seeteeyou Posted October 19, 2020 Share Posted October 19, 2020 6 hours ago, ASRMichael said: In the review it states the Duelund capacitors are $1000 each, hifi collective $210. Quite a difference. Are they the same specification? FYI - here's the official statement in 2019 https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?id=209346612428600&story_fbid=2557407504289154 Quote Due to significant investments from our major distributors - a selection of the most popular CAST Silver 630v capacitors can now be offered at much more attainable price leves. And then here's the verdict https://www.instagram.com/p/B3RS56aJzuz/ Quote In contest are - pure silver cast 1uf - tinned copper cast 1uf - copper cast 1uf https://www.instagram.com/p/B3Wa_vkJpY3/ Quote I would rate; - Pure Copper cast 9 out of 10 - Tinned Copper cast 9.5 out of 10. ...For the top end separation. And the best affordable capacitor out there at the moment. ...So what is 10!!!? ...someone has asked me that question before. ;-), I honestly don't know but at the moment I would say the Silver cast is 10 or even more..., https://www.instagram.com/p/B3Y9gvtpMf3/ Quote Duelund Pure Silver Cast capacitors. ...It's actually unbelievable what this silver cap does to the music! It's like sitting in front of a massive wall of multilayered sound that comes from very deep black and quiet background and riches somewhere behind your head, sound of cymbals or piano has that beautiful glow around it and top-end notes sound so 3d as there are some ghosts around my head whispering to my ears, it makes me listen to well-known by me tracks over and over again! wow! I know it sounds crazy but the music becomes so tangible, involving and hallucinogenic that I have become a silver cast addict!. You get massive soundstage, deep and wide! super quiet background, big and well shaped bass and best top-end ever, never bright or annoying, ... I actually worried about that, thinking silver is known to be quite bright! But not in this case, Duelund silver sounds big and well balanced and takes you right into the show! It's a real step up from an amazing copper family as the bigger price would suggest. Unfortunately, they are not cheap, but you definitely get what you paid for. I rate it 10 out of 10! So far the reference! and best audio capacitor that I know of. Nenon 1 Link to comment
Popular Post seeteeyou Posted October 23, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted October 23, 2020 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/iot-core/windows-iot-enterprise Quote Windows 10 IoT Enterprise shares all the benefits of the world-wide Windows ecosystem. It is a binary equivalent to Windows 10 Enterprise, so you can use the same familiar development and management tools as client PCs and laptops. https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/taiko-audio-sgm-extreme-the-crème-de-la-crème.27433/page-164#post-639630 Quote The windows version we are using (IOT) is meant to be able to run 24/7/365, it is very similar to, though more lightweight then the windows server versions. https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/taiko-audio-sgm-extreme-the-crème-de-la-crème.27433/page-81#post-609990 Quote 2) The noise signature of OS has a huge influence over the sound that comes out from the system. Windows LTSC is the clear leader in Emile's testing, and the gap between the latest from Microsoft and the different flavors of Linux can only be expected to increase in the future. When Microsoft delivers a better kernal and scheduler, Emile for sure will build an updated OS from these new components. So the OS is absolutely future obsolescence proof for many years to come https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/59345-article-reality-quest-going-to-extremes-with-the-taiko-audio-sgm-extreme-part-5-of-5/page/7/?tab=comments#comment-1061946 On 6/20/2020 at 6:18 PM, EuroDriver said: Believe me Emile has tried every flavor of Linux under the sun, but none of them compares with a stripped Win LTSC The Windows kernel became a lot better about 2 years ago, driven by Xbox gaming performance needs I suspect Linux would have been cheaper, but as to support, Taiko has had no issues with its Win LTSC build, rock solid FYI - here's a "hybrid" version of LTSC 2019 (17763) and the latest SAC 20H2 (19042) minus the junk https://forums.mydigitallife.net/posts/1625300 Of course we could go even further with that particular image before the installation is started https://forums.mydigitallife.net/posts/1539341 https://forums.mydigitallife.net/posts/1619858 Quote Win10-Debloater.cmd W10-Debloater-SysApps.cmd Win10LTSC-Debloater.cmd Win10AIO-Debloater.cmd Finally don't forget to give MinorityClean a try http://jplay.eu/forum/index.php?/topic/3063-pink-hq-minorityclean/page-35#entry52834 Quote MC64 is brighter, more forward sounding and it does something special to the transient sounds. Drums and percussion sounds much more alive and detailed. The brightness might be actually too much for my system, but the transients are probably worth it. If your system sounds a bit darker, you are going to love MC64. Bass is tighter, more focused and open, yet it feels like there are more of it. Previous versions of MC sounded like bass recorded to great analog tape, MC64 sounds like hearing the bass live. http://jplay.eu/forum/index.php?/topic/3063-pink-hq-minorityclean/page-36#entry52864 Quote I am really enjoying MC64. In my system it sounds fantastic. Best imaging, vocal clarity. Need to listen longer, the bass may be less clear. To me it is the best version so far. Listening to David Sylvian Brilliant Trees last night and hearing new depth and detail in the recording. Suzanne Vega Solitude Standing was interesting. Previous versions of MC had added an artefact, like excessive reverb to the vocals. Last night my favourite track Language sounded phenomenal. The percussion especially. My signature over there will be updated whenever a new version is available http://jplay.eu/forum/index.php?/topic/3063-pink-hq-minorityclean/page-35#entry52832 lwr, motberg and Exocer 3 Link to comment
seeteeyou Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 FYI - Marcin just spilled the beans http://jplay.eu/forum/index.php?/topic/3021-new-audiophile-build/#entry52870 Quote If you don't want any switching regulators, you will have to wait for JCAT streamer/server... USBridge Sig was the very first but it's only good for Compute Module 3 Lite https://allo.com/sparky/usbridge-signature-pcb.html Quote To lower the noise of the USB, we had to lower noise on EACH rail. In total, USBridge Sig uses more than 30 LDOs. Even the SD card power rail has a dedicated LDO. There are zero switching elements on board. At last we'll have something with x86 instead of ARM, could that actually meet / beat ASUS WS C621E SAGE or what? Link to comment
