Building a DIY Music Server

[Nenon]

59 minutes ago, lwr said:

Is the EtherREGEN re-clocked?  Were both of the Buffalos re-clocked, or was it just one?  If just one Buffalo, which one in the series was the re-clocked one?

 

Both your experiments and your reports of the associated SQ benefits are a real inspiration.  Thank you!

 

Sorry, I only used one Buffalo switch and one etherREGEN (corrected my post, it was a copy and paste error). Like this:

1 hour ago, Nenon said:

Arris SB8200 modem --(copper)--> Ubiquiti Router --(copper)--> etherRegen (fiber with Fintech transceivers)--> Buffalo switch--(copper)--> server. 

 

Stock etherREGEN (no external clock) and the highly modified Buffalo I posted about. That sounded much better than 4 x Buffalos daisy chained together. It's really really good. The best network I've had in my system.

 

I am still planning to modify a second Buffalo and get the M12 Gold switch to compare. I have been avoiding the M12 Gold switch, because I was pretty sure as soon as try one I would buy one. But now that I have a new reference, it would be interesting to see how they compare. 

[genvirt]

Hi!

Where to buy Apacer ECC RAM?

Hard to find...

[dminches]

6 minutes ago, genvirt said:

Hi!

Where to buy Apacer ECC RAM?

Hard to find...

 

Write to Apacer directly.  [email protected]

 

[sig8]

30 minutes ago, genvirt said:

Hi!

Where to buy Apacer ECC RAM?

Hard to find...

He has some for now:

 

https://www.fullysilentpcs.com/product-category/ram/ddr4-ecc-dimm-ram/?v=7516fd43adaa

 

Check before buying that these are the right kind or not.

[genvirt]

Hi,

I hesitated to put this questions here or to open new thread, at last I thing it’ll be maybe helpful to others...

I decided to renew my audio PC that is 4 yo, and now I’m looking for “ right “ configuration, I’m not a PC guru, so I need an advice from experienced members.

All what I need to know for now that which Motherboard, CPU and Memory to choose, and here is I’m getting a bit lost.

Marcin from JCat once advised me this configuration :

 

- supermicro  X11SCL-F

- Xeon E-213

- Apacer DDR4 ECC UDIMM 2x4GB or (2x8) server/workstation extended temp. range RAM (Maybe this configuration. was changed already...)

 

Someone point me and advice to choose CPU with T and 35w for not being to hot and Gigabyte mini Itx and Corsair Vegeance LPX 2666mhz DDR4  

 

Here Nenon with a wonderful set up using that stuff:

- ASUS ROG Crosshair VII Hero full size ATX motherboard 

- AMD Ryzen 7 3700X CPU (65w)

- Apacer ECC RAM
 

So, :) where to go?
where is advantage or disadvantage of each advice?
what will sound better (I understand that all this is subjective , but...)
 

I see that almost nowhere 35w cpu is using - why? Is it no good? Wrong? Not enough ?

I’ll go to use tree cards (usb, net and I2S) that will power by external supply.

 

And question regarding ATX and EPS powering:

I noticed that recently each one being power by external supply, where is benefits if , for example, when using HDPlex 800w DC-ATX converter (with external power supply 19v?) is more than enough to power both...

 

Thanks a lot and sorry for maybe silly questions, but should to choose the better configuration...

 

 

[dminches]

26 minutes ago, genvirt said:

Hi,

I hesitated to put this questions here or to open new thread, at last I thing it’ll be maybe helpful to others...

I decided to renew my audio PC that is 4 yo, and now I’m looking for “ right “ configuration, I’m not a PC guru, so I need an advice from experienced members.

All what I need to know for now that which Motherboard, CPU and Memory to choose, and here is I’m getting a bit lost.

Marcin from JCat once advised me this configuration :

 

- supermicro  X11SCL-F

- Xeon E-213

- Apacer DDR4 ECC UDIMM 2x4GB or (2x8) server/workstation extended temp. range RAM (Maybe this configuration. was changed already...)

