My new CAPS V2+ build; best digital I've heard

kyrill · « **Reply #160 on:** 24 Dec 2012, 05:12 pm »

I hate to be misunderstood, I do like your approach, my harsh like responses are more to the way ppl react.
I would have responded with. "Interesting( there is even some room for some mild sarcasm but then you have to pronounce it) Kyrill, I (we ) have put a lot of thought in our design, if you think more improvements can be made can you elaborate? Have you listening experiences?"

That would be an invitation to gather more information and then after requiring it can be explained with "we have been there and no,,,etc etc) or come into a dialogue/discussion of pro and contra. After all we are all after the best sounding source made possible,

ah well on paper it becomes maybe more laden than meeting in real life

I did not post my findings of my year's long search to a better PC on this forum as I found a dedicated PC forum elsewhere. Yr post triggered with me a ( apparently in a clumsy way) motivation to support yr line of approaches, not so much caps V2 which will be an intermediate product to v3, v4 and so on

glineus · « **Reply #161 on:** 24 Dec 2012, 11:09 pm »

Greetings to all.

Thanks Ted, I got through with Splashtop it has made life so much easier. I have been following the CAPS thread by both Yourself and TJHUB with interest. I am awaiting your final response to Windows 8 and Fitziler before going that way. As I become aware mods and tweaks I will try to implement. In the final analysis we are all chasing that invisible sound.

ted_b · « **Reply #162 on:** 24 Dec 2012, 11:27 pm »

I continue to be a big Fidelizer fan (of the sound, not the process or the app...but they come with the territory

). After a reboot I manually run Fidelizer and have J River (server mode) on a 3 minute delay.

MichaelHiFi · « **Reply #163 on:** 25 Dec 2012, 07:59 pm »

I've been using the SOtM tX-USBexp card for a while now and like what I'm getting for sound quality although the road has been rocky. One issue I solved was that my brand new external hard drive has issues. I plugged in my older 3TB WD drive and I no longer get drive errors so so far so good.

For xmas I received an external power supply. It's a Welbourne unit 8VDC. Looks sweet, let's see how it works.

I read the instructions which seem confusing to me when one wishes to use external power.

According to the manual jumpers J401 and J402 are enabled which means they are jumpered.

Here's the confusing bit. J403 internal power connector which is the auxiliary power connector connected to external power input jack. I assumed this means that this jack also needs to be jumpered. It does NOT state this clearly. Jumper or No jumper. I tried it with the jumper. What I got was a strange oscillation and then the smell of burning electronics. Not frickin good

So I quickly unplugged, went back to my original settings and see if in fact, I get to buy yet another card or a motherboard. So far, the boards seem to have survived as I'm playing music.

Now I have this cool power supply but I'm not going to perform anything until I know just how this card is jumpered to an accept external power supply.

Any help out there and,

Merry Christmas to ALL

ted_b · « **Reply #164 on:** 25 Dec 2012, 08:11 pm »

Michael, the exp (PCIe) SOtM card requires NO work to get it powered. Just plug in the dc plug to the external dc jack, period. When it senses an external ps it shuts off internally. Do not screw with the jumpers, etc.

MichaelHiFi · « **Reply #165 on:** 25 Dec 2012, 09:29 pm »

Thanks Ted.

I plugged it in and it works - seemingly. The smell of frying electronics is not a good start.

When I read the precautions on page 8, this is not a product I would recommend to anyone other than a hardcore user. I was disconnected from thew internal power source and quickly unplugged external power when I sensed something wrong.

MichaelHiFi · « **Reply #166 on:** 25 Dec 2012, 11:45 pm »

Sounded fantastic, when I got the opportunity to listen. Visiting family members love TV- don't like music.

I mean it sounded amazing before, but maybe I heard a bit better stage and I had to turn down the servo subs. Even more "in space" and air. But then again, no way to AB.

How do I know if in fact I damaged something? Would it not play with an external PS attached?

sebassie · « **Reply #167 on:** 26 Dec 2012, 09:02 am »

CAPS V2+ - SOtM tX-USBexp - Mytek Stereo 192-DSD issue

After reading the enthousiastic post of ted_b I built my CAPS V2+ server with some differences: I installed Windows 8 Pro 32 bit to be able to install the Intel 32 bit video drivers, used a mSATA for the OS and software and a SSD + SOtM filter for my DSD files. I have the SOtM battery PS on order. I also got the Mytek Stereo 192-DSD.

