DIY Project High Performance Audio PC with high quality wiring

[dminches]

20 hours ago, WilliamWykeham said:

 

I will likely go this route particularly for internal connections, however if anyone has a domestic supplier for a dc cable that would help me to get up and running faster - looks like long wait from Ghent Audio. 

 

I am using the same cable.  Ghent made it for me.

 

[dminches]

2 hours ago, StreamFidelity said:

Bernd is still building the cables. More on that in a moment. My Reference Audio PC previously had the Streacom FC9 Alpha Case. I have converted this PC into the HDPLEX H5 2nd Gen Fanless PC Case. Here I use PCIe dust filters for the passage of two DC cables (top left in the picture).

 

 

 

Are you still using 2 Keces P8s?  Right now I am using 1 to power the HDPlex 800W DC-ATX with cabling to my motherboard and CPU.  I am running Roon (no HQPlayer) under Windows Server 2019 and I rarely see the Keces amp output exceed 2A.  I am not sure I really need a 2nd LPS although I may power my CPU directly from my currently idle HDPlex 400W LPS.

 

[StreamFidelity]

23 minutes ago, dminches said:

Are you still using 2 Keces P8s?

 

Yes. Both driven with HQPlayer DSD 256x48, convolution and EC-Modulator now about 2 x 20V/1,7A. One Keces P8 ist good, two are better. 😄

[dminches]

10 minutes ago, StreamFidelity said:

 

Yes. Both driven with HQPlayer DSD 256x48, convolution and EC-Modulator now about 2 x 20V/1,7A. One Keces P8 ist good, two are better. 😄

 

How high does the amperage get on each of the P8s?  I can definitely see how using 2 would be better, especially while running HQP.

 

[ASRMichael]

@StreamFidelity where did you get the 4 cable clips from? 2 wire going out of the case. I’ve tried a few but didn’t work. Yours look like they’ll do the job perfectly. 

[StreamFidelity]

4 hours ago, dminches said:

How high does the amperage get on each of the P8s?  I can definitely see how using 2 would be better, especially while running HQP.

 

@austinpop gave a good answer:

On 12/10/2019 at 10:23 PM, austinpop said:

Clearly, massive current reserves seem to be a benefit when driving the CPU (via EPS), and I believe the same to be true for ATX. It really does seem that a music server's current demand is peaky, so a high current supply with tons of headroom has a distinct advantage.

 

Of course, a Keces P8 is enough for me. Then it is currently about 3.4A at 20V. But the load is better distributed with two Keces P8. Two Keces P8 only get moderately warm. SQ (Sound Quality) is increasing - in my system and for my ears. This does not have to be the case in every system.

[StreamFidelity]

4 hours ago, ASRMichael said:

@StreamFidelity where did you get the 4 cable clips from? 2 wire going out of the case. I’ve tried a few but didn’t work. Yours look like they’ll do the job perfectly. 

 

I use JTDEAL cable clips. They come in different sizes.

 

GhentAudio cables are still used in the old reference Audio PC.

 

For our DIY project fis Audio PC, we decided to design our own DC cables consistently. Every plug and socket has an impedance. There is always a risk that contact resistance will form. Different materials are mostly harmful to the sound. The plan is a direct connection to 6PIN Molex or 4PIN Molex. Stay tuned 🙂

[sandyk]

3 hours ago, StreamFidelity said:

 

I use JTDEAL cable clips. They come in different sizes.

 

GhentAudio cables are still used in the old reference Audio PC.

 

For our DIY project fis Audio PC, we decided to design our own DC cables consistently. Every plug and socket has an impedance. There is always a risk that contact resistance will form. Different materials are mostly harmful to the sound. The plan is a direct connection to 6PIN Molex or 4PIN Molex. Stay tuned 🙂

 

There will only be a benefit to doing this with the Molex connectors if both Male and Female use gold plated contacts

[StreamFidelity]

19 hours ago, sandyk said:

There will only be a benefit to doing this with the Molex connectors if both Male and Female use gold plated contacts

 

I agree that this would be optimal. For this reason Bernd wanted to solder the cable directly to the mainboard and to do without Molex plug / socket altogether. Maybe we'll do that too.

 

At the moment it is a compromise. A high-quality cable should at least have a high-quality connector. And we will test whether it works. 🙂

[dminches]

Speaking of making molex connectors, when you insert the pin in the connector should it have a specific orientation in order to grab the connector better?  Sometimes I find the pins don’t hold well.

 

[Solstice380]

40 minutes ago, dminches said:

Speaking of making molex connectors, when you insert the pin in the connector should it have a specific orientation in order to grab the connector better?  Sometimes I find the pins don’t hold well.

 

 

True that!  They stamp and roll these things by thousands per minute so there is a lot of variation.  A benefit of assembling your own cables is that you can “adjust” (or discard) any poorly formed pins.  Once inserted into the connector body, fugetaboudit!

[dminches]

28 minutes ago, Solstice380 said:

 

True that!  They stamp and roll these things by thousands per minute so there is a lot of variation.  A benefit of assembling your own cables is that you can “adjust” (or discard) any poorly formed pins.  Once inserted into the connector body, fugetaboudit!

 

But does the original orientation of the inserted pin affect how well it will hold?

 

[Solstice380]

2 hours ago, dminches said:

 

But does the original orientation of the inserted pin affect how well it will hold?

 

 

I don’t know, for sure, but there shouldn’t be.  The contact or clamping force of the connection should be dictated by the interference between the male pin and female sleeve.  Or were you asking about holding the sleeve inside the plastic connector?  Just make sure the “wings” are spread before inserting the sleeves. 

