Building a DIY Music Server

[Csaba]

1 hour ago, ASRMichael said:

Ref Boot drive. Did you check Amazon?

I would avoid purchasing from Amazon, as it is directly not available in my country. 

[Soul Analogue]

4 hours ago, Csaba said:

I would avoid purchasing from Amazon, as it is directly not available in my country. 

 

 

Check for Optane 800P...I think they are still available

I got the 118gb for OS

 

[Soul Analogue]

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 .....

 

[sandyk]

48 minutes 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 .....

 

Did you set up JRiver to play from System Memory  ?

[seeteeyou]

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.

 

[Soul Analogue]

over the weekend, I have finished up the hardware for this fanless EPYC server with full LPS

 

So the overall configuration is as follows:

Supermicro H11SSL-i

AMD EPYC 7282 16/32c 2.8/3.2ghz

Apacer Wide Temp ECC RDIMM 2666mhz 8gb x 2

Optane 800p 118gb (For OS)

Optane P4800x 750gb (For music files) (Separated 12v LPS rail)

Supermicro i350 ethernet card dual RJ45 (Separated 1.0 and 1.8v power rails)

To supply power separately to pcie cards... the golden fingers for power supply need to be masked carefully (front and back sides)

[Nenon]

54 minutes ago, Soul Analogue said:

over the weekend, I have finished up the hardware for this fanless EPYC server with full LPS

 

So the overall configuration is as follows:

Supermicro H11SSL-i

AMD EPYC 7282 16/32c 2.8/3.2ghz

Apacer Wide Temp ECC RDIMM 2666mhz 8gb x 2

Optane 800p 118gb (For OS)

Optane P4800x 750gb (For music files) (Separated 12v LPS rail)

Supermicro i350 ethernet card dual RJ45 (Separated 1.0 and 1.8v power rails)

To supply power separately to pcie cards... the golden fingers for power supply need to be masked carefully (front and back sides)

 

Very cool! And very brave of you to mod the Optane card. I hope it worked from the first time. Most people spend less on their entire music server than the cost of that card.

[Exocer]

@Soul Analogue - A job well done. In admiration of your creativity and technical skills. Do you have access to any of high end commercial offerings to perform comparisons? Also, interested in learning about what you're upgrading from with this build.

 

Cheers!

-Rob

[Soul Analogue]

1 hour ago, Nenon said:

 

Very cool! And very brave of you to mod the Optane card. I hope it worked from the first time. Most people spend less on their entire music server than the cost of that card.

Power supply mod is relatively easy

What i will do in the next build is clock mod to the Optane, which is a lot more technically challenging, as the works area is very tiny, so ...

very good eyes and steady hands are required... I do not recommend non-skillful DIYer to attempt it 

(Picture with the XO, caps and resistors removed)

Made a trial... it worked after several attempts

[Soul Analogue]

1 hour ago, Exocer said:

@Soul Analogue - A job well done. In admiration of your creativity and technical skills. Do you have access to any of high end commercial offerings to perform comparisons? Also, interested in learning about what you're upgrading from with this build.

 

Cheers!

-Rob

I will send this build to my friend to do OS optimizations...afterwards i will try to arrange comparison with other highend servers...most likely SGM-Ex is my target

 

To upgrade hardware of this build... being full choke input LPS ... more separated rails and shunt voltage regulators for some areas

 

[Nenon]

1 hour ago, Soul Analogue said:

What i will do in the next build is clock mod to the Optane

 

I hope you can go back and forth between the modded Optane and a stock Optane and share what you're hearing. 

 

I have an Optane SSD 900P for the OS and two intel 665p in RAID0 for music storage. Have done some comparisons with music played from the NVME storage and from the Optane. To my ears and in my system, playing from the Optane sounds a little better. I have asked several Taiko Extreme users to do the same comparison and no one could hear an audible difference on the Extreme. Have been playing with some settings like the Primary NVME Idle Timeout on Windows, but there is still a gap.

 

Another test I did was comparing a couple different Optane cards, and they also sounded different. But the difference was not so big for me to spend $3K-$4K on another Optane card. 

 

You are taking these experiments to a whole new level, so I am very curious about the result of this. I was not planning to spend a lot on switches either, and look at me now with not just one but two PF Buffalo switches :)). Addictive stuff... 

[Soul Analogue]

22 minutes ago, Nenon said:

I was not planning to spend a lot on switches either, and look at me now with not just one but two PF Buffalo switches :)). Addictive stuff... 

Same here... my next project will be Buffalo switch with full linear PSU and linear regulators

should be ready in two weeks =)

[mikicasellas]

39 minutes ago, Nenon said:

 

I hope you can go back and forth between the modded Optane and a stock Optane and share what you're hearing. 

