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Building a DIY Music Server


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I'm not so sure anymore that a SMPS cannot compete with linear, we're talking high current here and if there is one thing linear PSU struggles with it's high power. I would LOVE to be able to compare the Taiko ATX to a well reputable (or home grown) linear PSU versus the Corsair AX 1600 as it's 100Mhz switching freq should put interference/noise well out of the trouble zone.

 

 

 

 

ISP, glass to Fritz!box 5530, another Fritz!box 5530 for audio only in bridged mode on LPS, cat8.1, Zyxel switch on LPS, Finisar <1475BTL>Solarflare X2522-25G, external wifi AP, AMD 9 16 core, passive cooling ,Aorus Master x570, LPSU with Taiko ATX, 8Gb Apacer RAM, femto SSD on LPS, Pink Faun I2S ultra OCXO on akiko LPS, home grown RJ45 I2S cable, Metrum Adagio DAC3, RCA 70-A and Miyaima Zero for mono, G2 PL519 tube amps. 

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12 hours ago, kelvinwsy said:

The Gallium arsenide transistors in the Corsair AX1600i woll sound evem better as switching frequency pushed up to 100Mhz and above way out of sound reproduction...better transient characteristics .. should sound noticeably better.. So saving up my pennies for One big jump to the AX1600i

 

IMHO it could be fun to power 5V devices with relatively low current draw

 

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/corsair-ax1600i/9.html

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/corsair-ax1600i-psu,5406-9.html

https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/64680/atx-psu-5vsb-5v/64685#64685

Quote

In some ATX supplies the 5V-standby is linearly regulated while the main 5V is switched.

 

Convert ATX PSU to Bench Supply

https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/blog/convert-atx-psu-to-bench-supply.html

 

Obviously it's way overkill to get AX1600i just for its 5VSB output alone, though I'm just wondering if that were possible or not?

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makes sense, I just wonder what TAs would need to run redbook only, no upsampling or processing? would that require dual octa core CPU's?

 

ISP, glass to Fritz!box 5530, another Fritz!box 5530 for audio only in bridged mode on LPS, cat8.1, Zyxel switch on LPS, Finisar <1475BTL>Solarflare X2522-25G, external wifi AP, AMD 9 16 core, passive cooling ,Aorus Master x570, LPSU with Taiko ATX, 8Gb Apacer RAM, femto SSD on LPS, Pink Faun I2S ultra OCXO on akiko LPS, home grown RJ45 I2S cable, Metrum Adagio DAC3, RCA 70-A and Miyaima Zero for mono, G2 PL519 tube amps. 

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Tranny porn, sounds cheesy...I know...😀

ISP, glass to Fritz!box 5530, another Fritz!box 5530 for audio only in bridged mode on LPS, cat8.1, Zyxel switch on LPS, Finisar <1475BTL>Solarflare X2522-25G, external wifi AP, AMD 9 16 core, passive cooling ,Aorus Master x570, LPSU with Taiko ATX, 8Gb Apacer RAM, femto SSD on LPS, Pink Faun I2S ultra OCXO on akiko LPS, home grown RJ45 I2S cable, Metrum Adagio DAC3, RCA 70-A and Miyaima Zero for mono, G2 PL519 tube amps. 

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Thanks, that was indeed the sort of comparison I was hoping for!

 

At least my comparison of a 400W PSU and a 1200W learned me a lot, and both will find their way to other systems once the Taiko is revealed. Schottky's always did well for me in audio and many sound real good with only nuances between them.

 

Diodes are a mine field, you really need to audition them, great that you tried the expensive Cree's and the FET, that takes two out of the equation. 

ISP, glass to Fritz!box 5530, another Fritz!box 5530 for audio only in bridged mode on LPS, cat8.1, Zyxel switch on LPS, Finisar <1475BTL>Solarflare X2522-25G, external wifi AP, AMD 9 16 core, passive cooling ,Aorus Master x570, LPSU with Taiko ATX, 8Gb Apacer RAM, femto SSD on LPS, Pink Faun I2S ultra OCXO on akiko LPS, home grown RJ45 I2S cable, Metrum Adagio DAC3, RCA 70-A and Miyaima Zero for mono, G2 PL519 tube amps. 

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When will the Taiko ATX be on sale?

At what price?