seeteeyou Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 LOL, you just made a certain claim about X without bothering to specify what you actually did. How about stating what kinda apples-to-apples comparison was done? Volume matching? Same distro? Same kernel? Same software player on the client / server side? Same network tweaks? Same PSU with the same voltage? Same cables? Same input on the same DAC? https://community.roonlabs.com/t/ropiee-on-allo-usbridge-signature/79652/27 Quote You‘ll enjoy the USBridge Sig! I‘ve got mine, along with the Shanti LPS. The combo beats my Aurender N100H hands down (this unit costs 3,000 €!)! In my system, Roon sounds very sweet with this unit! https://community.roonlabs.com/t/ropiee-on-allo-usbridge-signature/79652/48 Quote I can confirm Paul_Jeno’s comment. I also have the USBridge Sig + LPS with a Gustard U16 DDC. It now replaces a $4k streamer… so much so I have put these with more parts and built a streamer around it inside a slick ali case with screen as a single unit. Looking at a OXCO clock and this will play with the big brands. https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/59219-new-dd-converters-from-denafrips/page/6/?tab=comments#comment-1071704 On 8/3/2020 at 4:16 AM, richard_crl032 said: Just listened to the allo's usb bridge signature via the gaia and T+ and compared the Antipodes directly via the T+ with various same tracks on both. Without the gaia for both allo's and Antipodes to the T+ that I am very familiar with, it was like subjectively 60-70% for the allo's if Antipodes is at 90% .... With the gaia for allo's, it gets to 75-80% of the Antipodes which is quite impressive and nice as a backup server since I have the gaia but it also tells me just how nice the Antipodes is .. crisp, clear and extended in comparison. FWIW running a (WAY) stripped-down OS with the right CPU affinity etc. turned out to make a HUGE difference https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/30376-a-novel-way-to-massively-improve-the-sq-of-computer-audio-streaming/page/693/?tab=comments#comment-1073768 https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/58164-building-a-diy-music-server/page/28/?tab=comments#comment-1077902 IMHO Allo could only ship their products with a distro that's relatively easy to support, meanwhile plenty of tweaks are available for ARM out there and quite a few examples could be found below http://albumplayer.ru/linux/english.html https://www.symphonic-mpd.com/forum/ https://github.com/thanhtam-h/rpi4-xeno3 https://www.patreon.com/posts/snakeoil-os-33602597 http://www.headphoneclub.com/thread-738525-1-1.html http://www.erji.net/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=2192344 https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1j9c6utgwrStLYD6xy5Yati63RcMlMp8S https://vnav.vn/threads/raspberry-pi-music-server.38335/page-184#post-2600011 https://github.com/sam0402/pcp-44.1KHz/blob/master/xenomai3/pcp-44100Hz_xe.patch https://www.my-hiend.com/vbb/showthread.php?13157-piCorePlayer6-1-0-Xenomai-44-1-48KHz雙機入門簡易安裝教學&p=242868#post242868 Exocer 1 Link to comment
Popular Post seeteeyou Posted October 26, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted October 26, 2020 "Word first class build LPSU" sounded very so promising to me, LOL FWIW Pachanko didn't seem to have a solid track record according to multiple customers https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/26411-pachanko-sata-cable/page/6/#comments If they weren't even able to ship their cables without significant delays, what are we supposed to expect for a megabuck PSU then? Unless they're ordering their Duelund CAST Silver in bulk just like what Taiko Audio did, where would they find a reputable + reliable source with reasonable pricing? https://www.facebook.com/duelundcoherentaudio/posts/3707228172640409 https://www.facebook.com/duelundcoherentaudio/posts/3752379124791980 They didn't really mention whether it's the cheapest one @ 0.1uF or the others, Hifi Collective could hardly keep that particular one in stock https://www.hificollective.co.uk/catalog/-c-61_68_329_338.html Right now I don't even see 0.1uF here while only 1 outta 3 choices could be added to their shopping cart despite the status shown https://www.partsconnexion.com/duelund-cast-pio-silver-electronic-film-capacitors-630vdc.html Maybe they're actually stocking up on 0.1uF for real, who knows? Though it's just kinda funny to see Audio Note on their product page while they're claiming that's meant to be Duelund CAST Silver https://www.pachankostudio.com/product-page/pachanko-audiophile-masterpiece-edition-highend-lpsu Could they REALLY find the the right source for Duelund or not? And then I certainly hope that 4N silver stuff wouldn't come from Tao Bao before they're treated cryogenically, not sure if there were too many O-core transformers with 4N silver out there but Kenneth Lau got them from Simon Tuned https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=534199855459 https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=534325078734 https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=534389904041 Maybe they're also sharing the same source or something? https://kitsunehifi.com/product/kitsune-hifi-800w-occ-isolation-transformer/ Neotech 7N Cryo Silver and Duelund 5N Cryo Silver could also be found on Tao Bao easily https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=15985627183 https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=36010441073 "Super low noise linear regulator boards" could mean so many things. LT3045? Single / double-regulated? What kinda (continuous / transient) current could each 19V / 5V rail provide? Just asking for so much money without giving us some basic details, especially their (realistic) lead time in the middle of a global pandemic that ain't going away soon. I dunno man, 3 rails of DC4 just happened to cost £4400 and that's like quite a bit less than €5000 these days. Which one is a (much) safer bet? auricgoldfinger, ASRMichael, motberg and 2 others 2 3 Link to comment
seeteeyou Posted October 28, 2020 Share Posted October 28, 2020 http://jplay.eu/forum/index.php?/topic/3594-optimo-atx-truly-linear-atx-power-supply/#entry52874 Quote Initio and NET Card XE will be announced later this month Now that NET Card XE is coming soon, it's only natural to ask a question like this — could some sorta isolation be achieved by binding audio-related process(es) like HQPlayer / NAA etc. to that specific network adapter exclusively? Meanwhile everything else will be forced to go through the on-board Ethernet and then we're making sure that no processes are allowed to access both adapters under any circumstances. Is it really as simple as something like this? On-board Ethernet — IPv4 = Enabled / IPv6 = Disabled JCAT Net Card XE — IPv4 = Disabled / IPv6 = Enabled Maybe we could even unplug the network cable from the on-board Ethernet at some point, though not really sure about how to keep the remote control part going. Let's say it ain't so easy, could these programs do the trick by any chance? https://github.com/falahati/NetworkAdapterSelector https://www.raymond.cc/blog/bind-windows-application-to-specific-network-adapter-with-forcebindip/ And then we've got something else for Linux as well https://nsjail.dev https://github.com/google/nsjail https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/30376-a-novel-way-to-massively-improve-the-sq-of-computer-audio-streaming/page/656/?tab=comments#comment-1053701 On 5/22/2020 at 3:11 PM, darkfrank said: I must say that even I'm already using the Telegartner M12 switch, by using ROON to play local file only, unplug the network cable still improve the SQ for about ~20%. https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/30376-a-novel-way-to-massively-improve-the-sq-of-computer-audio-streaming/page/699/?tab=comments#comment-1077821 On 9/4/2020 at 12:56 AM, austinpop