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Building a DIY Music Server


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3 hours ago, Soul Analogue said:

 

so for the computer environment, the ground of the PC will be connected to the -6V, -2.5v and -1.65v? ... I am not sure if multiple rails can be connected this way ...

there are many ways to deal with ripple noise in DC... this balanced supply theory looks like more complicated than necessary just to deal with noise...and the output impedance would be added up by the use of multiple transistors 

Surely for 'balanced' connection to work you need to have AC current?  This is how amplifiers work  AC-> Power Supply -> DC -> Amplifier Module -> AC to Speaker + & -.  Interconnects are also AC.

 

No sure of it's application to DC?

 

By the way, for signal transfer, this is by far the best paper I ever found on it.

Balanced and SE output AudioXpress.pdf

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  • 2 weeks later...
1 hour ago, Nenon said:

I have. Both are really good and really a matter of personal taste. The question is which nuance of good do you prefer. It's also dependant on the synergy with the rest of your server components and the entire system. Sorry I don't have a clear answer saying X is better than Y by this much, but that's how many things in audio are. There is however a significant price difference that needs considering too... The PinkFaun USB ultraOCXO is almost double the price of the JCAT XE.  

 

I have done some of these experiments too. I replaced the chipset clock with an ultraOCXO clock. There are USB ports that are directly connected to the CPU and USB ports that are connected to the chipset. Before the clock upgrade, the CPU USB ports sounded better. After the clock upgrade, the chipset USB ports sounded better. Much better. But adding a good external card with good power was still better. The onboard NIC on this motherboard had a different clock. I did not try replacing it, but I am sure it would be an improvement. This is what Innuos did in the Innuos Statement.

 

I have similar experience with Sean Jacobs DC4 LPS, which is using very similar but larger transformers (6 times larger I believe). 

1370025136_ScreenShot2020-11-17at12_16_13PM.png.ace4855f29d81c082fef7e916dbe7d1b.png

 

1788379799_ScreenShot2020-11-17at12_20_38PM.png.3d39355f3da5785eaf2813184948beb3.png

I guess it still depends on what you are feeding with the power supply. Feeding a JCAT Net Femto and a JCAT USB XE cards with two rails from the same transformer vs. two different transformers would be very difficult to hear. But feeding something like the Chord Electronics Hugo M Scaler, which is a noisy device, would make an audible difference. 

A good quality transformer is certainly playing a big role in the power supply and that shiny transformer used by Marcin and Sean is the best I have heard so far. I am a big fan of good quality components, and it makes me sick when I see 5-figure audio components using the cheapest parts possible and making false claims about how they were specifically "voiced" with them. Actually that's the main reason I got into DIY audio. 

 

@Marcin_gps When is the JCAT XE Network card coming up? I think a lot of the readers on this thread are interested. 

 

 

Extremely helpful - many thanks

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  • 1 month later...
21 hours ago, seeteeyou said:

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/

 


 

N3nh0oE.png

 

6ZGPPqD.jpg

https://mixi.jp/view_bbs.pl?comm_id=6253388&id=78749654

 

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.

Anymore info on audio over ether?

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+1 @MarcelNL I bought a load of Salas L-adaptor pcbs... but you know what I just can't be bothered to solder them all up... it just takes too much time.  Good quality connection wire is also expensive, as are the right crimping tools.  Modular completed components is better for me and less likely for me to end up swearing at them.  I love the HD Plex chassis I have, I would certainly consider paying more to have a 'deluxe' version of this with an integral psu.  Love Paul Hynes and Sean Jacobs stuff, the prices are fine if you just want to power a single rail NUC, but count me out on based on multi-rail prices.  Perhaps I'm HDPlex's target audience, price of the H5 chassis and their new 500w linear is what I'm comfortable with.

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15 hours ago, Nenon said:

 

A suggested list of parts and schematics will be provided to make the unregulated AC to DC linear power supply. It would consist of:

Transformer —> Rectifier —> Choke —> Filtering capacitors; or to be more complete:

IEC inlet/fuse --> SoftStart module -->Transformer —> Rectifier —> Choke —> Filtering capacitors.

 

That unregulated LPS will be tweaked to work with Taiko's ATX module. The output of the unregulated LPS goes to the input of Taiko's module. And we would have:

IEC inlet/fuse --> SoftStart module -->Transformer —> Rectifier —> Choke —> Filtering capacitors --> Taiko ATX.

 

The Taiko ATX module has two 8-pin EPS connector outputs, one 24-pin ATX connector and an Auxiliary connector with (+5V and +12V output) for future use. You will need one or two EPS cables (depending on the motherboard used) and one ATX cable to connect the Taiko ATX to your motherboard.

 

That is the entire power supply. The Taiko ATX is super transparent. Tweaking the unregulated power supply has a significant impact on the overall sound. This is one area where we can tweak things. This is also an area where we can have different versions - a more affordable version and a more exotic version. We can potentially add a solderless option to make things easy for those who like building computers but would like to stay away from soldering. I am sure that would be a popular request. 

 

This unregulated power supply is something that people can do on their own with parts of their choice. Or use the recommended parts. Taiko would try to arrange stocking the transformer I really liked, to make that more accessible (you have to order hundred(s) to get it). That would be the recommended transformer but you can get whatever transformer you like. The rest is still work in progress. 

