Building a DIY Music Server

[prinz]

someone who wants to go extreme, can check Mundorf zero-ohm inductors:

https://www.mundorf.com/audio/en/shop/coils/MCoil-VN390-Zero-Ohm-Coil/?shop_category=&card=2990&var=true

 

They are perfectly fine to be used in PSU, altough I tried them in speaker crossover years ago. BASS was out of this world :), but overall I highly prefer wax copper foil coils from Jantzen (Polink Poland).

[Nenon]

14 hours ago, Tubeman66 said:

any time schedule when / if the rectifier will be available

 

Taiko has the rectifier and capacitors in stock and should be listing them on their website soon. 

[Gavin1977]

21 minutes ago, prinz said:

someone who wants to go extreme, can check Mundorf zero-ohm inductors:

https://www.mundorf.com/audio/en/shop/coils/MCoil-VN390-Zero-Ohm-Coil/?shop_category=&card=2990&var=true

 

They are perfectly fine to be used in PSU, altough I tried them in speaker crossover years ago. BASS was out of this world :), but overall I highly prefer wax copper foil coils from Jantzen (Polink Poland).

Tell us more - how do the two differ in subjective listening?

[MarcelNL]

13 minutes ago, Nenon said:

 

Taiko has the rectifier and capacitors in stock and should be listing them on their website soon. 

did you get a chance to compare the taiko rectifier vs the saligny, or know of anyone who did?

the power version of the Saligny is no slouch!

 

[Exocer]

4 minutes ago, MarcelNL said:

did you get a chance to compare the taiko rectifier vs the saligny, or know of anyone who did?

the power version of the Saligny is no slouch!

 

I am going to test both.

[Exocer]

At this point, I have enough parts to build a V2 ULPS using the Slimline 3U chassis (or something else?) so I am considering building it up and selling it to recoup some funds from this wild adventure!

 

I don't have a chassis yet but if anyone is interested I can put this together and sell it for a reasonable price. With a few more parts, it can be changed to V3. Please let me know if there is interest. It would take some time to obtain the chassis and choke (or chokes for V3). I'll even include an Acme Audio fuse I have laying around.

 

Shameless plug for my Sablon 2020 USB cable up for grabs as well (price is negotiable).

 

Cheers,

-Rob

[Tatomek7]

14 hours ago, RickyV said:

Was that a worthwhile upgrade and how much was it?

I highly valued Ogonowski chokes vs Hammond. According the prices, as it was already a year ago, prices changed many times, that time it was comparable to Hammond ones.  In my last iteration I replaced the 5A, 10mH chokes with one 10A, 6mH what gave more fullness/body to the music. Currently it's  a hybrid scheme of V2/V3 with CLCCCCC ( 4x22000 HC and 2x47000uF HC). I consider to come back to previous model with first C = Mundorf AG 33000uF 40V bypassed with Mundorf Supreme Evo Oil 3,3uF.

On 7/12/2022 at 12:35 AM, Nenon said:

So if 4 inches of wire or a connector between the capacitors matter,

+1 

It's so sensitive for any changes, it requires a lot of patience to compare, which changes impacts on the sound most.  

[prinz]

11 hours ago, Gavin1977 said:

Tell us more - how do the two differ in subjective listening?

Its diffucult to compare as overall the tests were done 6y ago , in speaker crossover in woofer section.

To make long story short - low frequecies were strong, punchy, amazing dynamic, precise, with great control of the speaker. This is typical behaviour of high quality thick solid core wire (and such one is used in mundorf).

Unfortunately woofer was also influencing midgrade heavily and here we need the coil to offer colorful, rich, warm, high resololution sound.

At the end we used 8AWG Jantzen Wax speaker coil for woofer instead of Mundorf, as we prefered rich sound in the midrange and good (but not perfect) bass.

 

As said, these tests were done in speaker, not in audio PC PSU :), also, remember that for PSU you need very low DCR (low resistance). 0,3R is the maximum which I would use in PSU If someone would force me to use choke.

[MarcelNL]

I'm not sure at all that a speaker filter coil can be used as choke without ensuring that the iron core can cope with the power and the air gap is dimensioned properly to avoid saturation. Low DCR is a nice to have, even chokes with highish DCR can do wonders when designed correctly...choke design is an art. 

In a speaker I try to avoid needin coils, but there a  (near) zero Ohm version is great, there a quite a few manufacturers making them BTW, and those are far less expensive than the pharmacy called Mundorf ;-)

[Gavin1977]

2 hours ago, MarcelNL said:

I'm not sure at all that a speaker filter coil can be used as choke without ensuring that the iron core can cope with the power and the air gap is dimensioned properly to avoid saturation. Low DCR is a nice to have, even chokes with highish DCR can do wonders when designed correctly...choke design is an art. 

In a speaker I try to avoid needin coils, but there a  (near) zero Ohm version is great, there a quite a few manufacturers making them BTW, and those are far less expensive than the pharmacy called Mundorf ;-)

Care to name the other manufacturers ? :-)

[MarcelNL]

google? Intertechnik is one, but likely a quick glance as a DIY speaker building material shop carries more weight. I haven't bought one in ages, two way speakers did not require them, and full range even less ;-)

 

 

[Mr Morris]

Posting here as I think I am on topic ? And all the experts are all here. Happy to start another thread though?

