Building a DIY Music Server

[Exocer]

3 minutes ago, Soul Analogue said:

duelund tin plated wires in cotton

I enjoyed this same wire in other areas of my system. I no longer use it but liked it very much!

 

 

5 minutes ago, Soul Analogue said:

Transformer - custom made from my local partner supplier up to my standard and requirements

Choke - best materials available for this purpose in the market, hand assembled and adjusted with my hands

Capacitors - selected from my years of experience in my diy journey and favourable feedback from friends… they had gone through my proprietary treatments for better performance

Cable - wires are copper core and also selected from my experience…

@Soul Analogue- Interested in learning more. Would you be interested in sharing pricing publicly or would that be best handled over PM? Do you ship to the US?

 

Thanks,

-Rob

[Soul Analogue]

13 minutes ago, Exocer said:

I enjoyed this same wire in other areas of my system. I no longer use it but liked it very much!

 

 

@Soul Analogue- Interested in learning more. Would you be interested in sharing pricing publicly or would that be best handled over PM? Do you ship to the US?

 

Thanks,

-Rob

hi Rob

I believe any deals should be handled privately.. in order not to violate forum rules 

feel free to discuss in PM 😀

[Exocer]

8 minutes ago, Soul Analogue said:

hi Rob

I believe any deals should be handled privately.. in order not to violate forum rules 

feel free to discuss in PM 😀

Acknowledged. I will PM you when ready to experiment! Would really like to hear your work. Cheers.

[The Computer Audiophile]

@Soul Analogue are you selling products commercially?

[Soul Analogue]

1 minute ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

@Soul Analogue are you selling products commercially?

 

Hi 

I am not intended to 

I just help someone interested to get what they need 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Just now, Soul Analogue said:

 

Hi 

I am not intended to 

I just help someone interested to get what they need 

Ok thanks. 

[Nenon]

2 hours ago, NanoSword said:

Hi folks ,

 

I'm using the Power from @Soul Analogue with Taiko ATX.

The performance is very promising.

It's the first time I've turned it on before the transformer and cables are settled and everything is new .

The stage is wide the sound is more holographic with new layers and the background is black. The resolution took a big leap . The natural sound is very excellent vocals are beautiful too. I've never tried any server power before, but I can say Soul Analogue ULPS is pretty good, and the parts he using look amazingly large, From the first sight and from the weight I can tell that the parts are carefully selected.

 

The connector is really big and heavy military grade .

 

The chassis is very heavy, the quality is excellent. I like the black color, especially the signature It looks great and there is manual soft start design I need to push the button before I pull the toggle down I think it is more safety.

 

 

What I know about Soul Analogue ULPS is that all the pieces he uses are custom made according to his request and personal taste.

 

 

I'm using a Ghent cable to power my computer at the moment and hope one day I can try MSG. I trust Nenon a lot. He helped me a lot in making many choices and I am confident in his taste. 

 

As for the power I got from the Soul Analogue from round one, I didn't find the sound too thin or bulky, it's well balanced. My system is more transparent than before.The shape of the musical instruments also looks great more real. There is also an improvement in control, speed and dynamics.It's a huge improvement for me.

 

Thank you everyone, I have benefited a lot from the experiences in this topic.

 

My server has 3950x processor, Jcat XE and SR4T, Euphony + PGGB.

 

Congratulations. Looks good. Enjoy.

[Nenon]

2 hours ago, Soul Analogue said:

No!! for 36vac secondary from transformer… it will be around (36x1.4 - 2) =48.4vdc for cap input topology….very risky

24-28vac secondary for cap input psu

Exactly!!! 

[vhs]

5 hours ago, NanoSword said:

I'm using the Power from @Soul Analogue with Taiko ATX.

Hi,

 

I am also using the same combo to power the Xeon server.

 

Few days ago, I grounded the LPS to Tripoint Troy and the end result is very promising. BTW, I am using Nordost Valhalla 1 Power Cord for the LPS.

[NanoSword]

I have to thank Nenon for sharing his experience with Taiko ATX. It is now easy to get high performance for everyone without paying huge amounts of money and we have many options for ULPS. It's a win for audio community.

 

11 hours ago, vhs said:

I grounded the LPS to Tripoint Troy

good to know that grounding can improve the sound even more.

 

 

[vhs]

49 minutes ago, NanoSword said:

I have to thank Nenon for sharing his experience with Taiko ATX. It is now easy to get high performance for everyone without paying huge amounts of money and we have many options for ULPS. It's a win for audio community.

Totally agree ! Big bang for the buck......

[The Computer Audiophile]

15 hours ago, Soul Analogue said:

 

Hi 

I am not intended to 

I just help someone interested to get what they need 

So this is the product of just helping people get what they need, not a commercial product for sale?

 

[ted_b]

1 hour ago, NanoSword said:

I have to thank Nenon for sharing his experience with Taiko ATX. It is now easy to get high performance for everyone without paying huge amounts of money and we have many options for ULPS.

 

I live in the US.  What are my current options for having a ULPS built for me; this is wayyyy over my pay grade?  I already own the Taiko ATX and would possibly build or have someone like @lmitchebuild me an HDPLEX 5 encased server to replace my i7-6700k Win10 beast for HQP.  I have no intention of asking prices, etc publicly.  