Now the Taiko ATX module is a product I would be interested in and would purchase.

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11 hours ago, RickyV said:


Ah, okey.

I thought about using a Hypex SMPS to feed a HDPLEX DC-DC converter, however there is also an additional hitch in that these SMPS are untested in this application and are only used to power amplifiers which obviously only have high transient power peaks.  Providing a continuous 60w+ from a Hypex SMPS might cause it to fail pretty quickly.

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  • 1 month later...
11 hours ago, seeteeyou said:

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/58164-building-a-diy-music-server/page/72/?tab=comments#comment-1107076

 

FYI - pretty interesting results since 4️⃣ (optical USB 2.0 isolator as I quoted above) looked quite stellar to me?

 

1️⃣ (PC) = direct output of USB port

2️⃣ (Iso-1) = unknown isolator added to 1️⃣

3️⃣ (SCHIT) = Schiit Wyrd added to 1️⃣

4️⃣ (BW) = optical USB 2.0 isolator added to 1️⃣

 

https://www.l7audiolab.com/f/usb-5v-measurement/

mhUQdtL.jpg

 

Already sold out at the moment, it ain't too bad for roughly 225 bucks plus another $50 for the Chakra 5V PSU

 

http://www.erji.net/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=2218628

TLS1nP5.jpg

 

That audiophile in China was totally impressed by the microdynamics and layering etc.

I nearly purchased the opto-usb, but I found optical out of a Matrix x-spdif 2 to sound sublime (only when fed USB/power from JCAT USB XE and Sablon 2020) a bit like the idea of daily chaining network devices. The improvement was not subtle.

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19 hours ago, seeteeyou said:

Very interesting - $500 for the evaluation board kinda kills it though.

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15 minutes ago, seeteeyou said:

 

It doesn't have the right connector (i.e. 6-pin for HDPLEX etc.) but replacing the entire DC cable should be OK for this $150 PSU

 

https://www.coolgear.com/product/300watt-24v-gan-switching-power-adapter

That is a very high quality power brick - but it's ripple and noise are still way higher than a Paul Hynes or Shaun Jacobs.

 

If the Taiko DC-DC ATX is as good as described with regards to noise and ripple rejection then it will be interesting how it performs with a SMPS like this.  Like Nenon says though, the Taiko DC-DC is so transparent it will sound different depending upon what is used to power it.

 

Will the Taiko ATX be supplied with a set of cables?  I'm just thinking that many people are awful are crimping cables, I still prefer premade ones to avoid any poor connections.

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So options for running two PCI cards without a flexi extender / riser...

 

Maximus XI Gene Z390 seems to be my favored option - but the 1x PCIe slot goes through the Z390 chipset and is not direct to CPU.  Anyone got any ideas on how this might affect the performance of JCAT USB XE?  I have to attach the solarflare to the full speed PCIe slot.

 

Other options:

  • MPG Z390M GAMING EDGE AC matx - does have direct CPU 8x/8x slots, but likely no 2oz copper.
  • Otherwise it's full size ATX like the Z390 DESIGNARE as previously mentioned.
  • or just use the M2 to PCI cable with my existing ITX as originally planned (1x PCIe will be routed through Z390 again)

 

Difficult to know which would sound best!  A mini-DTX motherboard would be great - but zero opportunity there.

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4 hours ago, Exocer said:

Hi Gavin,

The Asus WS Z390 Pro seems to fit the bill although it isn't cheap. Probably one heck of a Motherboard. 

 

The block diagram suggests all devices in the larger PCI-E 16X slots go CPU direct per the block diagram here:

 

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socket1151/WS_Z390_PRO/Manual/E14958_WS_Z390_PRO_UM_V2_WEB.pdf

 

There is the QSW though. I am not sure what the SQ impact would be with the QSW in the chain.

 

You can avoid whatever the QSW introduces by using only the 1 and 3 PCI-E 16X sized slots:

 

image.thumb.png.81b5a299a7627d60ec0dfd2538219524.png

 

Here is the Asus Sage C621 in comparison, no QSW on CPU 2 but there is one on CPU 1:

 

image.thumb.png.cb0cb06a901b6f10e89093490ee7a168.png

 

Not sure if the general consensus is to avoid it.

 

Cheers

 

Good find.  I wasn't aware of QSW.  Apparently it adds latency so you can see the benefit to the C621 MB approach.

 

I have decided to go for the Maximus XI Gene Z390, it has an additional phase on the CPU VRM compared to my existing ASROCK Phantom ITX.  As per the ASROCK it also doesn't use doublers, which could be a good thing in my experience (C621 also doesn't use doublers it's a true 7 phase design).  It also has a single phase of VRM on VCCSA and VCCIO.  These features put it, in theory, ahead of the other choices.

 

The other feature which is quite unique is that the motherboard sacrifices two channels of RAM to allow the use of the DIMM.2 M.2 slot which supports PCIe 3.0 x4 directly from the CPU.  In theory (again!) this could also allow M2 to PCIe flex to be used and compared against the onboard PCIe x1 that goes through the Z390 chipset.

 

My optane M2 drive can only be routed through the Z390 chipset, so cannot be installed in the DIMM.2 M.2 slot.

 

So, Maximus XI gene can allow everything other than my Optane drive to be directly attached to CPU and also leaves a bit more space in my HDPlex enclosure for things like wall mounted regulators in the future.

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