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My First Audio PC based on HDPlex 2nd Generation H5


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Just finished the build of my first Audio PC and I wanted to share it here. It consists of:

 

- HDPlex 2nd Generation H5 fanless case

- Supermicro X11SAE-M motherboard

- Intel XEON E3-1245V5 CPU

- 2x8Gb Apacer Industrial DDR4

- 32GB Apacer Industrial SSD

- JCAT USB Card FEMTO

 

The system is powered by Uptone JS-2 LPS and runs on Win Server 2012 R2 + AO in Core Mode. Players I use are Infinity Blade, HQ Player and JRiver, with the first one being my favorite.

 

So far, after about ~150 hours of playback I can say that it's a big step up in SQ from the regular PC I used before. The sound is much tighter, more articulate and faster. The imaging has greatly improved, the background is very dark with much better instrument separation and overall a less digital and more natural presentation.

 

I'm posting here a few photos, I hope you enjoy them:

 

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Thanks!

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Very good job that one, the heatsink pipes would have taken the tongue into many spots to get right :)

 

Was the JCAT USB card part of the previous build? It looks new, no dust.

 

Suggest to keep the wires short to the drives with these, or something like it.

 

Is the 2TB to store the music files?

 

 

Thank you.

Everything is new in this build, JCAT also new, it's the FEMTO version. Regarding the SATA wires, I already ordered 2 x Pachanko Reference, which should arrive in a few days. I hope they will be as good as everybody keeps saying.

And yes, the 2TB is the music storage.

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Great build. Question...why did you choose to put a spinning hard drive in it? Why not either buy a larger SSD or perhaps external?

Hi tboooe,

 

Thanks for your interest in my build.

 

Regarding your question, this is still a "work on progress" and I am considering other ways to improve the build. One way is the usage of a SSD instead of the HDD, which would be the easiest for me.

 

However I don't have any experience with external storage, I assuming you are suggestion a NAS, right? How are you going from your NAS to the PC?

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Yes I use a NAS which is connected to my wireless router upstairs. I use a wireless bridge in my music room and connect it to my server PC via Ethernet cable (actually I use fiber but that's a different topic). Using AC wireless I have zero issues streaming DSD or high res.

This sounds great. What NAS are you using? Also, can the NAS be connected via fiber directly to the PC? Do you need a special card for that?

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I use an old piece of junk Thecus NAS. There are plenty of options but my favorite is Qnap. Others use Synology.

 

In my server PC I have a dual port fiber NIC. As far as I know there are no consumer grade NAS with fiber. You can however use an FMC (fiber media converter) to go from copper Ethernet cable to fiber.

 

You can definitely connect the NAS to the PC. Setup will depend on what you what to achieve with your network. For example, do you want the NAS accessible from other PCs on your network? If you could get a dual port NIC and then bridge those ports. Or you can get a NAS with dual ports and so do the same bridging. Lots of options. You just need to first figure out what you want to accomplish.

 

I don't have any intention of accessing the NAS from other computers. It's only purpose should be to deliver the music to the Audio PC. What would you recommend for such setup?

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How big is music collection? Maybe use a USB stick or an external drive? Personally, if I was to go to the trouble and expense of getting a NAS, I would locate it remotely from my music room and server to both isolate it electrically and noise wise. Then either use wifi in the server or an external wireless bridge to get the music. If that is too much trouble then I would in just get an ssd to replace the WD you currently have.

 

I have 1TB of music, but it's constantly growing. So, I will take into consideration locating the NAS externally to the listening room, as you suggest.

Thanks for the useful information.

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Nice build Andru. HDplex H5 is a good looking case, I have one myself too.

 

Thanks Robert. Not sure if you noticed, but my power button is missing the H logo. The reason is that at the time of my order they only had caes with black frontplates in stock for Europe. So I ordered a black one and Larry from HD Plex was kind enough to send me another siver frontplate all the way from US. The only thing with this one was that it didn't have the button logo engraved on it, which I didn't mind. In a way I can say that my case is "custom made" :).

 

By the way, I just want to say that Larry is the most responsive and helpful sales person I EVER encountered. And his after sales support is equally excellent.

So, Larry I'd like to say a big thanks for all your help!!!

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Great built.

It sounds like you've done other builds before. Wondering if you could comment on the difference between this Xeon build vs your previous. I'm personally debating going down similar build on more supported i5/win10 vs something like this.

 

 

yes, I have done other builds previosuly, however this is my first dedicated Audio PC build.

Regarding the usage of Xeon CPU, I don't have any way of measuring the difference between it and my other CPUs I used. However, the main reason for choosing this solution was the fact that it supports ECC RAM, which is a better option than regular non-ECC RAM.

