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

jfsing · « **Reply #120 on:** 20 Nov 2012, 08:18 pm »

Will the Jkenny spdif work with that USB card that you have installed?

hum4god · « **Reply #121 on:** 22 Nov 2012, 04:38 pm »

Quote from: jfsing on 20 Nov 2012, 08:18 pm

Will the Jkenny spdif work with that USB card that you have installed?

they work in my system

hum4god · « **Reply #122 on:** 23 Nov 2012, 05:53 pm »

hi

i am still running the windows trial version on my caps and want to install the full version windows 8 .
is there anything i have to pay special attention to ? or just use the tools provided by windows ?
i never installed and OS so that is new to me .

ted_b · « **Reply #123 on:** 23 Nov 2012, 05:58 pm »

Quote from: hum4god on 23 Nov 2012, 05:53 pm

hi

i am still running the windows trial version on my caps and want to install the full version windows 8 .
is there anything i have to pay special attention to ? or just use the tools provided by windows ?
i never installed and OS so that is new to me .

Don't do an upgrade. Instead buy the $40 Win8 Pro upgrade and have it downloaded and installed as an ISO to a bootable USB drive (i.e clean install) using same WinUSB bootable app as in my first directions. Upgrades leave too much crap around (tech terminology, sorry

).

hum4god · « **Reply #124 on:** 23 Nov 2012, 08:48 pm »

Quote from: ted_b on 23 Nov 2012, 05:58 pm

Don't do an upgrade. Instead buy the $40 Win8 Pro upgrade and have it downloaded and installed as an ISO to a bootable USB drive (i.e clean install) using same WinUSB bootable app as in my first directions. Upgrades leave too much crap around (tech terminology, sorry ).

that's what i thought .
i have never done that so i really hope that this is going to work out ok .
i will have to look for some more information on how to install as an ISO and the boot ......

ted_b · « **Reply #125 on:** 26 Nov 2012, 01:13 am »

UPDATE as of Nov 22:
I am going to explore the USB power play going on, especially given that my Meitner MA-1 DAC requires the 5V from the USB cable. So I have several options I'm gonna try, listed in order of delivery (likely) and theoretical cleanliness too :
* Jesus is sending me the ac-charged intelligent battery option that simply plugs directly into the SOtM card and provides off the grid 5V power. Simple, clean, no need for additional USB cables or connections.
* iFi USB power kit, which uses a generic USB cable to get the signal+power to the iFi power supply. The ifi then allows for a dual conduit power leg and signal leg, or the standard power/signal in same lead. i will test the latter with my current Wireworld pltinum Starlight.
* I will test the former (signal plus power) with a dual conduit Acoustic Revive USB 1.0SP cable I am borrowing. Since i have the PCie SOtM card, which only has one USB output, I can't demo this dual conduit cable any other way currently.
* I may try and dial down my Hynes SR3-12 (Paul thinks I can only get it down to either 8.5V or maybe just 10V, which is no good). and use it in place of Jesus's battery power, but only if I can get assurance that it will do no harm. This solution is doubtful.

I know there are other solutions (QVOX, other dual conduit cables, etc) but my head may explode by then. Frankly, I can't imagine a blacker background than I'm getting now, and I'm currently feeding the Meitner dirty mobo 5V power, filtered via the SotM card filters.

ted_b · « **Reply #126 on:** 26 Nov 2012, 01:14 am »

Fast forward to today:
the SOtM battery power arrived. It is a wonderfully simple design, with two batteries and and an intelligent charger inside a case, a charger that charges one battery at a time (via provided wallwart) while the other provides the 5V to the USB card via the card's external dc plug (2.1MM). As one runs down the other takes over, yadayada. All is included.

As I said above, this is likely the simplest way to get clean power with the SOtM card cuz there is no need for additional hookups, addtl USB umbillical cabling, etc. And theoretically, off the grid is awfully nice.