 

Someone point me and advice to choose CPU with T and 35w for not being to hot and Gigabyte mini Itx and Corsair Vegeance LPX 2666mhz DDR4  

 

Here Nenon with a wonderful set up using that stuff:

- ASUS ROG Crosshair VII Hero full size ATX motherboard 

- AMD Ryzen 7 3700X CPU (65w)

- Apacer ECC RAM
 

So, where to go?
where is advantage or disadvantage of each advice?
what will sound better (I understand that all this is subjective , but...)
 

I see that almost nowhere 35w cpu is using - why? Is it no good? Wrong? Not enough ?

I’ll go to use tree cards (usb, net and I2S) that will power by external supply.

 

And question regarding ATX and EPS powering:

I noticed that recently each one being power by external supply, where is benefits if , for example, when using HDPlex 800w DC-ATX converter (with external power supply 19v?) is more than enough to power both...

 

Thanks a lot and sorry for maybe silly questions, but should to choose the better configuration...

 

 

 

What operating system and music player are you going to use?  If you are going to go with Windows Server 2019 I would go the Supermicro route since it is hard to find drivers for WS 2019 with the ASUS mobo.  I would have everything laid out before you do anything.

 

 

[genvirt]

1 hour ago, dminches said:

 

What operating system and music player are you going to use?  If you are going to go with Windows Server 2019 I would go the Supermicro route since it is hard to find drivers for WS 2019 with the ASUS mobo.  I would have everything laid out before you do anything.

 

 

Thank You, I’m running Euphony OS stylus 

[Nenon]

2 hours ago, genvirt said:

Hi,

I hesitated to put this questions here or to open new thread, at last I thing it’ll be maybe helpful to others...

I decided to renew my audio PC that is 4 yo, and now I’m looking for “ right “ configuration, I’m not a PC guru, so I need an advice from experienced members.

All what I need to know for now that which Motherboard, CPU and Memory to choose, and here is I’m getting a bit lost.

Marcin from JCat once advised me this configuration :

 

- supermicro  X11SCL-F

- Xeon E-213

- Apacer DDR4 ECC UDIMM 2x4GB or (2x8) server/workstation extended temp. range RAM (Maybe this configuration. was changed already...)

 

Someone point me and advice to choose CPU with T and 35w for not being to hot and Gigabyte mini Itx and Corsair Vegeance LPX 2666mhz DDR4  

 

Here Nenon with a wonderful set up using that stuff:

- ASUS ROG Crosshair VII Hero full size ATX motherboard 

- AMD Ryzen 7 3700X CPU (65w)

- Apacer ECC RAM
 

So, where to go?
where is advantage or disadvantage of each advice?
what will sound better (I understand that all this is subjective , but...)
 

I see that almost nowhere 35w cpu is using - why? Is it no good? Wrong? Not enough ?

I’ll go to use tree cards (usb, net and I2S) that will power by external supply.

 

And question regarding ATX and EPS powering:

I noticed that recently each one being power by external supply, where is benefits if , for example, when using HDPlex 800w DC-ATX converter (with external power supply 19v?) is more than enough to power both...

 

Thanks a lot and sorry for maybe silly questions, but should to choose the better configuration...

 

 

 

There is no simple answer. There are so many factors. Imagine going to a car building forum and asking what car should you build yourself without giving any context, without knowing where you live, what your skill level is, what do you need the car for (i.e. driving to work, racing, offshore driving, etc.), without knowing what your budget is and so on. Your question here comes across in a similar fashion. 

 

I have no idea what system you have, what music you listen to, what your personal sound preferences are. Are you trying to listen to streaming services like Tidal and Qobuz? Or are you trying to listen to locally stored files? If you have a lot of local files, are they hi-res, or CD quality? Or DSD? Then we need to look at what DAC you are using and what inputs it has. The interaction between your server and your DAC is one of the most critical points. There is just a huge number a variables. 