The sound is fantastic. So far so good. When starting to play music there is some click sound (I heard that Mytek is working on this). However, what is very annoying is that while enjoying music there are dropouts about every two minutes. I checked for and could not find any interrupt conflicts. After booting the computer I run fidelizer and thereafter Jriver.

Although I know that DPC Latency Checker gives unreliable results with Windows 8 I ran it to get an idea what is going on. After booting, DPC shows appr. 1000 uS Latency (yellow bars). After running fidelizer this goes down to 500 uS (green bars). As soon as music starts the figure goes up to appr. 2000 uS (red and yellow bars).
On the Korean SOtM site they say that there are issues with the tx-USBexp card. Recently, on the Sonore site, the Mytek is added to the blacklist of unsupported DAC’s.

My question is now if anyone could tell me how to improve things. When browsing through numerous posts on various sites I read something about this dropout issue, but only very few. Apparently many people are enjoying their music without this problem. Maybe I did something wrong. I don’t know.

Any help here is very welcome!

MichaelHiFi · « **Reply #168 on:** 26 Dec 2012, 08:46 pm »

I have to post after some serious listening to this CAPS V2 server, the Core power supply driving the MB and the Welbourne driving the SoTM exp card, this is totally amazing. It completely blows away my vinyl rig

As I wrote earlier, we were already extremely pleased, I mean seriously good sound. The Allnic preamp, Joule Electra combo would be hard to beat at any price in any system but the power supply's attached to the CAPS combo and a NAD M51 to perform the DAC duties... it's crazy.

ted_b · « **Reply #169 on:** 27 Dec 2012, 12:50 am »

Sebassie, I run the Meitner generally, but when i put the Mytek in the system (mostly used for home office setup) I get no dropouts, zero. I run Win 8 64 bit, Samsung 830 as OS SSD, and a NAS as my file server, not internal SSD for music...but everything else pretty darn the same. I run ASIO (for Mytek). It's trouble-free. Maybe mSATA and internal SSD is too much power load?? Dunno..let me think about it and ask around.

jkelly · « **Reply #170 on:** 27 Dec 2012, 03:00 pm »

Just ordered everything to build this system now.
Where can I download the Windows 8 Preview?
I only see the Pro upgrade?

Thanks,

Jeff

ted_b · « **Reply #171 on:** 27 Dec 2012, 03:05 pm »

Now that it is production I doubt if Win 8 has a preview site anymore.

sebassie · « **Reply #172 on:** 27 Dec 2012, 03:20 pm »

Quote from: ted_b on 27 Dec 2012, 12:50 am

Sebassie, I run the Meitner generally, but when i put the Mytek in the system (mostly used for home office setup) I get no dropouts, zero. I run Win 8 64 bit, Samsung 830 as OS SSD, and a NAS as my file server, not internal SSD for music...but everything else pretty darn the same. I run ASIO (for Mytek). It's trouble-free. Maybe mSATA and internal SSD is too much power load?? Dunno..let me think about it and ask around.

Hi Ted_b
There is not too much powerload. I tested several combinations with/without msata/ssd with same result. Today I probably solved most of the problem by pure coincidence. After replacing the USB cable from Mytek by an Audioscript carbon cable almost all drop-outs were gone. Could you please advise me how to set parameters for ASIO (Jriver/Mytek). I use Wasapi now and like to try ASIO.
BTW Fidelizer 3.0 is out and can be run at startup in audiophile mode by putting it in the startup folder and run it with switch /S. I got this information yesterday from Keetakawee Punpeng, who is the creator of fidelizer. The only problem remaining is how to close the browser window automatically before JRiver starts up through the task scheduler.

MichaelHiFi · « **Reply #173 on:** 29 Dec 2012, 07:28 pm »

Lost power to the house this morning. Looks like another dead card. I mean... really? Looking at the precautions in the owners manual, it states "While PC is on using the product with external power, make sure do not be blocked the external power". So depending on how components power down and back up again during a power failure is tied to the amount of damage that one can experience?

