Building a DIY Music Server

[Nenon]

Hi everyone! I am building a computer for someone else and decided to share what I am doing with everyone. 

 

Let me start with some of the high level requirements:

• One box solution to eliminate some of the clutter.
• Optimized for Streaming (Tidal / Qobuz).
• The best quality USB output.

 

I came up with the following specs:

• Motherboard: ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming ITX changed to ASUS Z390-I ROG Strix Gaming Intel LGA 1151 mini ITX motherboard
• CPU: Intel Core i9-9900 changed to Intel Core i9-9900K
• RAM: 2 x 4GB Non-ECC Apacer RAM (Apacer D11.2318FS.004) changed to 2 x 4GB ECC Apacer RAM (D31.23185S.001)
• OS Drive: 32 GB Optane
• Chassis: 2 x Streacom FC9
• USB Output: PinkFaun USB Bridge with ultraOCXO clock
• Network input: JCAT NET FEMTO
• Operating System: Euphony running Stylus, switchable to Roon

 

Some other specs:

• 6-rails of DC power 
• All wiring will be done with Mundorf silver/gold wire (and JSSG360 shielding where it makes sense)
• Isoacoustics Gaia feet will be used on both chassis
• Some but very little EMI absorbing material to be applied at strategic places.
• All connectors will be treated with Walker Audio Quantum Silver Contact Treatment with Nanocrystal Technology.
• Resonance controlling material will be applied on the chassis.

 

Power Supply:

Given the specs above, we came up with 6-rails - 3 for the ATX connector, 1 for the EPS connector, 1 for the PinkFaun USB card, and 1 for the JCAT NET card.

He acquired a 4-rail Sean Jacobs power supply, which I customized for him. 3 rails used for the ATX connector and one rail for the PinkFaun USB card. 

The EPS connector will be powered by another 12V Sean Jacobs DC3 LPS he already has.

The JCAT NET card will be powered by various spare linear power supplies he has, tbd which works best. 

 

There are two goals with the customization of the 4-rail LPS:
1. Shortest possible cable path from the double regulators to the components powered.
2. Good heat management to keep things cool.

We decided to use two black Streacom FC9 chassis. One chassis would be hosting a big 400VA toroidal transformer, Schottky diodes for rectification, Mundorf caps, etc. The second chassis would be hosting the motherboard, CPU, RAM, etc. and some of the DC regulators. 

I decided to install the regulators for the ATX connector in the motherboard chassis. That would meet the first goal.

For the second goal, I left the regulators for the PinkFaun USB bridge in power supply chassis. I calculated that the path from the regulators would be almost the same length as if they were in the motherboard chassis. But we have an available heatsink to use in the power supply, so I opted for the better heat management. 

This may resemble a little bit the power supply of the Innuos Statement described here - http://www.the-ear.net/how-to/power-supply-design-innuos-statement. 

It’s not a coincident, and some of the ideas were taken from there.

 

It’s also good to mention that Sean Jacobs would not do a power supply like this. Due to his contract with Innuos, he is not doing ATX power supplies. The only way to build his power supply inside a computer is to go the DIY route.

 

This server will look a little like the Innuos Statement. But to be honest, I am aiming higher than that.

One can buy a Statement instead, but there are a few things I don’t like about the Statement - the low powered CPU does not sound as good as this configuration; the SSD drives are too noisy, and I don’t want to have any in my servers; Apacer RAM is a must; the wiring (silver/gold wires used for everything) cost $1,500 alone… if the Statement had the same wires and cables, it would probably cost $5K more just for that… that’s not including the amount of time, it takes to do all the JSSG360 shielding and every small detail. And those cables make a big difference.  I’ve heard the Statement in a few occasions and liked what I heard. But I’ve never had one in my system to compare with a DIY server like this. 

 

Stay tuned. I am planning to post a lot of pictures and comments as I make progress. 

 

Here is the final result and a review from the new owner after a couple of weeks of listening to the new server:

 

[Nenon]

First step is to drill the holes and install the GX16 connectors.

