Build a dedicated Audio PC

[Ivor]

Nige your mention about checking out the insides of the wadia will probably not happen.That yoke cost circa €10k new cant see anybody prepared to dissect it.

Correct!!

You surprise me sir!

[Diapason]

The insides of a man's CD player are his own business!

[tony]

It is over 24hrs since we got a post here. WTG working streaming to laptops. currenty running 170 on US will have a go at reducing it in the interests of the space race. Tried but 170 it is. I am using wired ethernet on both laptops thru a modem. Will try some cat7 shortly but as posted here looks like network cards etc maybe needed to try and get lower. The sound is fairly good with US. Frans Netrebko track sounds great.

[Sligolad]

Have to post again about the merits of the linear power supply upgrade to the audio PC, it is a staggering improvement, must be still breaking in as the music sounds even better this evening.

I would seriously liken the upgrade to be at least as good if not better than the move from the JKDAC to the Meitner it is that good.

Anyone remotely considering the PC Audio path make sure you invest in a linear power supply for the audio PC.

Very hard to describe the improvement to sound as it has improved on so many levels but clean and 3 dimensional are words that come to mind....amazing!

[nige2000]

Have to post again about the merits of the linear power supply upgrade to the audio PC, it is a staggering improvement, must be still breaking in as the music sounds even better this evening.

I would seriously liken the upgrade to be at least as good if not better than the move from the JKDAC to the Meitner it is that good.

Anyone remotely considering the PC Audio path make sure you invest in a linear power supply for the audio PC.

Very hard to describe the improvement to sound as it has improved on so many levels but clean and 3 dimensional are words that come to mind....amazing!

whats your gut feeling on the teddy pardo, are you getting much more out of it vs the cheaped out maplin, must be much better, if you think the gap is similar to jkdac and the Meitner.
the power supply seems to be the foundation to good audio, everything else seems secondary

[Fran]

Very glad that the teddy pardo worked out for you Pearse! Im sure there are more gains to be had by a better supply than the maplin one, I will probably build something bigger at some stage as the one I have gets pretty hot.


Some pics of the recased franzuma:


Untitled by francis morrin, on Flickr


Untitled by francis morrin, on Flickr


It looks more like a zuma now. I am using the same power supply, fan being run from a separate supply, and running off a USB3 stick.

Fran

[nige2000]

Nigel/Pearse: have you run your system with prime95 and monitored the CPU temps? Just wondering as I try out a different cooling solution......


Fran

60 degrees underclocked at 2.5 ghz
sorry i forgot

like what you did with the case, good job
any progress on a cooling solution, i often thought about making a silent cooler but i couldn't be bothered

i got my renesas usb3 pcie card yesterday not your high end audio prices but its well enough made
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/170759643814?ssP ... 1439.l2649

i have everything in usb3 ports now and achieved another improvement with that
so thats the dac,WTG and usb3 music storage in renesas usb3 ports

im also playing around with a homemade usb a to b cable for the dac made out of heavy copper. when i was scavenging for parts i was horrified at the thickness and the quality of these cables, so i thought i could do no worse.

first thing i noticed about my cable was extra bass which initially i wasn't sure whether i liked that or not, guess i wasn't used to so much bass, but not so noticeable, there seemed to be more music or what i believe to be less loss (just hearing aspects of the music i havent heard before or made more clear)
well the jurys still out on the cable but its definitely got aspects i like, id like to try make one in silver.

nige

[Sligolad]

It looks more like a zuma now. I am using the same power supply, fan being run from a separate supply, and running off a USB3 stick.

I think that front plate looks a lot better than the Zuma Fran, very nice unit.

have everything in usb3 ports now and achieved another improvement with that
so thats the dac,WTG and usb3 music storage in renesas usb3 ports

Great idea Nige, looks like you saved a chunk of money over the SOTM route by introducing USB over PCI.

Hoped to do some testing here myself this weekend but the weather is looking too good at the moment!

[nige2000]

"weather too good", funny statement.
Are you out of the country at the minute?

[Sligolad]

Blue skies here in Dublin at the moment Nige and you can keep those clouds a little longer if they are hanging around in Meath at the moment!