So far I see that the motherboard is toast. No longer boots up and I can't even get into the bios. And looking at the instructions of this SoTM card, this thing seems really sensitive and chances are it's gone too.

Of course this could have something to do with the jumper setting early on - a weakened component somewhere. Checked both power supplies are they are perfect. Looking at the card, I see no physical damage to anything, but I know that means little.

TJHUB · « **Reply #174 on:** 29 Dec 2012, 08:56 pm »

Looks like my v2 motherboard has died as well. It won't do anything even after stripping it down to just the motherboard. I'm a little pissed about this. I've never had a motherboard die before, and I've owned a crap load of machines in my lifetime.

ted_b · « **Reply #175 on:** 29 Dec 2012, 09:02 pm »

Quote from: sebassie on 27 Dec 2012, 03:20 pm

Hi Ted_b
There is not too much powerload. I tested several combinations with/without msata/ssd with same result. Today I probably solved most of the problem by pure coincidence. After replacing the USB cable from Mytek by an Audioscript carbon cable almost all drop-outs were gone. Could you please advise me how to set parameters for ASIO (Jriver/Mytek). I use Wasapi now and like to try ASIO.
BTW Fidelizer 3.0 is out and can be run at startup in audiophile mode by putting it in the startup folder and run it with switch /S. I got this information yesterday from Keetakawee Punpeng, who is the creator of fidelizer. The only problem remaining is how to close the browser window automatically before JRiver starts up through the task scheduler.

Yes, I have Fidelizer 3.0 but like the sound of 2.1 better...go figure. I also saw the /s switch but would have the same issue with the damn browser. Argh!

ASIO is simply:
1) pick ASIO in J River options ->audio
2) pick the Mytek ASIO driver in options -> audio settings
3) set bitstream for DSD, NOT DoP (DSD is second button from bottom, right above DoP) in options -> bitstream ->custom

sebassie · « **Reply #176 on:** 29 Dec 2012, 09:24 pm »

ASIO is simply:
1) pick ASIO in J River options ->audio
2) pick the Mytek ASIO driver in options -> audio settings
3) set bitstream for DSD, NOT DoP (DSD is second button from bottom, right above DoP) in options -> bitstream ->custom
[/quote]

Thanks, I give it a try

MichaelHiFi · « **Reply #177 on:** 29 Dec 2012, 09:29 pm »

Quote from: TJHUB on 29 Dec 2012, 08:56 pm

Looks like my v2 motherboard has died as well. It won't do anything even after stripping it down to just the motherboard. I'm a little pissed about this. I've never had a motherboard die before, and I've owned a crap load of machines in my lifetime.

I'm a former IT guy and cared for 1000's of machines. MB failures were very rare. In fact, so much so, I refuse to believe this stupid card took out my Mboard. I stripped it down, reassembled, and got into the boot menu, then got it booted. One by one I added peripherals. It froze on my Hard Drive. The hard drive is now plugged into the main system and works perfectly. So I suspect the USB channels are gone. I'll conyinue to plug away no pun intended.

This is looking like a $500 dollar lesson.

ted_b · « **Reply #178 on:** 29 Dec 2012, 09:33 pm »

Terry,
I am sorry your mb died. (NOTE: I need, however, to tell folks on this thread that Terry's CAPS is NOT my design (i.e the subject of this thread). It is the original CAPS V2 that has the Jetway mobo, not my Intel DN2800MT. ) How does a mobo die??

MichaelHiFi · « **Reply #179 on:** 29 Dec 2012, 11:43 pm »

So after spending most of my day troubleshooting I've determined that the card is dead. The MB USB may be damaged but I found a temporary workaround for the USB issue. I've got music playing again without the card so at least I can listen to computer audio which is remarkably good without the card and power supply!

This really is frustrating. It's not just the money but it's time spent. I'm willing to spend time in setup but I bet I've logged 20 hours between 2 cards. The first one came broken and the second dies because house loses power?

I'll report back how the company wants to warranty this.

How does a MoBo die? See items 3 & 4 under the precautions part of the manual.

According to the "precautions" see items 3 and 4!