment:

Auralic Vega DAC, Auralic Taurus Preamp, KEF LS50 Speakers, Hypex Ncore400 monoblock amps, CAPs V3, Paul Hynes SR5 (12v and 9v rails), Audioquest King Cobra XLRs, Signal Cable speaker cable, Furutech power and USB cable

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You have my gratitude Chris. I will benefit from your work.

 

My question is this: if I build a Carbon with extra SSD (I have about 2000 cds) would you advise that I house a hard disk for back up plus optical reader in a different PC case, or should I have the optical reader in the Carbon, or should it be a stand alone optical reader that I supply with the Red Wine battery? Should the hard disk also be independent and supplied by the Red Wine?

 

regards and thanks

 

Philip

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So given the lack of availability of the Wesena case and the apparent uncertainty as to when that case will be available, is there a preferred alternative? HDPLEX? Something else?

 

Extra credit if you provide a link with the source for the product you recommend.

 

Thanks,

 

Joel

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You have my gratitude Chris. I will benefit from your work.

 

My question is this: if I build a Carbon with extra SSD (I have about 2000 cds) would you advise that I house a hard disk for back up plus optical reader in a different PC case, or should I have the optical reader in the Carbon, or should it be a stand alone optical reader that I supply with the Red Wine battery? Should the hard disk also be independent and supplied by the Red Wine?

 

regards and thanks

 

Philip

Hi Philip - I would use an external backup disk and optical drive with the Carbon and only connect them when needed.

Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems AudiophileStyleStickerWhite2.0.png AudiophileStyleStickerWhite7.1.4.png

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Hi, The graphic card memory is managed by the card, and so is not part of the OS memory, and doesn't count against the 32bit 4GB limit. Also, IE 9/Chrome/FF now use the CPU power of video cards to offset CPU cycles, meaning the main CPU isn't doing the drawing for browsing, so it does help in that regard. Also, the card will draw more power, which goes against the CAPS requirements. See these test results, Power, Temperature, And Noise Benchmarks : AMD Radeon HD 6450 Review: Caicos Cometh. There are other similar fanless cards. Search Amazon.

The card would likely require a 100w power supply instead of 60w per the spec, which can be had for $25.

I have not added a fanless graphics card to an Atom processor board. Someone else, perhaps Small Green Computer can confirm if this particular board takes it. But for other boards with available PCIexpress slot, it works great.

It seems that we can also use Broadcom BCM970015 CardCrystal HD - PCIe Mini to improve video... ;)

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So given the lack of availability of the Wesena case and the apparent uncertainty as to when that case will be available, is there a preferred alternative? HDPLEX? Something else?

 

Extra credit if you provide a link with the source for the product you recommend.

 

Thanks,

 

Joel

 

looks like on the site it now says "Cargo will arrive ~Jan 10, 2013. Pre-order now.". But I am still interested in peoples responses, although I like the case Chris selected and im just going to wait.

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wow....that is exaclty the product I am looking for. Thank you very much. Amazing. Theorhetically, I can use this to watch concetrs now. Ordered. Hopefully this works.

Great! Let's know your review... ;)

 

With it we can use Windows 8 x64bit and 8GB RAM...

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