 

If you want a server that can do almost everything perfect, you can buy a Taiko Extreme for €25K. And still that may not be the best server for heavy upsampling algorithms. But I am guessing people come here to read and discuss, because going the DIY route can potentially give you more value for the money you spend. But that means we need to do compromises. And this is where it becomes very complicated.

 

What are the right compromises for you? 

If you were building a car and live in a south carribean island, one compromise that you could make would be to not install heating system inside the car. But if you live in Alaska, you may want to do a few things to the car in addition to a heating system like heated steering wheel, heated side mirrors, etc. That's how we tailor our DIY servers to our needs. 

 

If you are doing heavy upsampling for example, you need a powerful CPU with a higher clock speed. But what determines if you need to do upsampling? Well, the DAC you are using is a good starting point. If you are using a NOS DAC most likely you can skip the upsampling part. If you are using a DAC that upsamples everything inside the DAC to high DSD format, then maybe you should consider upsampling as an option. But what would sound better? An upstreamed signal from a not so good server? Or a native format from a better server? That would depend on the DAC and the server and which one is more efficient and can deliver better quality results when the two work together in a team. 

 

The CPU you pick would determine the power supply requirements. A 35W TDP CPU server would have significantly different power requirements than a dual 85W TDP CPUs server. Power is the most important factor. A 35W TDP CPU with a really good LPS may sound a lot better than a dual CPU (85W TDP each) with a bad power supply. And vice versa. 

Since a good power supply is typically more expensive than the computer components, it's always good to start with a budget and narrow down what power supplies you can afford within your budget. 

 

Whether you upsample or not would also help you determine what digital interface card you can use. If you have to upsample to a higher sample rate format, USB is probably your best option. If you are using a NOS DAC you can consider an i2S interface or S/PDIF. Again, it depends on your DAC and how your server and DAC interact together in each case. If most of your music is DSD, that can also make your decision, and you would most likely prefer to go USB. 

 

Do you want to optimise it for streaming? If you do, you may want to get a JCAT Net Femto card for example. And it's probably a good idea to get another power rail for the JCAT NIC. That also means that you may want to look into motherboards with at least two PCIe slots (one for the network card and one for the digital interface). At that point you may also want to look at the motherboard architecture. Are the PCIe slots directly connected to the CPUs? Or are they going through a chipset? Or is it a combination?

 

Then you can look at the storage strategy.  If you optimise your server for streaming, it would have good quality network access. In that case you may consider using a NAS to store your local music. But that also depends on the software you are using. If the software is buffering the music to RAM before playing, it would be okay to use NAS. But if your software is streaming from your NAS in realtime, that typically makes NAS storage sound not so good. You can consider changing the software (in which case you have to revise everything else you have done). Or you can do some other local storage. HDDs vibrate and that does not have good effect on the components in the same chassis. We are talking about clock replacements in this thread... vibrations impact the clock quality. SSD drives don't have any moving pieces, so no vibration there, but they generate some electrical noise. You can use a dedicated LPS, but the noise gets back to the motherboard via the SATA cable. And speaking of SATA, you need to look at your motherboard architecture again and see if that's even a good option. USB drives can potentially generate noise on your USB. And if this is where your DAC connects, you may want to be careful with that. I like NVME storage and use two 2 TB NVME drives on a PCIe card with VROC RAID0. But not all CPUs support VROC. And then again you need to have an extra PCIe slot, etc. etc.

 

What OS will you be using? How does the OS interact with your hardware. And the list keeps going on and on. I might have covered about 1% of the possible things to consider when designing a server. Every CPU sounds different. Every motherboard sounds different too. Every OS sounds different. Every software player sounds different. Imaging how complex it would be to test every combination for every scenario at the same time in the same system with the same power supply, the same OS, the same player, etc. It's virtually impossible. 

 

There are many DIY server recipes on this forum. Do some reading and research. Try to understand what the person who designed the system was trying to achieve. The novel thread has so many documented experiments over several years. Pick one recipe and give it a try, get your hands dirty. As you get more experience you can go back and tweak things. DIY is constant tweaking. That would be my advice to you.

