Hi Peter,

I know this is an old topic, but the problem described so far is the same that I am having with the installation of 09z-9b.  As you can see from the attached image I am installing XXHighEnd for the first time on a new computer and get to this stage where I have a dialog box about a "publisher could not be verified" for ChangeWP.exe.  The RUN button does nothing, only the Cancel button works.  I am stuck!

Thanks,

Anthony

I am also of the opinion that DSD is a waste of time.  There seems to be a lot of energy being wasted on this format within audiophile circles but where are the new recordings going to come from?  If you believe Charles Hansen DSD was nothing more than a tool for Sony to make up for lost income when CD patents expired and was not about advancing sound quality, and that is especially true now that PCM has matured as Pedal stated above.

When I started to read about the "fantastic DSD sound" I did some research and could not make myself a case to go down the DSD path.

Cheers,

Anthony

Sounds like a tablet with a wired connection to the XX pc.  Maybe the os is on a battery powered CF card like this one...http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wm_9sgCroP4/URc5pvfZWhI/AAAAAAAAAjk/wzgl1A_VjWk/s1600/PICT7386.JPG

Hi Juan,

I don't see any way other than watercooling or fans to cool a 135w processor, especially the i7-3930K because if I believe what I read it actually runs warmer than spec (170W) although it can be underclocked to reduce heat.  I am new to NOS1 and XXHighEnd (my NOS1 is on its way to me now - thanks Peter) but in my computer build for XX I have replaced the i7 6-core 135w with a Xeon 8-core 70w 1.8Ghz processor that should be a whole lot easier to passively cool with heatpipes and heatsinks should I want to in the future.

The best passive cooling case that I can find seems to be rated to 95w TDP but recommended to 75w.  Even with a 70w processor such as that Xeon I am still not comfortable enough to underclock and cross my fingers that all will be ok in that case.  Up until now I have been running JPlay on a passively cooled pc running a 45w TDP i7 and would not have wanted the temperatures any warmer because I think that the cooler we can keep the PC the more stable the sound will be (I often thought my passively cooled PC sounded best when it was cool).

In the absence of a decent passively cooled case that can take an ATX psu that leaves us with a diy case with great big aluminium heatsinks on the outside, vents in the top, and heat tubes to get the cpu heat to the heatsinks.  That is a lot more work but I am sure it can be done without resorting to watercooling.

Anthony

Matt, that one is an external power supply (which is not bad) but you would also need to buy a picoPSU to fit onto the mobo in your music server and break up the 12v into its individual rails.  There are better options than the picoPSU apparently BUT this power supply is only 150w which I doubt would boot a high powered computer such as those recommended for XX and the NOS1.

However, if you had a pc like any of the CAPS machines (including the Zuma) then this power supply would be enough to start them up.     

Anthony

Hi Alain (and others),

I've finished my listening impressions with powering my SSD with a good quality power supply and also with an expensive 'audiophile' sata cable.  Please note that I neither run XXHighEnd nor a NOS1 (although plans are underway to change that) so of course take this with a grain of salt.

I could hear no sound quality difference from a ssd regardless of whether it was powered by a good quality linear psu or it was fed smps pc power.  There may be a difference in a more revealing system than mine, but I could hear nothing.  Likewise, when the pc was devoid of power from any linear psu i.e. was powered entirely by smps I could detect no difference between the expensive and generic sata cables.  But, when the linear psu was applied to either the PPAstudio usb card or the ssd and the expensive sata cable was in place I could hear a difference: a general crispness across the entire spectrum.  Did this sound better?  Maybe, I am undecided.  Was this difference significant?  Not in my system.  The difference was pretty faint really and considering the cost of the linear psu and the cable certainly the expense is not warranted for me.  I've heard much bigger differences tweaking the operating system or changing cables, even digital cables.

The interesting thing in all this is that the SATA sounded different when linear power was applied to the pc and it did not seem to matter if the linear power was supplied to the ssd or not.


Anyway, I'm glad I could contribute a little.

Cheers,

Anthony

Thanks for your time Peter.


I have learned something today!!  Can you tell me where in the computer the packets are formed?  Is it in the host controller (EHCI)?  If we were to use a PCIe to USB card, for example, would that shift the location that the packets are formed to the PCIe card itself?  Could this be why I hear a difference with my modded usb card that isolates itself from the pc with a transformer and relies on external power?  I have also noticed a _huge_ difference in sound with just a normal $15 PCIe card in an busy Xeon based workstation: the sound went from 'crackles and pops' to actually listenable!!  I put that one down to better power supply to the usb controller, but of course I may be wrong.

So many questions for a newbie. 

Anthony

Yes Alain, it is the Paul Pang card.  Have a look near the bottom of this page.

