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

[numlog]

Has anyone else had the chance to listen externally powered Optane drive yet?

Im thrown back by how much difference it made for the OS Optane drive, it seems Optane has the the potential to scale greatly with improved power, if it wasnt already clearly the superior drive choice.

 

BTW you can fit Windows Server GUI on a 16GB Optane drive, its requires you to freshly install Windows to a normal sized drive first, then run a clean up tool to delete all unneeded junk from the  Windows folder, also uninstall/delete any preinstalled files/features. You can then use AOMEI  Backupper to clone this install onto the 16GB Optane, I had around 2GB free space on it after doing this but it may vary depending on version/build of windows.

[numlog]

No because these adapters use onboard DC-DC converters to get 3.3V from the 12V rail.

I used single slot version with no power connector, taped 12V PCIe Pins, desoldered the series inductor on the output of DC-DC converter and connected external 3.3V supply there. With some basic soldering/construction skills you can add whatever connector you like to the adapter

 

thanks for advice on latency, this was to test the waters for Optane without spending much. Hoping we see some larger and affordable drives for the next gen that can serve as storage aswell as OS.

[numlog]

no idea,  I would guess the 12V rail is a more reliable choice for the power source, maybe power quality was influencing benchmark performance of these drives in some circumstances. There looked to be other, less expensive brands of adapterthat  did take 3.3V from the PCIe slot, maybe there a multislot version with 3.3V from sata connector but something I liked about the startech single slot adapter was that you could see it had the shortest PCB traces for its data lines. 

[numlog]

Im interested in either the 380GB 905P M.2 drive or a 128Gb M15 M.2 card if they release one,

the PCIe card versions creates problems for using external power

 

 

If using a RAM Player I dont see any advantage to buffering from SSD/HDD to Optane then to RAM, it may make things worse.

 

[numlog]

I ordered one of those players too only a couple days ago, we've heard what a powerful PC can sound like, trying  the complete opposite of that will be interesting.

 

It's an odd device, you would not expect some obscure item hidden away on a chinese marketplace to be anything special but they seem to have made a decent effort to be audiophile oriented, not just some device for making basic sound.

 

the DSD support is really surprising and the most promising feature.

The 'NoDAC' concept can be applied to this device in a way that wasn't possible before.

In theory, you can take a raw DSD data signal (from an SACD disc or HDD/SSD), add an analogue filter and you have a listenable analogue signal without any ''DAC'' in the typical sense.

Until now this was only really possible with a PC via a USB interface , which is painfully more complicated than it needs to be.

This SD Card player has no SATA, no USB, its a computer with one function - to read the DSD data from the card and output it.

 

[numlog]

As usual you have all the insider info 😁

[numlog]

On 7/27/2021 at 6:57 AM, Gavin1977 said:

Those mundorfs are great, but what about ultra caps?  I would have thought they’d be preferable when trying to achieve ultra low impedance.  Also smaller and cheaper.

Used correctly, ultra caps (and also batteries in some ways) are the ultimate choice as a direct power source for a circuit, particularly analog circuits, providing massive energy storage with exceptionally low output impedance passively (i.e without feedback). 

Used indirectly e.g coming before a network of active DC-DC converters or regulators using feedback, it would be not surprising they don't sound better,  or worse even, than traditional supplies. 

 

Ultra caps, similar to batteries, will have higher impedance at very high frequencies than regular capacitors (and possibly active regulators too), so using large capacitors banks in combination with them is still a good idea, it can help address the 'slow' or 'smeared' sound, they are not a substitute in other words. 

 

They also only come in very low voltages, for 36V you would a huge amount wired in series, the impedance adds up and capacitance divides down when you do, so you would need to add the same amount in parallel to each time to maintain the same performance of one ultra cap... not cheap or small.

 

Coincidentally digital circuits will be running at voltages of 3.3V or lower typically.... ideal conditions for ultra caps to be used directly.