 

I have an Optane SSD 900P for the OS and two intel 665p in RAID0 for music storage. Have done some comparisons with music played from the NVME storage and from the Optane. To my ears and in my system, playing from the Optane sounds a little better. I have asked several Taiko Extreme users to do the same comparison and no one could hear an audible difference on the Extreme. Have been playing with some settings like the Primary NVME Idle Timeout on Windows, but there is still a gap.

 

Another test I did was comparing a couple different Optane cards, and they also sounded different. But the difference was not so big for me to spend $3K-$4K on another Optane card. 

 

You are taking these experiments to a whole new level, so I am very curious about the result of this. I was not planning to spend a lot on switches either, and look at me now with not just one but two PF Buffalo switches :)). Addictive stuff... 

 

On the Optane SSD 900P series there are different models and capacities, what is the sweet spot for OS in your experience, are you still using the Optane 32GB ?

[cool_chris]

15 minutes ago, Soul Analogue said:

Same here... my next project will be Buffalo switch with full linear PSU and linear regulators

should be ready in two weeks =)

I wait for that one !

Hope you can make and share the pics with us. Please be do kind to explain in details were exactly to solger 1.5, 3.3 and 1v voltages to bypass all SPS regulators with LPS regulators.

That is critical because it will be easy to damage the chips in Buffalo if not done exactly right. 

 

 

[Nenon]

35 minutes ago, mikicasellas said:

 

On the Optane SSD 900P series there are different models and capacities, what is the sweet spot for OS in your experience, are you still using the Optane 32GB ?

 

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!

[sgouris]

Listening Impressions Comparison: Nenon-variant Server (with HDPlex SMPS) vs. Mac Mini vs. Bluesound Node 2i

 

Inspired by a question from mikicasellas, I decided to do a quick comparison between my existing sources against the new server that I shared in my previous post.

 

Set-up

 

In order to make it easier to switch sources instantaneously all sources were connected to the TotalDac reclocker. All sources were reading from a Synology 918+ NAS with 10Mb Ram through an upgraded Cisco Catalyst router (DIY upgraded clock and LPS).

 

Set-up 1

Server --> Matrix-Digi SPDIF2USB to AES-EBU --> Reclocker /

Mac Mini --> Xmos USB input Reclocker                                     / --> DenafripsTerminator DAC

Node 2i --> Optical input Reclocker                                             /

 

To confirm the results and avoid bias from the Matrix-Digi interface another comparison was done:

Set-up 2

Mac Mini --> Matrix-Digi USB to AES-EBU --> Reclocker

Server --> Xmos USB of Reclocker

 

I was the only listener and did not have the option of doing a blind test. 

 

I listened to 5 songs (1. I can see clearly now by Holly Cole from Don't Smoke in Bed, 2. Amare Me by Anna Melato from Film d'amore et d'anarchia, 3. Youkali by Elli Paspala from Sti Lampsi tou Feggariou, 4. Kabuki Gomen-Jyo! in Japanese Drums, 5. Zeibekiko Tis Kiriakis from O Samanos)

 

Repeated sections of each song (about 45s -1:30 min long) for each source multiple times but without a standardized procedure. I was intent to understand the differences.

 

The rest of the system is fully custom horn/open baffle tri-amp SET-driven.

 

Listening impressions

 

Set-up 1

Differences are clear - not subtle. Presented more as a comparison between the sources rather than absolute. Once started with one, it seemed good but the differences become apparent in comparison.

 

Mac Mini - gave the impression of power and raw presentation. It lacks refinement and detail. Voices seem physically thicker - lack nuance. Soundstage two-dimensional. Feeling of amplified music.

 

Server - voices are comparatively thiner but much closer to coming from real a real singer - un-amplified being there feeling. Details are clearer, and located in 3d space. Highs are less stringent and more pleasant. Inducing goosebumps potential. Clear winner.

 

Node 2i - Somewhere between - bit more refined than Mac Mini but closer to it in terms of thickness. Overall good but not reaching the detail retrieval and nuance of Server.

 

Set-up 2

 

This was much more difficult pin point. Had to listen more carefully and multiple time to start identifying signature character.

 

Mac Mini + Matrix Digi2 - the Mac Mini was greatly improved by the addition of the Matrix USB SPDIF interface. If anything it demonstrates it is a great piece of gear. Added refinement but thickness of voice remained. Lacked a bit in the end detail, dimensionality and refinement.

 

Server - The USB direct is much closer now to the Mac Mini presentation. There is a bit longer delay and still overall a better result than the Mac Mini. Definitely a step back from when combined with Matrix Digi. 

