Build a dedicated Audio PC

[2channelaudio]

Had a crack at making an audiophile usb card last night
Sounds good on my pc very very detailed and dynamic
But I'm worried it might be harsh on more std builds
Will see as it takes a while for these clocks to bed in

got any pics?
I'm considering the PPA or Sotm at the moment.

I am a little concerned about the PPA card. As it uses very long clock wires, surely this could have been designed better? Increased jitter? I think this might actually make the card sound thin with compromised bass. A few google posts have reported this finding.

Additionally as I am running linear power to my usb > aes converter.... I'm not convinced an Sotm card will actually provide much of a reward, as the card primarily focus' on power power conditioning. Although it does apparently run a decent clock?

Does anyone rate the cards higher than each other in the SQ stakes? Does anyone have a DIY usb card recipe?

[nige2000]

my usb card isnt very photogenic right now
just thrown together to let it burn in and see if its worth pursuing
looking like it is :), it is heavier weightier in bass too, trying to decide if its too much or not
but cant say i thought ppa was lacking either, but as i said before the ppa card is very sensitive to the external power supply

im away for a couple of days might take a photo of my hideous usb card when i get back

you could do much worse than the ppa v2 usb card

i think its all about providing clean power to the clock maybe the chip too

[nige2000]

ok this is based on a silverstone EC01-P
because its simple less is more etc etc
and the siliverstones well regarded over at xxhighend
its better than the rear mobo port oob thats always a good start!




right theres 3 pins on this pcie slot that need to be covered/taped up,
believe it or not theres still noise on my pc apparently as it wasn't enough to power the new clock with a lifepo4 (which did provide the vast majority of the sq lift) but there was extra benefit of powering the usb chip from the lifepo4 too,
and ill take it all thanks very much

pity the pc still looks like this

will take me a while to tidy all up
probably should host a meet before i do
anyone interested?

[Sligolad]

Had the opportunity to hear the Nige Special USB Card at the weekend and we paired it against the JCat USB card in his Super Duper Audio PC and I could not tell the difference!!!!
Nige thought his sounded a little cleaner but for me the fact that I could not tell any difference speaks volumes about his card compared to the JCat.
Both were powered with clean 5v.

We compared the PPA USB card earlier to his USB Card and both myself and Ken thought the PPA sounded a little different, there was almost a little euphonic sound to the PPA which I liked but I was really surprised with the added detail of the JCat the The Nige Special was as good if not better.

Well Done Nige and worth hearing for anyone interested in such things!

Final note we could not get the Renesas driver installed for the JCat so only heard it with the Microsoft default driver but still well done.

Cheers, Pearse.

[Sligolad]

OK could not resist to post a Pic of the best audio PC so far from Nige in all its naked glory....I expect it will get finally boxed up soon.
Apologies for the poor quality but these iPhones are really a pain sometimes just when you want t nice clear Pic.

[nige2000]

Had the opportunity to hear the Nige Special USB Card at the weekend and we paired it against the JCat USB card in his Super Duper Audio PC and I could not tell the difference!!!!
Nige thought his sounded a little cleaner but for me the fact that I could not tell any difference speaks volumes about his card compared to the JCat.
Both were powered with clean 5v.

yes it was a uncanny similarity in character
when the music started pearse looked at me with the "did you forget to swap it over face"
my card bypasses the clean five volts directly to usb port if its required at all
it takes no 3.3v from the pcie slot,
the usb card chipset and the clock is powered from a 3.3v lifepo4 cell
ive used a fox/expresso clock
absolutely zero rocket science

We compared the PPA USB card earlier to his USB Card and both myself and Ken thought the PPA sounded a little different, there was almost a little euphonic sound to the PPA which I liked but I was really surprised with the added detail of the JCat the The Nige Special was as good if not better.

the ppa usb has a slightly richer weightier sound but not just as good with detail and was well complemented the days version of mqn.
the ppa card is an excellent card still and sounded really good vs my card with thee old oscar peterson tracks

Well Done Nige and worth hearing for anyone interested in such things!

Final note we could not get the Renesas driver installed for the JCat so only heard it with the Microsoft default driver but still well done.

Pearse.

think the latest renesas drivers have a sq benefit alright
the issue with renesas drivers with my current mobo is
the internal usb header which i run my usb3 os as it uses the same chipset as the silverstone/modded card the chipset (ending in 202)
but if i install the renesas drivers i have to roll back the driver on the internal usb port,
as usb devices do not boot with the renesas drivers

we did manage to install the jcat driver but it also installed for the internal header so the bugger wouldnt boot any more
my guess is that the renesas drivers are likely the exact same for the jcat and silverstone cards otherwise the usb header driver wouldnt have been replaced

anyway the fastest solution was to use a spare os it had no renesas drivers on it

so more than likely both usb cards were on renesas drivers before the os swap
and definitely on windows drivers after the swap

[nige2000]

OK could not resist to post a Pic of the best audio PC so far from Nige in all its naked glory....I expect it will get finally boxed up soon.
Apologies for the poor quality but these iPhones are really a pain sometimes just when you want t nice clear Pic.

there was a reason i didnt post a pic of this :)
it is only a test build, and its pretty ugly
the finished build will need 3m sheets, proper wire and routing etc etc
should sound better too when its not held together by crocodile clips and gravity

[DaveF]

Impressive work there.

[nige2000]

Impressive work there.

sarcasm? :()

[DaveF]

Impressive work there.

sarcasm? :()

Of course not. :-)
I'd probably fry my mobo if I tried anything like that.