said: Disconnected is best: My preferred mode of listening is local playback (from local SSD) using HQPlayer, with the network disconnected. Not only does this sound sublime, but it forms a reference for what the network chain needs to achieve. https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/taiko-audio-sgm-extreme-the-crème-de-la-crème.27433/page-206#post-655430 https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/30376-a-novel-way-to-massively-improve-the-sq-of-computer-audio-streaming/page/676/?tab=comments#comment-1063711 On 6/27/2020 at 1:04 PM, Nenon said: Also, the recent developments at Taiko got me intrigued. They are into something that made Roon much better. This Asus Sage motherboard has KVM access. I can remote to my server while the NICs are disabled. What I have noticed is that disabling the NICs is an improvement. I think there are two types of network noise. One is the electrical noise that comes over the network cable, which everyone is talking about and trying to clean up, isolate, reclock, etc. The other one is the noise that the computer generates when the Operating system is processing packets. We don't talk much about the latter. And I think that is the more harmful noise (at least after a good number of network tweaks). Every packet that comes to your network needs to be processed. That's why we have discovered that isolating your server on a seperate VLAN sounds better - your server does not have to process random broadcast packets from other devices on your network. This is also one of the reasons why we found that Stylus sounds better than Roon. Stylus caches the track before playing and tries to minimize any network activity. Roon constantly does something with the network. There is noise that is generated every time a packet is processed. Those are also CPU interrupts that are distracting the CPU from its main purpose - music playing. And no switch can do anything about that. I discovered this when I connected to my computer with KVM and disabled the NICs. I expect that not everyone would actually play something on YouTube etc. with command-line based software (i.e. MPV Player + FFmpeg + youtube-dl = no ads whatsoever) like I do, though it's still quite interesting to try something like this https://www.stereo.net.au/forums/topic/298457-ethernet-switches-for-audio-part-a-list-of-switches-related-info-experiences/page/7/?tab=comments#comment-4598801 Quote Probably not the right place but related nonetheless. @rmpfyf do I remember correctly that you were able to get your network port to switch off automatically when a playlist starts and then switch back on when it has finished? https://www.stereo.net.au/forums/topic/298457-ethernet-switches-for-audio-part-a-list-of-switches-related-info-experiences/page/7/?tab=comments#comment-4598833 Quote Create a file e.g. 'nano NetworkDown.sh' In the editor sudo ifconfig eth0 down aplay filename sudo ifconfig eth0 up save that and exit Make it executable e.g. 'chmod +x NetworkDown.sh' Then run it e.g. './NetworkDown.sh' Should do it. If you replace 'filename' in the file with "$1" then you can run the script and pass the filename as an argument e.g. './NetworkDown.sh myfile' Now the $64,000 question is, do we have anything out there that could (automatically) detect the beginning / the end of track so that all NICs will be disabled / re-enabled accordingly? Link to comment
seeteeyou Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 FYI - here's the latest from Soundaware and their flagship product AMC-D1 looked very so close to ASRock J4205-ITX https://weibo.com/1458427661/JqEti7OHf https://weibo.com/5544444327/JqED2oyF8 http://www.soundaware.net/newsinfo/459500.html ASRock J4205-ITX https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/J4205-ITX/index.asp Supposedly they spent like 3 years on the development. Basically they evaluated thousands of motherboards and less than 10 of them were able to meet their requirements, finally they chose to work with ASRock instead of Asus and Gigabyte etc. https://card.weibo.com/article/m/show/id/2309404563632272048236 https://card.weibo.com/article/m/show/id/2309404563892683538661 https://card.weibo.com/article/m/show/id/2309404563901151838380 Two different flavors of AMC-D1 will cost 14,999 RMB (Value Edition) and 14,999+1?,??? RMB (Deluxe Edition) respectively, the latter one should come with custom BIOS / stripped down version of Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC etc. They mentioned that even ASIO driver was optimized for USB audio output. Obviously that Pentium J4205 wouldn't be any good when compared to stuff like Xeon Scalable etc. since a more powerful CPU should sound (much) better under most circumstances https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/95591/intel-pentium-processor-j4205-2m-cache-up-to-2-6-ghz.html Though their J4105-ITX (w/ Celeron J4105) still sounded better than Supermicro X10SBA-L (w/ Celeron J1900) inside Innuos ZENith Mk.II Std https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/2598 https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/J4105-ITX/index.asp https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/55916-euphony-os-wstylus-player-setup-and-issues-thread/page/58/?tab=comments#comment-1086740 On 10/27/2020 at 7:34 AM, Anwar said: I played with different J4105 BIOS settings but settled with the following: Turbo Boost: OFF, SpeedStep: OFF, C-State: OFF. With the Celeron J4105 only having 4 cores, I settled with "0-1 gstp 2 stylus 3" CPU isolation setting. Wow, the SQ is so close to the SQ of my DAC's own rendering. It even beats my Innuos ZENith Mk2.Std. It surprises me as I don't need to spend crazy money on expensive USB reclocker. Link to comment
seeteeyou Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 On 10/11/2020 at 8:31 AM, Exocer said: You're welcome, all I did was look up LVCMOS OCXOs @ 25Mhz on Digikey and @Soul Analogue confirmed the results. @tgb, looking forward to your project with the OH4510LF. Best of luck, and hopefully the results are worthwhile! OH4610LF-025.0M = ±10ppb @ $55.1 (Minimum 1) https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/connor-winfield/OH4610LF-025-0M/5641634 SIT5711AI-KW-33N-25.000000N = ±5ppb @ $59.68 (Minimum 500 = $29,840) https://www.arrow.com/en/products/sit5711ai-kw-33n-25.000000n/sitime https://www.sitime.com/part-number-decoder Any SiT5711 OCXO @ 25 MHz = 1,080 RMB / $165 (Minimum 1) https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=585481394277 SIT5711AI-KW-33N-25.000000F = $106.25 (Minimum 25 = $2656.25) https://www.arrow.com/en/products/sit5711ai-kw-33n-25.000000f/sitime https://www.sitime.com/part-number-decoder A wider temperature range (-40 to 85 as shown above) should be superior to what JCAT picked for their USB Card XE (20 MHz) and NET Card XE (25 MHz) as follows https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/58899-usb-card-xe-xtreme-edition-usb-audio-output-with-ground-breaking-performance/page/2/?tab=comments#comment-1065007 On 7/3/2020 at 1:57 PM, Marcin_gps said: The current lead time information for the OCXO SIT5711AC-KW-33E-20.000000F-ND is that they are expected to arrive at Digi-Key on July 8, 2020. https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/30376-a-novel-way-to-massively-improve-the-sq-of-computer-audio-streaming/page/644/?tab=comments#comment-1039516 On 3/31/2020 