[Soul Analogue]

46 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

So this is the product of just helping people get what they need, not a commercial product for sale?

 

Not a commercial product

Nanosword got the necessary parts from me as a kit and assembled with my guidance 

no completed product forsale

thanks

[NanoSword]

53 minutes ago, ted_b said:

I live in the US.  What are my current options for having a ULPS built for me; this is wayyyy over my pay grade?  I already own the Taiko ATX and would possibly build or have someone like @lmitchebuild me an HDPLEX 5 encased server to replace my i7-6700k Win10 beast for HQP.  I have no intention of asking prices, etc publicly.  

You know, Nenon was using Power at a very high price and made great comparisons at high prices.Although this was a loss of money for him but he helped everyone by putting recipe for good parts .

 

And since you got Taiko Atx, you should find someone who can build it and I think it would be an easy task for someone like lmitche.

 

I find Nenon's experiences and Soul Analogue a great help for me.I'm still learning more from everyone.

[mikicasellas]

For those interested on a HDPLEX 800w DC-ATX, mine is for sell:

 

 

[bit01]

The HDPLEX 800W DC-ATX works extremely well powered by the PH SR7T in my setup. The i9-10900K CPU powered directly from the second rail of PH SR7T (19V stepped down through a SJ Reg/booster to 12V}. I am thinking of building another server for the TAIKO DC DC-ATX.

[elan120]

20 minutes ago, bit01 said:

The HDPLEX 800W DC-ATX works extremely well powered by the PH SR7T in my setup. The i9-10900K CPU powered directly from the second rail of PH SR7T (19V stepped down through a SJ Reg/booster to 12V}. I am thinking of building another server for the TAIKO DC DC-ATX.

That sounds good, which motherboard did you pick?

[bit01]

20 minutes ago, elan120 said:

That sounds good, which motherboard did you pick?

The i9-10900K is mounted in a Gigabyte Aorus Master.  I have not decided on the next build yet.

[elan120]

5 minutes ago, bit01 said:

The i9-10900K is mounted in a Gigabyte Aorus Master.  I have not decided on the next build yet.

Nice pick, I am considering this one as well for my next build, but also undecided at the moment.

[mikicasellas]

I need to thank Rob (Exocer) for his endless patience into guiding me in some areas for achieving better SQ thru the server.

I've been following his findings the most close I can, and without a doubt he is a great contributor to this forum.

 

One area that has increased the SQ of my system to a whole different level, is isolating the server from the access point, adding an Edge Router to the chain, I purchased the Edge Router from Rob suggestion some time back, but it was not until now that i decided to go that route.

 

My System is:

 

- Denafrips ATHENA Preamp

- OPPO 205 via UPnP (wifi) for now --- Denafrips Terminator DAC (2018 version)

- KINKI EX-M7 Amp

- PMC Twenty5 26 - Speakers

- Tellurium Ultra Black II speakers and XLR

 

- Paul Hynes SR7T (19v & 12v) for Server + TAIKO DC-ATX (19v goes to TAIKO & 12v goes to CPU)

- Paul Hynes SR5T (12v & 12v) for ER & External Clock for ER

- Paul Hynes SR4T (5v) for JCAT USB XE

- P.I. Audio Group Uber Buss with Uber Puertos

 

SERVER:

- ASUS ROG MAXIMUS HERO XIII Z590

- Intel i7-10700K

- TAIKO DC-ATX

- Apacer 2666 Industrial (8GB)

- Optane 58GB (Euphony OS & Music)

- Startech NIC PCIE card

- JCAT XE USB PCIE

- ALL Cabling is NEOTECH 7N JSSG360

 

 

Bye Bye Terminator, hello back OPPO 205 (via USB)

 

I sold my Terminator DAC last month in order to find (later on with patience) a better DAC for my system and i cleaned the dust of my beloved OPPO 205 to cover the DAC department in the meanwhile; as to expect, sound became a little bit thiner and close the soundstage a bit too, the sensation of "Big sound" reduced a little , it lacked that little bit of more organic presentation of the T-1. but all and all not a too dramatic change.

 

After selling the T-1, I got a Sablon USB 2020 cable which replaced an Oyaide Neo and became clear since day one, even without 5 minutes of use that SABLON was the better cable, suddenly when turning on the server during those days, the screen showed that "  USB DEVICE OVER CURRENT STATUS DETECTED !! " and after several checks and with a friend of mine we could determinate that all PCIE slots on the MoBo worked perfectly and that the problem was neither the MoBo, CPU, SR4T, or SABLON cable, there was some kind of short circuit between the JCAT XE USB card and the OPPO USB input, no matter what, once you inserted the JCAT with or without the SR4T powering it, the message was showing and also the USB input on the OPPO stopped reading the entry cables, so I swapped the JCAT and put a Startech USB card instead and although the server turned on without an issue confirming that only with the JCAT was the issue, OPPO would not read it.

 

Edge Router taking the stage:

 

I added this wonderful piece creating VLANs for my access points so the server be isolated from wifi, to my surprise...