 

Conclusions

 

The server was a worthy upgrade by offering a significant refinement in presentation, detail retrieval and general urge to keep on listening. Goosebumps are generated which is a clear indicator of a win from many more songs than before. Nevertheless, the USB interface of the receiver may be creating a bottleneck and a good USB to SPDIF converter could help in making the most out of the server capability. 

 

 

[mikicasellas]

On 11/9/2020 at 1:00 AM, 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!

Interesting...

 

That is great, I was hoping the PCie 900P would have been a better choice then the M.2 but in a regular PC like mine

 

I returned the MoBo i had to Amazon and forget to take out my Optane 32 GB hahahaha, called them but it was too late when i remembered it

 

 

[Marcin_gps]

Because the OPTIMO 3 DUO power supply unit features two completely independent galvanically isolated DC outputs, each output having an independent isolated ground, it is possible to power any two devices at the same time, without any loss of quality.

In other words, the OPTIMO 3 DUO, is the equivalent of 2 separate hi-end linear power supplies.

 

[sandyk]

10 hours ago, Marcin_gps said:

In other words, the OPTIMO 3 DUO, is the equivalent of 2 separate hi-end linear power supplies.

Marcin

Unless it uses separate transformers for both sections then it will never be quite as good as 2 separate hi-end linear power supplies assuming that they both  share a common earth reference. There is always some minor degradation when using separate secondary windings on the same transformer as I found when making 2 low noise regulated PSUs for USB use.

Kind Regards

Alex

[Marcin_gps]

54 minutes ago, sandyk said:

Marcin

Unless it uses separate transformers for both sections then it will never be quite as good as 2 separate hi-end linear power supplies assuming that they both  share a common earth reference. There is always some minor degradation when using separate secondary windings on the same transformer as I found when making 2 low noise regulated PSUs for USB use.

Kind Regards

Alex

I agree that a separate power transformer would be better, but the difference using 2x optimo psus vs. using two outputs on a single optimo is minor. 

 

Regards, 

Marcin

 

PS

This post should have gone to JCAT club. I thought I posted this over there - sorry! 

 

[mikicasellas]

For those who are in the process of building their servers....

 

I'm not anymore using my HDPLEX 200W to power my Server and other devices like Clocks and EtherRegen among some, so i have some DC cables that works with HDPLEX LPS: 3 PIN XLR female cables that i won't be using anymore, if you are interested on any of these:

 

Please check them here:

https://audiophilestyle.com/classifieds/item/544-ghent-dc-3-pin-xlr-cables/

[Soul Analogue]

Last weekend, I brought my EPYC server to my friend's place for audition

It was used as server, while Memory Player output coaxial by Lynx AES as endpoint

Had some problem logging in with Roon on ipad, which was my friend's preferred player, until full update of Winserver 2019 OS and reinstall of Roon server

The sound, without OS optimization, was really promising. Very good soundstage, solid musical notes, satisfying tone and vocal...the sound outcome had exceeded my initial expectation....had a feeling of forgetting Hifi and just indulge in the music 

This fanless EPYC and Full LPS approach is definitely a way to go!

[Nenon]

53 minutes ago, Soul Analogue said:

Last weekend, I brought my EPYC server to my friend's place for audition

It was used as server, while Memory Player output coaxial by Lynx AES as endpoint

Had some problem logging in with Roon on ipad, which was my friend's preferred player, until full update of Winserver 2019 OS and reinstall of Roon server

The sound, without OS optimization, was really promising. Very good soundstage, solid musical notes, satisfying tone and vocal...the sound outcome had exceeded my initial expectation....had a feeling of forgetting Hifi and just indulge in the music 

This fanless EPYC and Full LPS approach is definitely a way to go!

 

Nice to see your server finally playing! 

Interesting tweeter-less speakers. 

[adamaley]

13 hours ago, Soul Analogue said:

Last weekend, I brought my EPYC server to my friend's place for audition

It was used as server, while Memory Player output coaxial by Lynx AES as endpoint

Had some problem logging in with Roon on ipad, which was my friend's preferred player, until full update of Winserver 2019 OS and reinstall of Roon server

The sound, without OS optimization, was really promising. Very good soundstage, solid musical notes, satisfying tone and vocal...the sound outcome had exceeded my initial expectation....had a feeling of forgetting Hifi and just indulge in the music 

This fanless EPYC and Full LPS approach is definitely a way to go!

 

Which Zellaton speakers are those?

[Nenon]

3 hours ago, adamaley said:

 

Which Zellaton speakers are those?

Zellaton Studio Reference One