I wonder if connecting the usb mouse and keyboard to the PC affects the sound. I´m talking about the new NOS1 USB.

I´d like to know how the owners of a NOS1 USB have the mouse and keyboard connected to the PC to avoid influences at the usb NOS1 connection.

Thank you, Adrian.

As I said, I invite you all to post here the links to web sites where we could find information related to hardware.

For example here it is another link related with silent PCs:
http://www.acousticpc.com/index.html

And here one related with Power supply information:
http://www.playtool.com/pages/psuconnectors/connectors.html

No matter if a given review belongs to a web site which we posted the link before, if the review seems interesting post it here.
For example, I´ve already posted a link(s) to Hardware-Secrets but I think that could be interesting these two reviews for those who are looking for fanless PSUs:
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Seasonic-X-400-Fanless-Power-Supply-Review/1073/1
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/SilverStone-Nightjar-500-W-Power-Supply-Review/1421

Best regards,
Juan

I´ve decided to open a new thread to complement the one called  HOW I´VE BUILT MY NEW PC FOR XXHIGHEND  AND WHY I´VE CHOSEN THE COMPONENTS (http://www.phasure.com/index.php?topic=1673.0).


This post has some links organized to get better information. I invite you all to post here the information about this issue that you consider relevant.


To build a PC to play music it´s an important concern. For many of us coming from the audiophile world andM knowing almost just the basics of computers to have some information on how to do it is essential  but also hard because computers and parts change very quickly. I receive frequently questions about what´s the best case, processor or power supply so I decided to put here some web sites where you can find information and reviews. My advise is to subscribe to some of these sites to be updated.

Keep in mind though the guidelines of the head of this thread because I think they are still valid:

- Make a PC as silent as possible, but not totally passive, because of the limitations it implies.

- Choose a fast processor, one of the latest but not the last one because of the price. This processor must have as much cores as possible.

- Still Windows i7 Ultimate 64bits seems to be the best OS. The users of the first Phasure NOS1 dac must install this OS without SP1. The users of the new Phasure NOS1 USB must install it (so far) with SP1.

- Buy as much memory as you can, I´d say at least 12Gb.

- Choose a fast hard drive to put there the operating system AND XXHighEnd. Put the music in other(s) different HDDs. SSD are still expensive and some people here think that they sound worse than spinning discs.

- Choose a passive graphic card. That´s enough for XXHighEnd.

- Buy a silent case with big fans 

- Control the fans speed out of the motherboard. Don´t use PWM because of the interferences.

And, above all, use this PC just FOR XXHighEnd and nothing else. Use as less software as possible. Use Internet occasionally and only if you really need it, other ways disconnect it. Don´t use antivirus.
Think about this PC as if it was a transport because it is a transport that send the signal to a dac.
Of course if you can, buy the Phasure dac because it works beautifully with XXHighEnd.


These are the links where you can find information about parts and how to build a PC: 



GUIDES TO BUILD A PC:

http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/

http://www.buildacomputerguide.com/

http://www.kitchentablecomputers.com/index.php

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/build-your-own-pc,2601.html



PARTS AND REVIEWS:

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/

http://www.hispazone.com/ (in Spanish)

http://bigbruin.com/

http://www.anandtech.com/



SILENT PCs:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/

http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/index.html?id=SbJcie7t

http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/home

http://www.pcsilencioso.com/ (in Spanish)



FORUMS:

http://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/etv.mpl?forum=pcaudio

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pc-based/194098-audiophile-hard-drive.html

http://theartofsound.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=3

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pc-based/

http://www.whatsbestforum.com/forumdisplay.php?213-Expert-Forum-Vincent-Kars-On-Computer-Audio



KNOWING MORE ABOUT PCs:

http://forum.scottmueller.com/index.php

http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/index.html

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/type/1



CONNECTING YOUR COMPUTER (USB, SPDIF, etc.):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB

http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/HW/Connect/index_connect.htm

http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/HW/USB_Audio.htm

http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/HW/Connect/USB_connect.htm

http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/pcaudio/messages/6/65853.html



TIPS TO GET BETTER SOUND

http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/index.html

http://www.avguide.com/forums/22-tips-obtain-better-sound-high-end-audio-system

http://www.getbettersound.com/



I hope it helps
Juan

Thanks to you, Mani. We all need that kind of tests and take advantage of it.

On the issue of if a faster or slower cpu with more or less cores has an influence on the sound or the way the DAC receives the data (if there are different ways to receive digital data) I have no experience because I only have one music pc. Maybe Peter can help. I suppose, however, that if XXHighEnd is a memory player perhaps a faster CPU can help to put the data faster in the memory, convert flac files faster, etc.