 

Both servers are pretty good (the one Marcin recommended and the one I did). You can build both of these and with all other factors as similar as they can be, the one that has better LPS would sound better. Or you can build both of these with the same power supply, and I bet I can let you pick one (any of the two), and I would be able to make it sound better than the other with just making Operating system level changes on both. I am only saying this to illustrate how complex this is and that the end result is a combination of all pieces combined together.

Here is an example - take a Taiko Extreme server, load AudioLinux with Roon with no tweaks and see how much worse it sounds than the highly tweaked custom Windows. All the magic would be gone. Extreme users even reported that all the magic was gone when Roon released an update... On the other hand, you can read in the novel thread how many people migrated their servers from Windows to AudioLinux or Euphony and how much better it sounded. It is a typical example where hardware and software need to be fully optimised to work together.

 

In the case of the Extreme server, the custom Windows is configured to take advantage of the two CPUs. Every process and every thread is controlled by affinities and rules. This essentially has a server/streamer replicated on the same server. 

 

Finally, here is a study from Emile he posted in another forum:

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/taiko-audio-sgm-extreme-the-crème-de-la-crème.27433/page-163#post-639048

Quote

A visual analogy on your television set would be:
-Intel Xeon scalable 10 core as a reference, controls to neutral
-AMD Epyc +1 on the brightness control -1 on contrast and +2 on white level or on backlight intensity on a LED screen
-AMD Threadripper +2 on the brightness control -1 on contrast and +2 on white level
-Intel Xeon scalable 12 core +1 on white level
-Intel Xeon scalable 8 core, controls to neutral, but reduced staging/dynamics
-Intel i7-7700K (EVO) +1 on brightness, +1 on white level, similar staging/dynamics to the Xeon 8 core

 

But don't take those numbers in a vacuum. The motherboard has as much influence on the sound as the CPU. You can't try an AMD CPU and an Intel in the same motherboard. So it's not clear how much of the influence on the sound during these comparisons was because of the CPU and how much was because of the motherboard. I would look at these numbers as the combination of the two (CPU+motherboard), but he did not list the motherboards used. 

 

As for the RAM, there is a general consensus that the industrial grade wide temp grade ECC Apacer sounds better than the general commercial RAM. One of the reasons for that is because Apacer uses A-grade Samsung chips. 

 

[djwalter2000]

I continue to read this thread with great interest. It's inspired me to try some new things and continues to refine my thinking and approach. 

 

My question is to those who are building single CPU systems. My approach has been to use an ITX form factor with onboard CPU (in my case a j1900) and DC barrel connector. I'm using streaming services exclusively and don't have a need to upsample or otherwise tax the processor with 'robust' software. 

 

Taking this path, I have an easier time with cooling, case selection, and setup overall. Powering the board with an external LPS requires a little less customization but I still power the SSD, JCAT Net and Element H USB cards with their own dedicated linear supplies, making it a 4 rail system. I'm not just after the easiest approach. While I don't have all of the technical chops many of the contributors here have, I like a challenge. But more may not be better if the CPU has a somewhat small job. In a perfect world, we'd all have Taiko Extremes. 

 

For anyone who may have taken a similar low powered CPU approach but moved on to a more robust CPU/MB build, I'd like your thoughts and experiences as to why this change provided better SQ, not just more overhead to run more complex software. 

 

If this topic has been covered extensively elsewhere, just let me know.

 

Thanks!

[Nenon]

1 hour ago, djwalter2000 said:

I continue to read this thread with great interest. It's inspired me to try some new things and continues to refine my thinking and approach. 

 

My question is to those who are building single CPU systems. My approach has been to use an ITX form factor with onboard CPU (in my case a j1900) and DC barrel connector. I'm using streaming services exclusively and don't have a need to upsample or otherwise tax the processor with 'robust' software. 

 

Taking this path, I have an easier time with cooling, case selection, and setup overall. Powering the board with an external LPS requires a little less customization but I still power the SSD, JCAT Net and Element H USB cards with their own dedicated linear supplies, making it a 4 rail system. I'm not just after the easiest approach. While I don't have all of the technical chops many of the contributors here have, I like a challenge. But more may not be better if the CPU has a somewhat small job. In a perfect world, we'd all have Taiko Extremes. 

