Building a DIY Music Server with custom made parts

[ASRMichael]

8 minutes ago, jean-michel6 said:

For DC3 reg it is LM1086 and for DC4reg it is LM1084 

 

DC3 reg as 1.5A capability and 5 A with boost module . DC4reg is 5A

He also does 10a versions if you need it. 

[jean-michel6]

Yes you need to use two boost modules he told me .

May be for my next server project ! 

[elan120]

9 minutes ago, jean-michel6 said:

For DC3 reg it is LM1086 and for DC4reg it is LM1084 

The regulator modules I have all are LM1084, but I don't know for sure what is being used in DC4.

[RickyV]

3 minutes ago, elan120 said:

The regulator modules I have all are LM1084, but I don't know for sure what is being used in DC4.

The only thing I see is that the DC4 Probably has 3 regulators.

[elan120]

5 minutes ago, RickyV said:

The only thing I see is that the DC4 Probably has 3 regulators.

As well as extensive use of AN Kaisei caps.

[Downtheline]

On 7/30/2020 at 3:29 PM, OAudio said:

Details are finalised and the my engineers have a production slot scheduled to cut the coolers and other parts (below) from billet in two weeks time.

Any luck?

[OAudio]

11 hours ago, Downtheline said:

Any luck?

 

The production slot has moved back a week because of a small delay in a prior jobs, machining starts a week on Monday, 

I will be dropping by the factory then to decide the finish and look over some other work.

 

So all good thanks. I will post some updates as things progress.

 

[jean-michel6]

15 hours ago, elan120 said:

The regulator modules I have all are LM1084, but I don't know for sure what is being used in DC4.

Apparently Sean Jacobs told me he has two kind of dc3reg on which is 1.5 A and can go 5A with a boost modules this one has the lm 1086 reg .

He also has obviously a dc3 with a 1084 reg which Is 5A but only on temporary power boost .

[matthias]

Did someone compare SQ of DC3 to DC4 modules?

Thanks

 

Matt

[elan120]

3 hours ago, matthias said:

Did someone compare SQ of DC3 to DC4 modules?

Thanks

 

Matt

My speculation is "no".  My last communication with Sean on DC4 modules about 3 months ago was, he will only sell DC4 as completed power supply, and not ready to sell DC4 module individually yet.

[Exocer]

8 minutes ago, elan120 said:

My speculation is "no".  My last communication with Sean on DC4 modules about 3 months ago was, he will only sell DC4 as completed power supply, and not ready to sell DC4 module individually yet.

 

I remember reading some impressions of the DC3 + Dave vs DC4 + Dave, with DC4 taking SQ up several notches. 

 

SJ may be selling DC4 modules now. I would check again with him.

[elan120]

3 minutes ago, Exocer said:

 

I remember reading some impressions of the DC3 + Dave vs DC4 + Dave, with DC4 taking SQ up several notches. 

 

SJ may be selling DC4 modules now. I would check again with him.

That would be a great news, and I remember reading that impression as well, but IIRC, that was a comparison between two completed power supplies from Sean, not DIY supplies.

 

When I am ready to build more power supplies, I will certainly check with Sean to see if DC4 modules are available for purchase.

[Exocer]

13 minutes ago, elan120 said:

That would be a great news, and I remember reading that impression as well, but IIRC, that was a comparison between two completed power supplies from Sean, not DIY supplies.

 

When I am ready to build more power supplies, I will certainly check with Sean to see if DC4 modules are available for purchase.

I am certain he is, he offered them to me as an option. Would need to use a larger enclosure than what I have though.

[elan120]

14 minutes ago, Exocer said:

I am certain he is, he offered them to me as an option. Would need to use a larger enclosure than what I have though.

👍  I will check with Sean, likely sooner than later as I do have few devices I like to build SJ power supplies for...could be another 4 rails power supply.

[jean-michel6]

4 hours ago, elan120 said:

My speculation is "no".  My last communication with Sean on DC4 modules about 3 months ago was, he will only sell DC4 as completed power supply, and not ready to sell DC4 module individually yet.

I just bought one DC4reg module from him . The DC4reg is a 5A module .

The output voltage is set by fixed naked Vishay resistor . 

[elan120]

4 minutes ago, jean-michel6 said:

I just bought one DC4reg module from him . The DC4reg is a 5A module .

The output voltage is set by fixed naked Vishay resistor . 

This is great to know.  👍👍

 

Looking forward to your listening impressions.  I do have few more rails I plan to use SJ modules to build power supply, so it is great timing to know he is now selling the DC4 modules in addition to the DC3 modules.

 

[jean-michel6]

1 minute ago, elan120 said:

This is great to know.  👍👍

 

Looking forward to your listening impressions.  I do have few more rails I plan to use SJ modules to build power supply, so it is great timing to know he is now selling the DC4 modules in addition to the DC3 modules.

 

It will take some time as I am in the process of building my new server I will say 2 to 3 weeks . 

[elan120]

3 minutes ago, jean-michel6 said:

It will take some time as I am in the process of building my new server I will say 2 to 3 weeks . 

That will be way before I even start gathering parts for my next power supply build.  Any details you could share on your new server?

