LJONESATL

Hi, I have a brand new HDPLEX H3 V3 (Aluminum front panel) that I purchased last year when they first came out with the new V3 version. It is still brand new in the un-opened box from HDPLEX. I no longer have the need for it. If you are still looking for one, I would sell you mine. I'm in Denver, Colorado to help determine the shipping costs if you're interested. Thanks, Lane

I wholeheartedly agree that the 15.5AWG Mundorf silver/gold wire can't be beat. I've also tried out the Neotech OCC Copper wire and much prefer the SQ of the Mundorf (using JSSG360 X 2 configuration) hands down and even without any burn in time. It's just that good IMHO, and worth the $33.00/ft.

I'm also very curious about all three of your questions. Especially with the third question of swapping out the existing motherboard clocks with a higher quality OCXO Clock. I've been tempted to pull the trigger on a Pink Faun Ultra OCXO Clock to go along with the I2S Bridge I purchased from them a few months ago, and that seems like an easy enough upgrade that I can swap out myself. However, I've also been curious in general about upgrading motherboard clocks and wondered if the I2S bridge clock upgrade should be considered when swapping out existing mobo clocks. So much to experiment with, and so little time......

I'm using an AMD Ryzen 7 3700X which is 8 cores, 16 threads. This was a tough call to make but I ended up deciding that 0-3 stylus 4-5 gstp 6-15 sounded just a slightly more open and airy (and in my opinion better) 1032 nfm : 0-3 1042 stylus : 4,5 1127 avahi-daemon: : 0-3 1287 /usr/bin/smbd : 0-3 1306 /usr/bin/smbd : 0-3 1307 /usr/bin/smbd : 0-3 1309 /usr/bin/smbd : 0-3 1311 /usr/bin/nmbd : 0-3 14295 hqplayerd : 0-3 1444 /usr/bin/smbd : 0-3 1445 /usr/bin/smbd : 0-3 1498 gstp : 6-15 2210 /usr/bin/smbd : 0-3 449 /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-journald : 0-3 463 /usr/bin/lvmetad : 0-3 471 /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-udevd : 0-3 602 /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-resolved : 0-3 604 /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-timesyncd : 0-3 607 /usr/bin/haveged : 0-3 613 /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-logind : 0-3 620 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon : 0-3 659 /usr/bin/dhcpcd : 0-3

Thanks for the heads up on this! I haven't yet tweaked those settings but will do so later today and report back. Also, this might already be on another thread somewhere, but I seem to remember reading about optimized BIOS settings in general. Is there a summary (or link to a thread) of what this group has found to generally sound better?

Is that copper foil, or a copper sheet that you used for shielding?

I've got some extra Apacer ECC RAM left over from when we ordered it from Nenon's friend a few months back (4g sticks DDR4). I've been using one of the sticks in an AMD4 based Asus ROG Strix M-ITX system and like the sound very much. I've also got a system with an Intel I9-9900 using the Asus ROG Strix Z390 m_ITX board. Now that others have found the ECC RAM works with that board, I'm going to try an Apacer 4gb stick in that machine as well. I also have a third build that has the Asus ROG Strix Z390 M-ITX board and it's got an Intel I7-8700K processor that could also benefit from the Apacer ECC RAM. Just to re-iterate, I've been going with our findings that with RAM, less can be more, and using just one 4gb DDR4 stick sounds better than using two or more sticks of the same. This has proved more than sufficient memory for playing Euphony loaded into RAMROOT with HQP oversampling even.

Thanks Nenon. You are a wealth of information.

I'm running the same Asus board and Rysen 7 3700X audio pc and received my Apacer ECC RAM last week. It's been burning in 24/7 for about a week now. Although it's hard to do an A B comparison, I noticed a difference right away with the ECC Apacer RAM the minute I installed it. I like it better in my system and will not be going back to consumer grade. I ordered 4 sticks of 8gb RAM thinking I'd use 2 in one setup, and the other 2 sticks in another. I've been following this thread closely and after reading that others were noticing a difference with just 1 stick vs. 2, I've decided to just go with 1 8gb stick. I'm very happy with what I'm hearing. Thought I'd put in my two cents......

