Building a DIY Music Server

[Lebouwsky]

For the new server I'm planning to build I have pre-ordered the HDPLEX H5v3. The processor will be something like an Intel core i7 11700K  and the motherboard will be ATX, so it will have at least 2 PCIe slots and no PCIE risers cards are needed. The Asus Rog Strix Z590-E got my attention, but Larry says the capacitor in the red circle  has a possibility to conflict with the long base of the copper block.

 

Does anyone know of an ATX Z590 motherboard that sounds good and will not conflict with the cooler?

[Lebouwsky]

@jacky5555 That would be great. You might want to try installing the cooling block before adding cooling paste, so you can return the mb if it doesn’t fit.

[Lebouwsky]

On 12/23/2022 at 3:40 PM, di-fi said:

Interesting, thanks!
Does anyone know these specs regarding HDPLEX Hi-Fi 400W DC-ATX Power-Supply 2.1? maybe the SATA connector also has better ripple rejection :-)?

 

Happy holidays to all!

 

 

The 5v "sata" output of the HDPLEX Hi-Fi 400W used to power my jcat usb card. DC cables in and out are Ghent's Neotech 7N JSSG360 and the HDPLEX was fed by a Paul Hynes SR7t. It sounded very, very good. Then I changed the Jcat's power to an Uptone lps-1 with it's standard (rather cheap) dc cable. There was not that much of a difference actually. A fair comparison would be to use a Ghent Neotech 7N JSSG360 dc cable from the Uptone lps to the jcat, which will be on it's way soon.

 

None the less, from my point of view one can sleep peacyfully with the the sata output of the HDPLEX 400W if it's powered by a quality power supply and proper dc cables are used. I do must add that the isolation in my AMR DP777 DAC is very good.

[Lebouwsky]

Over the years I’ve tryed Windows server 12, 16, 22 (always with GUI), Windows 10 and 10LTSC, all optimized, of which the latter I still have on a separate partition and occasionaly use for YouTube performances and to compare it with my main OS, which is Euphony with Stylus.
 

Even freshly installed, none of the Windows OS comes even close to Euphony (in my system to my ears of course). But what always bothered me to most of Windows was that the sound always seemed to degrade over time, no matter what I did. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love Windows to work for me, because of the fine interfase of the Qobuz app.