Building a DIY Music Server

[Nenon]

8 hours ago, auricgoldfinger said:

Thoughts on this range of power supplies anyone? 

 

https://www.pachankostudio.com/products

 

Looks nice, ticks many checkboxes, and uses top components, just like the DC4. It does not say much about the design, and I could not find how many amps it can deliver. 

The devil is in the implementation details and ultimately how it performs. I know that Sean Jacobs has spent a lot of time tweaking his PCB boards. Even a slight change, let's say to the grounding traces on the boards, could have a significant impact on the sound. When you get a LPS from Sean Jacobs or Paul Hynes, you know it comes with many years of experience and expertise. It's not easy to get it "right" just by using the best parts. But I don't know anything about those Pachanko power supplies. If anyone has experience with them, please let us know. 

 

This has nothing to do with Pachanko, but I've learned the hard way to be careful with silver. Over time I realised that it should not be used everywhere... I still like and use silver wire but only the best quality and in some very specific applications. My experience with DIY silver cables using soft jewelry silver wire (3N and 4Ns) has not been very good to be honest. I've considered ordering silver transformers for some of my DIY experiments. But there are a lot of factors to make a good transformer besides the wire. Here is an interesting video talking about transformers in a fairly simple way that anyone can understand: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8hwGYk8g7Y

 

 

57 minutes ago, Dev said:

One thing I must say that the chassis looks extremely beautiful and high-end, very much "Ayre" type and something I would like to see in my rack

I agree and here is the proof of that :) - I knew it looked very familiar and just realized why. I  opened my aliexpress account and realized I had those two chassis in my wishlist there :):

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32910653723.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000929646883.html

If they are in my wishlist, I must have liked them at some point :). I've added these a long time ago when I was looking at options for my DIY LPS. It seems like it is a combination of the two. 

[RickyV]

45 minutes ago, Nenon said:

Looks nice, ticks many checkboxes, and uses top components, just like the DC4. It does not say much about the design, and I could not find how many amps it can deliver. 

The devil is in the implementation details and ultimately how it performs. I know that Sean Jacobs has spent a lot of time tweaking his PCB boards. Even a slight change, let's say to the grounding traces on the boards, could have a significant impact on the sound. When you get a LPS from Sean Jacobs or Paul Hynes, you know it comes with many years of experience and expertise. It's not easy to get it "right" just by using the best parts. But I don't know anything about those Pachanko power supplies. If anyone has experience with them, please let us know. 

 

This has nothing to do with Pachanko, but I've learned the hard way to be careful with silver. Over time I realised that it should not be used everywhere... I still like and use silver wire but only the best quality and in some very specific application. My experience with DIY silver cables using soft jewelry silver wire (3N and 4Ns) has not been very good to be honest. I've considered ordering silver transformers for some of my DIY experiments. But there are a lot of factors to make a good transformer besides the wire. Here is an interesting video talking about transformers in a fairly simple way that anyone can understand: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8hwGYk8g7Y

 

 

I agree and here is the proof of that :) - I knew it looked very familiar and just realized why. I  opened my aliexpress account and realized I had those two chassis in my wishlist there :):

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32910653723.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000929646883.html

If they are in my wishlist, I must have liked them at some point :). I've added these a long time ago when I was looking at options for my DIY LPS. It seems like it is a combination of the two. 

 

 

Thanks for the video link really interesting and learned a lot.

[Superdad]

1 hour ago, Nenon said:

I knew it looked very familiar and just realized why. I  opened my aliexpress account and realized I had those two chassis in my wishlist there :):

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000929646883.html

 

That is indeed the exact chassis. It is big!  Funny, because I bookmarked that one a couple years ago too.  Not keen on the face machining. But the price is quite good. And that's just single unit AliExpress pricing, not volume Alibaba wholesale!

I pay that much at 100 unit quantity for the much smaller (but finer finished) Takachi enclosure from Japan for our JS-2.

I'm sure that someday we will need a big chassis for a product, but there are plenty of reputable Chinese firms doing custom CNC. (e.g. http://www.yonggu-enclosure.com). It's in the finishing, Q.C., and shipping where one takes a real hit from China...

[OAudio]

1 hour ago, Nenon said:

When you get a LPS from Sean Jacobs or Paul Hynes, you know it comes with many years of experience and expertise.

 

I think it would be good to see measured performance specifications provided as well.  

