Ianmac

Ive run my CAPS 3 now since it was mentioned here, as Computer audiophile,some 7 or so years ago. I want to upgrade it to take advantage of todays technology but find Im entering a minefield. Im not a computer expert but ususally manage to get by, helped by internet advice. My Caps started with the original DN2800 board and I fitted a PP USB card. Music ,all flac files, stored on a USB SSD. I built a tripple linear power supply, 12v plus 5v for the USB card and 5v for the music SSD. I used W10 and JRiver driving my Benchmark DAC. Worked well but running headless proved problematic with Windows updates. I "upgraded" using Fidelizer to tame W10 - which worked well. Next move was to abandon USB to my DAC and built Renderers using boards for a company in Switzerland ( posted about that at the time), Switched JRiver to DNLA mode and have run that way for two years, with one trial of a auralic streamer which fell short of my system SQ. I want to update my hardware and not being a computer expert started looking at replacement mini ITX boards that would fit straight int my existing case. Fairly quickly realised that there wern't so many around as I had though and those that were were old Baytrail and Braswell units. Many warnings appeared about the reliabity of the Appollo lake boards using the Celeron 3350 which I had thought was for me because of a claimed 33% improvment in performance over my existing DN2800. Search the forum and found the info on the Twenty and Twenty.One using LattePanda boards. Searching for info on these led me to onto NUC and SBC ( Small board Computers -a new term to me). The advantages from almost all of the SBC is lower power consumption and impoved processing speeds. Some are Fanless, a must have, and cases available. The Latte Panda boards look good ,at a relatively high price here in the UK -but Id pay up if it was the best option and could find a suppplier who can talk me through the different levels of the Windows installation. egEnterprise, though that was Industry only However there are many on this forum who have forgotten more about I.T. technical specifics than know, so any advice on what direction to take would be appreciated. I come from the direction of being very particular on Power supply for my PC audio and would build my own, isolating sub units like SSD where possible. I also treat a digital signal as an analogue signal switching between two levels and appreciate the areas where degradation will affect (DAC )performance. What I dont know is the "crosstalk" and other unwanted artefacts that each of the "New" SBC's are prone to. I mentioned earlier of my own satisfaction with software that tweaked Windows to improve its Audio performance by reducing or removing unneccessary processing. This raised in my mind two other possibilities. One- relating to the New Apple Mini with a completely new processor- Is this better than a rebuilt CAPs to stream my audio ? I have alway avoided Apple due to the high cost but could be persuaded, I think I would loose JRiver as I read JRemote does not work on apple Two - is the impending release of WIn10 X which I read is a trimmed down version of W10 for lower level applications. I think thats enough to give one a background.

Thanks for the feedback Will add the decoupling ceramic.

I have pics but trying to download them into the forum has proved to be problematic and i havent as yet found a sticky that tells one the correct procedure Ill try again --Success! The aboves shows the NMR card top left. Regulator bottom left Linear supply on the right. This is built into a half rack width unit to match my Benchmark DAC as per the top photo. I built my first unit into a hammond case.

@chauphuongThe NMR board comes complete with the MRMOD card installed on it. You need a 3.3v PSU. I built my own PSU and case to match my Benchmark DAC. @nbpf, as above I built my own 3.3v supply I could not find an off the shelf unit from any of the main UK electronic component suppliers ( RS and Farnell) that met my requirements. If you download the data sheet on the NMR page 12 gives you a list of the Cinch connectors that fit the on board socket. Cinch UK were not helpful so I used a molex equivalent from Farnell- SMB right angle plug 75 ohm Molex 73100-0256. My case output was a 75 Ohm BNC jack to jack insulated from chassis- Neutrik NBB75F1. I bought 75 ohn BNC to BNC RG179 cable on ebay. Cut the length I need with one BNC connected and fitted the Molex to the other. Molex plugged into the card and BNC on the inside case end of the BNC jack to jack.I use a 75 ohm BNC to 75 ohm RCA for connection between the MDR and my DAC. This provides a completely co axial path with no connection to chassis. A case is very much a personal preference or two small cases one PSU one NMR. I used a Hammond 1455T220-1-104LF for my first NMR this is aluminium with a slide off top for access. Ive tried to post photos from my imgur album but so far have failed, probably Finger trouble on my part but cant find a sticky on the forum telling me the correct procedure.

I built my Caps 3 to replace my Caps 2. which replaced a early streamer and SBox. I used Chris's design adding a PP usb card and an SSD storing my music files. The Caps MB was fed from a good quality 12v LPS with the PP USB card and SSD fed from separate 5v LPS. It has served me well. I ventured into vinyl last year heavily modifying a Technics1200 and building a DCT phono pre. The return to analogue highlighted the shortfall in my digital system - a tiring sound with a lack of fine detail, highlighted in piano and violin pieces. My initial reaction was to try something else so I organised an Aires with LPS and found this not as good as my CAPS 3. My next move was to try some tweaks to Windows so bought Fidelizer. This did yield an improvement and I have been running it for about a year. It tells me Windows is not perhaps the best software for my purpose. Im running headless and finding Windows upgrades a continual nusiance. At the time I started venturing into Vinyl again a friend told me of a company in Switzerland ( www.engineered.ch their MNR board) who make a variety of digital audio boards for other equipment manufacturers and sell one or two with evaluation boards for DIY - a bit like Hypex with their amps. Two months ago he send me his own DIY engineered.ch carded unit to play with. I was hooked at first listen, using 24/96 files from the LINN library I heard crystal clear piano and violins, I was a bit gobsmacked, this unit was producing the closest to analogue sound I had heard from any digital source Ive used on my system. I downloaded the tech info on the engineered site, located their NMR renderer and looked at what was required to get it up and running as a unit. Ordered their NMR card( 420 Swiss Francs, worked out at about £ 350 into the UK with carriage and Duty paid ). It needs a 3.3v 450-750 ma power supply, a coaxial connector Cinch or Molex SMB to BNC, from board to case and a case itself. Built the unit and put it to a full evaluation. The whole family, young ears and older, prefered the NMR to any of my older streaming gear. I decide on a full switch to NMR on both my systems. Ordered a second board and built it into a 1u half rack to match my Benchmark DACs All my CAPS and tweaked SB touch are now redundant. Im running JRiver on my NAS which is WHS based, the two NMR renderers on my nework talk to JRiver via J Remote on an old i pad and i pod. If anyone is considering a change to their digital streaming system and can do a little DIY I would suggest they take a close look at this extremely well designed board. For a little over £500 one can get a renderer that will outperform units costing much much more on the open market. Im not saying its beter than brand X or Y just to my ears its the closest Ive heard to analogue to date. Ill try and post some photos.