at 6:40 AM, romaz said: According to Marcin, it uses a new OCXO rated at 5ppb but what he found to be the more important characteristic is that this clock is somehow immune to vibrations. Apparently but not surprisingly, Marcin and his OEM (Adnaco) found that a high performance clock in a vibratory environment has the potential to perform more poorly than a lower performance clock in a vibration-free environment and so while others may be touting OCXOs with better lab measurements under ideal conditions, this card was designed to function optimally under real world conditions. Minimum 500 would be quite a stretch unless we're able to split $29,840 among 50 or so participants, though $2656.25 wouldn't be THAT bad for 25 pieces of high caliber OCXO. AFAIK plenty of stuff could take advantage of an OCXO @ 25 MHz since both Ethernet (NICs / switches etc.) and USB 3 could perform much better with an upgrade. BTW, here's their latest DCOCXO that's even more interesting https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/sitime/SIT5721AC-KW333-T-24-57600F/11696570 https://www.arrow.com/en/products/sit5721ai-kw033-t-50.000000/sitime https://media.digikey.com/pdf/Data Sheets/SiTime PDFs/SiT5721_Web.pdf Quote The SiT5721 can be factory-programmed to any frequency between 1 and 60 MHz. In addition to industry leading performance, the DCOCXO is offered in a 9 x 7 mm package, the smallest Stratum 3E OCXO available. Theoretically we could get 45.1584 MHz / 49.152 MHz for upgrading DACs etc. but their lead time might be a concern. Exocer 1 Link to comment
seeteeyou Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 FYI - interesting post https://cafe.naver.com/jazzkfpa https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/60871-korean-no-1-high-end-linear-power-supply/ Quote Nayuta Flagship LPS is 3 rails / 4 rails / 5 rails. - 3 rails : 40Kg / Price (Included Shipping Fee) : $ 7,000 - 4 rails : 50Kg / Price (Included Shipping Fee) : $ 8,500 - 5 rails : 62Kg / Can't sell this version to the world Nayuta Audio Linear Power Supply https://www.monoandstereo.com/2020/02/nayuta-audio-linear-power-supply.html https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?id=1800464690274533&story_fbid=2572476489740012 https://www.custom-hifi-cables.co.uk/power-supplies/dc4-power-supply Quote £3000 (4000 USD for North America) (1 output) e.g. Chord M-Scaler £3700 (5000 USD for North America) (2 outputs) e.g. a switch/clock combo £4400 (6000 USD for North America) (3 outputs) e.g. Chord DAVE or BLU mk2 Link to comment
seeteeyou Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 The thing is, not THAT many of us could / would have access to enough SR7 DR / DC4-tier (maybe OPTIMO_ATX down the road, too?) rails for obvious reasons https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/30376-a-novel-way-to-massively-improve-the-sq-of-computer-audio-streaming/page/614/?tab=comments#comment-1011955 On 12/10/2019 at 4:25 PM, austinpop said: This super-combo just smokes both the red and blue combos! I have a hard time even articulating how good this sounds. The HDPlex Linear ATX supply is already very good, but using the SR-7 to power the server just takes it to another level. SQ improves across the board, in dynamics, transparency, bass articulation, tonality and imaging. I finally got to hear what @romaz has been raving about, and it is truly something! And then there's something about having the right software that could actually take advantage of those substantial investments in hardware https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/30376-a-novel-way-to-massively-improve-the-sq-of-computer-audio-streaming/page/674/?tab=comments#comment-1062580 On 6/23/2020 at 12:43 AM, austinpop said: What my experience showed me is that the 8700K sounded better than the 8700T at the same operating frequency: IF the PSU is big enough to easily energize both CPUs for all the factors above, and when using the performance governor (default) in Euphony that sets and holds the CPU frequency to the max value specified in the settings. Does this prove anything? Nope. And if asking on any other OS than Euphony, without knowing how the OS will control CPU frequency dynamically, I wouldn't be able to say. But certainly for Euphony, my inclination would be to go with the K CPU, if you're confident of your PSU's capacity. https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/58164-building-a-diy-music-server/page/28/?tab=comments#comment-1077902 On 9/4/2020 at 6:07 AM, Nenon said: It's the sum of all parts that matters. When I built my dual Xeon CPU server and ran Euphony it did not sound better than my single CPU AMD Ryzen with pinkFaun ultraOCXO motherboard clock. But after spending a few months to tweak a custom Windows LTSC, and after isolating the server and the streamer part on different CPUs, the dual Xeon is on another level. So there is no simple answer to your question. A single CPU server if tweaked well may sound better than a not so-well tweaked dual CPU server. There are so many variables, that it's hard to generalize. It's kinda like putting the right person, in the right place, at the right time. Hardware, power, cables, server / client combos, software player, bit-perfect versus upsampling, CPU affinity, process isolation, ramroot / RAM drive, BMC + disabling NIC, CPU offload with RDMA / SMB Direct, kernel timer frequency, BFS / MuQSS CPU scheduler, Xenomai kernel with RTDM, compiling codes with GCC settings for a specific CPU type, so on and so forth. Since it's a thread for subjective discussions, just about any kinda truth / falsehood / truthiness etc. could be both right and wrong IMHO. Link to comment
seeteeyou Posted November 4, 2020 Share Posted November 4, 2020 https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/30376-a-novel-way-to-massively-improve-the-sq-of-computer-audio-streaming/page/702/?tab=comments#comment-1084936 On 10/16/2020 at 2:27 AM, Nenon said: I may try multiple runs of it in a power cable one day (with some vibration damping and Bocchino or Furutech NCF connectors). No kidding, even RJ-45 went NCF for real http://www.furutech.com/2020/10/05/20075/ http://www.furutech.com/ja/2020/10/02/20066/ Quote Main conductor: 24 AWG Silver plated α (Alpha) OCC conductor Insulation: Special Foamed PE OD.: 1.35±0.05mm, 4 Twisted Pairs Blue/White; Orange/White; Green/White; Brown/White Shield 1: AL foil Conductive layer to the outside Shield 2: AL foil Double-sided conductive Shield 3: α (Alpha) Pure copper wire (16/10/0.10) braiding layer Jacket: UL/CL3 approved flammability grade; RoHS Compliant Flexible PVC (Black) Sleeve: High quality nylon yarn braided (Purple/Black) Really interesting cable for this Intona POEsy switch then? https://intona.eu/en/products/poesy https://intona.eu/en/products/buy/poesy/ FYI - an audiophile in China compared Intona to stock Melco S100 recently, the latter one didn't seem to be THAT much better despite such a significant price difference between the two http://www.headphoneclub.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=740410&page=3#pid5228491 Link to comment