 

 

This motherboard has one PCIe slot, which I am planning to use for the PinkFaun USB bridge and two M.2 slots. One of the M.2 slots is on the bottom. I will install the Optane card there. The other M.2 is on the top. I will convert it to PCIe slot and use for the JCAT NET Femto card. 

 

I will use one of those M.2 to PCIe Riser Card Cables to convert the M.2 to PCIe. Here is a link.

 

 

I desoldered and removed the 4-pin white connector as it's not needed. I put this cable in place, marked the holes, drilled them, and installed it with some bolts and standoff.

 

The next step is to install the Gaia feet. Here they are:

 

 

Stay tuned for more.

 

[Nenon]

Time to install the regulators. There will be 3 regulator boards in this chassis, all of them feeding a 20-pin ATX connector on the motherboard. They are: 3.3V (1.5A), 5V (5.0A), and 12V (1.5A). The regulators need to be isolated from the chassis - a thin thermal insulating pad is used between each regulator and the chassis. Both sides of the insulator has thermal compound applied.

BTW, this electric screwdriver turned out to be an excellent tool.

The spacing between the regulators did not match the heatsink holes on the Streacom chassis. I had to desolder them and solder them again in a slightly different angle so they can fit the existing holes.

After mounting the regulators I connected them to the GX16 connectors, soldered with WBT silver content solder:

 

 

Next step is to install the motherboard and CPU and connect the passive cooling copper pipes. Stay tuned. 

[Nenon]

The yellow wire you see in my previous post is Mudorf silver/gold. I will be using this wire exclusively in this build. I estimated I need 6 meters for the internal wiring and 5 meters for the umbilical cords. I will be using the 15.5AWG wire where possible. Some of the boards cannot take 15.5AWG wire. I will be using 18AWG there. I thought about using terminals and thicker wire but I did not want to introduce another connector and material in the path. 

 

CPU installed:

 

I opted for a lower power Intel i9 - the 9900. Heat management is important. If the temperature in the chassis gets too hot, the sound becomes harsher. And given that I also have 6 regulators generating heat in the case, I decided to go with the 65W TDP Intel i9-9900 instead of the 95W TDP Intel i9-9900K. I think we get very similar performance for audio but a few degrees lower temperature would be beneficial. It's all about making the right compromises, and I will try to point out the compromises I am making and explain why. 

 

Passive cooling installed as well:

 

 

Done with the messy thermal compound paste that goes on the CPU, copper pipes, and all over you and the case!!! :).

I used the ARCTIC MX-4 compound. If I was installing a 95W TDP CPU I would have used the Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut. 

 

BTW, you might have noticed that I removed the WiFi module from the motherboard. That's why there is an empty slot next to the 8-pin EPS connector. WiFi is not needed for this build. I typically disable it in the BIOS but decided to completely remove it in this case. 

 

Time to make some connectors. I am using gold plated pins (Molex part number 45750-1212). Thanks to @Volfram for bringing the gold plated ones to my attention. 

 

 

Stay tuned...

 

[Nenon]

I started doing the ATX connector wiring.

 

But the OCD in me really wanted to apply JSSG360 shielding. So here it is with JSSG360.

 

Here is the pinout of a 20-pin connector:

 

I connected it this way:

3.3V --> pin 1

5.0V --> pin 4, pin 8, and pin 9

12V --> pin 10

Ground --> pin 3

 

ATX connector done.

 

This M.2 to PCIe convertor is another compromise. It would have been better to have a second PCIe slot. But I have tested bigger motherboards with second PCIe slot, and they did not sound better. That's why I am sticking to this well tested recipe. 

 

Apacer RAM, JCAT Femto Net card and Pink Faun USB bridge with ultra OCXO clock installed.

 

 

Almost done with this chassis... need to install the EPS connector, connect the power button and do some finishing touches. More about the latter at the end of the build.

 

Next, I will be moving to the second chassis. A big custom state of the art 400VA toroidal is waiting to be installed in the second chassis. 

