Build a dedicated Audio PC

[Fran]

I've been doing some more experiments and its led me back to somthing I thought much about way back at the start of this adventure:

Custom linear power supplies....

What I mean is that the maplin ones we are all using are very convenient and cheap, but may not give us the best PS we want. So what I was thinking of is a custom made supply giving 12V 4A/12V 4A/5v 2A. One for picoPSU, one for CPU and one for SATA/USB3 stick.

So Nigel tells me that the maplin 7A supply sounds better than the 5A one - and that it appears to be a more complicated design internally.

I've been looking around and most schematics quoted on the web use a simple LM78XX regulator with a pass transistor of some sort to handle the current. I wonder if we could do something a little better. I'd love a shunt but the heat dissipation for what we need would be savage. John I know looked at batteries - maybe its time to revisit that maybe?

Any ideas etc would be welcome indeed.


Fran

[jkeny]

Fran,
When I get the time I'll be looking into doing something with batteries on the NUC. Essentially, I'm intending to run as much off battery as can be easily achieved, USB, SSD?, RAM? & the general external supply.
Didn't Pearse look into Paul Hynes supply - how did that turn out?

[tony]

John I think there is a very long waiting list for Paul Hynes stuff. Maybe that is sorted now but the last thing Pearse got was a Teddy Pardo supply. This if I remember right was not 12v and to stop the pc crashing he had to turn off as much as possible.

Is the battery thing going to be based on some of the red wine audio stuff? That seems very expensive.

[nige2000]

John

would there be any point testing out car batteries with a voltage regulator inline as i should have most of the stuff here

[nige2000]

think i have it solved....

[tony]

Excellent Fran and John on two bicycles that would be stereo. It would all just then be down to timing.

[Claus]

Excellent Fran and John on two bicycles that would be stereo. It would all just then be down to timing.

LOL! That is classic guys! I am waiting for the HD-plex 19V for my NUC. It is in production and arrives in October according to HD-PLEX. I am waiting then for Mr. Kenny to produce something to power the rest ;)

[Sligolad]

I would certainly be a customer for an Irish DC unit either by battery or a good linear unit, like Claus I have registered my interest in the 19v unit from HDPlex but not sure when these will be delivered, as a backup I am also chasing Core Audio Technology for one of their Linear Supplies for 19v again for the Cirrus7.
Like Tony said I could not be assed waiting on Paul Hynes to get his act together so there is definitely an opening in the market for a good European source of clean linear supplies.
If there is a unit to be developed with all 3 dc voltages available I would purchase it even if it was based on a good smps with good regulation for the outputs, just like the Teddy Pardo units which have always worked very well for me. I think the Meitner has just a very well regulated smps unit at its core also though much more to it than a Teddy Pardo from the pictures I took the last time I had it apart.
The Teddy Pardo 12v supply works perfectly on the Zuma with Turbo Boost off on the CPU (necessity for good sound I think) and it also works with it on just that you have to hold the power button a couple of seconds on shut down.
I got the Cirrus7 setup on windows8 at the weekend and it runs away on dsf files without getting too warm even with it lying down on the flat, had to leave it for another trip this week but hope to be back to getting Server core setup this coming weekend and I will report on how it runs next week.
Pearse.

[nige2000]

any sort of cpu boost is a no no as is eist c1 c3 c6 etc, the rest we could argue over

but the teddy pardo must be at its limits if the cpu boost is putting it over the edge

is there any room in the cirrus for a pico psu as a 19v linear supply is hard to find off the shelf

[nige2000]

Did some more testing in single pc mode as testing with streaming i find to be a huge pain in the ass
anyway i tried one of these
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/5AMP-Adjustable- ... 5d33527654
with a toroidal transformer in place of the maplin linear supplies thats providing supply to the cpu

as all power supplies arent equal i thought id give it a try

end result is i couldnt tell the difference between them so there as good or as bad as each other

right then i decided to try a vehicle battery into the cpu, the battery was reading 12.5 volts so i wired it straight into the cpu socket

first impressions was it sounded more laid back/ relaxed almost felt not as loud but a slightly cleaner tighter bass

so i thought there must be something to it
and then i tried the battery straight into the pico psu and reconnected the cable between the pico and the cpu socket the usb3 was still on the linear supply as i forgot to test it disconnected.

end result in a very laid back, free flowing, slightly better detail a little more clarity and clean tight bass and thats in single pc mode

i hope to try two battery powered pcs streaming tomorrow i think it looks promising

nige