 

As a general observation there are some large ticket LPSs out there for audio systems but few vendors provide measured specs for products. At the price levels we are operating at, it's not unreasonable to be looking for similar measured performance to lab class LPSs from companies like R&S Tektronics and Agilent.

 

So ball park or better than:

Sub 50 uSec 60% load transient recovery times.

Sub 2mv rms ripple and noise.

Sub 2mv rail sag from 10 to 100% of rated load.

(For 6 to 10 amp rated supplies)

 

I know from developing supplies there are many layers to a good design but my experiance is that these measurements do correlate with SQ and could help better inform people's decisions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[One and a half]

1 hour ago, OAudio said:

 

I think it would be good to see measured performance specifications provided as well.  

 

As a general observation there are some large ticket LPSs out there for audio systems but few vendors provide measured specs for products. At the price levels we are operating at, it's not unreasonable to be looking for similar measured performance to lab class LPSs from companies like R&S Tektronics and Agilent.

 

So ball park or better than:

Sub 50 uSec 60% load transient recovery times.

Sub 2mv rms ripple and noise.

Sub 2mv rail sag from 10 to 100% of rated load.

(For 6 to 10 amp rated supplies)

 

I know from developing supplies there are many layers to a good design but my experiance is that these measurements do correlate with SQ and could help better inform people's decisions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where is your ball park?

[sandyk]

3 hours ago, OAudio said:

I think it would be good to see measured performance specifications provided as well.  

Hi Nick

I agree, however Sean is very experienced and approachable. 

One weakness that I saw with one of his top PSUs was that the fuse was in series at the output., increasing it's output impedance .

However, although Sean agreed with me that it would have been better after the bridge rectifier , he said that it would have been hard to put it elsewhere due to ease of access by consumers.

A DIY person could easily relocate it though for access by himself. Another improvement would have been connecting the smaller value capacitor from the output socket back to star earth ( a relatively long wire connection) , to the 0 volts (Earth)  side of the output socket .

 

Kind Regards

Alex

[Nenon]

1 hour ago, sandyk said:

Hi Nick

I agree, however Sean is very experienced and approachable. 

One weakness that I saw with one of his top PSUs was that the fuse was in series at the output., increasing it's output impedance .

However, although Sean agreed with me that it would have been better after the bridge rectifier , he said that it would have been hard to put it elsewhere due to ease of access by consumers.

A DIY person could easily relocate it though for access by himself. Another improvement would have been connecting the smaller value capacitor from the output socket back to star earth ( a relatively long wire connection) , to the 0 volts (Earth)  side of the output socket .

 

Kind Regards

Alex

 

Just to clarify further on this.

 

This is only done on high current power supplies. They can deliver up to 40-50A of current by design. An output fuse is installed on them, but not as much for convenience, as it is for safety reasons. You would really want that fast acting fuse if you accidently short the DC cable connected to the output of this power supply! The fuse does have a small impact on the sound. I've tried it with and without. But I would prefer safety over the very little slight SQ gain in this case. I installed a SR Orange fuse there, and the gap is almost gone. 

 

This fuse Alex is talking about does not exist on the regular DC3/DC4s. It's only a safety measure on high current rails. 

[sandyk]

1 hour ago, Nenon said:

 

Just to clarify further on this.

 

This is only done on high current power supplies. They can deliver up to 40-50A of current by design. An output fuse is installed on them, but not as much for convenience, as it is for safety reasons. You would really want that fast acting fuse if you accidently short the DC cable connected to the output of this power supply! The fuse does have a small impact on the sound. I've tried it with and without. But I would prefer safety over the very little slight SQ gain in this case. I installed a SR Orange fuse there, and the gap is almost gone. 

 

This fuse Alex is talking about does not exist on the regular DC3/DC4s. It's only a safety measure on high current rails. 

 I didn't recommend removing the fuse, only moving it to a different location , and Sean agreed with that being more desirable, but too awkward to implement for normal consumer access. It would also need to be a Slow Blow type if fitted after the Bridge Rectifier. A Slow Blow type at that location  should be fast enough if there was an accidental S/C on the output .

Did you also move the earth side of the output capacitor as I suggested ? If so, did you notice any difference ?

[Nenon]

54 minutes ago, sandyk said:

I didn't recommend removing the fuse

I think you misunderstood my post, Alex. I know you did not recommend removing the fuse. You and I both understand the design choices made very well.

 

The purpose of my post was actually to clarify to the rest that most DC3 / DC4s do not have the extra fuse you mentioned. It's easy to take a message out of context and apply to all / generalize.