Well, after one night of letting it settle in i did some a/bing last night with the standard mobo power. As I said earlier, my soundstage and overall presentation has been magically musical, with a very black background. Well....make that a dark gray background, cuz the battery power redefines BLACK! I use subtle recordings (bombastic rock recordings don't really bring this forward) like the micro cues in the eponymous Cowboy Junkies church recording The Trinity Sessions. I know this record as well any, and listening last night via battery USB power was revelatory. Ambient cues and microdynamic shadings came through as never before. Like I was hearing it remastered (well) in 24 bit or DSD. It floored me, actually, as I wasn't expecting such a low noise floor to go that much lower...again, not evident on some music, but clearly evident on the quietest of passages. And this lowering of noise floor has great affects on bass musicality, too, as everything seems tighter and more well controlled. I can't go back to mobo-induced power any more.

I think this is such a simple and elegant addition to the great musicality of the CAPS V2+ that I negotiated with Jesus (Sonore US) to offer fellow CAPS and SOtM users a nice approx $50 discount. Jesus set up a special page for us, where we get the battery pack for $375 shipped to your door in the US ($415 outside US) for the remainder of the year.

http://www.sonore.us/ted.html

and no..I don't get any commission on this.

As stated above, I will be checking out other USB power options, but suffice it to say that the SOtM battery power case works, and is simple to attain!

golfugh · « **Reply #127 on:** 26 Nov 2012, 06:32 am »

Ted, sounds awesome, we need to talk, AGAIN! I will need some help, ha as usual!
Mark

chip · « **Reply #128 on:** 30 Nov 2012, 05:06 am »

Quote from: jtwrace on 21 Oct 2012, 09:16 pm

Below is the screen shot showing the RAM. Yeah, if I was starting from scratch I think I'd go this route but between buying more drives and such I'm not so sure it would be wise. It does sound good though.

I thought that board only supported 4 g limit and 32 bit os?

http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/dn2800mt/sb/CS-032624.htm

ted_b · « **Reply #129 on:** 30 Nov 2012, 05:11 am »

Nope, I've answered this a few times. I have a full 64 bit Win 8 running fine, with no blips, no hiccups, no stutters, etc. I don't have 8 GB but Jason shows it does.

chip · « **Reply #130 on:** 30 Nov 2012, 05:26 am »

Does the board handle win7 64 bit though?

Eudyptes · « **Reply #131 on:** 30 Nov 2012, 05:49 pm »

Quote from: chip on 30 Nov 2012, 05:26 am

Does the board handle win7 64 bit though?

The DN2800Mt m/board uses a N2800 Intel ATOM CPU. This is a 64bit CPU as shown here: http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Atom/Intel-Atom%20N2800.html

I believe the confusion over whether the m/board can run 32bit or 64bit Windows derives from a (previous?) lack of 64bit graphics drivers. The GPU in this atom processor is a third party PowerPV core. This was pointed out in reviews earlier in the year, e.g.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/atom-cedartrtail_4.html

The Intel download pages for the DN2800MT only list a 32bit graphics driver fro Windows 7 and nothing at all for Windows 8. Yet clearly, Win8 appears to run in 64bit mode on this DN2800MT. So the question is can you find and run the Windows 8 64bit graphics driver on Win7?

May be by this time next year there'll be a ValleyView/Haswell m/board with "sandybridge" type graphics core on which you can actually run win7 64bit.

P.S. Probably no one took any notice of my post, but it needs correcting. There really are no 64bit graphics drivers for cedraview cpus. But this doesn't stop you installing win7/8 64 bit as Windows will just use a standard non-optimal (VESA?) graphics driver. Hence the screen shot in an earlier post. This is OK for this "audio server" application. One possible downside is that the system power usage may not be low as it could be when using a 32bit install and proper GMA3650 drivers.

Bear · « **Reply #132 on:** 30 Nov 2012, 06:11 pm »

I think I want to try this setup with JRiver and run it through the DAC on an OPPO BDP-105, any issues or thoughts?

edit: oh, I see jtwrace is using JRiver...any update on the stability, SQ(with JRiver, I have read Ted_b's comments?

Thanks

ted_b · « **Reply #133 on:** 30 Nov 2012, 07:07 pm »

Yes, J River is the player of choice.

krikor · « **Reply #134 on:** 30 Nov 2012, 07:16 pm »

I'm seriously thinking of giving this design a try, but noticed that the SOtM tx-USBexp does not support devices with the M2Tech board, which includes my Wyred4Sound DAC-2. Presumably you can disable legacy USB in BIOS and it will work, but I'd like to verify this before dropping $350.