 

While we were testing the equipment suddenly sound started playing with UPnP on OPPO started playing automatically thru wifi and to my surprise the level of SQ was much more better in every aspect compared with T-1 and USB connection with JCAT/SR4T/ SABLON, and only with wifi on the OPPO, I am amazed that the isolation on the server thru the Edge Router is a huge leap for streaming, now I can listen to the goods of the SR7T/ TAIKO TX among other things that did and upgrade in the first place but not a t this dimension, this has made that all the good ingredients in my server to finally shined and showed their true credentials, Im now wondering with this kind of isolation on the server and the SQ that im hearing, if it would be worth to fix the JCAT card re-connected with my SR4T and go as planned with my " better " DAC, including the SABLON, would that kind of equipment and investment on that chain would worth it ?, and the answer is yes I will give a try and once is in the USB chain as it was BUT NOW with the EdgeRouter isolation on board.

 

First thing i will do is put an ethernet cable on the OPPO and see how much is the gap between this isolated WiFi and the cable.

Im buying an additional good ethernet cable, I dont have left, so i will have to wait at least a week for that.

 

Has anyone experience this before ? cause i wanted to share this as it came by surprise for me

 

Miguel

[Downtheline]

8 minutes ago, mikicasellas said:

playing with UPnP on OPPO started playing automatically thru wifi and to my surprise the level of SQ was much more better in every aspect compared with T-1 and USB connection with JCAT/SR4T/ SABLON, and only with wifi on the OPPO,

So as I understand it, wifi to oppo upnp (bypassing server) to oppo dac (internally) sounds better than server to oppo as dac? 

 

I really think you'll hear a big uptick after replacing oppo with a contemporary dac and removing wifi, but interesting that the oppo solution sounds so good!

[mikicasellas]

5 minutes ago, Downtheline said:

So as I understand it, wifi to oppo upnp (bypassing server) to oppo dac (internally) sounds better than server to oppo as dac? 

 

I really think you'll hear a big uptick after replacing oppo with a contemporary dac and removing wifi, but interesting that the oppo solution sounds so good!

No, Im not bypassing the server, Euphony Stylus is on the server which is connected wired to the net, and I played all my music from the server via UPnP on the OPPO.

Oppo has the USB input damaged now, not the DAC, so the UPnP capabilities on the OPPO took place, the DAC inside the OPPO is just fine.

 

What Im saying here is that Isolating the Access point (wifi) from the server via Edgerouter gives you as a result this Gem even when using WiFi on UPnP thru at least with this regular OPPO DAC is in place, bettering the USB connection that I mentioned before even with the T-1, which before this isolation change was a lot better than going UpnP on the OPPO via wifi, not anymore with the EDGEROUTE Isolation

[di-fi]

Not sure if this is the right place but I mainly follow this thread and the Euphony thread. I know users here go to great lenghts to get the best LPS's they can afford. Sound quality depends a lot on them we all agree, so that easily  justifies spending.

But is anyone aware of LPS life expectancy? Hard to measure, but based on experience, how long should / will they last?

 

I am asking because in the last months I had 2 LPS die (3 and 4 years old) and also one of the powerbricks to feed the LPS started humming ( I won't use it any more). Past warranty unfortunately (up to 3 years). Currently repair is impossible due to parts that can not be sourced, so it's a total loss for me. 

 

Jay @ AudioBacon just did an amazing ''The World’s Best Audiophile Linear Power Supplies comparison'', with I think the DC4 @ $7,500 being the most expensive. I am in for 2 new LPS's but spending this much how long will/should they last?

 

Please let me know if this is worth a new topic or if this is allready posted somewhere.

[Soul Analogue]

1 hour ago, di-fi said:

Not sure if this is the right place but I mainly follow this thread and the Euphony thread. I know users here go to great lenghts to get the best LPS's they can afford. Sound quality depends a lot on them we all agree, so that easily  justifies spending.

But is anyone aware of LPS life expectancy? Hard to measure, but based on experience, how long should / will they last?

 

I am asking because in the last months I had 2 LPS die (3 and 4 years old) and also one of the powerbricks to feed the LPS started humming ( I won't use it any more). Past warranty unfortunately (up to 3 years). Currently repair is impossible due to parts that can not be sourced, so it's a total loss for me. 

 

Jay @ AudioBacon just did an amazing ''The World’s Best Audiophile Linear Power Supplies comparison'', with I think the DC4 @ $7,500 being the most expensive. I am in for 2 new LPS's but spending this much how long will/should they last?

 

Please let me know if this is worth a new topic or if this is allready posted somewhere.

i have friends using my early LPS since 2016. No issue reported so far. I think transistors (especially silicon) have life expectancy of over 10 years if operating under the designed parameters (eg. current, voltage, thermal) 

The component in LPS that might easily have shorter life would be electrolytic capacitors .. if working in a hot environment (over 50’c) for prolonged period, failure in 3-4 years is normal… especially many commercial products use cheap industrial capacitors to lower production costs.

anyway i DO NOT think there is any component in a LPS that is NOT replaceable or cannot be sourced, unless the parts are potted like a brick.