 

For anyone who may have taken a similar low powered CPU approach but moved on to a more robust CPU/MB build, I'd like your thoughts and experiences as to why this change provided better SQ, not just more overhead to run more complex software. 

 

If this topic has been covered extensively elsewhere, just let me know.

 

Thanks!

 

Just like I mentioned in my previous post every motherboard sounds different and every CPU sounds different. It would be quite wrong to generalize between those that have a DC connector and those that don't. Similarly to generalize the motherboard form factor. 

 

If that helps, I have tried several ASUS ROG mini-ITX motherboards and their bigger full-size ATX siblings. I prefered the full size ATX. The full size ATX also gives more PCIe slots, and you don't have to use riser cards/cables that definitely mess up the sound quality. 

 

I have also tried low powered CPUs and high powered CPUs and almost always prefered the higher power CPU. The only time I would prefer a low-powered CPU would be if I don't have an adequate LPS for the high-powered CPU and I can only power the low powered CPU. 

[genvirt]

1 hour ago, Nenon said:

 

There is no simple answer. There are so many factors. Imagine going to a car building forum and asking what car should you build yourself without giving any context, without knowing where you live, what your skill level is, what do you need the car for (i.e. driving to work, racing, offshore driving, etc.), without knowing what your budget is and so on. Your question here comes across in a similar fashion. 

 

I have no idea what system you have, what music you listen to, what your personal sound preferences are. Are you trying to listen to streaming services like Tidal and Qobuz? Or are you trying to listen to locally stored files? If you have a lot of local files, are they hi-res, or CD quality? Or DSD? Then we need to look at what DAC you are using and what inputs it has. The interaction between your server and your DAC is one of the most critical points. There is just a huge number a variables. 

 

If you want a server that can do almost everything perfect, you can buy a Taiko Extreme for €25K. And still that may not be the best server for heavy upsampling algorithms. But I am guessing people come here to read and discuss, because going the DIY route can potentially give you more value for the money you spend. But that means we need to do compromises. And this is where it becomes very complicated.

 

What are the right compromises for you? 

If you were building a car and live in a south carribean island, one compromise that you could make would be to not install heating system inside the car. But if you live in Alaska, you may want to do a few things to the car in addition to a heating system like heated steering wheel, heated side mirrors, etc. That's how we tailor our DIY servers to our needs. 

 

If you are doing heavy upsampling for example, you need a powerful CPU with a higher clock speed. But what determines if you need to do upsampling? Well, the DAC you are using is a good starting point. If you are using a NOS DAC most likely you can skip the upsampling part. If you are using a DAC that upsamples everything inside the DAC to high DSD format, then maybe you should consider upsampling as an option. But what would sound better? An upstreamed signal from a not so good server? Or a native format from a better server? That would depend on the DAC and the server and which one is more efficient and can deliver better quality results when the two work together in a team. 

 

The CPU you pick would determine the power supply requirements. A 35W TDP CPU server would have significantly different power requirements than a dual 85W TDP CPUs server. Power is the most important factor. A 35W TDP CPU with a really good LPS may sound a lot better than a dual CPU (85W TDP each) with a bad power supply. And vice versa. 

Since a good power supply is typically more expensive than the computer components, it's always good to start with a budget and narrow down what power supplies you can afford within your budget. 

 

Whether you upsample or not would also help you determine what digital interface card you can use. If you have to upsample to a higher sample rate format, USB is probably your best option. If you are using a NOS DAC you can consider an i2S interface or S/PDIF. Again, it depends on your DAC and how your server and DAC interact together in each case. If most of your music is DSD, that can also make your decision, and you would most likely prefer to go USB. 

