DIY Project High Performance Audio PC with high quality wiring

[StreamFidelity]

10 hours ago, ASRMichael said:

Nice clean build as usual.

Many thanks.

 

10 hours ago, ASRMichael said:

I was considering adding some sort of fan array to blow onto my server & LPS’s.

Difficult to say because I don't know the specific situation. Basically, are we talking about a fan for hot summer days? But in continuous operation? 😁

 

Even if electromagnetic interference and vibrations can be avoided, the problem of audible fans remains. I would use at least 140mm case fan and with max. Operate 200 rpm.

 

Another problem should not be underestimated: dust! The PC forums are full of problems with dusty fans and dirty circuit boards. A fanless system has less of this problem. My opinion.

[mikicasellas]

On 11/18/2020 at 6:15 AM, StreamFidelity said:

The XILINX Solarflare Flareon Ultra SFN8522 - network adapter - PCIe 3.1 - 10 Gigabit SFP + has such a good sound. Incredible.

 

Unfortunately, there are also downsides and that is the cooling. No problem in operation with low CPU performance. When playing DSD with the HQPlayer, the temperature increases with the CPU performance. The Solarflare card switched off regularly.

 

Closed Chassis all have a ventilation problem. Do you know Benchtables? For example something from Streacom: BC1 Open Benchtable. They were originally built for overclockers and PC testers so that components could be accessed and replaced more quickly. One of my friends has something like that and it didn't look bad. It's a bit too technical for me.

 

But I left the lid open. A 24-hour operation with very high performance finally ran smoothly. In the meantime I see it the same way as with the Turntable. Most of them have an acrylic hood so that it doesn't get too dusty. It is then opened when playing. So I will do it with the fis Audio PC. The cover is placed loosely on the housing with rubber feet as a dust protection.

 

And what's inside isn't so ugly that it can't be shown. 😄

 

 

Sorry for disturbing the other thread...

 

I am confused when searching for the 8552 cause the PIC you uploaded with big heatsinks, is not the one that appears as the non Plus 8552, this is:

 

[StreamFidelity]

4 minutes ago, mikicasellas said:

I am confused when searching for the 8552 cause the PIC you uploaded with big heatsinks, is not the one that appears as the non Plus 8552, this is

In order not to disturb the other thread, I give the answer here. 😉

 

Without a heat sink, the card would not work. I also know this picture, but the Solarflare 8522 card only comes with heatsink as far as I know. The mounting holes can be seen in the picture.

 

[mikicasellas]

4 minutes ago, StreamFidelity said:

In order not to disturb the other thread, I give the answer here. 😉

 

Without a heat sink, the card would not work. I also know this picture, but the Solarflare 8522 card only comes with heatsink as far as I know. The mounting holes can be seen in the picture.

 

Thanks for the answer!

 

Can i ask where you buy it ?, look at their website, all the 8552 are shown without the heatsink:

 

[MarcelNL]

I have sourced one from China, we'll see if it comes with or without heatsink. Meanwhile I wonder how the card specs can say it uses something like 7W and still needs a heatsink, I wonder what I am overlooking.

@StreamFidelity Did you get the PF I2S card? I'm curious to hear what your results are comparing to my previous JCat USB (v 1.1), for me the vote goes clearly to I2S but that is based on n=1.

I2S did also clearly outperform an SPDIF connection into my DAC.

 

 

[StreamFidelity]

1 hour ago, MarcelNL said:

Did you get the PF I2S card?

 

Yes, I received it for my Denafrips Terminator Plus. unfortunately I couldn't get it to work. In Windows 10, the card was recognized immediately, but there was no music. I've had all iterations of the Denafrips.

 

The Denafrips left and the T + A SDV 3100 HV came. 😄

 

I swap I2S for USB with OXCO Clock (not the very expensive one). It sounds just as good as the JCAT USB XE. But the Pink Faun card is very sensitive to the integration in Windows 10. I had to reactivate all deactivated services that I had deactivated for optimization. This is of course unpleasant. I haven't figured out which service is needed yet.

[MarcelNL]

wat CPU are you using, I know from experience (intel NUC) and got confirmation of the owner of Audiolinux (he works with PF on their music streamers that use AL) that the PF does not jive well with Intel CPUs. Once I switched to AMD it worked instantly using Daphile.

[StreamFidelity]

2 hours ago, MarcelNL said:

wat CPU are you using

 

i9-9900K 😉

 

Thanks for the experience report with AMD. I don't like AMD because even in the latest Ryzen 9 generation it still has higher latencies than Intel. Source: hardwareluxx

AIDA64

Latencies

Intel Core i9-9900KS

53.1

 

 

Intel Core i5-10600K

53.3

 

 

Intel Core i3-9350K

53.5

 

 

Intel Core i9-10900K

53.9

 

 

Intel Core i7-8086K

56.6

 

 

Intel Core i7-8700K

57.4

 

 

Intel Core i7-9700K

57.4

 

 

Intel Core i9-9900K

57.9

 

 

Intel Core i5-9600KF

58.6

 

 

Intel Core i9-10850K

59.1

 

 

Intel Core i5-9600K

59.7

 

 

Intel Core i5-9400F

60.3

 

 

AMD Ryzen 7 5800X

62.1

 

 

Intel Core i7-7700K

62.6

 

 

AMD Ryzen 9 5900X

62.7

 

 

Intel Core i5-10400F

63.4

 

 

AMD Ryzen 9 5950X

63.6

[Downtheline]

3 hours ago, MarcelNL said:

PF does not jive well with Intel CPUs

Works great with intel xeon silver 4210.

[MarcelNL]

32 minutes ago, Downtheline said:

Works great with intel xeon silver 4210.

that is good to know! I know it works with some Intel CPUs but have never really seen a response/info from PF on which ones.

