silverlight

nice speakers! they don't make em like they used to!

Hi, its a commercially available unit, but pretty good (not a Paul Hynes PS, but gets the job done well). Specifically for the QNAP HS-251 quietnas, it uses 12v/5A, so the Acopian I happened to have is spec'd in this range (model A12MT650). I use it in their enclosure, but one could always pickup a nice enclosure to install in and solder in an IEC connector, etc., but it's easy enough to work with and tuck away somewhere convenient.

Add to message ^: just got home and swapped the power supplies from switching to the LPS to isolate this as I had done the QNAP NAS all together without separately testing the power supply impact. It was a big enough gap as to warrant this extra couple sentences. (noise floor, separation, imaging, etc.). definitely well worth the investment as a % of spend on the NAS/server.

@shahed99 – will try to respond to your questions. first let me caveat that there are a lot of ways to solve for each of these objectives/goals, I just happened to take one particular path. (1) 3M absorber. yes, just popped the unit open (YMMV / at your own risk / you may invalidate your warranty / you have to pull a couple adhesive materials off), took 5 mins. my non-informed opinions. On heat, it's plastic and wont dissipate heat anyway, there are vents on the side which I was careful to not impact flow to. If anything the 3M could dissipate heat a little more effectively than plastic. I have used 4 or 5 different EMI/RFI materials over the past 5 years and carefully listened to differences in other applications. Stillpoints paper is the other extreme for me which can suck the "life" out of the sound (same deal with vibration dampening in-box, Fo.Q can do the same thing, esp in analog components, less so in digital in my experience). Applied a layer to interior top; no practical room on the inside bottom of the case, so just laid a sheet out under the Aries approximately cut to size. (2) antenna. I have no idea if this helps or not, I’ve done it before in my Mac Mini in the past (full removal of wifi and Bluetooth), just minimizing airborne EMI/RFI coming into the unit in theory. There was a comment earlier, the plastic case while apparently improves reception, that’s a two-way dynamic. Electrical tape on the three ends for safety reasons so they don’t settle in the case and create a short. There are 3 contacts which easily pop on and off to the antenna unit which is on the top of the case. Didn’t take pictures but it’s super straight forward. (3) dampening. Fo.Q TA-102 is the version I used. Cut small squares and applied selectively. This has been very helpful in the past with DAC’s/digital in particular in my experience, but have to be careful with preamps and amps as it’s made sound worse (HF roll-off) in a couple cases (could have been a case of using too much as well and there’s probably an appropriate amount but time consuming to test of course small increments). I typically hit the top of chips, caps and put a few dots on open areas on the PCB, can add to the inside of the connectors as well. I have a bottle of AVM paint I’m tempted to try at some point on some piece of gear, but this is a fairly extreme move as unlike Fo.Q, it’s certainly not removable. (4) Ethernet filters. Using two EMO EN-70HD’s which others at CA are using. I also have a GISO from Acousense but haven’t added to the system yet. I haven’t experimented enough yet, but did a quick listen on a test track when I added each. On the cable modem, it cleaned up noise and was a nice improvement. In front of the DAC (using an Auralic Vega right now), it wasn’t obvious at first. Initally seemed to reduce the HF’s/energy of the sound, but as I adjusted and got used to what I was hearing I think it was a good change for the most part but it may be pulling some good stuff out with the bad, need to go back and listen a little more and experiment with locations (i.e., could move the unit from in front of the DAC to the entry point into the room before the small netgear mini gigabit Ethernet bridge unit (which I’m going to order an LPSU for, for now just put it behind a hospital isolation transformer unit). Ultimately would defer to others’ experience here, but I will spend more time on this topic and will find at least in my system the optimal number between one and three and the best locations (although I’m sure the answer will be at least one for the cable modem). (5) NAS. the rationale, right or wrong, to bring the NAS into the room was severalfold. I have a synology that multi purposes as a video server, audio server, data backup and a handful of other functions. It’s in series of media equipment shelves with a mess of noisy equipment, no power filtering, and its several rooms away with Cat5e cable and who knows how much interference from RFI/EMI with a long cable length (and prior owners of the apartment had it installed and I have no idea it’s history). This way the Ethernet cable quality, power supply etc are manageable, and then moving to fanless and SSD presumably is helpful. I have a few LPSUs around, the one I had that happened to line up with the right requirements is an Acopian Gold series unit. (6) In terms of ranking, I find it very hard to quantify and every system will vary b/c of all the variables involved (and ears/brains of the listeners). I did the EMO filters first and it was very noticeable and helped in an area that I really appreciate (HF noise). I then did fuses in the Aries and Vega, this was quite impactful, brighter sound at first but settled after a few days. Next went in the box (3M, Fo.Q, antenna), this was also quite noticeable and helped the digital “etch”. Lastly did the NAS. This one caught me off guard a little, at first I wasn’t sure as the HF’s sounded rolled off, but after listening for a little while I realized it was definitely a far more analog sound and perhaps some of the HF’s I was hearing was noise/etch and I had gotten used to it / adapted to it until it was gone. (7) as for the gear, made some friends and gave some gear away, repurposed the big SSD’s I was using for storage, kept one computer intact and in a closet. I have a tiny little footprint on the rack now that’s the digital source, it sounds great, very musical (I liked my Lampizator Big 6 better as a DAC, but as part of the physical downsizing I sold it to a lucky new owner who got a wonderful piece of equipment and reverted back to the Vega; the DirectStream I use in a different system as a one-box digital source where it’s SQ is a really great match with a very different speaker type).