I built an SJ LPSU based on @Nenons design and with help from the amazing Mr Jacobs.

 

 I have an audiograde Toroidy TX and didn t go for the Mundorfs. Probably unwisely, I went for 2 sets of regulators per rail instead . Although only one on the 12v rails. So i have separate 3.3V, 5V and 2 x 12V rails (24pin connector and 4 pin EPS.) Separate 5V for Jcat XE USB CARD

 

This replaced a standard supply in the Streacom f10 case. Passively cooled with a riser.

 

The old I3 board or processor has died. Not sure why. The LPSU  measured fine. But nothing happens. No boot of any kind. CMOS  battery fine! No signs of distress 

 

Have decided it has to be upgrade time, want to keep The LPSU,  the case and USB card. Have gathered that Higher powered Processors are the way to go. Had a useful chat with @MarcelNL about Ryzens, but only the OEM version R9 has a low enough TDP and they are very hard to find

 

Important to keep an eye on temp as I have 4 regulators and a current booster in the Streacom and also considering M2 storage and a Jcat ethernet card. 

 

I was thinking this: ASUS PRIME https://www.quietpc.com/asus-z690m-plus-d4?product=7184) with a 65W TDP i7 or I9.

 

The riser would clear the heatsinks, but does that create too much heat in that oart of the case

 

Would add a small NVMe Ssd for the OS and a larger one for storage. With Apacer RAM.

 

System to use Jplay femto, playing native files, no upsampling. Thinking of partitioning HD to compare Win server 2019, Win 11.

 

Any  thoughts or different views appreciated.

 

Assumptions:

 

1/Not worth getting a full sized board as dont need so many connections?

2/ higher power (over 65WTDP) will get too hot?

3/ it is worth going for highest spec processor, despite the very low demand in this context?

Thanks 

 

 

 

[MarcelNL]

did you try the old MB with a bog standard computer SMPS?

 

getting a 'full board' is worth it, you want the gamers top pick, with as many 'phases' and double copper etc as you can get, power is king!

(the other questions we discussed in PM, I'll leave room for counterbalance here)

[Mr Morris]

Yes. I put the old PSU back in and same no life. Power at USB only.

 

Measured both PSUs on a Atx psu tester and all good.

 

One of my attractions to the micro boards is the 2 small PCI connectors.  The full boards have one of those and a longer one? Can a USB card plug into either?

[MarcelNL]

Whether the USB card will fit depends on what USB card you pick, I suspect it will fit.

The shorter slots are 1 speed, the others are faster,

 

Ultimately you may need three slots, a Graphics card, network card, and an output card (USB I2S or whatever). I do not see having two 'small' PCI slots as a feature, 'large'or full size (rather full -16speed-) PCIe slots are downward compatible but the small PCIe slots not upwards compatible. Should you at any point want to use a powerful GPU to do filtering or any other fancy DSP like processing you'll need a full speed PCIe slot.

 

another, much more important difference, between micro ATX boards and full size ATX board is the power handling capability....the better a MB can handle power the better it is for sound.

[genvirt]

Some recommendations for power conditioners/filters that really make sense in SQ especially from part of using with PSU and audio dedicated PC?

[Nenon]

Received a nicely packed package from Oldenzaal:

[Exocer]

4 minutes ago, Nenon said:

Received a nicely packed packed from Oldenzaal:

Exciting!

Can I get in queue for 1 of each item shown above? Interested in why there is a lone 22,000uf 40v Mundorf AG there besides the rectifier board.

[Tubeman66]

1 minute ago, Exocer said:

Exciting!

Can I get in queue for 1 of each item shown above? Interested in why there is a lone 22,000uf 40v Mundorf AG there besides the rectifier board.

 

7 minutes ago, Nenon said:

Received a nicely packed packed from Oldenzaal:

very nice

any price yet ?

[MarcelNL]

I'm interested in hearing a comparison between the taiko rectifier and the Saligny Power rectifier!

 

[Nenon]

10 minutes ago, MarcelNL said:

I'm interested in hearing a comparison between the taiko rectifier and the Saligny Power rectifier!

Someone else will have to do this test. I think @Exocer volunteered. 

FWIW, Taiko's rectifier uses massive mosfets capable of 180A. 

[MarcelNL]

Just now, Nenon said:

Someone else will have to do this test. I think @Exocer volunteered. 

FWIW, Taiko's rectifier uses massive mosfets capable of 180A. 

O sure, I was not aiming at you! I know Exocer has the Saligny Power on their way to him. 180Amps.....hmmm I want that one!

[Exocer]

1 minute ago, Nenon said:

Someone else will have to do this test. I think @Exocer volunteered. 

FWIW, Taiko's rectifier uses massive mosfets capable of 180A. 

I did volunteer. The test will compare the high power Saligny to the Taiko. Ill also compare them all to the Saligny standard we’ve all used up until now. Looking forward to it!

[SK8]

May I know the dimensions of the Mundorf 220,000uF capacitor.

[Johnseye]

Hi all, now that I have a Taiko case I'm starting a new DIY Taiko Sage build. Given Taiko is using custom RAM, what low speed, low refresh DIMMs are compatible with the Sage board?