Building a DIY Music Server

[MarcelNL]

Mahler 8th (Synfonie der Tausend) by Kubelik w Bayerischer Rundfunk Orchester right now, I've never heard this much separation between all of the voices and instruments other than live!

 

 

[MarcelNL]

Now that a few? many? have completed the build is it time to discuss OS and music players?

I'm using Daphile after having compared mostly Linux based OS, and want to do a comparison in the current state of affairs....

W10

W10LTSC

Wserver, if so which?

settings?

What player?

 

Do we need a separate thread, if at all?

 

[MarcelNL]

I dabbled with AL, HQPlayer, Euphony, Daphile, and early on in my quest with W7, later W8 and W10. I do not need or want over- or upsampling, DSD, DSP, filtering etc, just redbook WAV/FLAC.

I think I should do another round of comparisons once the server is good to go and has a a couple of 100hrs under its belt.

 

 

[MarcelNL]

does anyone have the two 8pin EPS outputs of the Taiko ATX module connected to the MB?

 

Yesterday I tried connecting both cables but the MB failed to boot, so I took the second cable out. Today I checked it for shorts (well, triple checked) and I find nothing wrong. Will make another attempt tonight, adding a bypass lead out so I can tinker with bypass caps without complete disassembly but am curious if there is a known issue or this was just a fluke.

[MarcelNL]

I'll try again, probably disconnected the 24 pin ATX a bit when fighting the 8 pin in place, those 14AWG solid core looms are stiff as a board...

[MarcelNL]

I had both EPS cables in place with the previous PSU, with good result....so I for sure plan to use both now...

 

After that I will tinker with bypass caps, the Duelund cast just arrived.

[MarcelNL]

Oops, first I'll evaluate a new switch enabling me to use the 10Gbit FSPs (finisar 1475BTL)...

 

one step at a time...

[MarcelNL]

weird...the only weird thing happening to me was a few weeks ago when our kittens managed to sabotage the server (open build) and my ground wire running between the MB and passive heat sink literally melted....

 

[MarcelNL]

On 12/29/2021 at 6:17 PM, Nenon said:

 

More wires = Lower impedance. 

I can now vouch for the fact that 16 paralleled AWG 14 strands of UP-OCC sound better than 8, it's not a huge impact but noticeable and a step in a good direction that I would not want to forego

[MarcelNL]

You want to keep the positive lead between choke and cap as short as possible, the length to the next choke is of lesser priority (but shorter is better)

[MarcelNL]

anyone else with results from some bypass capacitor rolling? Or adding some capacitance AFTER the Taiko ATX module?

 

[MarcelNL]

there is no NEED, but there is the possibility to do so and it woný change any behaviour of that module. The MB also has capacitance in various places. The length of EPS wire between the ATX and the MB, even when kept short does not help.

 

More importantly, Taiko specifies that the max capacitance the module can handle, that got me thinking about capacitors on the MB, and I simply tested adding a small cap connected to the EPS wire as close to the EPS connector as I could add it and low and behold it does improve SQ.

[MarcelNL]

I'm now auditioning some bypass caps for the Taiko ATX output, first in line is a Duelund tinned copper...first impressions are very good!

 

Still in proto phase, so do not mind te long leads and iron croc clamps....

 

Still in prototyp

[MarcelNL]

The verdict is in, the Duelund is very good but there is better..out of all caps the Duleund was third, the proprietary cap I mentioned earleir comes second and a hand made prototype a friend of me made with exotic metals comes in first. The Duelund still suffers from a little edge and is not as open as the other two and above all the winner sounds so natural in timbres and overtones.

[MarcelNL]

18 hours ago, WuBai said:

I'm a big fan of the Duelund caps and have the Tinned Copper, Copper and Silver in various parts of my system.  For my humble power supply I tried the Tinned Copper, and as you said, the sound was a little sharp.  I then put in the JDM Pure Copper Foil (the least expensive one they make) and in that position, it was much better!  I had another one on hand so I ended up with two and it made the sound a lot more realistic without highlighting any one part.  For the cost, they are great little caps.  Dying to try the ODAMs next, heard good things..