A quick post for what it's worth to very briefly share experience w the Aries (the version with the LPS). First, love the size of the unit. Was a little surprised at the light plastic casing, but nice little unit. Had put a bunch of time into a 2 box WS2012 setup (w/ a bunch of bells and whistles in terms of Paul Pang cables, clock, external linear PSU's, heavily treated fanless cases and cooling, etc etc). That was the best quality sound I've gotten from a music server, but it just took up too much rack space and too much fiddling and too easily pulled at my left brain to tweak tweak and more tweak so cleared everything digital out of the system for quite a few months, and just listening to LP's. Decided to get a small footprint digital system more recently just to have access to some of the digital tracks I enjoy, and had to have appliance simplicity, so Aries was a great choice (tried the PS Audio Directstream to connect to the NAS, and a great DAC, but found it just a bit smoothed sounding although imagine it would be perfect in many systems, separate tangent). The Aries was pretty good sounding although a bit of an etch in my system and some noise/grunge compared to the WS2012 setup I was using. So decided to do a few little things to it to see how it would behave. The results were quite impressive, and significantly closed the gap towards the WS2012 to the point where I don't care too much about the difference, if there even is one. Here are the few things I did: (1) Hi Fi Tuning fuse in the LPS (swapping for a synergistic red in a few days), (2) 3M AB5100S applied to the inside top of the unit and a sheet underneath the unit, (3) disconnected the 3 antenna contacts for wireless as I'm using ethernet and covered the ends w electrical tape, (4) applied Fo.Q dampening tape in a handful of key areas inside the unit where I've had success w digital equipment in the past, (5) replaced local ethernet cabling with Blue Jeans cable (credit to other member I think in this thread that mentioned it), (6) EMO ethernet filters behind the cable modem (in another room) and in front of Aries. While not totally related, I added another NAS in the music room for a close connection (the new QNAP quietnas fanless with 2 x 1TB SSD's setup as RAID0; don't need backup, just max storage as I'm mirroring from my main source computer where I manage the library; added a LPS to the QNAP). The combination of all of this added up to some really great digital sound, and far smoother, no etch or annoying digital sound except for the usual bad sounding recordings. The tweaks/mods were quite significant and all done after about 400-500 hours of burn-in on the unit. Oh, and stuck the Aries on an Inglasco hockey puck (funniest vibration dampener ever at $1/foot - meaningfully outperforms some of the high end uber expensive feet I've had or have which can thin the sound and suck the life out, have them under my amps, power supplies). Regards

Vinnie is a true class act in this industry. I've had several of their products and was very happy with them. Nothing like life off the grid

Yup, couldn't agree more. I've owned / spent time with all the flagships out there, but Stax has always been my go-to. Different league IMO. The hassle with electrostatics for most is that you need the dedicated amplifier which is why they're not as universally used. All you need to do is look at Stax's annual revenue to get a sense for this (the whole company was acquired for US$1.5mm by China's Edifier in 2012), very much a niche. That being said, HeadFi and other dedicated headphone sites are full of Stax followers and a cult following as their performance speaks for itself.

Phil has a great guide on his site that walks thru a 2PC setup, and his software is a no brainer for optimization of the setup once you're there. The JPlay forum also has build recommendations for the 2 computers to the extent you're still in the process of adding one or both. The thread for the audiophile optimizer also has plenty of suggestions as well. Highend-AudioPC

Personal ranking from a few options: (1) Paul Pang custom build (one off components through to a full build) paul professional audio studio: The total solution with Streacom FC5 including Dual PC mode (2) CAPSv3 w/ Black Lightning Battery (3) Mac Mini w/ Linear PSU (distant 3rd) Very important (for 1st 2 options), WS2012 + Audiophile Optimizer Good luck!