 

51 minutes ago, sandyk said:

Did you also move the earth side of the output capacitor as I suggested ? If so, did you notice any difference ?

That was actually @elan120's build. And I did suggest to him to try moving the capacitor's ground point and a couple other things.

 

He created a wonderful and very informative thread. It's probably best to discuss those things there:

 

[OAudio]

10 hours ago, One and a half said:

Where is your ball park?

Hi One and a half, 
  
Having said it would probably be helpful for people trying to choose a PSU for their systems if measured performances were given more, you are right, I really I ought to say where power measurements are at here 🙂. 

I have 5 LPS modules in the server I am working on that provide 5 linear ATX rails plus a few auxiliary rails for other stuff. Each module has 3 pcbs in the design which have been developed over a three+ year period. The modules are all specifically designed and optimized for their respective rail voltages (ie circuit differences - not a trim pot or resistor set of rail voltages applied to a common circuit design).

 

Taking a 12v LPS module as an example it measures as follows: 

• Load rating: 10amp continuous, 14 amp peak sustained draw. Transient (mSec) current rating is far higher but its not been measured beyond 25 amps. 
• Transient recovery*:     45 uSec for recovery to rail set voltage. Transient output voltage over / undershoot < 1.5mV (see below).
• Ripple and noise:     Total < 350uV pk-pk measured as 8 amps load.
• Output Voltage sag:    1-10 amp sag <500uV

*Transients measurements are for a 1 khz square load waveform alternating between 3 and 8 amp load currents. The scope used for measurement is in high res mode as the measured values above are close to the noise floor of the scope. High res reduces the measurement bandwidth somewhat but it's still high enough for meaningful measurements.

 

The LPSs are packaged within the server’s chassis. This reduces as far as possible load induced voltage disturbances from longer wiring runs and power connectors, the aim being that very close to the measured performance above makes it to the motherboard's input power pins.

 

I am very pleased with where measured performance has ended up. They defiantly correlate to sound quality, which is why personally I think it would be good for vendors offering this information. Important to say though that the supply system is also the product of 100s if not 1000s of hours or listening tests in a resolving audio system with many 100s of changes and refinements. So I defiantly accept as others have indicated that measurement is not the only thing to work on.

 

Thankfully at the end of all that work sound quality is quite good 🙂.

 

 

[One and a half]

22 hours ago, OAudio said:

 

I think it would be good to see measured performance specifications provided as well.  

 

As a general observation there are some large ticket LPSs out there for audio systems but few vendors provide measured specs for products. At the price levels we are operating at, it's not unreasonable to be looking for similar measured performance to lab class LPSs from companies like R&S Tektronics and Agilent.

 

So ball park or better than:

Sub 50 uSec 60% load transient recovery times.

Sub 2mv rms ripple and noise.

Sub 2mv rail sag from 10 to 100% of rated load.

(For 6 to 10 amp rated supplies)

 

I know from developing supplies there are many layers to a good design but my experiance is that these measurements do correlate with SQ and could help better inform people's decisions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When it comes to linear supplies for hard disks, the tolerances are not *that* critical, but still important. 12V Linear power for micro-ATX boards need some thought, and your ball park figures will work. 

 

For (E)ATX boards, it's quite a different kettle of fish. There's 5V, 3.3V notably the 3.3V with 100mV max sag and lead compensation. Even the Power OK signal for a linear supply has specific timing so that the mobo understands what the PSU is up to.  Under short circuits or overloads, the power is limited to 240VA output for any output.

 

Intel ATX Power supply guidelines attached to this post refers. 

 

For ATX spec, the challenge for linear supplies is a daunting one (to an amateur PSU designer like me). 

atxps09_atx_pc_pow_supply.pdf

[lmitche]

On 10/26/2020 at 6:56 PM, OAudio said:

 

I think it would be good to see measured performance specifications provided as well.  

 

As a general observation there are some large ticket LPSs out there for audio systems but few vendors provide measured specs for products. At the price levels we are operating at, it's not unreasonable to be looking for similar measured performance to lab class LPSs from companies like R&S Tektronics and Agilent.

 

So ball park or better than:

Sub 50 uSec 60% load transient recovery times.

Sub 2mv rms ripple and noise.

Sub 2mv rail sag from 10 to 100% of rated load.