He makes quite a few things including sata, lan and usb cables.  I have one of his sata and usb cables on loan here at the moment and am going through the process of getting my head around them.  I can't think of a single good reason why a sata cable would improve sound.  The only thing that I can come up with is perhaps if it acts as an antenna for emi/rfi but that may be tenuous as best

Tomorrow I will make up a power cord to run my os ssd from the linear psu.  Then I will try it on the music ssd (which strictly speaking does not exist because I network the music files in from a NAS at present) but I will pull one out of another computer and plonk some music files on it to do some listening.

You are not the first to report that powering the ssd or hdd has an impact on sound so I will be very interested to do these little experiments.

I can tell you that on two occasions where there was no linear power to the pc that I could not pick a difference with the expensive sata cable that I have here.  However, tonight, with the linear psu feeding the usb card I could pick an extra 'crispness' and 'clarity' to the sound I was hearing.  It is important to note that I am not convinced of the change as yet and need to do some more listening over the next day or two to confirm it.  It could simply be placebo or psychoacoustic.

I don't know the technical aspect of why the Adnaco did not work for myself and others.  Maybe it is jitter: I understand that the conversion can induce jitter.  But the 'steeliness' I heard did not sound like jitter I think I have identified before.  Like many I am but an armchair expert!

I will let you know how I go with my ssd experiments tomorrow.

Cheers,

Anthony

Hi Alain,

I have done my critical listening today comparing the Adnaco S3B and the PPAstudio USB card both fed with a high quality linear psu of similar quality to the Pardo unit you have Alain.

I have had the Adnaco + linear psu in my system for three days now (on loan from a friend) and I must say that in general I thought that it was a step up from the PPAstudio card when fed by the internal PC smps power.  I have previously tested the SOtM card against the PPAstudio card and for me the SOtm was easily bested.

One thing that I can say about the Adnaco while it was in my system was that for all the improvements in clarity and cleanliness it brought it also had some unwanted baggage.  The upper mids and treble were 'steely' and 'thin' to me, and not as accurate as I thought they could be.  I never tested it with the standard wall-wart, but the owner of the unit said that the linear psu brought a very significant step-up in sound quality.

This morning I made up a cable to extend the linear psu feed to the PPAstudio card so that it received exactly the same feed as the Adnaco.  There is not much to say other than for me the PPAstudio card fed linear power was significantly better than the Adnaco.  The entire sound signature was fuller and more refined and the 'steeliness' had disappeared.  My brain is better able to read the spatial cues and when playing rock like The Drones, Daft Punk or The National the drums seem more solidly placed within the soundstage and just a little further behind the guitars than with the Adnaco, more 3d if you like.  I like it, I like it a lot.

I hope this information is useful Alain.  I will now do a search and see what the Adnaco thread has to say here.  I may even agree with someone!!

Cheers,

Anthony

EDIT:  Have read the Adnaco thread...I am in general agreement with the main protagonists there...phew.

Sorry PeterSt, but I have another question for you, and please forgive me if you have answered this elsewhere.

Are you able to offer any insight into why a linear psu feeding a pc may improve sound quality in a dac?  I have been asking this question on another forum and nobody there seems to be able to provide an answer other than "your dac is broken" or "it just does" (neither answers are particularly helpful but they are insightful).

By the way Peter, I only stumbled across your NOS1 project a few days ago but it seems very forward thinking to me.  I would love to hear one. 

Hi guys,

First post here.  Downloaded XXHighEnd a couple of days ago, thought I might also try to contribute.

Linear supplies...I'm playing around with one at the moment that feeds the usb output from the PC.  Now my PC is a quite a bit different to the ones recommended for the Phasure PC...passively cooled i7-3770T, 8GB ram, ssd for os, pico psu et cetera.  My dac is also a lot different to the NOS1.  

Two things that have improved my setup are: a customised PCIe - USB card (similar to the SOtM card that AlainGr has installed, but it has been modified with better TCXO, a little silver output transformer and some other goodies and must be fed its own power source); and the EA Shortblock Common-Mode filter.

On trial at the moment I have the Adnaco S3B with a high quality linear psu to head-to-head against the modded USB card mentioned previously.  I can tell you that the linear psu makes a significant difference to the Adnaco, but I am not yet sure if the Adnaco is for me.  I will power the modded USB card with the same linear psu to compare results.

Another project that I have on the go is to try to build an atx linear psu for the pc, but that is not going to happen overnight.  One thing that I have gleaned from others that have gone the linear psu to the pc route is that the quality of regulator module and components is paramount:  not only low ripple but ultra-fast response also.
I will do some more digging on this site and try to figure out the recommended PC build for XXHighEnd and the NOS1.  Maybe then I can help some more with the linear psu and other recommendations.

One question for PeterSt.  Do you think that a common mode filter between the PC and NOS1 will help at all?  I am not familiar with the USB input on the NOS1, but the maker of this filter has posted jitter measurements here. (see post #9)

Cheers,

Anthony