Build a dedicated Audio PC

[nige2000]

Very elegant build, Fran , and the little blue power switch looks familiar too.
KM

check your ciunas see if the switch is still on it!!!

Could we get some government funding to buy toys for testing, we could come up with a hell of a list.

[jkeny]

Tony, my suggestion is to take it step by step rather than trying to get the final solution on your first try!

[Sligolad]

For a Paul Hynes unit you would probably be looking at the SR8 high power unit which will come in at about £560 sterling including cable.
The Kora MKIII Power Supply Price:$617.00 on the site linked by Claus might be a nice unit to install inside the Zuma or similar build but I do not know enough about them. As John says factor in customs charges on this.
Other than the Maplin the best value so far for me is the Teddy Pardo at €331 plus €86 customs comes to about €420.

Sound is still improving as well so not sure where it will all end.

Modmix (Ulli) on JPlay has one running now and has good reports.
MrJohn (John) on JPlay has just ordered one so hopefully more feedback soon to confirm I am not imagining all this!

[tony]

Tony, my suggestion is to take it step by step rather than trying to get the final solution on your first try!

I tried saying that to my financial controller and beat a hasty retreat as one was chased with a cast iron frying pan in one hand

You are probably right but I am prepared to try/consider a different supply to the maplin even if it is more as it would allow for comparison. As it is the next meet could possibly have 3 to 4 maplin powered i7 zumas. I set a figure of €1k max and want to keep to it but if I thought I was getting a very good supply might break it.

Just saw your post Pearse. Mr hynes is out alright. The pardo does that plug into the pico or come with its own bits?

From earlier in this thread I do see a time when there will be 3 to 4 power supplies in the zuma to ensure best independent supply to each unit. Maybe a dumb question but is it possible to use for instance 2 or 3 maplin supplies and wire them in to each unit in the zuma. I take it a fair bit of soldering etc will be required.

[jkeny]

Nige, a question that you might be able to answer - the NUC has two PCIe mini-card connectors on it to support mSata & Wifi cards - are the connectors the same on your PCIe USB3 card? Any reason why it would not work on the NUC if it could physically be accommodated? I'm thinking along the lines of reboxing the NUC & maybe using a cable to connect this USB3 card to the PCIe connectors on the NUC board.

[jkeny]

Tony, be careful of those customs officers - they have amazingly wide-ranging powers for imposing penalties - The most feared ones are known by their name - Wife

[Sligolad]

The pardo does that plug into the pico or come with its own bits?

The Teddy Pardo comes with a cable which plugs in to the 2.5mm socket on the back of the Zuma like the 12v brick that comes with the Pico, so no added wiring or soldering there Tony.

[nige2000]

Nige, a question that you might be able to answer - the NUC has two PCIe mini-card connectors on it to support mSata & Wifi cards - are the connectors the same on your PCIe USB3 card? Any reason why it would not work on the NUC if it could physically be accommodated? I'm thinking along the lines of reboxing the NUC & maybe using a cable to connect this USB3 card to the PCIe connectors on the NUC board.

i guess with this you could do it, it would have to be recased though
http://linitx.com/product/mini-pci-expr ... ided/12894

[jkeny]

Nige, a question that you might be able to answer - the NUC has two PCIe mini-card connectors on it to support mSata & Wifi cards - are the connectors the same on your PCIe USB3 card? Any reason why it would not work on the NUC if it could physically be accommodated? I'm thinking along the lines of reboxing the NUC & maybe using a cable to connect this USB3 card to the PCIe connectors on the NUC board.

i guess with this you could do it, it would have to be recased though
http://linitx.com/product/mini-pci-expr ... ided/12894

Thanks Nige,
Now that I know what I'm looking for, I might as well try to find one that I can also power independently - might bring an extra sonic boost?
Have you tried USB3 ports which use chips other than the Renesas chip? Is the Renesas chip considered the best - I know Marcin suggested to use the Renesas driver but I'm not sure this was an endorsement of the chip or that the chip just didn't sound as good when using the Intel driver?

[nige2000]

Nige, a question that you might be able to answer - the NUC has two PCIe mini-card connectors on it to support mSata & Wifi cards - are the connectors the same on your PCIe USB3 card? Any reason why it would not work on the NUC if it could physically be accommodated? I'm thinking along the lines of reboxing the NUC & maybe using a cable to connect this USB3 card to the PCIe connectors on the NUC board.

i guess with this you could do it, it would have to be recased though
http://linitx.com/product/mini-pci-expr ... ided/12894

Thanks Nige,
Now that I know what I'm looking for, I might as well try to find one that I can also power independently - might bring an extra sonic boost?
Have you tried USB3 ports which use chips other than the Renesas chip? Is the Renesas chip considered the best - I know Marcin suggested to use the Renesas driver but I'm not sure this was an endorsement of the chip or that the chip just didn't sound as good when using the Intel driver?

there could be several versions of that adapter, the usb3 card i got needs a molex power in wether thats completely independent of the power going in through the pci slot i really dont know.

i swapped the dac to pci usb 3 from the build in usb3 i thought it lost a little something,
So although having the music storage on the pcie usb3 has brought a noticeable improvement, ill be using the built in usb3 for WTG and DAC as i have a slight preference for them.
there are a few micro atx motherboards with 4 rear usb3 ports but i dont know what there usb3 chipsets are it would take a bit of research, may boards have two rear ports and two internal headers for usb3 i wouldnt gamble on the headers for ultimate SQ but id like to try it
the intel board fran and tony got will have the headers it might be worth a shot.

i have other pc builds with different usb3 chipsets, but there'd be no point comparing SQ as i wouldn't be comparing like with like, it would take a complete rebuild to to that