Are you using them on your PSU or where I described AFTER the ATX on the 12V rail going into the MB?

[MarcelNL]

Check the information on the Motherboard to see if you need two sticks to use multicannel RAM access. Somehow my MB needed 4 to work properly....YMMV

[MarcelNL]

I sugest you check the manual on the Gigabyte website, I expect 2 are needed but it may be different with newer MB chipsets.

[MarcelNL]

Get the most baddass MB and CPU you can afford, more direct phases on the MB make quite a difference, so does having more actual cores in the CPU! Power is king in digital is my experience.

 

Even 24/96 flac files require more processing power than redbook material

 

Use all 8 +4 EPS pins to feed that CPU, one Keces is capable of 96 Watts if what I saw is correct.

 

I do not know what an additional KECES will set you back but you may want to look into selling the one you have and buying the Taiko ATX module and building an analog supply for it. Not a cheap solution but one that puts you right at the top of what is possible.

[MarcelNL]

DIYing that unregulated PSU is not that difficult (there is a great how to trhead in this section), provided you know the basics of electronics, if you plan on DIYing a server together that PSU should not be much harder (and you save significant money best spent on f.e. the Master version of the MB and a higher spec CPU)

[MarcelNL]

lines, what lines? 👨‍🦯

 

[MarcelNL]

Yeah, budgets can become daunting...all I can say that the Taiko ATX route is worth it but when on a tighter budget other routes are available.

 

You could also take some smaller steps, get the Taiko, build an unregulated PSU later. The PSU can surely be built a lot cheaper, buy some large used high temp capacitors (Kemet, Rifa P169 etc), Mundorf does not invent capacitors but you need to research/experiment which ones  to buy in order to save $$$. The lazy route is expensive, if money is no object I'd suggest buying a Taiko Extreme and be done with it.

 

Your ears may get older but while you may be losing some upper range and perhaps some SPL you will not readily lose phase perception and distortions/noise perception.

 

I started with a laptop, went to an Intel NUC and then started my expirements with increasingly powerful CPUs and MBs, more is better but you do not want to handicap a CPU by a sub par PSU.

 

I do not have any experience with a Keces, so will not comment, the problem is that everything matters and as always; things add up...

Use a great PSU, high power MB, powerfull CPU, the right RAM, good USB or I2S output, the right SSD, fiberoptics network card, several dedicated PSUs , yeah it adds up.

 

 

 

 

[MarcelNL]

1 hour ago, ASRMichael said:

@MarcelNL are you planning dual CPU? 

Not really, I'm sortof committed to AMD as I'm using Daphile and a Pink Faun I2S out, still interested in a W LTSC experiment...

Next step will be a 16core Ryzen, once they become affordable on the used market.

When W LTSC sounds better than Daphile I may venture into dual CPU at some point.

[MarcelNL]

The PF card does work with Intel it's just that the combo of Linux and Intel somehow does not work.

Pink Faun I2S bridge supported platforms:

Intel CPU with all Windows versions (WASAPI)

AMD CPU with all Windows versions (WASAPI)

AMD CPU with all Linux distributions (ALSA)

 

That said, I'm open to anything but am now at a stage of sound quality where I'd need a comparison of sound before spending any more $ (well actually $$$$$) 

I might just go the same route as you by buying a Taiko Extreme EVO PLUS or something as the current version at some point will be outperformed by newer insights and possibly gear. I plan on auditioning the Extreme during High End Munich (it's a GO!) to get an impression and reference point, I may be travelling to their HQ at some point for a better listen as shipping gear affects SQ in a way that never ceases to amaze me (think weeks fro stuff to settle)

 

I'm in no hurry, tinkering with the new bypass caps as it is, what I hear is a promise of 'happy days' ahead.

[MarcelNL]

^and save some more $$ by building the UPS DIY enabling you to get the Taiko ATX allowing you to buy once, cry once.

 

[MarcelNL]

What is the power rating for those heatsinks? They look beefy enough to dissipate 300W or so, but of course when taking into account room temp swings you need to adjust that. 

The shorter the heatpipe the more energy it can transport (also goes for thicker heatpipes) so I'd say you'd want to think about the layout and CPU usage carefully.