Popular Post bobfa Posted February 5, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted February 5, 2021 Over the past several years, I have been designing and building my computing hardware for music playback. I have followed in the footsteps of several others here on AS; @The Computer Audiophile, @austinpop, @Nenon , @romaz, @lmitche, to name a few. I have replaced the power supply in a mac mini using the UpTone Audio kit. I built up my NUC and Xeon endpoints and servers. I have also tried many configurations with a single box system, two box systems, and fancy USB cards. I have fussed over wireless and network switches. Almost everything I have done has improved the sound quality of the music in my home. Intermixed with the DIY, I have also tried a few commercial streamers and servers and have not gotten to where I want to be. I needed to do something different. After some frustrations during my review of the Bucarhardt A500 speakers, I contacted Larry at Pareto Audio to build a Roon server. We worked together to develop the hardware plan that fit my needs. My system has four terra-bytes of internal storage, and I have three audio endpoints and one network endpoint using the ADNACO USB system. I am using two HDPLEX power supplies for the server and Allo Shanti supplies for the endpoints. Two weeks into running my system, Larry sent me some additional RAM that improved things further! The server is in the basement, and I have run 10GBit fiber to three of the four planned locations. I have not decided on the final spot for the fourth endpoint. I have been running the server for about a month. I was able to get it broken-in and did A/B testing during my upcoming review of the FIVE17 speakers from Heavenly Soundworks. I am thrilled with the improvements that I now have in my systems. The server has virtually eliminated that digital edge I was still observing with my server. The backgrounds are a lot blacker and more deep-felt, if you understand what I mean. One of my most improved listening points is my Schiit Lyr3 with their Multibit DAC into my MassDrop HD6xx headphones. It is now even more of a gem for my listening. The musical presence with my Hugo 2 into the RAD-0 headphones has more elegance and feeling of reality. This week I am listening with a loaner Chord DAVE DAC to my FIVE17 speakers, and I am in very pleased! lmitche, KMan, soares and 2 others 1 2 2 My Audio Systems Link to comment
bobfa Posted February 5, 2021 Author Share Posted February 5, 2021 17 minutes ago, Darryl R said: Where is it you "want to be?" And do you think that could ever be a fixed point? I am not sure it is a fixed point but it is a target. The main goal is simpler. Less hardware and software. I like headphone listening so a couple of places around the house where I can do that is nice. It is also helpful when I want to listen and others do not. The speaker system has to fit into my listening space. That is not only size but looks. It is my living room. The sound quality should not annoy me, it should delight me! I think I have zeroed in on the system design. I have one more things to round it out. Right now in 2021 the RAD-0 headphones, the FIVE17 speakers and the Pareto Audio Server are fixed points. So is the LYR3 with the HD-6xx cans. Roon software is my keystone for useably. It has taken me 50 years to get here. I am not sure that here is fixed. It is at least better grounded than ever before. My Audio Systems Link to comment
bobfa Posted February 5, 2021 Author Share Posted February 5, 2021 2 hours ago, Darryl R said: I'd like to know more about the Adnaco tech. Darryl, I have just enough knowledge to be dangerous. The ADNACO extends the PCIE bus out through fiber to a PCIE USB card. Power that up and plug in your devices. I have played with it enough to really embrace it. My Audio Systems Link to comment
bobfa Posted February 5, 2021 Author Share Posted February 5, 2021 2 minutes ago, Darryl R said: I know how you feel ;) So I assume the server sees just the PCIe devices as if they were a "chassis extension," but yet the remote machine is another processor? I wouldn't expect it would see the entire computer, but only as if it were "chassis extension?" In other words, everything is running under the same OS? The little cards I have are just PCiE to USB interfaces. So there are two USB ports thirty feet away from the server. From my view in Roon. I plug a DAC into the USB port and AL/Roon see the device as an attached to the Server DAC. There have been several mentions of the ADNACO stuff on the forum for years. I did not understand it until now. This is a neat trick in our basket of tools. My Audio Systems Link to comment
bobfa Posted February 5, 2021 Author Share Posted February 5, 2021 Look on their website. I am away from computer for a while. My Audio Systems Link to comment
bobfa Posted February 5, 2021 Author Share Posted February 5, 2021 The Adnaco system in use is remote USB My Audio Systems Link to comment
Popular Post bobfa Posted February 5, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 5, 2021 1 hour ago, soares said: Hi Bob, would you mind sharing the specs of your system and the total cost? Thanks Jorge The costs include design, construction, setup data transfer and support. The hardware is a subset of that. The hardware is. AMD RYZEN without on board graphics. An ASUS motherboard, 32gb RAM. 32gb Optane boot. A removable graphics card for setup. 4tb NVME storage. HDPLEX 5 case. The ADNACO four port card. Three ADNACO USB endpoints. The SFPs and the fiber cables. The pricing was fair for the work being done. I am not comfortable discussing the pricing. soares and LTG2010 1 1 My Audio Systems Link to comment
bobfa Posted February 5, 2021 Author Share Posted February 5, 2021 All, I have not been paid or offered services to write what I did. These are my observations on the hardware and services I have received. I think it would be cool if @lmitchewould sponsor a forum on Audiophile Style. I have just written another review for the community that will be published soon. That is not sponsored either. Those of us who write articles here spend a lot of effort. It is more out of love to share than anything else. I am digging into a DAC selection process for my systems right now. I have purchased the gear on my own. I very likely will have over spent in doing this. RJF My Audio Systems Link to comment
bobfa Posted February 6, 2021 Author Share Posted February 6, 2021 30 minutes ago, soares said: Thanks Bob! I understand the point on the cost. On the Adnaco cards. The four port cards are Ethernet? Fiber? And the the option not to include a graphic card for CUDA with HQPlayer was related to jitter? I do not use HQ Player so I did not include a graphics card in my machine. I created a blog entry on the Adnaco system here: I do not want to clutter the impressions thread with technical info. Gavin1977 1 My Audio Systems Link to comment
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