Popular Post seeteeyou Posted November 6, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted November 6, 2020 3 hours ago, Soul Analogue said: BTW....which is the best sounding music player for Windows? There are a few I can name....HQplayer, jriver, roon.... but none of them is my preference... still exploring ..... https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/19715-hq-player/page/298/?tab=comments#comment-619193 On 1/15/2017 at 12:22 AM, louisxiawei said: The result is that while two powerful graphic cards are burning to "death" at high temperature, which only water-cooling system can remedy it, but the sound improvement is stunning compared to the sound with GPU's single-precision setting at HQplayer's CUDA offloads ticked. Some of these players also report that by using Process Lasso together altering the CPU's setting, the SQ will be improved further. Maybe skim through this thread and then get Tesla (Kepler microarchitecture or above with thousands of CUDA cores) going, perhaps it's just a matter of finding enough space to mount yet another 4kg aluminum block? http://www.myav.com.tw/bbs/showthread.php?threadid=20475707 More about CD ripping here http://www.myav.com.tw/bbs/showthread.php?threadid=20477991 Nsight Visual Studio Edition 2020.2.1 (Win 64-bit) https://developer.nvidia.com/gameworksdownload#?dn=nsight-visual-studio-edition-2020-2-1 https://developer.nvidia.com/rdp/assets/nsight-visual-studio-2020_2_1-win64-installer CUDA 11.1.1 https://docs.nvidia.com/cuda/cuda-installation-guide-microsoft-windows/index.html https://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/cuda/11.1.1/local_installers/cuda_11.1.1_456.81_win10.exe And then here's MinorityClean http://jplay.eu/forum/index.php?/topic/3063-pink-hq-minorityclean/ https://www.review33.com/avforum/index.php?topic=13150510080039 Quote MC68 is definitely less sharp in the high end, compared to 67/65/63/61. But it doesn't have less high end, it is just more natural / pleasant high end. MC68 is also a lot fuller and more open in the low mids and bass, but it is still as detailed and delicate as 67-61. Actually the high end might be the same as with 67-61, but the fullnes of bass and low mids makes it much more balanced and pleasant to listen. 68 feels more extended / "hifi" than any previous version IMO. Quote I've been enjoying MC68. I would agree with your observations that it is less sharp and fuller in sound HungryBear. I find that the stereo image is really good with MC68 as well. Quote I have not yet checked MC 68 through my amp and speakers, but only through my tube DAC/amp and a pair of Grado GH2 headphones. My initial impression are really good. This is the best sound yet from my headphones. Bass has incredible weight and slam. The sound is not thin or fatiguing, even though the highs are present and well defined. Mid bass is slightly emphasized, but pleasantly so. XX-century, orchestral music (e.g. Prokofiev's Schitian Suite / LSO / Dorati/ Mercury) showcases how dynamic, engaging, but natural the sound balance is. Imaging, as far as headphone imaging goes, is remarkable. I do hear for the first time certain note decays, acoustic reverbs and ambience clues - impressive! The Grado's are a bit characterful in sound. So, I am curious to see how MC68 sounds through my speakers, which are brutally neutral, very revealing through their ribbon tweeters and go easily down to 29-30Hz......a nice task for the first lockdown weekend! Quote Still listening to MC68, but so far I like what I hear (I agree with the positive comments posted above) and I may stick with this one for a while. Occasionally cycling through 43, 57, 61 and 65 for the purpose of comparison. Quote +1 on MC68. I was a big fan of 65 and I'm hearing slightly more weight and slightly clearer imaging. No negatives have surfaced, so I'm keeping it. Finally quite a few interesting comparisons https://www.hysolid.com/howto.html https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/59138-subjective-comparison-of-software-music-player/ On 5/3/2020 at 11:39 PM, manueljenkin said: Tl:dr: WTFPLAY >> Hysolid >>>> Winyl = Musicbee = Hqplayer = xmplay > Audirvana >> jriver = roon > Aimp > uapp on android > foobar2000 > any bundled music player with windows or non asio supported players. https://sourceforge.net/p/playpcmwin/wiki/PlayPcmWinEn/ https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/59138-subjective-comparison-of-software-music-player/page/5/?tab=comments#comment-1080273 On 9/19/2020 at 12:48 PM, manueljenkin said: Tldr: Wtfplay Linux - still the best, by a large margin Musicbee - a good compromise land in windows, nowhere near as detailed or clean as wtfplay, but still good enough for me. Play pcm win - closest to wtfplay in terms of texture and lack of colour/noise but also noticeably lower detail, slightly less than even musicbee. Ever so slightly muted in the attack. Ulilith - Clean and aggressive. Opposite of playpcm win. I love the flavour but pairing can be iffy if the rest of your chain is aggressive as well. motberg, Exocer and manueljenkin 3 Link to comment
Popular Post seeteeyou Posted December 8, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted December 8, 2020 On 11/28/2020 at 3:06 PM, Dev said: All the above are doable but my biggest worry is what s/w to run. As you have already figured out, Windows is the only option but then I am left with the need to tweak the hell out of it - the possibilities are endless :-) By any chance are you using AO or Fidelizer to optimize the Windows ? I have used AO a while back with Windows server 2016 when I had Jplay and it did very an excellent job but not sure what is the current state of affairs. FYI - someone just shared a mighty interesting version of Windows 10 Version 20H2 (LTSC style) https://pastebin.com/raw/G0J2UVCw Quote 19042.662_EnterpriseG_LTSC_STYLE_amd64_en-US_8D606496E8D99995BC6B5D2A79381C940A6DC6E9_install.esd More about Enterprise G https://www.computerworld.com/article/3200375/for-real-windows-10-privacy-you-need-the-china-government-edition.html https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2017/05/23/announcing-windows-10-china-government-edition-new-surface-pro https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/Lync/en-US/0497bfb4-d56b-45a7-97ab-16ca36381772/features-of-the-enterprise-g-edition-of-windows-10-v1709 Charlie Brown's pet dog should be gone from that particular "reconstructed" version of Windows 10, and then we could give a MC77 a try https://ftp.vector.co.jp/73/45/3565/bughead_12_39_x64.zip https://ftp.vector.co.jp/73/45/3579/Rewrite_data_3_84_x64.zip https://www.aktives-hoeren.de/viewtopic.php?p=190574#p190574 https://www.forum-hifi.fr/thread-10541-post-427572.html#pid427572 http://jplay.eu/forum/index.php?/topic/3063-pink-hq-minorityclean/page-40#entry53153 Quote MC75<MC76<MC74 MC77: Wow. MC77 is SUPER exciting and addictive. When I switch from 77 to any other MC, it feels almost like the stereo image collapses. MC77 have INCREDIBLE stereo imaging. It is incredibly detailed. It is more present and have more highs than previous releases. The sound is fuller and feels "more intensive". I can hear reverb tails I never knew they are in the recording. Everythig is so beautifully lifelike and organic. I feel like I could touch the sounds. 77 is HUGE step up in many ways and another of the releases you definitely should not miss http://jplay.eu/forum/index.php?/topic/3063-pink-hq-minorityclean/page-41#entry53166 Quote I agree with everyone that 77 is the best yet! Optimize-Offline Guide - Windows Debloating Tool, Windows 1803, 1903, 19H2, 1909, 20H1 and LTSC 2019 https://forums.mydigitallife.net/posts/1539341 https://github.com/DrEmpiricism/Optimize-Offline/releases Win10 Tweaking Scripts https://forums.mydigitallife.net/posts/1619858 https://www.upload.ee/files/12349633/Win10LTSC-Debloater.cmd.html https://mega.nz/file/JgNHzKyI#8z9GZ2TM2OtYlG4xcCmrz6aPnVeUKt_so__3h2WVwk0 motberg, beautiful music, Dev and 1 other 1 1 2 Link to comment