 

[Nenon]

Thank you for all the comments and messages. I will reply to everyone. Let me just finish the build and get it running. 

I even received comments from Sean Jacobs! He gave me a couple of nice hints. Big thanks for that. What a nice guy! I wish everyone in the industry was like him. He also mentioned that he can supply any power supply we need. His limitations with Innuos pretty much come done to two things:

1. He cannot supply his power supplies with cables to connect them directly to the motherboard. But one can easily obtain such cables from companies like Ghent Audio. 

2. He cannot build regulator modules inside the computer chassis.

It all makes perfect sense. Innuos needs to protect their intellectual property, and they don't want Sean Jacobs to be building a Statement, so we can just install a motherboard inside. As I said Sean is a great guy to deal with. Highly recommended if you need a state of the art power supply. 

 

Back to my build. Based on some comments from Sean, I decided to redo the wiring a little. Here is what I did:

 

 

But the OCD in me called out again, and I had to do add some techflex. Here is how it looks now.

 

 

I think it's much neater this way. I also did some work on the second chassis, but I will post more about that later. Back to work. Stay tuned for more.

[Nenon]

EPS connector.

The EPS and ATX connectors are done the same way. You solder each wire to a pin. And then you snap-in the PINs inside the connector.

 

WBT silver solder and Mundorf silver/gold wire of course!

 

I use the following parts:

ATX - 20-pin:  Molex 39-01-2240

EPS - 8-pin: Molex 39-01-3085 (alternatively 4-pin: MOLEX 39-01-2040)

PINs: Molex 44476-1112 or the gold plated Molex 45750-1212

 

You don't have to run all 8 wires. As long as you have one + wire and one - wire, it would work. But using more wires means thicker gauge wire / more current. I did all 8 wires here. All the wires then were shielded with JSSG360 shielding and soldered to the GX16 connector on the chassis. Here is the final result:

 

I was asked about more details on soldering the EPS connector. Here is a pinout diagram of the EPS connector.

I soldered 4 pins for 1-4 - those go to the 12V minus. 

I soldered 4 pins for 5-8 - those go to the 12V plus.

The connector I used on the chassis is called GX16-2. Here is a link - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D3CFRJ6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1.

And of course the wires were shielded with JSSG360. 

[Nenon]

Starting on the second chassis.

 

First I had to drill a lot of holes - 4 holes for the Gaia feet, 8 holes for the power supply boards, 4 holes for the transformer. Those were the easy ones.

The tricky ones are the holes for the GX16 connectors. One can remove the back panel and use a drill press. This is probably what I would do next time. The best way I have found to make these holes is using a forstner drill bit. It looks like this:

 

And no, a tiny cordless drill is not the way to do it. I use a powerful AC powered drill. It's a lot easier if you don't have a drill press. 

I drilled 3 holes for the GX16 connectors and one hole for the fuse holder.

 

Here is a little hint. A GX16 connector can snugly fit into the channel for PCIe cards. You have to use some force, but it fits. No need to drill holes if you can use those. That's where I put the fourth connector. 

 

I bought one of these plates to cover the motherboard opening:

 

And I installed a medical grade IEC filter / inlet. I go back and forth between a Furutech NCF IEC inlet (no filtering) and those filters. Both are great options. I spent some time comparing, and heard the difference, but I can't make up my mind which one I like better. I just happened to have one of these filters around, and that's what I used. 

 

Transformer installed. Fuse holder installed and wired. IEC filter installed and wired. Grounding completed. Heatshrink all around the high voltage. 

 

The next steps were difficult to document. I installed the rectifier/caps modules. I also installed the regulators for the fourth rail. It took a while to get the wiring done right (neat I mean), but I think the end result is not bad.

 

 

All voltages tested good! Time to make some DC cables. Stay tuned. 

 

[Nenon]

1 minute ago, basillus said:

elan120 wrote:

OP did say the wiring connections are as follows.

