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thuandb

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  1. It's ASUS WS C246M Pro uATX server motherboard, Intel Xeon E-2124G CPU, 8GB DDR4 ECC 2666 SDRAM.
  2. Hi, I wanted to upgrade the stock 12V SMPS AC-DC block to a better 12V DC LPSU and am wondering what minimum current I should be looking for in that new LPSU. The stock PSU specs as 12A. I'm thinking of either HDPLEX 300W (10A) or PLIXIR ELITE (6A). Please advise.
  3. Very glad and happy to see everything going well with AudioPhil and AO. I am about to purchase more AO activation keys (short term) and expect more breakthrough & game changing products (a bit longer term) from AudioPhil. Best wishes!
  4. Great advice! I used to reinstall the OS before update and that could be a hassle. Not anymore.
  5. Hi Phil & Claudia, Several days ago I sent you both an email regarding a [redundant] purchase of 2 extra Activation Keys. I have been patiently awaiting your response. Please do reply, thank you.
  6. 1) thru 3) are AO provided options when you execute AO -a or AO -u 4) is one of multiple choices when you run the AO command ST to set AO up.
  7. - the Wondeful Sounds of Female Vocals, DSD 64 - Norah Jones' Come Away with Me - Alex Lofoco Beyond - the Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices - Benedictine Nuns of Notre-Dame de l'Annonciation With the Aphelion cables installed and run in, the SQ is natural yet detailed. Well recorded vocals soar in front of and over accompaniments. There's heightened sense of quieter background helping the spot light beamed to the main performers on stage or in the mix leading to immersive listening experience. Same can be said about large scale classical works, only in a large proportion. It's easier to "see" and hear the musical personality and play style of the individual performers whether they're vocalists or instrumentalists. Due to constraints of my room which tends to flavor width over depth, the setup with Aphelion cables manages to render an extraordinary width AND pretty satisfying depth. Playing high energy, fast, dynamic music such as Alex Lofoco Beyond pleasantly shows off the Aphelion's chameleon nature. Gone is the relaxed breathy mood, in is the "fast and furious" relentless manner, plus a baddest bass. Yet the playback still lacks digital edginess, the chalkiness that would otherwise shorten listening sessions. In other words, the Aphelion cables seem to disappear sonically, not adding or subtract much if any from the music data flow. Once I swapped Aphelion Ethernet cable for the same lenght of TLS, which isn't slouch. It didn't take me over 2 minutes to listen and decide to put the Aphelion right back. There is just fluid, juicy musicality with the latter that the TLS, however impressive it has been between Sonore oM and controlPC (a different topic), just doesn't match. Similarly, the Aphelion cables outperform other prior listed cables in my setup. I'm well aware of other wonderful cables in the market: SOtM, JCAT, Sablon, Wireworld, just to name a few. Each of them has its own set of merits and pricing. Even PPA is offering a Platinum version of his Ethernet cable. But for me and for now, PACHANKO Aphelion SATA and Ethernet cables look good, perform reliably, and offer a SQ that satisfyingly natural with decent details to boost.
  8. Prior to using Aphelion cables, I've been happily using PPA red and black SATA, PPA red Ethernet, PACHANKO Refefence back SATA, and most recently THE LINEAR SOLUTIONS (TLS) Ethernet cables. Out of curiosity, I wanted to check out Chan's latest Aphelion offerings in SATA and Ethernet. A SATA Aphelion is installed between OS SSD in AudioPC, and an Ethernet Aphelion between AudioPC and controlPC. After a few months of listening, I'd like to share my impressions on those Aphelion cables. First, let me show the playlist of songs/tracks used for evaluation. It's a mixture of classical large scale symphonies and concertos in individual movements, classical instrument solos, jazz, pop ballads, Gregorian chants, world music, and anything in between. Namely, they are: - Ivan Fisher, Mahler symphony no. 3, DSD 64, movements 1 and 2 - Jazz at the Pawnshop, Late Night, DSD 256 - Anna Fedorova, Rachmaninov, piano concerto no. 2, 2nd movement - Various songs from Best Audiophile Voices 1 thru 7, XRCD24 - (To be continued)
  9. No, once driver installed properly there’s no need to do F8. Actually, with the effective driver installation described earlier, you didn’t need to do F8 in the first place. Forgive me if I was unable to tell you sooner. It’s been a while since my last installation and I was trying to help from memory. Glad it works. AudioPhil should get credit for the technique. I’ve just passed on one of many wonderful tips I learned from him. Enjoy!
  10. Let's try this: Install AO but don't execute it yet. Install DAC driver. Check Device Manager, don't worry if there is an error (yellow triangle with exclamation mark) on the Unknown device. Execute AO in express mode, like this: AO -e Reset AO: st -r Run Device Manager: devmgmt Uninstall DAC driver, leave the Delete file/driver box unchecked. Right click on Computer or something like that on the top and Scan Hardware. Your DAC driver should be installed correctly, indicated by the speaker image next to the Unknown Device/driver. No more seen is the yellow triangle with exclamation mark.
  11. Disable driver signature enforcement. At reboot, hit and hold F8 function key until a list of options appears. Select Disable driver signature enforcement then proceed to installing DAC driver.
  12. It asks for the same ISO USB you used to install the OS. Put it back in and AO installation should run with flying colors.
  13. Thanks for the info. I've tried both (Sonore's multi mode transceivers/cable and Planet-USA single mode transceivers/matching cable) and like both with the same LPSUs feeding the OMs. Ultimately preferred the single mode gear, but the multi mode combo is pretty good anyway.
  14. My understanding is that, lowering CPU/RAM speed and voltage is to lower the noise thus improve the SQ, music sounds more relaxed. However, doing so somehow compromises the system's robustness and speed thus impacts the dynamics of music playback. We had put up with that compromise until recently when there're several major advancements in CPU, RAM, passive cooling, LPSU, and networking that allow and motivate innovative folks to go the other way around: turn on hyper-threading, run CPU at full throttle without compromising the SQ. Since I'm still running Haswell CPU, I'm happy with lowered speed CPU/RAM and voltage. But for folks with more modern CPU, RAM, motherboards, killer LPSU such as SR7 or Optimo Duo 3 just to name two, killer switches such as Melco or JCAT Gold or SOtM or EtherRegen, and upsampling oriented, by all means go for the high speed racing. Just two cents.
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