Antoine's system

[MusicLover]

After listening to, and enjoying music all afternoon I have to decided to buy the TotalDAC D1 USB cable/filter so I have just paid for it.

Earlier this week I contacted Vincent Brient of Totaldac and he has agreed to a trial. If I like the cable I keep it, if not I can return it. I don't really question the quality of the cable, it's reviews and user experiences are stellar but the D1 seems to have a different character than most high-end cables which seem to be more "analytical" in comparison. My current USB cable also is such a cable. So I am very curious about the match in my set. I won't mind getting a bit more tonal mass and smoothness (which seems to be traits of the Totaldac cable) but I wouldn't want to sacrifice much detail or separation.

To be continued!

More info: http://www.totaldac.com/USB_cable-eng.htm

Antoine, this cable is so dam good, I bet you will not miss anything.

It gives music body, volume, detail, separation, focus, scale, presence, realism...you name it. In my system it made a HUGE impact. And it does all of that because the signal it hands over to the DAC is so extremely clean.

The week or so Vincent states as burning period is quite right. Although honestly, it already sounds superb right out of the box.

Looking forward to your first impressions


ML

[Antoine]

Excellent! This is also what I've read on the forums. His ethernet cable is seriously good too... and weighs a ton!

Guillaume

No longer a need for ethernet here (except for remote control of the music server), but I'll take your word for it it's good!

Antoine, this cable is so dam good, I bet you will not miss anything.

It gives music body, volume, detail, separation, focus, scale, presence, realism...you name it. In my system it made a HUGE impact. And it does all of that because the signal it hands over to the DAC is so extremely clean.

The week or so Vincent states as burning period is quite right. Although honestly, it already sounds superb right out of the box.

Looking forward to your first impressions


ML

Wow, great to read this MusicLover, thanks! I didn't know you already have the cable. In any case I look very much forward to receiving the cable and trying it out, and of course I'll let you guys know my impressions.

Oh BTW, when I looked at what I wrote earlier today it almost seems as if I had already been listening to the Totaldac cable because I wrote I enjoyed listening to music again all afternoon and paid the Totaldac cable, but this is not the case. I only ordered and paid it today, with a right to return it. I hope I will receive it next week but I haven't ask yet when Vincent plans to ship it.

[Antoine]

Earlier this week Totaldac has confirmed my payment of the Totaldac D1 USB cable/filter. Vincent hopes to ship it to me next Monday.

Today I have also ordered a JCAT battery PSU to replace both the Kingrex UPower battery PSU powering the JCAT USB interface card and the Anker Astro E5 battery powering the SSD inside the music server.

What is it exactly? From the specs: "the JCAT features patent pending SATRI analogue automatic charging circuit from Bakoon. This design allows the connected device for continual operation by utilizing two embedded batteries automatically switching between charging and discharging stages. It works completely in analogue domain, free from all the noises (AC, ground loop, RFI/EMI)."

No longer will I have to "fear" an empty battery (happened to my twice already, after forgetting to switch it off! )) and it's better as well, also according to a 6Moons review of the Bakoon BPS-02 which is the exact same product (only the cabling differs).

[invader]

Hi Antoine,

A couple of days ago I started building my own streamer based around a lot of the hardware you have. I really appreciate the effort you already put in investigating all the options and decided to take pretty much the same route. My system is build around the same Streacom case and motherboard, while also choosing Win Server 2012 + AO + Jriver/Jplay. Since you are successfully up and running I hope you don't mind me asking some question about the build.

First of all I had to remove one of the large heatsinks from the mobo to be able to fit the CPU cooler heat pipes to the case and noticed from one of your screenshots that you replaced this with some smaller black heatsinks. I'd like to know where you get those from.

My second question is about the Anker E5 battery pack. How do you connect the USB-out to a SATA power IN of a SSD? The answer might be pretty obvious, but somehow I haven't figured it out yet.

Third one: where did you buy your PPA SATA cable from? I noticed Paul Pang's website is not very clear and doesn't let you order anything and the subsequent distributors are also a bit vague to me.

All in all I'm really excited about this build. I like the flexibility of building my own PC systems. If you prefer to PM me, you can do this is Dutch

[Antoine]

Hi Invader,

Sorry for my late reply, I haven't visited the forum this last weekend. No problem of course for you to ask some questions, that's what a forum is for, sharing experiences/knowledge!

Cool that you're building a similar system, I'm sure you wont be disappointed when you get it up&running, but please don't hold me accountable if it's not what you expected!

To answer your questions:
- Correct, you have a sharp eye! I indeed removed and replaced one of the large heatsinks of my Gigabyte motherboard. I think it's there mostly for esthetic reasons and perhaps to cool the load caused by big, powerful CPU's but I nonetheless indeed decided to replace it later (it ran fine without) with the small black heatsinks. I bought these at Reichelt.nl (German company but serving the Dutch market) when I ordered the EMO Systems LAN isolator, only they sold it. But you can find these heatsinks at most electronics retailers. At Reichelt you can find them searching for 'ICK SMD E15'. I also ordered a sheet of double sides adhesive thermally conductive foil. 'WL FOLIE 404 11'

- The Anker will be replaced soon here by a JCAT battery PSU (I should receive it next Wednesday) but the Ankers are quite popular and do their jobs. Be sure to order a first generation one though, my SSD doesn't work with the 2nd generation version that I also bought. To connect the Anker battery you'll have to make your own cable or modify an existing USB cable and SATA power cable. I did the latter and found a 'freebie' USB cable, cut of the USB B connector and soldered the red and black wires inside the USB cable to the red and black wires of a SATA power cable I also had as a spare. This of course is the quick&dirty way, you could also buy a USB connector (kit), some wire and a SATA power connector and crimp/solder it together. If you'll use an existing SATA power cable (see picture below) you can remove the yellow and one black cable. If yours also has the orange cable (most don't) you can remove that as well.