seeteeyou Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 1 hour ago, Dev said: The reason why Horrender has stolen software from the start Re: [mpd-devel] Request for GPL source code of your Aurender A10 product https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg00669.html Quote I already told you twice that your MPD source doesn't match your binary. The rules of the GPL mandate that you must provide the matching source code for all binaries you distribute. If you can't follow those rules, then your license is terminated automatically, making your product illegal. Now I could tell you how I verified the mismatch, but then you'd change that one piece in the source, and we're going to play endless whack-a-mole where I can only lose. That's a poor way of solving something that is naturally only your problem. So no, sorry, I can't let you know right now. It's your turn, not mine. You need to resolve your copyright problem. I am the victim, not the defendant. Arch Linux, MPD and Kernel GPL violations by Euphony Audio https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1778399#p1778399 Quote The problem with Euphony is that their written offer is fake. They never intended to give their modifications to the kernel to those who received the binary version. They put up a fake GPL written offer page, in order to silence package authors (such as Max Kellermann), but they never honored the written offer. They used all kinds of delay tactics, and when we finally provided an address to them to send the CD to, they suddenly claim they no longer offer the trial version and therefore don't need to provide us anything. This is not a valid excuse. The GPL does not work this way. https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1779602#p1779602 Quote They finally did send me a link with the kernel source, so I consider this case closed. For those who want to optimize audio playback under Arch, here's the link of their kernel: http://audiokernel.com/linux41src.tar.gz Somehow things fall apart whenever commercial interests are involved, while no products could be sold without involving any commercial interests whatsoever. Link to comment
seeteeyou Posted December 13, 2020 Share Posted December 13, 2020 4 hours ago, MarcelNL said: Storing all content in RAM is a bit hard, streaming means investing in more hardware as I also listened to the effects of network cables routers etc...choices... https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/58164-building-a-diy-music-server/page/43/?tab=comments#comment-1088701 On 11/9/2020 at 3:00 PM, Nenon said: I am using this one at the moment - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07776HSPW/ Moved to PCIe based Optane and NVME storage with the dual Xeon CPU, because I can attach them directly to the CPU of my choice, bypass the chipset, use more capacity, etc. The P4800X sounds better than the 900P! And the PCIe version sounds better than the M.2 version (P4801X). I can only imagine what an externally powered PCIe P4800X with an upgraded OCXO clock could do! 1.5 TB version of P4800X turned out to cost 22,988 RMB (about 3,500 bucks) on TaoBao or roughly $5,000 on Amazon https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=603137014053 https://www.amazon.com/SSDPED1K015TA01-P4800X-2Heigh-PCIex4-XPoint/dp/B077BMV9DD Dual Xeon E5-2600 V2 (Ivy Bridge) motherboards with 24 DIMM slots are available for 500 RMB / $150 / £90 a pop https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=632593953534 https://unixsurplus.com/x9dri-ln4f-v1-20a-motherboard-only/ https://www.bargainhardware.co.uk/supermicro-cse-815-v2-configure-to-order Those "ancient" Ivy Bridge-based Xeon processors are worth next to nothing these days https://www.serversupply.com/PROCESSORS/Intel Xeon 6-Core/2.4GHz - 7.2GT QPI/INTEL/SR1AZ_198913.htm https://www.serversupply.com/PROCESSORS/Intel Xeon 6-Core/2.4GHz - 7.2GT QPI/INTEL/CM8063501376200_198863.htm Right now 64GB of DDR-3 LRDIMM costs only 480 RMB, two dozens of them would be more like 11,520 RMB / approximately $1,750 for 1.5 TB of RAM https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=623606011431 It's getting closer and closer to a dollar / GB of DDR-3 RAM now, though it's hard to tell if that were better sounding than Optane (PCIe) or otherwise https://www.crucial.com/articles/about-memory/difference-between-speed-and-latency https://pcper.com/2018/12/intels-optane-dc-persistent-memory-dimms-push-latency-closer-to-dram/ As usual it also depends on the software that determines the performance of RAMDISK https://thessdguy.com/an-nvdimm-primer-part-2-of-2/ Quote But this is all housekeeping, and doesn’t take full advantage of the NVDIMM’s speed advantage over an SSD or HDD. More software needed to be developed to prevent NVDIMM accesses from being bogged down by slow I/O routines that were developed for HDD and SSD. At the time that they were written these routines were significantly faster than the drives themselves. With NVDIMMs the opposite is true: The storage hardware (the NVDIMM) is significantly faster than the I/O routines accessing it. Exocer 1 Link to comment
Popular Post seeteeyou Posted December 14, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted December 14, 2020 3 hours ago, Exocer said: Perhaps the benefits brought on by having separate CPUs supercedes the benefits of having a higher core count individual CPU... Having a secondary processor is only good if the software player / operating system etc. were able to take advantage of that, maybe primary CPU could be assigned to handle pretty much everything while secondary CPU would have almost nothing (e.g. except for running NAA etc.) to do. An individual CPU with a higher core count is useful when we're pinning each specific process to its corresponding core, then it's less likely to have multiple processes sharing the same core / competing for system resources. I guess that's kinda like providing a wider selection of open slots (i.e. dedicating certain cores to deal with targeted tasks) instead of allowing whole bunch of processes to pick random core(s) on their own? In the end it's more or less like division of labor, how do we figure out the "best" strategies to distribute / prioritize a predefined set of system resources? And then we're also better off without the burden of a bloated operating system, let's see the stark contrast when we're comparing plain vanilla flavors of Windows to a (WAY) stripped down one https://www.windowscentral.com/how-manage-optional-features-windows-10 Quote Windows 10 Home optional features (left), Windows 10 Pro optional features (right) https://pastebin.com/raw/0bV2ykhM Those Windows Features could be removed as explained here https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/enable-or-disable-windows-features-using-dism By default we also have more than 2,000 packages as I mentioned here, some of them couldn't be removed without a little help from "install_wim_tweak.exe" http://jplay.eu/forum/index.php?/topic/3645-fun-with-vnext-ltsc-windows-server-2022/ https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rvUrw_dVPFjO0Bwv-T9LC4HmJ7-poyPqBkwQUNpGsyY https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/add-or-remove-packages-offline-using-dism Just take a look at these folder locations to get a better idea %WinDir%\SystemApps %LocalAppData%\Packages %WinDir%\servicing\Packages And then here's the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing\Packages Tons and tons of unnecessary stuff for sure, go back to my previous post where quite a few tweaking scripts could be found https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/58164-building-a-diy-music-server/page/45/?tab=comments#comment-1094936 Exocer, kyoya78 and mikicasellas 2 1 Link to comment