 

   On 1/11/2020 at 8:08 AM,  Nenon said: 

I connected it this way:

3.3V --> pin 1

5.0V --> pin 4, pin 8, and pin 9

12V --> pin 10

Ground --> pin 3

Read more  

Yes I know, but according this:

and this there is a mismatch where the wires are placed...

 

 

The pinout diagram shows the bottom side of the connector.

My picture shows the top side of the connector. Hope that makes sense. 

[Nenon]

56 minutes ago, marce said:

The DC to the motherboard would be far better with a separate 0V wire for each voltage from the regulators, one wire is a compromise and not a good idea.

That is actually on my list to change at the end. I’ve done it both ways and haven’t noticed a difference in the sound quality, but it’s a good practice.

The key of this build is the power isolation between the CPU, ATX, Usb, and network card. That’s what improves the sound the most as well as the excellent quality of the Sean Jacobs DC3 rails, the quality of the transformer, and the silver/gold wires.

But yes, I’ll do that at the end anyway. Attention to every detail is important.

[Nenon]

54 minutes ago, RickyV said:

edit: what’s the price of the those regulators

I don't know the price. It was a four rail Sean Jacobs DS3 LPS, similar to what Innuos uses. Probably best to contact Sean Jacobs for that. http://www.custom-hifi-cables.co.uk/home/power-supplies/dc3-power-supply

I asked Sean if he is willing to sell some boards to the DIY community, but he is currently away. We'll probably get an answer next week.

[Nenon]

10 minutes ago, rickca said:

@Nenon how do those linear regulators work if you are feeding them 3.3V, 5V and 12V?  Don't they need somewhat higher input voltage to be effective?

They need higher voltage. The 3.3V and 5V are fed by ~11 VDC. The 12V by ~19VDC.

[Nenon]

On 1/11/2020 at 10:36 AM, RickyV said:

Where did you get the transformer from and curious about it’s casing. 

 

On 1/14/2020 at 6:05 AM, amolan said:

Where did you get this wonderful toroidal ? I never see something like it before.

 

The transformer is from Toroidy. It's their Supreme Audio Grade V2 version but customized for the requirements of this project. Their transformers are 10x more expensive than similar specs Chinese transformers. I have seen them on some ultra high-end gear recently. The Cerat Kassandra 2 REF DAC comes to mind, but I've seen them at other places too, just can't remember now. They come epoxied in the case by default. 

[Nenon]

Thank you for all the comments, suggestions, feedback, messages, etc. You guys are great!

 

I have made some changes to the original configuration.

 

1. I changed the CPU from Intel Core i9-9900 to an Intel Core i9-9900K. I have always used the 9900K in my Intel Core builds. But I wanted to try the lower TDP 9900 instead. However, @StreamFidelity made a good comment, and I changed it back to the i9-9900K. That’s what I am using now. 

 

2. @marce was quick enough to make a comment before I had a chance to make the change. But it was a good comment. I ran separate ground wires from the ATX connector to each regulator. I was planning to do that anyway. It’s done now. I ran the additional ground wires to pins 5 and 7 on the ATX connector.

 

 

3. This may be surprising. I changed the motherboard. It’s a long story, but I always wanted to try the ASUS Z390-I ROG Strix Gaming Intel LGA 1151 mini ITX motherboard. 

I tried it, and I liked it a lot. And I decided to keep the ASUS. It’s great. 

That is consistent with the AMD motherboard I use - ASUS X470-I ROG Strix Gaming AMD AM4 mITX.

 

I am now back on track and will post the few remaining parts of the build soon. 

 

 

[Nenon]

19 hours ago, rickca said:

@Nenon I'm still curious about this.  But please carry on with your build first.  So far it looks beautiful.

 

I know I did not respond to you. They are called CHC-REG and are designed by Sean Jacobs. I was looking for a link on his web site but could not find a lot of info. There are two regulators on a board, one board per rail, so it is some kind of dual regulation. I did not want to post too much, provide close up pictures, part numbers, etc. due to respect of Sean's intellectual property. I saw Taiko SGM's regulators on aliexpress the other day cloned by the Chinese and am cautious what I post. 

