Christo

Well I did not accurately track time or cost but around £400.00 all in I'd say. Time wise the long bit was making the case because I chose to do some dovetail joints plus painting/varnishing added some time but actually hooking it all up and soldering and was a leisurely rainy Sunday afternoon. Case wise I suspect you could also mildly modify some sort of PC case to suit and produce quite a professional looking item.

For what it maybe worth I'll say that I am truly delighted with the Metrum Hex that I replaced my old "muddy sounding" stock PS Audio Digital Link III with. It's so musical, so revealing, and not fatiguing in the slightest. Others can argue about NOS and all that as they wish but I for one am truly delighted and would recommend it to anybody. I've not heard the other DACs you mention.

Doh! I should've known....there's always a fix for something if you look! Truth is I just fancied a change as much as anything....

I'd say only if you want to.... I use and prefer Macs as general computers for home and business and I used a 2009 Mac Mini pretty happily as a dedicated server for a few years. The trouble was I kept fiddling with add on players like Pure Music, Audirvana and Bit Perfect which always produced erratic behaviour at some point and then iTunes seemed to be focused on trying to get me to go to the Store... This year I decided on a change and that I wanted something more focused so I built a Windows 8 based C.A.P.S V3 and happily I much prefer managing my music through JRiver Media Center and all the many configuration options that that offers me. I also find that JRemote is far better than the Apple Remote App as a control interface via iPad. I felt that I gained a leap in sound quality with the dedicated server also but that is hard to quantify meaningfully. So the shortish answer from me is "only if you want to" and no!

I understand your skepticism and any improvements may well simply be down to PC noise not being fed back into the mains. I felt I heard a notable improvement in space, clarity and detail when I hooked up the battery power and fed the 2 boards separate clean DC supplies. However I also recognise that I wanted to hear improvements however much I may have attempted or pretended to be dispassionate about it... Switching supplies back and forth to further compare is a hassle with changing jumpers and re-booting etc. and frankly more trouble than I can be doing with. I went down this route because I trust Chris C's judgement and experience and I was pretty certain adding a LiFePOeF4 battery supply could only help and not harm. This battery supply also doubles as an uninterruptible power supply to the server which is another bonus feature for me considering the fairly frequent power outages we get here in rural Cornwall.

Hi, Having built a C.A.P.S. Lagoon server I also decided to build a battery supply to go with it (I really like making things...). I've run it for a couple of months now without issue and at the risk of being flamed by the engineers here I thought I'd share my creation in case anyone else has similar ideas and is wondering or cares to share their own versions... Ingredients: 16Ah LiFePOeF4 battery from DEBEN.com | Home SPower regulated supply module from Fidelity Audio : SPower low noise voltage regulators Sockets, plugs and cables from Canford - Professional audio, video and broadcast equipment Switches from eBay - one of the UK's largest shopping destinations Oak, paint and sheet aluminium from my workshop stash... These things are of course highly subjective but the Lagoon server running from a standard 12v supply borrowed from an old LaCie hard drive already sounded noticeably cleaner, clearer and more spacious to my ears than my previous 2009 Mac Mini with iTunes and Audirvana+. Whilst my system did not reveal any of the server noises that Chris C described in his system before adding the Red Wine Audio power supply this DIY unit still produced a notable leap in audio performance again. Funny how you don't really miss what you haven't heard until you hear it! There're a few LiFePO4 batteries available here in the UK and mainly supplied for use in golf carts. I chose what appeared to be one of the better quality ones with overcharge protection and management circuits built in. I was already convinced by the merits of LiFePO4 power having long used a J Kenny modified HiFace spdif converter powered with this type of battery and by Chris C's results as previously mentioned. The Tracer battery has a separate charge socket and does not accept a charge from the output terminals so I've setup a two way and a 3 way switch. The upper switch allows pure battery output when the lower switch is in the middle "off" position and puts the charger competely out of circuit. With the lower switch flicked up charger power is sent to the output terminals. With the lower switch flicked down charger power is sent directly to the charge circuit of the battery. Both switches in the up position allow for continuous listening without battery run down. I really cannot be sure whether I do notice any audible difference between pure battery power and power combined with the charger supply. As previously stated there was a positive difference changing from a single 12v switch mode server supply when compared to this battery and external USB card supply but this may be down to the SPower module as much as the battery or it could be that the battery is somehow "buffering" the output from the charger. The SPower module quotes a 4v dropout so I choose 8v rather than 9v output to be sure to accommodate this. Acceptable SOtM supply voltages are +6.5v ~+9v. This USB card regulated 8v dc supply module is screwed to one of the brass legs left from my first discarded cheap voltage regulator board and acts as a heat sink. I felt it important to use good quality connectors and screened cable between the unit and the server so that they are not acting as aerials and picking up noise. I found these at Canford - Professional audio, video and broadcast equipment. It was a fun project to build, considerably less costly than the Red Wine Audio unit but hopefully performs equally well. More pictures here.