 

Do you want to optimise it for streaming? If you do, you may want to get a JCAT Net Femto card for example. And it's probably a good idea to get another power rail for the JCAT NIC. That also means that you may want to look into motherboards with at least two PCIe slots (one for the network card and one for the digital interface). At that point you may also want to look at the motherboard architecture. Are the PCIe slots directly connected to the CPUs? Or are they going through a chipset? Or is it a combination?

 

Then you can look at the storage strategy.  If you optimise your server for streaming, it would have good quality network access. In that case you may consider using a NAS to store your local music. But that also depends on the software you are using. If the software is buffering the music to RAM before playing, it would be okay to use NAS. But if your software is streaming from your NAS in realtime, that typically makes NAS storage sound not so good. You can consider changing the software (in which case you have to revise everything else you have done). Or you can do some other local storage. HDDs vibrate and that does not have good effect on the components in the same chassis. We are talking about clock replacements in this thread... vibrations impact the clock quality. SSD drives don't have any moving pieces, so no vibration there, but they generate some electrical noise. You can use a dedicated LPS, but the noise gets back to the motherboard via the SATA cable. And speaking of SATA, you need to look at your motherboard architecture again and see if that's even a good option. USB drives can potentially generate noise on your USB. And if this is where your DAC connects, you may want to be careful with that. I like NVME storage and use two 2 TB NVME drives on a PCIe card with VROC RAID0. But not all CPUs support VROC. And then again you need to have an extra PCIe slot, etc. etc.

 

What OS will you be using? How does the OS interact with your hardware. And the list keeps going on and on. I might have covered about 1% of the possible things to consider when designing a server. Every CPU sounds different. Every motherboard sounds different too. Every OS sounds different. Every software player sounds different. Imaging how complex it would be to test every combination for every scenario at the same time in the same system with the same power supply, the same OS, the same player, etc. It's virtually impossible. 

 

There are many DIY server recipes on this forum. Do some reading and research. Try to understand what the person who designed the system was trying to achieve. The novel thread has so many documented experiments over several years. Pick one recipe and give it a try, get your hands dirty. As you get more experience you can go back and tweak things. DIY is constant tweaking. That would be my advice to you.

 

Both servers are pretty good (the one Marcin recommended and the one I did). You can build both of these and with all other factors as similar as they can be, the one that has better LPS would sound better. Or you can build both of these with the same power supply, and I bet I can let you pick one (any of the two), and I would be able to make it sound better than the other with just making Operating system level changes on both. I am only saying this to illustrate how complex this is and that the end result is a combination of all pieces combined together.

Here is an example - take a Taiko Extreme server, load AudioLinux with Roon with no tweaks and see how much worse it sounds than the highly tweaked custom Windows. All the magic would be gone. Extreme users even reported that all the magic was gone when Roon released an update... On the other hand, you can read in the novel thread how many people migrated their servers from Windows to AudioLinux or Euphony and how much better it sounded. It is a typical example where hardware and software need to be fully optimised to work together.

 

In the case of the Extreme server, the custom Windows is configured to take advantage of the two CPUs. Every process and every thread is controlled by affinities and rules. This essentially has a server/streamer replicated on the same server. 

 

Finally, here is a study from Emile he posted in another forum:

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/taiko-audio-sgm-extreme-the-crème-de-la-crème.27433/page-163#post-639048

 

But don't take those numbers in a vacuum. The motherboard has as much influence on the sound as the CPU. You can't try an AMD CPU and an Intel in the same motherboard. So it's not clear how much of the influence on the sound during these comparisons was because of the CPU and how much was because of the motherboard. I would look at these numbers as the combination of the two (CPU+motherboard), but he did not list the motherboards used. 

 

As for the RAM, there is a general consensus that the industrial grade wide temp grade ECC Apacer sounds better than the general commercial RAM. One of the reasons for that is because Apacer uses A-grade Samsung chips. 

 

Wow! Thank You Nenon!
Such answer I even not expected:)

 

I probably goes for Your setup, because I’m a bit worry about supermicro - not very common, did You try it once ?
In what case 35w will make sense? As I noticed it almost not in use in audio PC...