[Nenon]

Time to make some cables. 

 

 

I use Mundorf 15.5AWG silver/gold wire in organic cotton sleeves, soldered by WBT silver solder, and shielded with JSSG360. 

More about these cables in the following posts:

On 1/4/2020 at 9:53 AM, Nenon said:

Happy New Year, everyone!

 

On the subject of DC cables:

I have experimented with a lot of DC cables - different materials (i.e. silver, copper, silver/gold, different geometries (i.e. starquad, twisted pair, etc.), different insulators (i.e teflon, cotton, etc.), different brands (i.e. Neotech, VHAudio, Mundorf, etc.), different gauges, and even with different connectors where possible. I can write pages and pages on my experience with DC cables so far, but here are my two recommendations.

 

1. For a budget DC cable, it's hard to beat the 16 AWG Ghent Audio Neotech 7N copper cable  with JSSG360 shielding. It's a no brainer and easy recommendation. 

 

2. My absolute favorite is the Mundorf 15.5 AWG Silver / Gold wire - https://www.partsconnexion.com/MUNDORF-72180.html. Wrap each wire in a cotton sleeve (not mandatory), twist the two wires together, solder it with good solder (I use WBT solder with silver content), and you will be amazed. 

 

I had an audio designer/manufacturer at my house a couple of weeks ago, and I was telling him how big of a difference the DC wires make. I currently use 6 rails on my computer. I told him to pick one of the 6 cables, and I will replace the Silver/Gold cable with the 16 AWG Neotech 7N copper / JSSG360 from Ghent. He picked a random rail. I replaced one of the cables on that rail, and our jaws dropped. The silver/gold wire sounded so much better. Don't get this the wrong way, though. The Ghent cable is a huge upgrade to any stock cables. But the silver/gold takes your system to another level. 

 

I don't know how they compare to the Paul Hynes cables, but I would put them against anything out there and don't think they would embarrass. They do take some break-in time, though. But they sound great from day one.

 

These cables are easy to make if you can solder. Hit me on PM if you have questions how to make them. I've made a few for friends and am willing to make a few more just so we can spread the word out. But my spare time is more valuable and I don't plan to spend it making cables :). Just a couple, so we can gather more feedback in different systems. 

 

On 1/4/2020 at 8:22 PM, Nenon said:

 

I don't want to derail this thread with DIY cables, there are plenty of other threads on that, but for completeness, here is what you need for 1 foot cable:

 

Wire: https://www.partsconnexion.com/MUNDORF-72180.html - 2 feet

Cotton: https://www.partsconnexion.com/COTTUBE-72533.html - 2 feet

Whatever connectors you need, i.e. https://www.vhaudio.com/oyaide-dc.html

Techflex cable sleeving to decorate the cable: https://www.vhaudio.com/heatshrink.html#techflex - 1 foot + a little extra

And some heatshrink: https://www.vhaudio.com/heatshrink.html#heatshrink - 2 pieces to go over the connectors

I use WBT solder: https://www.vhaudio.com/heatshrink.html#solder - 1 foot is plenty

 

For the JSSG360 shielding, you would need some tinned copper braid. Plenty of options on that:

https://www.partsconnexion.com/tinned-copper-braid.html

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003HGHQYM/

the 1/4'' should be fine for a two wires cable.

and some plumbers tape: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XCWQ4D2/

There is a lot of info how to do the shielding, please search the forum.

 

Making the cable:

Cut two wires to your preferred length.

Insert each wire in its own cotton sleeve.

Slightly twist the two wires together. BTW, I just realized I have not twisted mine. 

Insert the twisted wires in the first tinned copper braid.

Wrap the tinned copper braid with plumbers tape.

Insert in the second tinned copper braid.

Do the JSSG360 shielding - connect the first braid and the second braid on each side. 

Insert in the techflex cable sleeving.