I owned the Vega, super convenient and energetic. Was phenomenal when running through a tube preamp (a modded Audio Research LS5 Mk2 re-tubed) - made the sound a little more organic and natural. However the Lampizator I have is in a materially better category. It's a Big 6 + DSD. Have compared at length the USB input of the DAC versus using BNC via an OffRamp5 (with all the latest upgrades and Paul Hynes stuff). Upper end extension is a little bit better with the OR5 (powered by RedWineAudio Black Lightning battery), but I actually like the overall presentation of the DAC's USB input directly, a little more relaxed sounding. Also, switching between DSD and PCM obviously a lot easier when using using a media server when the USB input is used for both. I've churned through a bunch of good quality DAC's, but the Lampi is my favorite DAC. The DSD is quite special with the DAC - have no idea how the "chipless" approach works, but the sound is very nice. Upgrading to what I'd best refer to as a "Big 7 + DSD" which is in production (Level 7 one box solution like the Big 6 instead of 2 aluminum enclosures - shorter signal path, better grounding, wood enclosure which were personal preferences). It may still not be vinyl, but really great for digital

I can confirm WS2012 runs no problem on a DN2800MT. a HUGE improvement over Windows 7 and Windows 8 esp with the Audiophile Optimizer tool. Set it to autoboot into J River shell and you can shut it on and off and never have to remote screen in (and therefore have it run from command line version). Works like an appliance now. Following the lead of others here and going to try the dual-PC approach and see what it does for the SQ (along with a bunch of other crazy tweaks to cables, EMI/RFI shielding, vibration paint, CPU clock, SSD mods, etc. which are partially complete now)

Just to chime in as a late comer to the subject. I only scan topics once in a while on the site as so much changes so quickly I let the pioneers do the innovation and testing and am fortunate to then pick and choose a few items here and there. So this one looked interesting and fairly straight forward and low risk. So I took my fairly stock CAPS v3 Carbon music server running off a Black Lightning battery power (stock but for a 2nd 1TB SSD installed for storing music). Wiped it and installed WS2012 R2 in a single computer configuration maxing the options and using 4,D as the filters for now in Core mode with JRiver 19 (have not installed JPlay). Optimzed with AO and made all other recommended changes/tweaks. Well it would be an understatement to say I was blown away. This is a really huge improvement in sound quality (imaging/depth and reduction of digital "glare" as well as reduction of noise floor were particularly significant). Big kudo's to AudioPhil and the others here who have supported the development. Best E100 I ever spent, and extremely easy and quick to do (it really doesn't require much technical skill as the documentation is very clear). Have to wonder how much of an improvement a dual-PC config would make... (dual NIC is the only pain b/c I have a couple other small computers that could serve well as a controlPC). [Also as a side note as I saw it asked above (or maybe some other thread), works well with the Lampizator DAC (using a Big 6 + DSD) with Amanero drivers in kernal streaming mode.]

Noticed this thread this evening. Tried to install HQPlayer for you guys to see if it works, but no success. The latest trial software would not launch without error on my CAPSv3 windows 8.1 build. (got an error upon launch; install package would only allow for 32bit install while I have a 64 bit OS install, don't know if that's an issue or not). Can confirm though that JRMC works just fine with the Lampizator DSD DAC (I have it in a Big Six + DSD combination unit). If I can get HQPlayer loaded will report back with results.

Charlie, out of curiosity, in your listening tests do you have a preference for the Windows or OSX version of the software in terms of SQ? I am hoping to get the DSD firmware update for the QA9 shortly from my dealer. I have both a windows (CAPSv3) and Mac (stripped 09 mini with linear PSU) in my rack. Not sure the CAPsv3 has the horsepower to do the capture, but may try both to see how they do.

In terms of universals my favorites are the Fit Ear To Go 334 and Senn IE800, both absolutely outstanding. Best value is prob the the HiFiMan's 600's mentioned above, although haven't heard this version yet but shipping broadly this month (so this comment is based on reviews from other listeners w similar tastes). I actually really like the NuForce 700M, I've gone through about 6 or 7 pairs of them past few years as my daily (they are very prone to breaking in the cable attachment and sitting in my left pocket with my iphone took it's toll, but NuForce was very good with warranty replacement, although I probably bought at least 3 of them; their replacement model is not nearly as good in sound quality). I personally don't like custom IEM's (have some JH13's) as I've had consistent fit issues (I get migraines from them), but at your price point you could find a couple solid models.