I’ve for now Core LPS that powering my current audio dedicated PC with JCat usb card, ssd and running Euphony OS.
I thought to buy mini motherboard, but there are not enough pci slots for all my 3 cards, so I think using of pci raiser is not very good idea in audio business, so normal board is preferable - right?
Clock exchanging not on my mind for that moment.

 

I listening usually Tidal and stored files from ssd - all formats including hi-res dsd.

PC connected to my excellent Rockna Wavedream DAC that have an I2S input, that I never used, so I want add such card to my PC - can You tell me about Your experience with? Does I2S worth it? I thought to exchange my JCat usb card for a new one, but if I2S will be add - maybe it have no sense?
The Net card I’ll order from Marcin too soon.

All card I’ll go to power up by external 3 rail LPS - maybe Paul Hynes or Teddy Pardo... I  surely wish to get a DC4... but for now this is a Rolls Royce:) 
As far and I decided use Your configuration and You have a lot of experience here - If You have some “special” store for PC stuff ordering - Thank You!

I now that I have a long way before me:)

 

[genvirt]

 meanwhile writing to Nenon, here is a couple of answers comes:)

[ASRMichael]

15 minutes ago, genvirt said:

 meanwhile writing to Nenon, here is a couple of answers comes:)

I’ve followed Nenon for the last year or so, give fantastic insight. Have a look at my profile which shows my setup. It’s more or less come from reading on this forum & great advice from Nenon & others. 

[dctom]

It has been a long wait  but I have now received the final component of my server/streamer build - a PH SR7 turbo, dual rail 12v 12amp, 19v 10amp power supply. Stephen informed me this turbo version is quite a bit closer, than the standard, to the dual regulator version in performance. It feels very solid built into it's Streacom case, comes in at around 12.75 Kg.

 

It is powering the 12v EPS ( i7 9700T, 35W) and  19v HDplex 400w on my Asrock ITX Z390 gaming. I run a dual PC setup so have a SJ DC3 5amp powering a NUC running HQP naa, I upsample with HQP on the streamer.

 

Also managed to obtain a Buffalo BS-GS 2024 at the normal price - uses the same broad com chip as the 2016 (see photos). It has an extra broadcom  chip, maybe to control the extra ports. I have configured it with only 4 ports on. I use a HDLEX 400w to power it.

 

The Buffalo is connected to an etherRegen which is powered by a PH SR4.

 

The SR7 and Buffalo are still running in - however there is an obvious improvement in the quality of the sound produced already. The flow of music seems more liquid, greater sense of space particularly on live recordings and the dynamic range appears to be extended.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Buffalo BS-GS 2024 photos below

 

[Dev]

6 minutes ago, dctom said:

It has been a long wait  but I have now received the final component of my server/streamer build - a PH SR7 turbo, dual rail 12v 12amp, 19v 10amp power supply. Stephen informed me this turbo version is quite a bit closer, than the standard, to the dual regulator version in performance. It feels very solid built into it's Streacom case, comes in at around 12.75 Kg.

 

Looks fantastic. Have been thinking of ordering one with dual rail 12v and 19v to power my server. How long did it take to deliver ?

 

Please post your listening impression when it has broken-in. I am very eager to hear how does it compare to others.

[dctom]

I ordered back in January. It took longer than normal because of the coronvirus outbreak and there was a hold up with transformer supplies. I think it would usually take about 2/3 months.

[genvirt]

Hi!

As a part of my preparing steps toward  an upgrade I started to check what I have and if can (should) use it.

So apart of JCat USB Card Femto (that will possibly upgrade too) I've a LPSU by Core.

So here is coming a questions - does it OK for further using with... - I don't know what part It'll be better to use with. 

Feed an ATX ? HDPLEX 800W DC-ATX with 16V-63VDC Input? ESP?

Can It be some how modify for a new configuration without being needed to order expensive LPS? Can It possible to add one more rail to it? (If somebody had modified such thing before - Thank You for advice!:))

Attaching a couple of pictures, It seems to be ready for one more rail, so I thing it really possible.

Thank You!

