A novel way to massively improve the SQ of computer audio streaming

[Balázs]

On 4/28/2019 at 7:32 PM, tapatrick said:

 

 

"This LifePO4 pure battery power supply is a completed solution to provide battery based clean power voltage rails. When it's turned off, all batteries will be charged automatically. The charging progress is managed and monitored by Smart battery management. Comparing with an active power supply such as a voltage regulator, it has much better load transient response and less noise. Includes five independent voltage rails - 2x 3.3V isolated voltage rails. 2x 3.3V-13.2V isolated voltage rails, which can be configured as 3.3V, 6.6V, 9.9V or 13.2V separately. 1x 5V 2A linear LT3042 regulated non-isolated rail."

 

 

 

As DYI and the LT3042 have been mentioned: several months ago I managed to significanty improve my HDPLEX 200 W LPSU (andaccordingly the SQ) with utilizing some "Stammheim" boards. Each of these boards use 6x LT3045 in parallel and I use two boards in a serial configuration (after some heat reducing pre-regulation). You can see an early version of the "improved" LPSU on the attached photos. I still use this configuration to provide clean 12VDC, 5.5 VDC and 5VDC for my digital chain (SoTM devices, Mutec MC3+ USBs, etc). I'm planning to use other versions of this regulator board to feed the JCAT Femto cards and eventually the complete motherboard (ATX24) of my Roon server.

 

[Balázs]

2 hours ago, guiltyboxswapper said:

@Balázs in your PSU setup above, is it me or are the LT3045s being fed from an already regulated PSU, thereby somewhat limiting final performance?  i.e. the slower regulators in the chain can end up degrading performance.

 

Yes the LPSU is based on the standard output of the HDPLEX 200.

 

First I tried to get direct AC input from the transformer. Although it worked (I had to use diodes on the Stammheim board) I didn't notice any sonic benefit against the DC driven approach. I am no expert at all but I think the slower regulators don't really matter if they are before the faster ones in the regulation chain.

 

On the other hand my goal was to improve on the HDPLEX 200W I already had not to build a new one. I didn't really want to bypass its protection circuits (Overvoltage , Overload protection,Overcurrent protection, short circuit protection)

[Balázs]

2 hours ago, sunny_time_99 said:

Did you compare other regulators, before you build this monster psu? imho you can paralell as much 3045 as you want, it will never sound really good. 3045 is not specially designed for audio use, like others. It got nice specs but it allways sounds flat. Ripple is only one aspect in psu design. There are many ways to reduce ripple...

 

You are absolutely right and I didn't invent to design a new PSU. I just wanted to have a single source of good quality DC instead of many smaller PSU based on my existing HDPLEX 200. I really like what the 3045 did to the HDPLEX. It can be that it's not the 3045 that makes the difference but the HDPLEX represents a rather low quality power.

[Balázs]

12 hours ago, drjimwillie said:

I would like to use regulators to clean up the power from my ATX but if I put LT3045s in line won’t it drop the voltage and reduce the compatibility with the  computers requirements?

 

This is someting I'd also like to do but , there are some challenges that should be addressed first.

 

ATX specification

The specification of the ATX24 interface needs 3.3/5/12/-12VDC. This mean you should "produce" or convert a lot from your HDPLEX to get to these voltages.

 

Power

Another issue the power need. According to Molex  a fully populated 24 pin Wire-To-Board connector could deliver 8A per pin. The HDPLEX 400 specification of the ATX output: 
 

Output Voltage

Max DC Current

Full Load DC Current

Output Voltage Tolerance

Ripple (mV)

---

+12V	20A	18A	2%	3mV
-12V	1A	0.5A	2%	5mV
+5V	16A	13A	2%	3mV
+3.3V	16A	13A	1%	3mV
5V SB	3A	12A	1%	5mV

The "strongest" LT3045 Stammheim board has 5A max... 

 

Voltage drop

The Schottky diodes drop 0.4V  and the LT3045 has also some loss but very low. The Stammheim board drops 0.8V of DC input. I'd really use a higher DC output of the HDPLEX to get down to the neeed exact voltage value.

 

I would suggest to get a single DC powered motherboard like the ones @romaz and @seeteeyou mentioned but you'd like to optimize your Roon/HQP  server that takes much power. This will be a rather difficult task

[Balázs]

Has anyone tried an Intel NUC Roon endpoint with the JCAT femto cards yet? Using a PCI riser dual adapter for the external USB and NET cards could be a SOtM reclocking alternative, couldn't it? 

[Balázs]

53 minutes ago, Dutch said:

 

SOtM say they will release a mPCI(M.2) and PCIe compatible network card themselves in Munich. Not sure what it’ll look like and if it’s small enough to fit inside a NUC or one of the Akasa NUC enclosures. 

 

https://www.sotm-audio.com/sotmwp/english/highend2019/

 

Check this link for a ‘how to’ JCAt NET card “inside” a NUC. I don’t believe anyone active in this thread has done this. Several did install the NET card inside the server.

https://jcat.eu/install-jcat-cards/

 

Thanks @Dutch. A couple of days ago I ordered an M.2>PCIe adapter and a dual slot riser card. As soon as they arrive I will be able to try them with my JCAT cards and NUC7i7DNKE.

 

https://de.aliexpress.com/item/M-2-NGFF-NVMe-M-Key2280-To-PCIe-3-0-4x-Riser-Card-Cable-PCI-Express/32833359557.html?spm=a2g0x.10010108.1000016.1.7b204ca20TfFxB&isOrigTitle=true

 

https://de.aliexpress.com/item/Dual-slot-pice-PCI-E-X16-extension-card-2U-PCI-E-video-card-graphics-video-card/33003556007.html?spm=a2g0x.10010108.1000016.1.5d6c48f6Vea8Z8&isOrigTitle=true

 

One more gadget I'd like to play with is the picoPSU. I know that these units have already been discussed here but I'm not sure about how they perform when connected with the 19V output versus the ATX output of the HDPLEX 400W. The single 19V option also provides an easy way to improve by regulators (LT3045 etc.) Last but not least I found a pretty strong 200W picoPSU "clone" called Dynamo Mini by KMPKT. Interestingly, it's HDPLEX who builds this PSU for KMPKT.

 

https://www.sfflab.com/products/kmpkt_dynamo_psu

 

P. S. Thanks a lot for the information regarding the coming SOtM netword card. Now I understand why May refused to clock the JCAT cards saying they "don’t modify the products for other brand products"