[krikor]

forgive my ignorance on the topic, but will an atom based machine like this have the horsepower to do DSD64/128 properly?

Don't know. Perhaps if it is just sending it to a DAC and not doing any on-the-fly DSP or transcoding. I don't have a DSD DAC and I don't have any DSD tracks to try it out. I suppose I could download a DSD sample and try running it through JRiver with transcoding to PCM.

At the risk of poking that hornets nest of DSD vs. PCM arguments, and whether or not high-rez is really even necessary/viable, I'll just say I am intellectually pre-disposed against DSD and even high bitrate PCM ("intellectually" opposed based on the logic arguments against and not any actual listening). But I'll reserve final judgement until I actually hear it... though financially these formats makes little sense to me right now. I did download a free 24/352.8 DXD file but have not yet transferred it to my music server. I'll let you know if I get it playing.

For me, Redbook playback will remain my primary source into the foreseeable future given the extensive collection I already have and that there is very little true DSD or DXD source material I'm willing to shell out the big bucks. OK - enough feather ruffling for one post 

[krikor]

Here is the Y-PWR adapter from mini-box.com I am using to switch on the fly between AC and battery power. It is a simple matter of just disconnecting the computer AC brick (top connector) and the charger at the battery input to fully isolate the CAPS. Power automatically switches between the two inputs based on whichever has the highest voltage. Mounted the card in a simple plastic project box. A more elegant solution would be to mount in a large chassis with front panel switches to control the connections, but that will have to wait.

http://www.mini-box.com/Y-PWR-Hot-Swap-Load-Sharing-Controller



Here is what is inside the box.

[bartgrefte]

"Power automatically switches between the two inputs based on whichever has the highest voltage."

What if both inputs have the same voltage, how can you set it to only use one input and (only) start using the 2nd one if the 1st one fails? The specs and manual say such a setup is possible, but there's no information available about how and Mini-Box support is not willing to answer questions. They even ignore reports of not working links in manuals...

[krikor]

"Power automatically switches between the two inputs based on whichever has the highest voltage."

What if both inputs have the same voltage, how can you set it to only use one input and (only) start using the 2nd one if the 1st one fails? The specs and manual say such a setup is possible, but there's no information available about how and Mini-Box support is not willing to answer questions. They even ignore reports of not working links in manuals...

Sorry, didn't see this question earlier. Unfortunately I don't think I can be of much help. Used as is (no external controls), there is not a way to use only one input if the voltages are identical. It needs a voltage difference of at least 100mv, otherwise the two inputs are shared. I believe this is what they are referring to as "High Availability."

As for the external controls using the two headers to customize the operation, that's all Greek to me. You can get the schematics at the link below, but I do not have any details or enough knowledge on how to properly use those headers. Sorry I can't be more help.

http://resources.mini-box.com/online/PWR-Y-PWR/PWR-Y-PWR-schematics.zip

[HT cOz]

Do you all know if we could use something like this http://www.mini-box.com/OpenUPS2 to power a CAPS off grid while running it as a music server?

[bartgrefte]

Sorry, didn't see this question earlier. Unfortunately I don't think I can be of much help. Used as is (no external controls), there is not a way to use only one input if the voltages are identical. It needs a voltage difference of at least 100mv, otherwise the two inputs are shared. I believe this is what they are referring to as "High Availability."

As for the external controls using the two headers to customize the operation, that's all Greek to me. You can get the schematics at the link below, but I do not have any details or enough knowledge on how to properly use those headers. Sorry I can't be more help.

http://resources.mini-box.com/online/PWR-Y-PWR/PWR-Y-PWR-schematics.zip

But according to the manual, it is possible to control the channels and block them manually. Unfortunately it doesn't say how, only that there are control pins in the schematic, but there's no information there as well, about how to use those pins.