(For 6 to 10 amp rated supplies)

 

I know from developing supplies there are many layers to a good design but my experiance is that these measurements do correlate with SQ and could help better inform people's decisions.

 

Are these targets or actual measurements?  Nonetheless this is great to see. It has always struck me as odd that power supply measurements for audio applications are not regularly quoted. While listening will always inform a purchase decision, power supplies bring out the objectivist in me. There is no excuse for not providing these details for any audio supply.

[seeteeyou]

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?

[OAudio]

15 hours ago, One and a half said:

For ATX spec, the challenge for linear supplies is a daunting one.

 

Defiantly agree, but has been addressed. 

 

For the project I am working on reliability and flexibility are two of the key requirements, so this challenge has had to be addressed. I think the result (described below) is possibly one of the most flexible server power system I have come across for high end audio servers. The system is certainly not a set of discrete power supplies, hot wiring ATX control wiring  and crossing fingers for the "Kerr-thunk" as power is applied is too exciting / potentially expensive . 

 

 

15 hours ago, One and a half said:

For (E)ATX boards, it's quite a different kettle of fish. There's 5V, 3.3V notably the 3.3V with 100mV max sag and lead compensation. Even the Power OK signal for a linear supply has specific timing so that the mobo understands what the PSU is up to.  Under short circuits or overloads, the power is limited to 240VA output for any output.

 

Intel ATX Power supply guidelines attached to this post refers. 

 

For ATX spec, the challenge for linear supplies is a daunting one (to an amateur PSU designer like me). 

atxps09_atx_pc_pow_supply.pdf 112.89 kB · 3 downloads

 

 

All very important points that have to be addressed. The solution I have built works as follows:

 

The system is fully modular, so that for my project I am able to reconfigure power arrangements, safely adding and removing LPSs modules / rails as needed. Critically I require real robustness and reliability from the system, so it is designed and implemented to have full control of LPS rail sequencing, it does real time monitoring of all LPS output rails, monitors LPS module temperatures (there can be significant heat dissipation levels on some supplies), and has system lock-out levels with error reporting if something exceeds tolerances I have set. 

 

The power system was in part designed as a development tool, to support safe working through a broad range of power configurations to develop a music server. To hit this requirement the power system can be be configured with 1 to 7 of the high current high LPSs modules / rails, all managed as above. In addition the system was designed to work along side other supplies types to allow hybrid power combinations (eg mixes of linear / buck / SMPS), so it works with one or more DC-ATXs and or SMPS ATXs if needed. In a hybrid setup the power system operates either as the master power controller (with up to 7 LPS modules and DC-ATXs), or as a slave to a DC-ATX / SMPS ATX (but still managing between 1 to 7 LPSs as required).

 

As you will see there is a long list of possible configurations that can be safely set up and tried and a very significant amount of time has been spend working through what delivers SQ whilst developing the server.

 

OAudio

 

 

[ASRMichael]

12 hours ago, seeteeyou said:

http://jplay.eu/forum/index.php?/topic/3594-optimo-atx-truly-linear-atx-power-supply/#entry52874

 

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

 

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/30376-a-novel-way-to-massively-improve-the-sq-of-computer-audio-streaming/page/699/?tab=comments#comment-1077821

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

---

 

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?

I was thinking this also the other day. Having old JCAT card for mobile connection (WAP), and new JCAT for receiving music directly connected to NAS. I’m using Euphony so my options are limited. 

[OAudio]

 

19 hours ago, lmitche said:

Are these targets or actual measurements?  

 

The first 2 sets (copied below again) are my personally thoughts on what I would look for. The first case 1) for me would get the job of powering a DC-ATX or a single music server rail done, whilst the second case 2) would be for a more expensive class of device.  Transient response, ripple and sag under load are quite basic parameters but I think they do have some correlation with SQ, and so are useful. The last set of figures 3) below are actual measurements taken from the 12v, 10 amp LPS module of the system I have built.

 

1) - to get the job done.  

 

"Start at < 200 uSec for 5 amp transient rail voltage recovery with a critically damped response and <20mV over / undershoot. This is is typical for low to medium cost bench linear PSU." 

 

2) - at a higher price point  - looking for comparable performance to descent lab level LPS's.

 

"2Sub 50 uSec 60% load transient recovery times.

Sub 2mV rms ripple and noise.   [edit ** actually, sub 1mv would be more realistic.]

Sub 2mV rail sag from 10 to 100% of rated load." [edit ** again a little low ball, sub 1mv more realistic.]