I wonder what would you do, or anyone else, if  a cpu configuration measures better than other one but sounds worse, or just different, and you like more the one that measures worst. I personally would choose the one I like more no matter how it measures.

Juan

Peter,

Sorry, I was wrong, actually works at all even values ​​between 500 and 20 (inclusive) and does not work in any of the odd values ​​between these figures and gives the error message mentioned above (with different Total Results numbers).

PS: I´m not using 6-1c, but 6-1

Juan

Peter,

In my case it only happens with 357 and with non of the other values. I followed the steps you said, I unistalled a few sofware I had (winrar, adobe and google chrome). No updates at all, Minimazed OS ok and started at 360 and went down, when I get 357 the message is:

Straight Contigous Allocation error 03 - Lower SFS, reboot or choose another type (3 : 87 Total Result = 374341632)

The only thing I could think is that I reinstalled the OS several times and there is part of the previous intallations in some folders as a back up, maybe there could be something that´s disturbing it.

Juan

I have a similar problem, I move in between 350 (boleary setting) and 360. I can use all the steps but 357 and I receive the same error window as Arvind (weird that are the same numbers in different position).

Juan

Ok, me too. Don´t get me wrong, even when a cd would be a poor quality recording could have other values that can make it essential. Otherwise we could not listen to Maria Callas for example or Billie Holiday to name just a couple of old recordings that necessarily can´t sound as good as if they were well recorded today.
But if I understand you well, with the evolution and improvement of the software/hardware, if I can call the XXHighEnd/NOS1 USB this way, we can get a level of quality that will be able to show even those apparently poor recordings in its full richness. Of course there will always be bad recordings and good ones but I agree with you that with the proper playback system is sure that we´ll find a greater number of good recordings of what we think.

That is the challenge, getting a playback system that is not the obstacle but simply a clean means to contact the recording with the listener.

Juan

Thanks Peter, it seems a very logical explanation.

That means that the work to do is to find the well recorded Red Book cds. As we can see, there are different posts with recommended recordings, would be nice if we could centralize it in a data base or a specific entry. At the end this is going to be the material that deserves all the effort put in the development of the XXHighEnd and the NOS1. Any idea on how to do it?

Juan

Looking in iTrax at the Oscar Peterson: Unmistakable - Zenph Re-performance I see the interesting way it was re-recorded. Take a look at http://www.zenph.com/shop/music/jazz/oscar-peterson-unmistakable
I´ve bought both the 24/96 download from iTrax, that sound fantastic as Paul said, and the cd to compare them to see the differences, if any.


I´d like to know if it is just something subjetive or if it is based on some new technical quality of the new NOS1 USB that makes no differences between different recording resolutions.

Juan

Thank you Paul!, I´ll see what I can find at iTrax.

Hi Paul, could you let me know some of those tracks, today I´ve downloaded some demo from iTrax and the sound was great.

Juan

That´s what I think also but I remember to read something about it in the forum and I´m not sure if they were talking about if the files could be affected by successive copies.

Juan

I´d like to know the process, step by step, that some of you use to rip cds to be  played later in XXHighEnd.

This is what I do:

1- I rip the cd in my laptop using EAC (Exact Audio Copy) and save the files in a 1Tb WD Elements SE HDD. Always I use WAV files. I use this HDD because it´s like an USB flash drive, very little and easy to carry, with USB3.0 it is fast also.

2- Once the rip is done I copy the files from the WD Elements to another bigger (2Tb) WD external HDD to make a back up copy. I use this WD just for back up.

3- I take the WD Elements and copy the WAV files to the PC where I have XXHighEnd and the music HDD

4- Once the copy is finished I erase the WD Elements and all starts again.

I wonder if to make a copy from one HDD to another HDD it is not the best way to do it. Could I loose something in the process?.  Maybe I´m too picky because I only use the music PC just to play music, the same way like the typical transport. I don´t use it for anything else, not even to rip cds.

Juan

Hi pedal, thanks for your kind words.
I recommend you to use the boleary settings and play a little with the SFS, that´s it!.
I wouldn´t look further, as I said before these settings are terrific and you (and everybody else) can take advantage of the work made by boleary, mostly if you want to enjoy the short time you have to listen music.

Hey boleary
Yes, but still there is a change in the SQ if you maintain the SFS fixed and change the volume. As you know, varying both things at the same time to find the best sound for each song is time consuming and tiring.
Since I found your (boleary) settings I use them with just the slight SFS change I´ve mentioned, and I use it all the time with all the music and I´m very satisfied.
However I´m in the waiting list for the NOS1 USB upgrade and then all will be easier and even better (I hope), which is to say a lot!.

Hi sinister,

I´m sure those are fantastic components.


I can agree with this words.


I can´t agree with this words, sorry. Like many things in life there are different ways to get there.

Juan