Build a dedicated Audio PC

[nige2000]

Without turning the thread in to a vinyl versus PC based discussion I found from my 2 days of listening it seems the vinyl has really great organic bass and midrange and may be lacking a bit on the exceptional detail and dynamics we get from PC based playback.
Recent steps on clean power supply have been giving us lots more in the lower regions and mids but there is something very good about the bass with the TT which I have not heard as good with the PC.
Maybe the fact I have been without the PC based system for a week has lessened my memory of how good it is but I will hopefully be able to confirm what I am hearing this week.
Just got the Mobo today so hopefully will get my system back up and running.

For comparison I have a clean LP of Van Morrisons And Street Choir and I never heard it sound so good so I will be comparing tracks on this side by side to the CD 16 x 44 rip.
I do not think either is a remaster so hopefully both are very similar but even if not it will be easy to focus in on certain instruments to look for differences.

Bottom line for me is that it is nice to have a target I can aim at as with all the changes and improvements to PC based playback it is easy to get lost in direction.
I do not think we will ever replicate vinyl sound but if we can take the best of vinyl and the best of digital and come to the best of both I will be happy.

having three separate power supplies on your audio pc might change your mind about the bass

[Sligolad]

Hi Nige, already had the 3 separate supplies on the audio PC last time i ran it and it did make an improvement but I do not think it got near what I heard from TT.
I had the Anker on the OS SSD, the Anker on the 12v for CPU and the Teddy Pardo on the Pico.
It was when I went changing the Teddy Pardo to the Cpu and the Anker to the Pico that I messed up and blew the Mobo.

I have some goodies on their way from Paul Pang so it will be interesting to see if these make the difference :-))
SATA cable, USB card and Compact Flash drive assembly.

[nige2000]

Hi Nige, already had the 3 separate supplies on the audio PC last time i ran it and it did make an improvement but I do not think it got near what I heard from TT.
I had the Anker on the OS SSD, the Anker on the 12v for CPU and the Teddy Pardo on the Pico.
It was when I went changing the Teddy Pardo to the Cpu and the Anker to the Pico that I messed up and blew the Mobo.

I have some goodies on their way from Paul Pang so it will be interesting to see if these make the difference :-))
SATA cable, USB card and Compact Flash drive assembly.

whats the story on the bass is it cleaner tighter or just larger on tt

shopping basket looks good
im particularly interested in the usb card and compact flash ill have to hear them, id chance making a sata cable myself but im still rocking the usb 3 sticks

[nige2000]

got a feeling the secondhand 7 amp maplin market is going to plummet
think one linear ps suppling the two batteries seems to work without any side affects
ill try the smps brick later to see what happens

it looks like my streacom fc10 should be able to house the two 7 ah batteries and the lifepo4 for the os
looks like its going to be a tidy solution

[tony]

You could wait till we offloaded the excess on the market before releasing that report.

BTW will you not have issues with all that stuff in your case. I think you will end up coating it with rfi or emi sheets or whatever they are called.Just wonder are you better off leaving that stuff outside? I think it hasn't been announced yet but Pang is probably the god of all this stuff and he seems to go to great lengths putting stuff in aluminum cases/isolation plinths. Me I am going to use good old wood plinths eventually.

Great that one linear will charge the two batteries. A housing for that lot will not be too big. Wont make it tonight as you will probably report back tomorrow that 3 maplin supplies work better!

[nige2000]

You could wait till we offloaded the excess on the market before releasing that report.

BTW will you not have issues with all that stuff in your case. I think you will end up coating it with rfi or emi sheets or whatever they are called.Just wonder are you better off leaving that stuff outside? I think it hasn't been announced yet but Pang is probably the god of all this stuff and he seems to go to great lengths putting stuff in aluminum cases/isolation plinths. Me I am going to use good old wood plinths eventually.

Great that one linear will charge the two batteries. A housing for that lot will not be too big. Wont make it tonight as you will probably report back tomorrow that 3 maplin supplies work better!

rfi, temporally forgot about that, might still be a worthwhile test to see if i can hear a difference.

[mick]

I have a good few albums on both vinyl and remastered cd and a few on hi-res download. They are available if wanted.

do you think any of them are the same recording and similarly mastered?

how do they compare on your setup?

A few may be from the same masters. However I think that comparing the best that cd can be and the best that vinyl can be, on a particular recording,is a valid comparison.
Most of the comparisons indicate that the audio pc is better overall. Some of the vinyl masters are better but the quality of the record production is the key.

[tony]

secondhand meicord in de house this morning will see if it brings digital magic networking later in the week.

I ordered the batteries from farnell unfortunately it looks like Nigel has empty the stock. Lead time is 102 days I am hoping that means hours or is just a little pessimistic maybe I will get them for xmas when they will no longer be the flavour of the month.

[nige2000]

two cat 7's arrived today ill be trying them later

[Fran]

Tony - you'll get them in Radionics.....