seeteeyou Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 https://buy.advantech.com/968TW19HL0-968TW19HL0/968TW19HL0/model-968TW19HL0.htm https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/59727-windows-ltsc-install-for-music-server/?tab=comments#comment-1063212 On 6/25/2020 at 7:10 PM, dminches said: After that I purchased an LTSC high-end license which was required since I am running a Ryzen 3700. They have to mail the license to you since the CLA agreement requires you to put a sticker on the case. Cost was about $150 in total. Or simply do a search on Google etc. Link to comment
seeteeyou Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 http://www.mics.ne.jp/~cdorya/#download http://jplay.eu/forum/index.php?/topic/3063-pink-hq-minorityclean/page-42#entry53432 Quote Holy mother of god. The depth, the low-level details, the clarity and purity of MC81 is breathtaking. MC81>>MC79 BTW, it could be fun to steal some components from this OneCoreUpdateOS / Windows 10X https://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/windows-10x-sdk-and-emulator-image-download.81144/page-2#post-1577888 Quote 6) UPDATEOS.wim located in MainOSDisk looks to be an incredibly slimmed down version of WinPE, but its edition ID is OneCoreUpdateOS. Seems to be completely new, and contains a select few standard Win32 programs like command prompt. https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/je7tk8/minimal_windows_10_onecoreupdateos_but_with/ Quote This is OneCoreUpdateOS but the UpdateOS "Customizations" have been removed, leaving only OneCore with win32kmin, gdi32min, and other "minimal" OS components left, and BootShSvc was added to enable launching CMD at startup. https://store.rg-adguard.net https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/windows-10x-emulator-image-100195780-preview/9pjss0px0j6k Quote Microsoft.Windows10XEmulatorImage10.0.19578.0Previ_1.0.1.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe.msix https://betawiki.net/wiki/Windows_10X https://thecollectionbook.info/windows/10x-v21h1 https://twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/status/1228089162697453570 https://msbuilds.rg-adguard.net/GetInfo?id=cfe185fb-c5a3-43b1-91a8-b0706dfb1c49 https://osg.wiki/books/windows-10x/page/installing-windows-10x-(emulator-image)-on-real-hardware Link to comment
Popular Post seeteeyou Posted January 3, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 3, 2021 https://www.diretta.link/download/ https://www.diretta.link/download/ASIODriver.pdf https://www.diretta.link/download/diretta_usb_bridge_x64_limited-forumhifi.zip FYI - @Patatorz wrote this nice article about Diretta here http://patatorz.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=46 http://patatorz.com/2021/01/02/english-diretta-protocol-an-improvement-in-digital-streaming/ https://mixi.jp/view_bbs.pl?comm_id=6253388&id=78749654 Quote それと昨年の年末ごろに、ラズパイ4のsymphonic-mpdでAudio over Etherという通信方式が開発され日々改良が行われています。この方式がとても良く、Direttaの様な音がします。 Also, around the end of last year, a communication method called "Audio over Ether" was developed for raspberry 4 symphonic-mpd, and it is being improved every day. This method is very good and sounds like Diretta. Audio over Ether could bypass the entire TCP/IP stack, it's acting pretty much like RDMA from Mellanox. So far the beta testers who gave AoE a try would praise its wonderful sound, one of them also compiled that for x86 machines already. Exocer and Gavin1977 1 1 Link to comment
Popular Post seeteeyou Posted January 4, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 4, 2021 33 minutes ago, Gavin1977 said: Anymore info on audio over ether? It's just a matter of signing up for an account first https://www.stereo.net.au/forums/topic/317583-journeys-with-a-pi-from-a-standing-start-to-symphonic-mpd/?tab=comments#comment-4581125 Then they'll send you an e-mail with your credentials afterwards, everything about Audio over Ether could be found on their forums accordingly while Google Translate should be able to take care of those threads in posted Japanese https://www.symphonic-mpd.com/forum/ They really didn't want anything to be shared outside their official site, that's why I wasn't providing more information than one should in the first place. IMHO many Linux distros out there with whatever RT kernels these days might be considered somewhat "boring" when compared to stuff like Symphonic MPD etc. with RTDM / Xenomai https://xenomai.org/documentation/xenomai-3/html/xeno3prm/group__rtdm.html They're also writing their own drivers for Xenomai such as rtalsa and xsink. Gavin1977 and vgrubb 2 Link to comment
Popular Post seeteeyou Posted January 7, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 7, 2021 Fantastic, plenty of room for Z9PX-Q32 then https://allegro.pl/oferta/4xxeon-e5-4650-z-plyta-asus-z9px-q32-rs926-e7-10045437688 BTW, are you guys (especially Emil and Sean etc.) planning to come up with something similar to Ferrum HYPSOS by any chance? http://highfidelity.pl/@main-1057&lang=en https://6moons.com/audioreview_articles/ferrum/ https://www.audioalchemy.ro/cabluri/alim/HYPSOS.pdf http://www.feversound1.com/ferrum-audio-hypsos-hong-kong-review/ https://www.monoandstereo.com/2020/12/ferrumaudio-hypsos-hybrid-power-system.html A precise voltage (e.g. 12.0V) seemed to be an advantage when there's no need for any voltage regulators. tapatrick and Gavin1977 1 1 Link to comment
Popular Post seeteeyou Posted January 9, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 9, 2021 Regarding TDP, that really depends on whether we're going for a single or dual Xeon setup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Skylake-based_Xeon_microprocessors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Broadwell-based_Xeon_microprocessors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Haswell-based_Xeon_microprocessors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Ivy_Bridge-based_Xeon_microprocessors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Sandy_Bridge-based_Xeon_microprocessors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Nehalem-based_Xeon_microprocessors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Core-based_Xeon_microprocessors For a config with single Xeon, the range is all the way from Xeon E3-1220L v3 @ 13W TDP to Xeon E5-2699P v4 @ 300W TDP. When it comes to dual Xeon, the only choices (preceding Xeon Scalable) are listed below Xeon 5000-series Xeon 7000-series Xeon E5-24xx Xeon E5-26xx Xeon E5-46xx Xeon E7-28xx Xeon E7-48xx Xeon E7-88xx E5 and E7 actually went from v1 to v4 but we don't have to be Captain Obvious here, they're ranging from Xeon L5508 @ 