Add heatshrink at both ends.

Solder the connectors (don't forget to insert the back part of the connector before soldering). 

Heat the heatshrink in place. 

 

Hope that helps. Please share your impressions if you try it. 

 

Here is how the cables look inside:

 

I need 4 umbilical cords for this build. 

- The regulators for the PinkFaun USB bridge with ultraOCXO clocks are inside the power supply chassis. That one would need a GX16-2 to DC2.5 connector.

- The other 3 umbilical cords are for connecting the two chassis (for the 3.3VDC, 5VDC, and 12VDC ATX connector). 

The Voltages feeding the 3.3V and 5V regulators are the same. So it is safe to use the same connectors and cables (GX16-3 pin in this case). They are slightly different, because one of these rails is 5A, the other is 1.5A. But nothing would explode if you mistakenly swap them. However, as it can be seen on the picture below, the 1 foot cables are short enough, and it would be difficult to connect them wrong... swapping out #2 and #3 from the picture below would require some creativity as one of the cables would be almost impossible to reach. 

The fourth cable is a GX16-4 pin. That's a higher voltage, and it's important to make it impossible to plug it in the wrong hole. Hence, the 4-pin connector. 

There is a fifth cable in the picture - the long one - that is going to an external Sean Jacobs LPS and will power the CPU/EPS. I like that, because we not only have a dedicated rail for the CPU but also a dedicated toroidal transformer. That provides an extra level of power isolation. And the CPU is the best to isolate. Of course that means another power cord, fuse, vibration treatment, etc.

 

Btw, these cables are very flexible and stay the way you bend them without fighting to go back to their original position. They are the best DC cables I have heard. Highly recommended.

 

EDIT: Here is a step by step guide on how to make these cables:

7 hours ago, elan120 said:

Cables...

 

After having the EPS and ATX power supply built, I now move into cable making phase, while working on the first cable, I decided to record the sequence in more details to share here, hopefully this will help more people interested in trying out the long discussed Mundorf solid core silver JSSG360 DC cable.

 

1. Slide cotton tube over the Mundorf solid core silver hook up wire.

 

2. Solder wires to the connector.  In this cable, I have GX16-4 on one end and Oyaide DC-2.1G on the other end.  I started this wire from the GX16-4 side.

 

3. After the wires are soldered, slide a short heat shrink tubing over the cotten tubes to help protect the end.

 

4. Reassemble the GX16-4 connector.

 

5. Twist the two wires.

 

6. Getting the Oyaide DC-2.1G side ready.  Slide the connector outer shell over the wires, cut two pieces of heat shrink tubing.  The smaller diameter one is to protect the positive lead after wire is soldered to the connector, and the larger diameter heat shrink tubing is to help protect the cotton tube ends.

 

7. Solder wires to the connector.  It is easier to solder the negative lead to the connector first, and then solder the positive lead.

 

8. Heat shrink the smaller tubing over the positive lead solder join.

 

9. Slide the larger heat shrink tube over the end of cotton tube.

 

10. Test the connector to make sure wires soldered is open.

 

11. Slide the outer shell over the connector.  It is a good idea to check continuity again after the connector is reassembled.

 

12. Base cable completed.

 

13. Now we will start working on JSSG360 shielding by sliding the tinned copper braid over the base cable from the Oyaide connector side.

 

14. Wrap the tinned copper braid with teflon thread tape.  It is easier to work with using 1" wide gas pipe tape.

 

15. Teflon tape wrapped cable.

 

16. Before sliding the second layer tinned copper braid, wrap a short section of teflon tape over the end of first tinned copper braid to protect the end and prevent the wires from braid from interfere with the second layer tinned copper braid while sliding over the first one.

 

17. After the second layer tinned copper braid is slided over the first layer, don't forget to remove that short section teflon tape.