BTW - for my usb and etc. cards I'll order 3 rail LPS, but I've an option for 4 rail (all 5V ~3A) - would it be OK to feed from fourth rail network switch together with PCI cards?

[ASRMichael]

@Nenon

 

How are you getting on with your dual CPU build? Anything more you can tell us? Is it being powered by DC4’s? Modified clocks?

 

Interesting to who where you are at with it? & what’s your further plans?
 

Last thing I recall was you saying it keeps getting better & better?

[genvirt]

Just got a note from Larry

https://hdplex.com/hdplex-800w-dc-atx-with-16v-63vdc-input.html

It comes back in stock for ordering.

[exeric2]

1 hour ago, genvirt said:

Just got a note from Larry

https://hdplex.com/hdplex-800w-dc-atx-with-16v-63vdc-input.html

It comes back in stock for ordering.

Thanks for letting us know. This is great news.

[Exocer]

1 hour ago, genvirt said:

Just got a note from Larry

https://hdplex.com/hdplex-800w-dc-atx-with-16v-63vdc-input.html

It comes back in stock for ordering.

Just ordered. Thank you!

 

Looking forward to comparing it to the 400W. I've heard the latest/current 400W is a major improvement over the previous gen. Maybe these two will sound similar in my system.

[genvirt]

2 minutes ago, Exocer said:

Just ordered. Thank you!

 

Looking forward to comparing it to the 400W. I've heard the latest/current 400W is a major improvement over the previous gen. Maybe these two will sound similar in my system.

Me too, You’re welcome

[Tatomek7]

17 hours ago, ASRMichael said:

How are you getting on with your dual CPU build?

 

I started to build 2 CPU server as well. At the moment it is the beginning of the project as :

 

1. I do not have passive cooling - I use just two Dynatron B14 coolers

2. I have only two 8GB RAMs ( Hynix ) - as I'm waiting for delivery of  Apacer ones

3. I use Corsair 1200W PSU - I didn't decided yet, how I will charge it. As @Nenon described 12V rail is common for ATX and EPS. On one hand it's simplifies and on the other complicates the project. Corsair works in passive mode.

 

I installed Jcat NIC card as I didn't modify yet BIOS settings. W/o BIOS modification and with mobo not burned in, the sound with Jcat was better for my taste. Same with Jcat USB card, it also sounded better in comparison to on board ports. Two Jcats are charged by external LPSU ( HDPlex AC DC 400 and Keces P3 ).

 

At the moment I installed Euphony stored on Intel Optane 900P card. In fact Euphony was already there and when I moved Optane memory from previous server, it just started on the new one, so I just kept it and continue with the system I already know.

 

Music is stored on Supermicro PCIe extender where I have 2 x 2TB memory ( ADATA XPG SX8200 and Intel 660p ). In Euphony these disks are seen by system, but in Roon there is nothing. I don't know, what is the reason.

 

I compared the SQ of the Asus C621 to Asrock X99 Taichi ATX board with 8 x 4GB Hynix RAM and 10 core Xeon, same Jcat cards and Optane disk. Asus board presents better dynamic, more 3D soundstage, better reproduction of higher registers ( voice w/o some harshness ), but lacks of some clarity, probably due to the power supply. Asrock was powered by single rail Keces P8  ( Munforf wire ) with HDPlex 400W ATX converter ( with ATX and EPS Neotech wires ). The C621 also is missing some of resolution, I would expect.

 

I realised further improvement, when I changed BIOS settings for latency optimisation ( chapter 3.5 of the manual ). @Nenon, did you try it? Can you share what BIOS optimisation you already applied? I'm really curious of impact on the SQ  

 

Overall the change is positive and project looks very promising and I feel there is big potential behind. As I still miss some components, I'm not in hurry to apply a lot of changes, as a new components will impact on sound signature.  

[Downtheline]

2 hours ago, Tatomek7 said:

chapter 3.5 of the manual

What manual are you referring to?

[Tatomek7]

Manual of ASUS C621 e Sage Motherboard.