I have used N core amps with ATC SCM40 for some time now. The ATC 's love the low output impedance of the N Cores. I make all my on cables and have tri wired from my amps to speakers with non directional cable construction. Amps are driven balanced from a Benchmark DAC2 15 metres away from the amps which are positioned directly behind the ATC's so very short speaker cables. Best tweak I made was to reduce the gain of the N Cores and remove the attenuator from circuit in the Benchmark. This lowers the benchmark output impedance. Enjoy your Hypex N Cores and ATC's

Deuch I can assure you I dont have a hard time with new technology and am quite comfortable with computers. regards Ianmac

Dave, You should do your homework before you post. There are only two booklets in the box of a UK delivered mini. Even by the widest stretch of your imagination I fail to see how you describe these as manuals. regards Ianmac

I have to agree with you. I recently bought an Aries mini and finding out how to drive it was like trying to put together a jigsaw with no pictures on the pieces. Go to the FAQ's which never have the question you want an answer to. Oh how a good old fashioned (downloadable even) users manual would have made life simple. The brilliant computer software engineers who design these systems dont seem capable of understanding what we mere mortals. the customers who provide their bread, need They eat sleep and drink computerspeak. I find it even more complexing when the product is aimed at an expanding market of potential audio streamers from all backgrounds. I eventually found my way round the Mini only to find it fell short of the SQ I expected from a high end streamer

Found and watched the You Tube review. I would agree the screening looks good. You've saved me making a metal box to evaluate further, Many thanks. I'll keep delving, its only a matter of time before someone provides some measurements.

Thanks Dave, Have tried all 3 options with a good quality LPS. Two of the same sources NAS and ext SSD are used for my CAPS3 variant and its lovely. Im looking to see if anyone has done any jitter measurements on the mini and if there could be external influences as the plastic case used to (I believe) allow Wi fi reception will also allow any form of unwanted RF signals to influence its operation. Ill keep delving- It does say on the box its a High End Wireless Streamer so I dont think i'm expecting too much

Has been running now for 3.5 weeks 24/7 The issue may be deeper rooted than component burn in.

I recently bought a Mini. I have tried streaming from my NAS and using an SSD connected to the USB port. With the later I did power the SSD from a Clean Stabilized Linear supply. In order to get a reasonable sound quality from the Mini I had to use an external stabilized supply. I used a supply with 16v and 5v outputs. Using an internal SSD means that the 16 v supply has to dropped to 5v within the mini and I didnt think that the additional current flow and power dissipation within the small box would be desirable. I did not hear any improvement in audio quality, which is in stark contrast to doing the same excercise with my CAPS. As I listen to the mini I hear a slight harshness in the sound noticeable in the treble end and very obvious on 24/96 files. This reflects, to my ears, into a slight loss of detail all round with a looseness in Bass - again to me, a tiring sound to listen to with little musicality. Has anyone else tried Streaming from NAS and internal external SSD I am still evaluating the Mini but so far my CAPS is way ahead and it looks like my trusty Squeezebox is going back into service

Up and running with my music files on a separate SSD and separate 5v power supply feed. Added Fidelizer Pro which makes further improvement. Nice clean treble and better transient response, very happy with SQ. I still have some work to do on the power supply. The original CAPs needed 12v. I then added 5v for the PP usb card. Now with two additional 5v feeds needed for the System SSD and Music SSD its been modded a step too far. I'll rebuild to give me 12v + 3 completely isolated 5v supplies that are switched on and off by the 12v supply to ensure the PP USB card and SSD's power is slaved to the Mother board power.

External option So far I have modified my existing Linear PS and provided a separate filtered 5v feed to the external USB connected SSD. This resulted in further sonic improvement. Im running with Fidelizer Free ( about to order Pro when Ive finalised my system). The overall result is similar to an improvement in signal to noise ratio in a pure analogue system, another level of detail is heard with much clearer treble and an overall improvement in transient response. I'm very happy with the result. To look at the internal option- I have also ordered another Samsung SSD. I will clone my existing internal, and sector off my music files and try it. I will also run a separate linear 5v psu feed to the internal SSD making life easier for the motherboard regulator and reducing any crosstalk from the SSD to the motherboard via the power rails. Im trying to work out a way of measuring the noise level on my DAC output so I can get a relative measurement in db's for each step of the changes made. I have an old Denon Test CD somewhere and a copy of Arta software on my old CAPS 1 which has a linear supply and a SPDIF/ analogue output . Just need to work it through and find some time to do it But bottom line the changes made so far have resulted in a good improvement, well worth the effort. The filters I'm using in my Power rails are low cost. A few pounds in the UK from Farnell. Murata BNX00 Series, about 14mm cube in size. BNX002-01 50vDC max 10A max 1Mhz-1Ghz -40db 10Mhz -400Mhz -80db.