38W TDP to Xeon E5-2699P v4 @ 300W TDP. However, let's take a look at a little something below and then we'll realize that investing in anything less than Asus WS C621E SAGE might be considered a "waste" of some sort https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/taiko-audio-sgm-extreme-the-crème-de-la-crème.27433/page-88#post-613373 Quote As for the stock server-grade ASUS motherboard used in the Extreme, I have often wondered why Emile didn't design his own motherboard like Antipodes and Innuos have and it turns out Emile has. As I have a background heavily entrenched in DIY, I have explored motherboard design myself and if one has the capital, any of these motherboard manufacturers will gladly build you one. What Emile found, however, was the motherboard he designed didn't sound better. In fact, he tested dozens of boards and I was able to witness for myself some of these boards that failed to make the cut including several that were in active prototype form. Simply put, even best of the best couldn't design a better one on his own. Besides, other manufacturers might have to spend at least quite a few years to catch up with what SGM Extreme could offer right now. BTW, talking about TDP alone might not be all that meaningful since the actual power consumption would always depend on what we're doing with the CPU in the first place. A pair of Xeon Silver 4210 @ 85W TDP should be doing fine without any upsampling with HQ Player, though ASDM7EC would be a very different story. Exocer, 87mpi and Nenon 3 Link to comment
seeteeyou Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 On 1/8/2021 at 7:05 AM, Nenon said: The purpose of this chassis is to go with a specific DIY recipe utilizing the dual CPU Asus SAGE motherboard for now. If we find something that sounds better, it can be tweaked in that direction. There is plenty of space inside for anything and plenty of cooling capacity. I know this one is only good for single Xeon but just wondering if you or Emile were getting a chance to test it out? https://rog.asus.com/motherboards/rog-dominus/rog-dominus-extreme-model/ Quote Designed for extreme performance: 32 power stages, dual 24-pin, quad 8-pin and dual 6-pin 12V power connectors that deliver industry-leading power efficiency Granted it's meant for that Xeon W-3175X monster, though Xeon Silver with 85W TDP could still work just fine with the latest BIOS release https://rog.asus.com/motherboards/rog-dominus/rog-dominus-extreme-model/helpdesk_cpu/ 12 DIMM for a single CPU Scalable instead of the same number for dual Xeon, just wondering if that were able to score some points when combined with insane power stages / dual ATX / quad EPS etc. Link to comment
seeteeyou Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 If an expensive LPS weren't providing enough current, better be safe than sorry then? https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/taiko-audio-sgm-extreme-the-crème-de-la-crème.27433/page-97#post-615725 Quote While the Extreme consumes only about 60 watts during music playback, Emile tells me that the Extreme can consume up to 300 watts during bootup. This would fry any of the bespoke PSUs I have on hand. https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/taiko-audio-sgm-extreme-the-crème-de-la-crème.27433/page-132#post-623214 Quote We have tested HQPlayer version 3.x with the Extreme, DSD upsampling using the most taxing filter back then, polysinc-xtr (non -2s), it can run on 1 CPU up to DSD256, for DSD512 you need both CPUs, at which point it draws about 330 watts from the wall. The EC modulators in HPlayer 4 use even more resources, this is really beyond reasonable assuming using a linear powered server. Link to comment
seeteeyou Posted January 11, 2021 Share Posted January 11, 2021 https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/30376-a-novel-way-to-massively-improve-the-sq-of-computer-audio-streaming/page/695/?tab=comments#comment-1074185 On 8/17/2020 at 4:17 AM, romaz said: The process has been educational and what I am finding is that the quality of the files that you generate with HQP Pro is very much dependent on the quality of the server used to create these files. Don't think you can just create files on any server and end up with excellent results. On 8/17/2020 at 4:17 AM, romaz said: my experience with creating new masters via offline upsampling with HQP Pro strongly supports that noise created by your server becomes permanently embedded in the new recording and even play back of these files through the Extreme won't fix it. Just thinking out loud here, and feel free to call me crazy if you will. It's only good for those of us who are willing to purchase HUGE hard drives, and obviously that will only work for NAS / locally-stored music library but no love for (although there's actually a trick or two) music streaming services. Instead of having to worry about high current draw of PCM / DSD upsampling on the fly, does it make sense if everyone who's interested in this thread were willing to share the costs of building something together? That's meant to be THE ultimate server for running HQPlayer Pro and there must be a way to automate the entire upsampling process. Basically we're uploading part of our own music library to the cloud first, then those files will be scheduled to be transferred to that extra-special server mentioned above. A script with specific HQPlayer Pro settings will be executed automatically and a password-protected archive (containing all upsampled files) is uploaded back to the cloud for a number of days, of course it will be deleted later once the owner is done with the downloading. FYI - the size of DSD1024 files should be roughly 330 MB / min https://samplerateconverter.com/educational/dsd-files There's always a catch, though. How do we find someone who's trustworthy + savvy enough to be in charge of a server like that? As usual time is a concern, there's only one server that's upsampling one file at a time. The queue would keep growing if more and more forum members were interested in joining the project. Maybe CUDA offloading could speed things up with offline upsampling, though? https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/30376-a-novel-way-to-massively-improve-the-sq-of-computer-audio-streaming/page/694/?tab=comments#comment-1074085 On 8/16/2020 at 8:24 PM, romaz said: HQP upsampling also benefits from CUDA cores with the Nvidia Pascal GPU as a minimum and the Volta/Turing GPUs being better still and so anyone doing serious DSD upsampling should consider incorporating such a GPU but note that these are power hungry and noisy devices. Fortunately Turing T4 (with 2,560 CUDA cores) is passively cooled @ 70W TDP https://www.dihuni.com/product/nvidia-tesla-t4-gpu-16gb/ https://www.etb-tech.com/dell-nvidia-tesla-t4-16gb-graphics-card-ppgxg.html https://www.ebay.com/itm/NVIDIA-Tesla-T4-GPU-16GB-GDDR6-Accelerator-Card-new-/203069728865 https://www.nvidia.com/content/dam/en-zz/Solutions/Data-Center/tesla-t4/t4-tensor-core-datasheet-951643.pdf https://www.wiredzone.com/shop/product/10028713-supermicro-gpu-nvtt4-nvidia-tesla-t4-16gb-gddr5-pcie-3-0-x16-1915 Cloud storage / bandwidth / hard drives etc. do cost money, and then HQPlayer Pro also costs €2,390. Gotta find the right person, the right place, the right time then? Link to comment
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