I don't care for the audiophile term it's just sounds too obsessive... I love music and when I'm considering spending large sums on upgrades I also balance that with observing the pleasure and excitement my daughter gets from listening to her iPod through some awful iPod speakers that rattle my nerves. Not her, she is hearing the music, not the sound of the music. I remember my youth and the impact of music through my parents simple radiogram and building my first Heathkit radio as a young teenager. It stays with me...I love the music and I love the tweaking, the DIYing, the spending. I also particularly love the passionate cottage industry side of HiFI where beautiful products are built more because they just have to be built rather than because they have to turn a decent profit. I like the funky fringes and the quiet achievers steadfastly staying afloat upon a sea awash with marketing and bling. Do I really need 1/2 an inch of milled aluminium on the front of my amp or for it to produce great sound?

Sounds promising and wherever you end up with this I'm very confident you won't regret getting an iPad!

Oh I should add that I never tried RealVNC so that may have sorted my problems. I mostly ended up using my Macbook instead of the iPad

I ran a MM headless for a few years and found it all sadly frustrating. Control from my Macbook Pro was quick and no problem at all but from iPad or iPhone was a bit tiresome. I used iTap VNC to screen share on the iPad and it was doable but a bit slow and not a pleasure. The Apple remote app was more than fine for controlling standard iTunes but as soon as I began playing with Pure Music, Bit Perfect or Audirvana it would get a bit buggy which was a real nuisance. So in short I'd say that in my experience headless mac mini controlled by an iPad really isn't that brilliant. I'm having far more success running my new C.A.P.S. Lagoon with JRemote or iTap RDP via iPad and it sounds significantly better than my old 2009 MM.

HEADS UP.... for anyone concerned about the lack of a power light with the recommended Lagoon case. The one's suppled by Logic Supply EU do have an illuminated power button and yes the case is indeed far nicer in the flesh than as pictured in Chris's write up.

I had a 2009 2.2Ghz Mac Mini with 2GB of RAM Mountain Lion and running Audirvana 1.4 through a battery powered JKSPDIF converter into a PS Audio Digital Link III DAC with music stored on NAS. I felt it sounded very good indeed but I fancied a change and really liked the idea of JRiver / JRemote as described by Chris C. So I decided that building a dedicated music server would be an interesting project that should certainly at least equal or better the Mac and after much consideration I finally built Lagoon. I'm delighted! Running directly by USB to the DAC sounded as good as the previous Mac Mini setup... After a few days I added the JKSPDIF back in and gained another level of improvement......next I built a LiPFOe4 battery supply and powered the Lagoon server with that and gained another level. Next step is to create a separate power supply for the SOTM card... Now by improvement in sound I'm saying. Tighter bass from the outset and then just more, air, space and delightful little detail improvements with each change subtle fret noises, in breaths, cymbals, layers and all that stuff that delights and has one re-discovering their music collection... I'm very very happy with it and JRiver/JRemote iPad and using RDP from my Macbook Pro and thankfully no blue screens or Windows weirdness either!

Thanks so much for posting this Chris watching it was time very well spent and it's inspired me to post my first post! Although I did not fully understand all of it his talk de-mystifed so much about so many things so often discussed and argued over in the HiFi world including cables, perception, jitter, power supplies et al. Far more informative than any marketing literature... I also have huge respect for these humble softly spoken geniuses and from his input on this forum I suspect Barry is from a similar mould...