Has anyone tried the SOtM USBexp with the W4S DAC-2?

Does disabling legacy USB cause any other problems? The DAC-2 will be the only USB device I'll be using, so I would expect not.

Thanks - and looking forward to giving this build a go.

woodsyi · « **Reply #135 on:** 30 Nov 2012, 07:17 pm »

I was going to build a CAPS V2 but I am now going with a core i3/16GB -- everything else same. Also ordered the 5 volt SOtM - mBPS-d2s Intelligent Battery Power Supply from your discount link. Thanks.

ted_b · « **Reply #136 on:** 30 Nov 2012, 08:25 pm »

Quote from: krikor on 30 Nov 2012, 07:16 pm

I'm seriously thinking of giving this design a try, but noticed that the SOtM tx-USBexp does not support devices with the M2Tech board, which includes my Wyred4Sound DAC-2. Presumably you can disable legacy USB in BIOS and it will work, but I'd like to verify this before dropping $350.

Has anyone tried the SOtM USBexp with the W4S DAC-2?

Does disabling legacy USB cause any other problems? The DAC-2 will be the only USB device I'll be using, so I would expect not.

Thanks - and looking forward to giving this build a go.

Jesus updated the Sonore SOtM page to say that these driver compatibilities should work in Win 8. Dunno the exact answer though, sorry.

NickS · « **Reply #137 on:** 30 Nov 2012, 11:38 pm »

Quote from: krikor on 30 Nov 2012, 07:16 pm

I'm seriously thinking of giving this design a try, but noticed that the SOtM tx-USBexp does not support devices with the M2Tech board, which includes my Wyred4Sound DAC-2. Presumably you can disable legacy USB in BIOS and it will work, but I'd like to verify this before dropping $350.

Has anyone tried the SOtM USBexp with the W4S DAC-2?

Does disabling legacy USB cause any other problems? The DAC-2 will be the only USB device I'll be using, so I would expect not.

Thanks - and looking forward to giving this build a go.

Check out this post to see if it helps clarify your issues...

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f10-music-servers/next-c-p-s-design-underway-13431/index5.html#post186744

weff · « **Reply #138 on:** 5 Dec 2012, 08:33 pm »

Thanks ted_b for documenting this - a lot of very useful information for anyone considering a HTPC build - especially solutions for nice clean supply rails.

A couple of queries - I think the source for the wesena htpc case is Perfect Home Theater - and not "Personal Home Theater" as is in the Bill of materials ? (thanks be to google).

The second query is the needed wattage of the linear power supply - according to the table on page 70 of the Intel dn2800mt Technical Product Specification ( see http://downloadmirror.intel.com/20714/eng/DN2800MT_TechProdSpec05.pdf ) a possible estimate of the power requirement is 50W - that is a likely max figure and with a voltage supply of 12V and an 80% efficiency rating of the on-board voltage regulator then the required amperage is 5.2A. (The required current will vary depending on supply voltage 8V (7.8A) to 19V (3.3A)). If we stick with a 12V supply and halve the needed power with an average of 25W then the required current is 2.6A. Personally I would prefer to use a linear power supply capable of supplying at least 50W and maybe even 75W to not limit future HTPC options - although that will also depend on how much a higher capacity power supply costs too.

Has anyone actually measured the steady-state current drawn by the HTPC - and under load as well ? That way we will all have a better idea of the needed power supply wattage.

ted_b · « **Reply #139 on:** 5 Dec 2012, 09:10 pm »

Weff, I can't confirm the power draw, but your math is probably right. I;m sure my Hynes SR7, dialed to 12V, provides plenty of amperage.

BTW, my CAPS is in no way an HTPC, but instead a minimalist music server. I'm not trying to be pedantic; those two descriptions are VERY different. An HTPC needs way more power, typically a spinning optical disc drive, and is intended to do way more work...while not necessarily having, as a goal, fanless low power silence (both musically and physically). My CAPS v2+ is intended, by design, to be minimalist.