 

18. Cut one piece of adhesive lined heat shrink tubing and slide them over the end of two tinned copper braids.

 

19. Apply heat to heat shrink tubing.

 

20. Do the same two steps (18 and 19) above for the Oyaide connector side.

 

21. Check continuity between the tinned copper braid and the connector to ensure it is open.

 

22. JSSG360 shielding completed.

 

23. Next is to dress up the cable by cutting the Techflex sleeving to proper length and then slide over the JSSG360 shielding completed cable.

 

24.  Final step is using the same adhesive lined heat shrink tubing to bond them together.

 

 

Hope these are clear and simple to follow.  Enjoy building them.

 

I will now move on to work on ATX and EPS cables.

 

 

Okay, let's fire up this guy now... if I don't post in a while it either exploded or I am really enjoying the music 

[Nenon]

1 hour ago, Lobbster said:

Wow, this thread is a treasure - thank you !

 

Interesting that you swapped mobos. I was googling 'which mini itx motherboard highest vrm' and the Asus was high on everyone's lists. So the RAM is non-ECC?

 

Great post!

 

Yes, the Asus is really good. I had good experience with the AMD ASUS ROG. This one is arguably even better. 

The Apacer RAM is non-ECC. The exact model number is D11.2318FS.004. I just added that to my first post with specs. 

On this topic I have something interesting to report - this motherboard works with ECC RAM, but it uses it as Non-ECC. Oh, well... just when I thought I was done with RAM comparisons...  

[Nenon]

The server powered up just fine. I had some issues with a defective AsRock motherboard, which I replaced, but I ended up switching to the ASUS as mentioned in one of my previous posts. The ASUS is rock solid. I like it a lot. 

I did some quick BIOS tweaks for now but will go back there later to dive a little deeper. Basically I disabled everything that is not necessary - Wifi, Bluetooth, audio card, onboard NIC, LED lighting, etc. etc. I made sure the memory is running at 2666, made some tweaks of the CPU performance, disabled fan monitoring and so on.

 

The 32 GB Optane card is mounted on the M.2 slot on the bottom of the motherboard. The BIOS saw it without a problem. I will be using it for the OS later. I booted Euphony from a USB drive. All good! It started playing right away. The CPU temperatures are not bad after playing for several hours:

 

I did not want to transfer the Euphony license yet as it is used somewhere else currently. Plus I needed to contact Euphony support for that. Euphony does not let you install the OS on a hard drive (or Optane card in my case) if you don't have a license. But there is a trick I used. I have described it here:

On 6/30/2019 at 4:53 PM, Nenon said:

In my system Euphony sounds better when loaded from my Optane card compared to loading from a USB Drive. But the trial version does not let you install the image on your SSD or Optane card. I think this is a bad decision on Euphony’s side, because you cannot test the full potential of Euphony. However, it’s not difficult to install the image to your Optane card or hard drive/SSD from the command line. Here is a quick guide for those who want to try it. Important: All the data on your Optane card would be deleted. Make sure you know what you are doing. 

 

You would need to load a version of Linux on your server. You would also need to have root access to that Linux installation. In my case, I already have AudioLinux on a USB drive, so that's what I am using as an example below. Ssh to your server (username: audiolinux  /  password: audiolinux). Exit the Menu (CTRL+C). Type 'su'. When prompted for password, type audiolinux0. You now have root access.

1. Find the device name of your Optane card by examining the output of the  ‘fdisk -l’ command. In my case, it is /dev/nvme0n1.
2. Download the Euphony image: Run ‘wget http://euphonyimage-798b.kxcdn.com/euphony20190522v3.img.gz'. Find the most recent link from the Euphony web site. 
3. Install the image. First, run ‘ls’ to find the file name of the image. In my case, it is euphony20190522v3.img.gz. Run the following command: ‘gunzip -c euphony20190522v3.img.gz | dd of=/dev/nvme0n1’. Adjust the command with the correct image file name and device name (from #1 above) if needed.

Reboot and boot from your Optane card. Enjoy!

 

I booted to Audio Linux since I had this USB handy and needed root access. Downloaded the Euphony image and installed it on the Optane card per the instructions from the quoted post above. Removed the USB, rebooted, and all good - Euphony booted from the Optane card.