[StreamFidelity]

2.4 Music player/renderer

 

An Audio PC is so flexible that any software, whether operating system or music player, can be tried out and used. The model and software presented here therefore describes only one of the many possible ways. 

 

In a 2 box system I prefer the variant that the highest computing power is provided by the Audio PC. Here the Control PC runs 24h as a music server (NAS) and consumes low computing power. As a Control PC, for example, a somewhat older and perhaps already existing model can be used. For music operation, the Audio PC is switched on and renders the data in best resolution and sends it to the DAC without any interference.

 

 

Roon is the first to be used. The software can be divided into three parts:

 

1. Roon Core
In the model above, the Roon server is installed on the Control PC. Headless, i.e. without graphical display, Roon works in the background and regularly scans the assigned hard disks for music files and automatically assigns them according to the stored database by music genres, artists, etc. Without DSP (Digital Signal Processor), i.e. without upsampling, room correction, etc., the computing load during music operation is extremely low, for example on an Intel Core i7 7700T (4x2.9GHz) with 1% CPU load. The load increases when new music files are scanned.

 

2. Roon Control
The Roon Server must of course be able to be operated. This can be done easily with apps that run on the smartphone, tablet computer or laptop. Which is just at hand. It is important that the music is always streamed from the Roon Server. With Roon Control, only the operation is actually carried out, so that the music transmission is always optimally maintained, even in the event of malfunctions in the Roon app. 

 

3. Roon Output
The music data is sent to the fis Audio PC via a special protocol RAAT (Roon Advanced Audio Transport).

 

4. HQPlayer
The fis Audio PC can render the music data for the DAC in highest quality, for example with the HQPlayer, without being disturbed by other applications. It would also be possible to use the Roon Bridge instead. In my experience, however, the increase in SQ is enormous with HQPlayer, provided the Audio PC has the necessary processing power. 

[StreamFidelity]

I don't want it to be boring. 😄JCAT has released a new USB Card XE. 

 

Some technical highlights:

- Emerald OCXO (oven controlled oscillator) ±0.005 (±5 ppb) stability 
- ASM3142 USB 3.1 host controller
- LT3045 linear regulators and filters eliminate noise interference from a PC

 

 

The USB Card FEMTO installed in the fis Audio PC is priced significantly lower and remains as a product line. 

 

We will try out the new USB card with the OCXO clock.  

 

Stays tuned 👍

[dminches]

For some reason I always had issues with Renesas host controller that is used in the Femto card.  Hopefully this new controller works better.

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

2 hours ago, StreamFidelity said:

I don't want it to be boring. 😄JCAT has released a new USB Card XE. 

 

Some technical highlights:

- Emerald OCXO (oven controlled oscillator) ±0.005 (±5 ppb) stability 
- ASM3142 USB 3.1 host controller
- LT3045 linear regulators and filters eliminate noise interference from a PC

 

 

The USB Card FEMTO installed in the fis Audio PC is priced significantly lower and remains as a product line. 

 

We will try out the new USB card with the OCXO clock.  

 

Stays tuned 👍

What’s your industry affiliation?

[ASRMichael]

When’s the JCAT ethernet XE coming out?

[StreamFidelity]

27 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

What’s your industry affiliation?

I'm a banker. 😉Bernd is a sound engineer.

[StreamFidelity]

8 minutes ago, ASRMichael said:

When’s the JCAT ethernet XE coming out?

I don't know. Ask Marcin from JCAT. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

13 minutes ago, StreamFidelity said:

I'm a banker. 😉Bernd is a sound engineer.

Excellent. Your posts were reported as being from someone in the industry with a hidden agenda. I'm happy to read this isn't the case. 

[dminches]

8 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Excellent. Your posts were reported as being from someone in the industry with a hidden agenda. I'm happy to read this isn't the case. 

 

FWIW, I have been following his posts and never thought that he was “in the industry.”  Everything he posts is DIYish and he recommends trying a bunch of different things.  That is not what industry people normally do.

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 minute ago, dminches said:

 

FWIW, I have been following his posts and never thought that he was “in the industry.”  Everything he posts is DIYish and he recommends trying a bunch of different things.  That is not what industry people normally do.

 

Excellent.

[StreamFidelity]

Hi guys,

 

like many others I am on forums to exchange ideas with other HiFi crazy people.  During the years of my hobby I have accumulated a lot of knowledge which I like to pass on. But I always hope with the necessary humility, because I am not a technician and I can be wrong.

 

When I presented my first Audio PC here, someone asked me if I could build one for him. I denied, because it was built by cirrus7 at that time. Now I have already built the second Audio PC myself. If one banker can do it, then everybody can do it. 😄That's what this thread is for.

 

But I don't want to exclude the possibility that I will turn my hobby into a profession in the future. I would then officially announce that.

 

Audiophile greetings

 

Gabriel

[StreamFidelity]

The following PCIe card arrived: 10Gtek® 10GbE PCIE network card. I installed them right away, see the picture below.

 

 

The first functional test ran smoothly. Below I have drawn a sketch of the fibre optic cable route. I could do without additional boxes, because the SOtM Switch has two SFP ports. It immediately accepted the SFP transceiver (SF Intel E10GSFPLR SFP+ 1310nm Transceiver Module). Via fiber optics (SF  Single Mode Fibre Patch) it goes to the other transceiver in the PCIe card. I was able to make similar settings in the network adapter as the other NET connections. Very nice.

 

 

The latency test is also absolutely perfect. Exactly zero interference at lowest latencies. I wouldn't have expected that from the start. 

 

 

Hearing tests are next.