Now I'm more than intrigued about trying out PCIe->I2S/LVDS->PS Audio Direct Stream DAC and not implementing a USB solution within this new build. It's currently configured with an Intel I9-9900 CPU on a mini-ITX Asus ROG STRIX Z390-I Gaming board. I choose the I9-9900 vs. the I9-9900K because of it's lower TDP value of 65W vs the I9-9900K having a TDP of 95W. I was about to pull the trigger on a PinkFaun USB Bridge, and noticed their I2S Bridge for the same price (with their base TXCO Clock) €325.00 (or $358 rounding up with today's exchange rate). I've got an email question out to PinkFaun about the compatibility with my Intel CPU based system. However, if their I2S Bridge is PCIe based, which is the industry standard, then it should fit like a glove into the single PCIe slot on the Asus MoBo I'm using. Pink Faun offers that card in the half height bracket even, which is perfect for the HD PLEX H3 V2 chassis it's going into. I just hope my idea doesn't go down in flames if for some reason their I2S bridge can't be used within this current new build (I think I should start identifying them by build date or something...it's hard to keep them straight.)

That's surprising to hear. Does it only work on AMD CPU's then?

In my opinion, their licensing model needs to be updated to something more manageable than what's being experienced by this community. I was also about to pull the trigger and purchase a license for Euphony/Stylus, and now I'm going to continue with the trial a bit longer until that gets worked out. I had a similar experience with another product, whereby every update to an operating system rendered it as an entirely different machine to the software application from a licensing standpoint. That was unacceptable. As a software developer myself, I know that it was a self imposed limitation on their part that they needed to re-address, and finally did.

Sorry for the delayed response here. After having a conversation with Mattijs, I've decided to wait for his upcoming 12V 12A that he's still prototyping as that would be perfect for my scenario and the audio pc I'm building. Rather than refund me for my Farad 3 purchase, I decided to use the credit and wait for him to finish up his "Super 12". Hopefully he'll have that out before the end of the year. In the meantime, I'll be using a second HDPlex 200w LPS I have, along with the HDPlex 400W DC-ATX adapter (the latest version of the adapter that Larry just started shipping a couple of weeks ago). After trying out the latest version of the HDPlex 400W DC-ATX,I noticed an improvement in sound over the version I had purchased back in January of this year. I've been using that unit in an audio PC I built earlier this year. However, after I swapped it out with the newest version, I noticed a slight improvement in SQ. I'm not great at explaining things in audiophile speak, so please forgive my lack of specific details. It just sounds slightly more forward and detailed, with even a little extra texture to the mids and highs is the best way I can put it. At only USD$95, it was a bargain for slight improvement I noticed. Mattijs is also planning to build his own similar 400W DC-ATX converter but that's a little farther down the road he said. Lastly, I'm very curious about the use of an I2S Bridge vs. USB interface between audio PC and DAC. I'm quite happy with the SOtM tX-USBexp PCIe to USB audio card I installed and found it a definite improvement over the standard USB provided by the Mobo. However, I've noticed that PinkFaun offers an I2S Bridge for the same price as their base USB Bridge (USD $325 without clock upgrades). My PS Audio Direct Stream DAC is on their list as compatible with this card. Here's a link to the PinkFaun I2S bridge: https://www.pinkfaun.com/shop/bridge/69-2726-i2s-bridge.html#/164-compatible_i2s_dac_s-hdmi_ps_audio_direct_stream_dac/195-bracket_height-792_mm_3118_inch/196-additional_clock_for_bridge-no Has anyone tried out this type of I2S link and compared it to a similar quality USB connection (e.g., SOtM, JCAT, etc.)? If there's a unique thread for a discussion along those lines, please point me towards it.

Based upon everyone's feedback and praise, I've also just ordered a new Farad3 19v from Mattijs. As others have pointed out, I've ordered it with the Rhodium fuse. It will be be used primarily for a new custom audio PC I'm building specifically for Euphony. I'm using an HDPLEX H3 v2 Fan less chassis in conjunction with their 400W HIFI DC to ATX converter for the time being. This Farad 3 will supply the power to that unit. I've used the HDPLEX 200W LPS to power another identical build and am curious to hear the difference.

I'm currently using the SOtM USB card with an HDPLEX LPS providing the energy. I'm very happy with the results. For my next build, I'm wondering if others have noticed an improvement in SQ using the SOtM card with clock as compared to without clock. I'm also very interested in the JCAT FEMTO USB card, and any comparisons others might have had between it and the SOtm (or any audiophile USB card for that matter).