[Downtheline]

9 minutes ago, MarcelNL said:

that is good to know! I know it works with some Intel CPUs but have never really seen a response/info from PF on which ones.

Yeah, I posted that in Nenon's thread a while ago, and I think I told pf also. It would be nice if they kept track. 

 

I'm very curious about the oxco upgrade. Pricey one. 

[MarcelNL]

I did not go as far as to buy the Ultra OCXO, but that may happen at some point...

I2S using the 'standard' ocxo (the middle choice), is a good upgrade over the JCat USB v1.1. I was using previously.

 

[MarcelNL]

BTW, the 8522 card (is there an error in the number a few posts above?) I ordered is showing a huge heatsink. I just hope the Finisar FTLF1321P1BTL I have en route works well with the card (and I'm able to get it to work in Linux).

[StreamFidelity]

11 hours ago, MarcelNL said:

BTW, the 8522 card (is there an error in the number a few posts above?) 

 

Maybe 😄 I have the The XILINX Solarflare Flareon Ultra SFN8522. There is none 8552.

[MarcelNL]

I think I killed one or both SFP or did something wrong....I damaged the fiberoptic cable and ordered a new one....installed the new one but seem unable to get a connection between the two used Zyxel switches I had it working in before...

This is with the SFPs I got with the switches and I have Finisars en route ( probably by camel given the duration of shipping).

 

I always imagined that hot swappable means plug and play, either plug in the cable first and then the SFP into the switch or the other way around, but the switch LED blinks brieflysort of recognizing the SFP and then nothing. Is there a mandatory sequency or song and dance I need to do, or is one SFP KIA and do I try again with the Finisars?

 

 

[MarkusBarkus]

I have swapped them, successfully, both ways FWIW. SFP into FMC then cable into SFP. And when SFP was already out, I have plugged in the fiber cable, and inserted the whole assembly into the FMC.

 

Excuse the basic troubleshooting question: Are you sure your new cable is the correct spec for those SFPs? You would not be the first person to have an unplanned mismatch. 

[MarcelNL]

good to know!

I ordered a single mode OS2 LC LC duplex cable as before, so I suspect an SPF died, I get the question, as I incorrectly ordered a simplex cable initially (the picture was showing a duplex but the description was correct)

[MarkusBarkus]

@MarcelNL there are others better qualified than I am to help, but it occurs to me a simple test, without/before buying new SFPs, could be to disconnect one end of the cable from the SFP and point it at the wall...any place not your eyes! Is there light output? Then try the other FMC/ SFP combo.

 

Might give you rudimentary on/off level info. Just don't look at that laser output.

 

From reading your posts, I suspect you might like this test. 😉

 

I believe the laser would project out of the cable, as I recall seeing videos of techs taking pics on a cell phone.

 

Please feel free to ignore this simple test. Cheers, Mark

[MarcelNL]

thanks! I never checked if the wavelength would be visible spectrum! Will do!

[MarkusBarkus]

I may have misremembered that video, I cannot recall wavelength. It may have been using a laser pointer to test:
 

One way is to begin the process with a highly unscientific but effective test. I disconnect both ends of the fiber cable and hold a laser pointer up to the cable to see if the light comes out the other end, as shown in Figure A. If you don’t have a laser pointer, a bright flashlight works just as well, as shown in Figure B. Fiber optic cable is designed to conduct light, so you don’t have to worry too much about exactly lining up the cable with the light source.

[StreamFidelity]

Fiber optic technology is not easy. There are some hurdles to overcome. 😉

 

Fiber optic cable

 

There are a variety of fiber optic cables available. It must match the transceiver. The attenuation factor is important because if the attenuation is too low, the receiver is dazzled and if the attenuation is too high, no signal can be received. I prefer single mode because the fiber optic core has less scatter.

 

I use an inexpensive one

 

SF LC UPC to LC UPC Duplex OS2 Single Mode PVC (OFNR) 2.0mm Fiber Optic Patch Cable

 

and it works fine.

 

Transceiver

 

Due to the high performance of the Solarflare card 8522, the transceiver must be of high quality. There are some recommendations in the manual:

 

Cisco
30-1299-01
1000Base-LX

Finisar
FTLF8519P2BCL
1000Base-SX

Finisar
FTLF1318P3BTL
1000Base-LX

 

There is even more choice. Some compatible transceivers are not mentioned. I use Startech 1000BASE-EX SFP-SM LC-40 KM transceivers and they sound very good.

 

Fiber optic cleaning

 

Glass fibers are susceptible to dirt particles. For example, something like this can be used for cleaning:

 

NEOCLEAN®-E LC 1.25mm Pen One-Push Cleaner

 

Software

 

The correct drivers must be installed for the respective operating system. They can be downloaded here:

 

https://support.solarflare.com/wp/drivers

 

[MarcelNL]

yeah that light check is something I usually with the fiberoptic cable I use for a work device, I did that and the cable is OK ( as expected)

 

I'll wait until the Finisar modules arrive....I have 8 on the way😁

8 will arrive soon, 2 more plus the Xilinx card will take several weeks with the current global shipping conditions.

 

 

[MarkusBarkus]

@MarcelNL did you consider using your phone to check ports and/or fo cable? I know you have SFPs on the way, but I think this would work, if you're in the mood. 

[MarcelNL]

I did check the Fo cable, that is fine....Shoot...yes, my phone cam should be able to pick up the light from the SFPs....I'll check! thanks!

 

that is, once my music runs out....listening to some seriously nice music as we speak....Pole Steingarten remixes....NICE lows, great recording, nice dynamics etc....

 

[MarcelNL]

curiosity got the better of me, both SFPs show red light on the left channel (facing the FSP cable connector), nothing on the other side. Cable reconnected, nothing happening...