Nonetheless, this CPU is also very fast.

 

 

Also, are you able to comment on the difference and how big of a difference between using a PC ATX power supply vs a LPSU? Again, I'm wondering how critical is the LPSU.

 

 

 

In my experience using high quality power cables and a LPSU has a very positive impact on the sound quality.

JS-2 lpsu has 2 separate rails with voltage adjustments. I am using one of them to power the mobo and the second one to power the JCAT USB card.

The results I am getting is considerably reduced noise floor resulting in a very dark background, much better instrument separation, better speed, attack, articulation.

The current configuration in cobination with Win Server 2012 R2 / AO is producing a more lifelike 3D musical presentation and the soundstage being more holographic.

 

 

Finally, if you had to choose, would you go i5/win10 & linear psu or Xeon build with ATX psu?

 

I believe having a linear psu is much more important than the CPU choice.

Another very important componet in my build is the JCAT card. The is a BIG difference in sound between using it and using a regular USB port from the mobo.

There is also a significant difference between using the JCAT card with the provided Renesas Driver vs. using JCAT with the default USB driver provided by the mobo manufacturer.

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Agree with most of this post. 2.5in drives are quieter and draw less current and less backplane noise. You can have two drives in the same space as a 3.5in. As for capacity, there's a 2.5in 5TB Seagate drive that's available, but can't vouch for its reliability just yet and it is 15mm thick as opposed to the usual 7mm that maxes out at 2TB.

 

In any case, it will be worthwhile to get a NAS for backups only. I found that playing files from a NAS reduces listening engagement somewhat, and the slower access times ruin spontaneity. Internal drives are straight on the PCI(e) bus with no long wires and more power supplies adding to leakage current problems.

 

For separately powering HDDs, I don't have much of judgement either way, in one case there's already a power supply, why add another that can cause a ground loop with something else. Just goes on. In one case you're isolating one of 30 or so PSU on the motherboard will it make a difference? Oh, there's a thread or more on that here.

 

Thanks for the info!

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Yesterday I pulled my SSD and installed the 5tb Seagate 2.5 inch HDD powered by an LPS-1 into my HQplayer upsampling machine. In preliminary testing SQ is stunning as the need for the NAS connection is removed and substituted for the quieter HDD. Also, SSDs generate a lot of high frequency noise that is eliminated with the HDD.

 

I have the long disk copy of the many 10,000 music files from the NAS to the new drive running now.

 

Stay tuned. Write speeds on this drive aren't exactly knocking me over.

 

Hi lmitche,

 

So removing the NAS and powering the HDD externally has improved your SQ? Also, are you using one drive for both OS and music storage?

I'm also thinking about powering my OS SSD externally via JS-2 and this is great feedback.

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Andru - many thanks for your detailed replies! And wow. Even memory type matters?

 

boy_lah,

 

In the last year or so I found out that MANY things matter in digital audio, some of them that I have not even thought about before.

 

I personally don't have experience with the streamers/parts/LPSUs you mentioned, so I can't accuratelly answer your questions.

 

However, my suggestion is to ask yourself a few questions:

 

1. Do you want to do a custom build or to use an existing solution (SOTM 200/microRendu/Auralic)? I can tell you that in my experience it is more expensive to build your own. So, if you're on a tight budget you might consider the second option. But note that even with these solutions a LPSU is needed to maximize the performance

 

2. If you decide to build your own, then think about how do you intend to play your music. If you want to upsample to DSD512 using HQP, then you should get a very powerful CPU. If upsampling is not your intent, I guess an I5 will work fine. But you should also have a look at low TDP Xeons. This one (Intel® Xeon® Processor E3-1235L v5 (8M Cache, 2.00 GHz) Product Specifications) has a 25W TDP and it won't require a lot or current from the LPSU.

 

3. The SSD vs HDD debate is very long here on CA. Some people say SSD sounds better, others swear by HDD. I believe it's best to test it for yourself and decide.

 

4. Regarding the LPSU, you should consider your choices carefully. I would NOT go for switching mode PS. Although Seasonic makes excellent PS, they are not intended for audio. HD Plex 100W is very well regarded among audiophiles and I believe that it's the best you can buy for the money. Not to mention the excellent HD Plex support. You could start this way and upgrade to a better LPSU when you'll have more funds. You will also need a nano PS with it: HDPLEX-300W-Hi-Fi-DC-ATX-Power-Supply (16V-24V Wide Range Voltage Input).