 

Above both for LPS's in the 4 to 10 amps continuous current range.

 

 

 

3) Taken from the 12v 10 amp LPS rail in server power system I developed. 

 

"Load rating: 10amp continuous, 14 amp peak sustained draw. (Transient (mSec) current rating is far higher but its not been measured beyond 25 amps. 

Transient recovery*:   45 uSec for recovery to rail set voltage. Transient output voltage over / undershoot < 1.5mV (see note below).

Ripple and noise :  Total < 350uV pk-pk measured at 8 amps load.

Output Voltage sag:    1-10 amp sag <500uV

 

*Transients measurements are for a 1 khz square load waveform alternating between 3 and 8 amp load currents. The scope used for measurement is in high res mode....."

 

 

Just my thoughts above, if anyone else wants to chip in feel free. 

[sandyk]

21 hours ago, lmitche said:

There is no excuse for not providing these details for any audio supply.

Larry

Some smaller companies will not be able to afford the sophisticated gear needed to do this. 

As an illustration, Uptone took a while to be able to afford the expense of designing and using equipment like that, as it all comes from the profits which permits a company to invest in that type of gear after they become financially stable after recouping their initial investment. 

 

Regards

Alex

[Soul Analogue]

so the main LPS unit for the EPYC server has been completed

It comprises of regulated voltages:

1) 12vdc 8a

2) 5vdc 8a

3) 3.3vdc 8a

4) 5vdc 3a standby

 

as well as 4 unregulated voltages to power the regulators inside the server chassis for add-on cards

 

Around 5 - 6 sets of my discrete regulators will be installed inside the server chassis:

[Gavin1977]

18 hours ago, ASRMichael said:

I was thinking this also the other day. Having old JCAT card for mobile connection (WAP), and new JCAT for receiving music directly connected to NAS. I’m using Euphony so my options are limited. 

Killer features, I hope @Marcin_gps is taking note :-)

[Marcin_gps]

2 hours ago, Gavin1977 said:

Killer features, I hope @Marcin_gps is taking note :-)

Of course having 'audio' related traffic on separate NIC and subnet is beneficial. 

 

 

[OAudio]

13 hours ago, sandyk said:

Larry

Some smaller companies will not be able to afford the sophisticated gear needed to do this. 

As an illustration, Uptone took a while to be able to afford the expense of designing and using equipment like that, as it all comes from the profits which permits a company to invest in that type of gear after they become financially stable after recouping their initial investment. 

 

Regards

Alex

 

Alex hi,

 

You may have misconception about how complex / expensive these server PSU measurements are to perform.

 

Server LPSs are not ultra low noise units and the measurements we are discussing are simple, so they are straight forward to make and do not need sophisticated or expensive equipment. An oscilloscope and an electronic load for say £1-2k in total sourced from good manufacturers will do this. Its worth remembering as well that the same pieces of equipment are the tools required to develop, test and produce supplies, so they should already be on hand.

 

I suspect in most cases it's a choice (or oversight) not to publish specs rather than a problem accessing equipment.

 

 

[basillus]

9 hours ago, Soul Analogue said:

so the main LPS unit for the EPYC server has been completed

It comprises of regulated voltages:

1) 12vdc 8a

2) 5vdc 8a

3) 3.3vdc 8a

4) 5vdc 3a standby

 

as well as 4 unregulated voltages to power the regulators inside the server chassis for add-on cards

 

Around 5 - 6 sets of my discrete regulators will be installed inside the server chassis:

Hi, which PI-filter chokes are You using?

[sandyk]

11 hours ago, OAudio said:

I suspect in most cases it's a choice (or oversight) not to publish specs rather than a problem accessing equipment.

 Then perhaps you should ask Sean (OR Nenon) why he doesn't do this ?

Quote

Server LPSs are not ultra low noise units

 Perhaps they should be going by numerous reports in this area of the forum ?

[Soul Analogue]

6 hours ago, basillus said:

Hi, which PI-filter chokes are You using?

Good question...

there is no commercially off the shelf choke of this kind of specification available in the market

i have to buy separated parts (EI laminations, mounting, bobbin, etc) myself. Get the bobbin wound by local transformer maker... assemble, tune, test (for noise, both electronically and physically) each individual choke for the target voltages and current... and finally lacquer, before putting into the circuit

Pi filter chokes are technically much less demanding to make... than choke input filter chokes...

[seeteeyou]

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.