 

The things I configure in Euphony that make an audible sound quality difference are:

• Disable the software volume control on the DAC
• Buffer before play = 100%
• Use cache
• Enable ramroot

I will go back later and configure CPU isolation, but not now…

 

I configured Qobuz and access to my NAS-based music library and let it play. This computer would have a long burn-in process and will continue to improve in the next 3 months. But I am not done with it. Some finishing touches  and more pictures next. Stay tuned.

[Nenon]

2 hours ago, Dutch said:

Did you BTW consider the other Asus heavyweight that would fit this case (though micro-ATX) the ROG Maximum XI Gene? It has two PCIe slots.

 

I did, but MicroCenter did not carry it. Since this build is not for me, I wanted to stick to the best components I have tested, which was the AsROCK ITX motherboard in this case. I had some problems with the first motherboard I bought. It boots until you connect something to the M.2 slot. As soon as you connect something to the M.2 it would not post. I tried with 3 different Optane cards on both M.2 slots. 

This brought me back to the store to exchange it, and I impulsively decided to get the ASUS ROG ITX motherboard as well. I use ASUS ROG for my AMD and like it a lot, so I decided to compare the two. I wanted to keep my motherboard experiments to stuff that I can get locally (and return if I don't like). But now as I like the ASUS ROG ITX that much, I am even more open to test the ASUS ROG Maximum XI Gene. Looks like a really good motherboard. 

[Nenon]

2 hours ago, StreamFidelity said:

 

I am not referring to it, but I answer anyway. 😁

I use the ROG MAXIMUS XI GENE and it fits perfectly into Streacom FC9 Alpha (Black) - Desktop - micro ATX with HDPLEX 800W DC-ATX. I'm excited. 

 

I am very tempted to compare the two ASUS ROG motherboards. Asked the person I am building the computer for. It's his call and it seems like he is open to it. Keep you posted. 

 

In the meantime I need to do more RAM tests, because I really liked what I heard with the ECC RAM last night. I have a PS Audio Power Plant P20 regenerator, and the electricity in my house is not "night and day", but even with the power regenerator sometimes I get better sound in the evening. Not sure how much of what I've heard was related to that. And RAM needs to run for a while, so no easy way to do A/B comparisons. I would need to repeat that test several times over a period of time to be confident which RAM sounds better. But please, let's not turn this discussion into psychoacoustic, snake oil, etc. We've done a really good job to stay on track so far. 

 

Also, thank you for all the comments and feedback. You guys are awesome! 

[Nenon]

The ECC RAM works fine on both Z390 motherboards I have - ASRock and ASUS. It just works as non-ECC RAM. I suspect it would work on many motherboards.

[Nenon]

@StreamFidelity I am looking at your build:

 

Hmm, I wonder if the PinkFaun ultraOCXO clock would fit in this motherboard without removing the big heatsink on the motherboard. See the part in red. It almost looks like it would not fit. 

 

 

 

Also, I like the extra space between the JCAT NIC and PinkFaun card in the ITX motherboard. The JCAT generates a lot of heat (probably EMI too) and would be nice to keep it further apart. 

I may still order one of those motherboards to try. 

[Nenon]

5 hours ago, dminches said:

Why not use a larger case, like the FC10, with a modified back panel so that you have more space and can use the cards vertically?

 

 

Have you seen the HDPlex H5 2nd Gen? No need to do the FC9/FC10 mod.

 

 

I considered it for this build but decided to use Streacom FC9 instead. 

 

[Nenon]

5 hours ago, LJONESATL said:

Now that others have found the ECC RAM works with that board, I'm going to try an Apacer 4gb stick in that machine as well.

 

Let me know what you think. I did a second listening test today and prefer the ECC RAM.

[Nenon]

On 1/15/2020 at 4:04 PM, dminches said:

Nenon, we need the updated pictures!

 

 

Here they are...

 

 

Next: Apply some finishing touches.