- I bought the PPA Red SATA cable though Audiophil's mini store. He offers it with a discount but the cable is shipped by PPA directly from Taiwan. I didn't have to pay import duties/VAT etc. You can find the store here: https://www.highend-audiopc.com/store.html

How are you going to power the machine?

Good luck with the building and if there's anything else you'd like to ask, shoot!

edit: I am comtemplating whether I should replace my current i3 processor with a low powered i5, like the 4590T (35W) or maybe the 45W TDP Core i5 4690T. People seem to prefer a more powerful quad core processor (like this i5 or an i7) over an i3 and it would also be(come) handy/needed if and when someone decides to use a player like HQPlayer that can convert all audio to DSD formats. Likewise I have recently swapped my Corsair memory modules for low latency CL7 RAM modules from G.Skill (they are mentioned in the start post of this topic).
edit 2: I've also disconnected al unnecessary cable inside the streacom case (no IR remote board, USB3 connectors). Also not shown, I have used the eSATA enclosure that I initially bought for the CuBox as a nice EMI/RFI shielding case inside the server. I haven't used the connectors of the enclosure, I use it as a nice sturdy aluminum shield only.

[invader]

Hi Antoine,

Thank you for this extra info. Seems like some hassle to connect the Anker to a SSD. I'm contemplating buying the JCAT battery PSU as well. I can use the Anker for my cellphone

As a PSU I'm going to use the HDplex linear/DC PSU's, like you are. I like the no fan construction. It still has to arrive though.

I'll let you know how it turns out for me. Pretty excited...

[Antoine]

Yesterday the Totaldac D1 USB cable/filter has been delivered and today the JCAT battery PSU came in!

Everything is connected now, ready for 'break-in' and hopefully lots of "musical satisfaction" as well (no doubt about it if it'll do that).

I've attached two (sorry, not so great) pictures. One of the Totaldac cable hanging behind the Devialet and one of the stack of, from top to bottom, the JCAT battery PSU, music server and PS Audio P3. This stack is inside a closed compartment of my rack, hidden behind a "door".

The JCAT battery has replaced both batteries I was using, one Anker (for the SSD inside the music server) and one Kingrex UPower (for the JCAT USB card and clean +5V/ground feed to Devialet's USB input). It auto charges while in use (switching between two internal batteries) so I no longer have to remember to power off batteries and charging them in time.

Not pictured yet but in the mean time I have found a simple solution to let the Totaldac filter rest on a piece of cork instead of letting it hang freely, 'stressing' the connector of the Devialet.

I've read multiple reports that the Totaldac USB cable needs a long break-in, ranging from 1 week to a month so I won't "judge" it right away and will wait at least a week. With the new battery I can also keep music playing all day to speed up this possible break-in.

---

@invader, you're welcome! Great, I am curious to know what you think of it when you've put it all together!

[kenreau]

Greetings Atoine,

Curious about your impression of the TotalDac USB cable now. I just received mine yesterday and started running it in. I also purchased the TotalDac Ethernet cable to go between my NAS and mac mini server and experiment with in various configurations like the AIR ethernet.

Kenreau

[Sylvain27]

No longer will I have to "fear" an empty battery (happened to my twice already, after forgetting to switch it off! ))

Hello Antoine,
I have a KingRex UPower battery with a JCAT USB card and a KingRex Y-cable for several weeks now and I had to charge it only once : when I had it for the first time. I think only the green led when it's on really needs current (maybe 10 mA ?), so with 2600 mAh, it should work 260 h without recharging. Do you agree?
Best regards,
Sylvain

[Antoine]

Greetings Atoine,

Curious about your impression of the TotalDac USB cable now. I just received mine yesterday and started running it in. I also purchased the TotalDac Ethernet cable to go between my NAS and mac mini server and experiment with in various configurations like the AIR ethernet.

Kenreau

Hi Kenreau,

Sorry for my late reply, I haven't been online much the past two weeks. I'm very happy with the TotalDAC USB cable. I have indeed forgotten to post my impressions here in this topic but did write something about it here: http://devialetchat.com/Thread-Ethernet-...84#pid6384

It's definitely a keeper, together with JCAT battery and USB card I also added recently I find my system is really finished now and I enjoy the sound very much. I just saw a review of the JCAT products here and I recognize very much what the writer wrote: "gloriously organic, rich, warm, yet extremely detailed and dynamic sound quality". Initially I thought it was perhaps a bit too warm as you can read in the link above, I now think it's right/balanced.

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/eq..._Cable.htm

---

No longer will I have to "fear" an empty battery (happened to my twice already, after forgetting to switch it off! ))

Hello Antoine,
I have a KingRex UPower battery with a JCAT USB card and a KingRex Y-cable for several weeks now and I had to charge it only once : when I had it for the first time. I think only the green led when it's on really needs current (maybe 10 mA ?), so with 2600 mAh, it should work 260 h without recharging. Do you agree?
Best regards,
Sylvain

Hi Sylvain,

In my case I had the Kingrex battery PSU power the JCAT USB card and Devialet as well. So that, the green LED and the conversion losses due to downvolting to 5V are what totals the power usage I think. I actually never timed how long the Kingrex lasted or measured the power draw when in use but if you have a multimeter you could measure this/the current output of the Kingrex. But calculating battery capacity/how long it lasts with a given load is fairly difficult since you can't fully discharge it and there are internal losses as well. You could Google for it if you really want to do this, an example here: http://www.streetmusician.co.uk/batterycalculation/