You are right about filtering the AC Side of ATX PSU's . I forgot to nention I finally tamed the HF hash sand noise of the ATX psu's by plugging them into Acoustic Revive RTP -2 ultimate ..2 units I had spare from my tube TT system --. 2000USD of power conditioner for 3 Psu total cost of <600 Usd😅 But it worked

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1250-ish is what I seem to recall, so far it's silent but I trust we will be informed in due time.

I also have some exotic filtering in my 6way extension box and that works too but I expect that getting the PSU right has a bigger impact than filtering the AC going in, for now I just need to be able to get into a shop to get a new lid for it to install the Furutech NCF Schuko sockets in the box.

ISP, glass to Fritz!box 5530, another Fritz!box 5530 for audio only in bridged mode on LPS, cat8.1, Zyxel switch on LPS, Finisar <1475BTL>Solarflare X2522-25G, external wifi AP, AMD 9 16 core, passive cooling ,Aorus Master x570, LPSU with Taiko ATX, 8Gb Apacer RAM, femto SSD on LPS, Pink Faun I2S ultra OCXO on akiko LPS, home grown RJ45 I2S cable, Metrum Adagio DAC3, RCA 70-A and Miyaima Zero for mono, G2 PL519 tube amps. 

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11 hours ago, seeteeyou said:

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

 

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

 

1️⃣ (PC) = direct output of USB port

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

3️⃣ (SCHIT) = Schiit Wyrd added to 1️⃣

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

 

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

mhUQdtL.jpg

 

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

 

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

TLS1nP5.jpg

 

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

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

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19 hours ago, seeteeyou said:

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

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Nenon,

 

I read with interest the build which started this topic. What I did not find was a final cost of the components that were used in the build. Also of interest would be the amount of time it would take to build one from scratch, and if you would make changes to the next one now that this project is complete.

 

Thanks for your time,

 

Opie

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22 hours ago, seeteeyou said:

They are nice looking units but perhaps not very well suited to powering a quality DC ATX. The PSU's spec's show droop rate performance under load and in particular the ripple and noise specs would be a concern. And there can also be combined noise issues with  an SMPS followed by DC ATX buck conversion.

 

The specs on the supply linked show:

Droop Rate (-xDx-R suffix) 50 mv/A
Ripple & Noise 400 mv

(Both for the 28v version).

 

They are big figures for feeding a DC ATX in a server that's focused on sound quality.

 

I spent quite some time a few years ago looking for a SMPS solution to power DC ATXs. There would be much going for such a setup if it could produce really good sound. None that I looked at worked well feeding DC ATX's for sound quality however. The problem came down to having two unlinked switching controllers, one in the SMPS and a second buck controller for each rail of the DC ATX that followed. Both of stages vary switching frequency and or duty cycle as they see fit to track the current load being consumed by the PC. The result for the combinations looked at was mess of noise both on the input to the DC ATX and on it's output. On the DC ATX outputs there was a combination of the harmonics of the switching frequencies of both stages. Never manged to get a nice sound from the combinations tried.

 

If you can, perhaps stay with regulated linear or passive filtered power. It's a well trodden path but for good reason.

 

Something with droop under load in the very low mv/A range and combined noise plus ripple of <5mv. Transient response isn't quoted for the linked PSU but if it is published for another supply a <100us recovery time for a transient of 5 amps would be a decent place to start.

 

 

 

 

 

 

OAudio Ltd.

OAudio Supreme - music server.

OAudio RealStream - digital audio components.

 

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15 minutes ago, seeteeyou said:

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

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crimping is a skill, as is soldering, but it's doable when you get the right equipment and follow instructions.

I just ordered some EPS connectors and pins and Neotech UP OCC cable to tinker with the cables between the MB and the Corsair AX1200i 

ISP, glass to Fritz!box 5530, another Fritz!box 5530 for audio only in bridged mode on LPS, cat8.1, Zyxel switch on LPS, Finisar <1475BTL>Solarflare X2522-25G, external wifi AP, AMD 9 16 core, passive cooling ,Aorus Master x570, LPSU with Taiko ATX, 8Gb Apacer RAM, femto SSD on LPS, Pink Faun I2S ultra OCXO on akiko LPS, home grown RJ45 I2S cable, Metrum Adagio DAC3, RCA 70-A and Miyaima Zero for mono, G2 PL519 tube amps. 

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