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Best upgrade for me??


StefT

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Hi,

 

Please first excuse my english, I'm french.

 

I would like to upgrade my music PC and I need your help.

 

I'm using a Asrock N3150DC-ITX (ASRock > N3150DC-ITX ), 8GO of RAM, Samsung 840 for OS (Linux Fedora real time ccrma and MPD player), WD red for music. The Asrock MB is top because it has 19V input.

My USB/AES converter is the Bryston BUC-1 and my DAC is the Forssell MDAC-2.

 

What do you recommend me?

- A good PSU? Teddy Pardo, HDplex...

- Regen Uptone?

- SOTM PCIe card or USB hub?

 

What's the choice in my situation?

 

Thanks, regards.

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Hi StefT,

 

I'm using a Asrock N3150DC-ITX (ASRock > N3150DC-ITX ), 8GO of RAM, Samsung 840 for OS (Linux Fedora real time ccrma and MPD player), WD red for music. The Asrock MB is top because it has 19V input. My USB/AES converter is the Bryston BUC-1 and my DAC is the Forssell MDAC-2.

 

Using an adequate (i.e. low ripple & noise, high line & load regulation) power supply for the music server definitely made a positive difference for me. Besides the audiophile solutions there is also the option to use a laboratory supply.

 

Something you could also look into is setting the processor affinity for mpd. Dynobot published some examples in the Daphile thread from post #660.

 

Regards,

-- iago

Primary ::= Nabla music server | Mutec MC-3+USB w/ Temex LPFRS-01 RB clock | WLM Gamma Reference DAC; Secondary ::= Nabla music server | WaveIO | PrismSound Lyra

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Hi,

 

Please first excuse my english, I'm french.

 

I would like to upgrade my music PC and I need your help.

 

I'm using a Asrock N3150DC-ITX (ASRock > N3150DC-ITX ), 8GO of RAM, Samsung 840 for OS (Linux Fedora real time ccrma and MPD player), WD red for music. The Asrock MB is top because it has 19V input.

My USB/AES converter is the Bryston BUC-1 and my DAC is the Forssell MDAC-2.

 

What do you recommend me?

- A good PSU? Teddy Pardo, HDplex...

- Regen Uptone?

- SOTM PCIe card or USB hub?

 

What's the choice in my situation?

 

Thanks, regards.

 

It's always hard to tell what will work best in someone else's system. It varies by system/DAC.

I'd guess a good PSU (preferably for motherboard and also connections to power SSD drives) would make the most difference.

Main listening (small home office):

Main setup: Surge protector +>Isol-8 Mini sub Axis Power Strip/Isolation>QuietPC Low Noise Server>Roon (Audiolense DRC)>Stack Audio Link II>Kii Control>Kii Three (on their own electric circuit) >GIK Room Treatments.

Secondary Path: Server with Audiolense RC>RPi4 or analog>Cayin iDAC6 MKII (tube mode) (XLR)>Kii Three .

Bedroom: SBTouch to Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Setup.
Living Room/Kitchen: Ropieee (RPi3b+ with touchscreen) + Schiit Modi3E to a pair of Morel Hogtalare. 

All absolute statements about audio are false :)

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Thanks guys!

 

Yes, it's a nice equipment but I think it's possible to improve SQ.

Fedora with ccrma rt kernel and MPD are top.

But I think the brick PSU and the USB output of the MB are the weakness of my setup. What do you think about that?

 

Regards.

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Sorry, no that was not the intention. Not stupid, but difficult to assess over the distance. If someone ask you 'what should I change', one can only go by conjecture and previous experience in one's own environment.

 

My own experience is that power supplies - especially in digital circuits - matter, so you will probably benefit from improving at this end. In my case supplying the music server from a regulator improved the perceived sound stage. My USB to S/PDIF converter was powered from the USB bus initially; putting this on a separate rail did not really change much.

 

With a USB -> AES3 converter in the setup you already have reclocking in place. From what other people reported I assume that the introduction of another device aimed at signal reconstitution (USB card, USB re-generator) will make a difference, but considerably less than the introduction of the first one. Since I already have a re-conditioner downstream of the S/PDIF converter, I never felt curious enough to try another one ... The re-conditioner improved the naturalness of transients, e.g. when a (snare) drum, a piece of metal or wood (triangle, gong, vibraphone) is hit or a string is plucked (acoustic guitar). It was smaller than the effect of the USB -> S/PDIF converter itself and the impact was less if fed into a DAC that already uses signal reconditioning.

 

I would expect that both changes (power supply, USB re-conditioning) could make a positive difference in your system, but the effect may be less than anticipated.

Primary ::= Nabla music server | Mutec MC-3+USB w/ Temex LPFRS-01 RB clock | WLM Gamma Reference DAC; Secondary ::= Nabla music server | WaveIO | PrismSound Lyra

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