[Nenon]

9 hours ago, matthias said:

Did someone compare SQ of DC3 to DC4 modules?

Thanks

 

Matt

 

I have. The DC4 is better. It makes pretty good difference in my system. I would recommend it to power up a USB card or whatever the most sensitive (on DC power) component you have in your system. A hybrid LPS with DC3 regulators for the HDPlex DC-ATX and JCAT NIC and a DC4 for the USB card would be a very good compromise to keep the cost lower and boost up the performance. 

[jean-michel6]

20 minutes ago, elan120 said:

That will be way before I even start gathering parts for my next power supply build.  Any details you could share on your new server?

I am in a different set up than many people here .

I have decided some time ago to do away with usb output . I did not like usb as it takes so much trouble to get a clean usb and still it is extremely sensitive to the usb cable you use .

Therefore I decided to go the lan route ... this was triggered by the DAC I am using which is an Audiomat maestro 3 and as an option can be equipped with an Engineered lan card .

I did later found that engineered is selling a lan module that can output to aes or spdif ... I did bought this and it was the beginning of my new server adventure .

 

It is a kind of dual pc . The server part is done by a supermicro X10sdv-f mini itx mobo ( Xeon 8 core @2.1ghz) , the player is an engineered ered dock lan card acting as an upnp player .

communication between both units is through an etherregen switch .

The server is powered by a SJ dc3 rail 19V@5A and then a 400watts Hdplex dc-dc atx converter.

The server has a jcat lan card powered by a SJ dc3 rail at 5V

The ered dock module is powered by a SJ DC4 rail at 5V

 

Everything fits ina streacom  fc9 case and I have a separate box for power transformer and SJ ac to dc cards .

I will give picture later on when cabling is done . 

 

[elan120]

44 minutes ago, jean-michel6 said:

I am in a different set up than many people here .

I have decided some time ago to do away with usb output . I did not like usb as it takes so much trouble to get a clean usb and still it is extremely sensitive to the usb cable you use .

Therefore I decided to go the lan route ... this was triggered by the DAC I am using which is an Audiomat maestro 3 and as an option can be equipped with an Engineered lan card .

I did later found that engineered is selling a lan module that can output to aes or spdif ... I did bought this and it was the beginning of my new server adventure .

 

It is a kind of dual pc . The server part is done by a supermicro X10sdv-f mini itx mobo ( Xeon 8 core @2.1ghz) , the player is an engineered ered dock lan card acting as an upnp player .

communication between both units is through an etherregen switch .

The server is powered by a SJ dc3 rail 19V@5A and then a 400watts Hdplex dc-dc atx converter.

The server has a jcat lan card powered by a SJ dc3 rail at 5V

The ered dock module is powered by a SJ DC4 rail at 5V

 

Everything fits ina streacom  fc9 case and I have a separate box for power transformer and SJ ac to dc cards .

I will give picture later on when cabling is done . 

 

Very nice to see a different approach, and it does look very interesting.  I remember your write up about the Engineered Lan module and your new setup, this looks like the extension of that setup.  I am not familiar with Audiomat DAC, but everything else should provide a superb SQ.

[jean-michel6]

6 hours ago, elan120 said:

Very nice to see a different approach, and it does look very interesting.  I remember your write up about the Engineered Lan module and your new setup, this looks like the extension of that setup.  I am not familiar with Audiomat DAC, but everything else should provide a superb SQ.

We did some audio tests at a friend home a few weeks ago and sq was truly excellent . 
It was only a partial set up as we had only a two rails sj psu and very ordinary dc cable. 
 

In fact sq was so convincing that my audio friends here in Bordeaux are moving to this configuration . 
We did a big group buy to SJ ( 16 rails ... ). 

[One and a half]

@jean-michel6, the Engineered LAN-AES card is this one from CH? Am looking at the data sheet and very impressed with the feature set.

They have gone to the trouble of isolating the AES3 with transformers.

Dang Covid-10 has pushed delivery several weeks, EUR390 is not such a bad price to pay for a device like this.

LAN-AES with standard uPNP and not USB, I like this.

[jean-michel6]

1 hour ago, One and a half said:

@jean-michel6, the Engineered LAN-AES card is this one from CH? Am looking at the data sheet and very impressed with the feature set.

They have gone to the trouble of isolating the AES3 with transformers.

Dang Covid-10 has pushed delivery several weeks, EUR390 is not such a bad price to pay for a device like this.

LAN-AES with standard uPNP and not USB, I like this.

Yes this is the one I am using . This baby is really outstanding , look at the detailed spec of the clock , it is extremely good not at the level of a mutec ref clock but ... 

In my system this board has never been the bottleneck . Every time I do improve what is before ie server mobo , psu , switch ... i can very clearly hear the improvement through the engineer board .

 

I agree being lan aes only is for me a good thing also .

 

By the way they also make a very good usb board which completely surpassed the sotm and matrix boards . 
 

But at the end the lan aes board set up was also superior to the usb set up using same server and same psu. 

[matthias]

17 hours ago, jean-michel6 said:

I just bought one DC4reg module from him . The DC4reg is a 5A module .

 

How much is the DC4reg approx.?

Do you have to feed it with AC or DC input?

Thanks

 

Matt