 

5. ECC RAM seems to be better because of the error correction ability

 

6. I definitely recommend JCAT. For me it made a big difference, improving all aspects of SQ.

 

To sum up, having a LPSU, JCAT + AO is the golden combo that worked in my case. I am sure that there are other ways of doing this, so you'll just have to find you own :)

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  • 2 weeks later...
Yes and no. Better, you can skip the NAA and make the PC extremely low powered with galvanic isolation, no bigger than needed (like the Renderer/NAA).

 

Can you please explain how the to galvanically isolate the PC? Are you talking about using somehting like Intona?

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  • 2 weeks later...
Hi Andru, did you already received these cables? And how are they performing? Thanks.

 

Hi Robert,

I didn't have time to perform A/B testing against the default cables, however the sound improvement looks to be there. I believe this is the kind of upgrade that you can only appreciate once you go back to the previous cables and you realise that there is a loss of quality.

 

If I get the chance I will try putting back the factory SATAs for a reality check and will report back.

 

Andru

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Thanks, sounds good. Are the cables flexible, and what termination do you have, straight or 90 degrees angle? I am thinking about trying a black reference in my set up.

 

You're welcome Robert.

The points you are bringing a very good. The cables are not very flexible, but you can create loops over bigger distances. I had to purchase 30cm lengths just to cover 10-15cm of distance between the sata ports and the SSD/HDD.

 

Regarding the termination, when I initially spoke to Audiophil before making the purchase, I sent him photos of my setup and asked him about using the 90 degrees termination. However he recommended the straight termination instead, saying that the 90 degrees one would not be better. Now having the cables installed I believe that the 90 degrees ones would have worked better. The reason is that the cables can not be bent at all on a distance of about 7-8cm from the ends. I managed to curve them after all, but I had to use the entire vertical room in my case for that. This might be a very big issue when dealing with very small areas around the SATA ports, that's why i believe that the 90 degrees versions would have been better.

 

With that said, straight terminations can also work, but you need to have at least 10 cm of open space above your SATA connectors on the motherboard in order to be able to curve the cable.

 

I hope this helped.

 

Best,

Andru

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Hi Andru,

Thanks for sharing your build. Do you think your build would be suitable to run HQPlayer with upsampling of Redbook PCM to DSD256? Your processor choice seems adequate, but I'm wondering about such a processing load maybe being a bit much for the JS-2 LPSU?

Greg

Hi Greg,

 

You're welcome.

You will not have any problem upsampling to DSD256. Other people reported that they are upsampling to DSD512 using JS-2 and they didn't have any issues.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...
4 hours ago, Takacid said:

Hi  andru26, Thanks for your post. I'm thinking of building my own PC similar to yours. The only difference is the CPU, Intel XEON E3-1235Lv5 (It seems like the perfect CPU with low TDP, essential for Audio PC). Do you know if this CPU is compatible with the MB Super Mircro X11SAE-M that you use? I'm not sure if the Graphics of the XEON E3-1235Lv5 is compatible with the MB... Thanks

 

Hi Takacid,

 

From the manufacturer website, here are the supported CPUs:

  1. Single socket H4 (LGA 1151) supports 
    Intel® Xeon® processor E3-1200 v5/v6, 
    Intel® 6th/7th Gen. Core™ i7/i5/i3 series, 
    Intel® Celeron® and Intel® Pentium®

So you can go for any of the E3-12XX v5/6 CPUs.

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17 minutes ago, Marcin_gps said:

Maybe except for Xeon E3-1240L v5 which does not have integrated graphics. According to the motherboard's specification, onboard DVI/HDMI/DP signal comes from the CPU integrated graphics.

 

Good point, Marcin. Even though the motherboard supports all mentioned CPUs, for audio purpose it's best to use CPU integrated graphics.

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6 minutes ago, Quadman said:

@andru26 have you tried up sampling to DSD512 (in HQP) with this processor, or know anyone who has?  I am very intrigued by these boards, especially the SoC boards as most every peripheral has a direct connection to the CPU rather than go thru a switch as is the case in most motherboards.  Couple that with the low TDP and the ability to use several of the linear PSU's on the market and we should be able to build excellent sounding audio PC's for not crazy (SMG server) dollars.  The only Q being can these processors handle DSD512 either in HQP or roon DSP.

 

@Quadman, I am upsampling at this moment to DSD512 with HQP and it works great. The CPU usage is between 40 and 47% and I never had any problems with JS2 not coping with the CPU power demands.

 

Also, note that I have disabled everything related to related to Intel SpeedStep, Turbo Mode, C-States, Virtualization Technology & Hyper-Threading, according the the specs found in AO setup guide. Even so, I don't have any performance issues.

 

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