AUDIO over IP - REDNET 3 & 16 Review. AES67 Sets A New Standard for Computer Audio

[peteAllen]

Sure
I had disabled SATA on the mobo leaving everything PCIe/CPU as explained.
For a simple comparison at your request, I enabled SATA and put in fb2k the "same" flac/track (Silver threads and golden needles from Fotheringay 2 - not the one on Youtube) on Optane on the one hand and on the SSD on the other (all LPS).
The Optane instance sounds better. It breathes. It has depth. The SSD instance is thinner - more like a transistor radio. Less subtle. Fewer layers to voice.
Just to be clear - Larry's smaller Optane cards are M.2/chipset hinged.
Thanks for prompting me. I had planned to check this anyway. I can relax now

So having sata disabled is the key? If you have it using Optane and no ssd or anything on sata, but still have sata enabled, then does it still sound inferior?

Not sure if it's feasible for me - I use an old small factor fanless pc - I think I'd need to upgrade to a 7th gen small factor mobo, buy an optane for the OS, and use my 2tb music ssd somehow (it's almost full!)

 

[peteAllen]

Sure

Very cool!

 

[Iving]

So having sata disabled is the key? If you have it using Optane and no ssd or anything on sata, but still have sata enabled, then does it still sound inferior?

Not sure if it's feasible for me - I use an old small factor fanless pc - I think I'd need to upgrade to a 7th gen small factor mobo, buy an optane for the OS, and use my 2tb music ssd somehow (it's almost full!)

I don't suppose SATA Enabled or Disabled is material. I just disable everything I don't need in a spirit of parsimony. One gets into that habit trying to rein in Windows! It is playing the flac file on Optane vs. playing the same file on the SSD that makes the difference.

I understand Optane requires a 270 series mobo. HD caching requires a 7th gen Intel CPU. I have a 6th but that's OK because I'm not using Optane for HD caching. The first few pages of Larry's thread on CA explain all this. It's all a money-hungry iterative process - but the returns per £ are good. The Optane drive cost £338 but I got one from Ballicom with Star Citizen and sold that code for £70 net. I sold the M.2 drive which had my o/s for about the same. So I'm looking at £200 for a 280Gb Optane upgrade. Not complaining.

 

[peteAllen]

Maybe having the music files on ssd wouldn't matter so much as I use Roon & hqplayer on the os drive. The samsung pro ssd is way faster than roon/hqplayer need, so it won't cause any latency limitation. Of course the other big factor in computer audio is noise, and I can imagine if sata is disabled that would reduce noise / extra power, even though I have the ssd powered by the uptone js2.

 

[Iving]

Maybe having the music files on ssd wouldn't matter so much as I use Roon & hqplayer on the os drive. The samsung pro ssd is way faster than roon/hqplayer need, so it won't cause any latency limitation. Of course the other big factor in computer audio is noise, and I can imagine if sata is disabled that would reduce noise / extra power, even though I have the ssd powered by the uptone js2.

Optane is mega fast and uses a different technology cf. SSD. SSD requires the chipset - my Optane PCIe AIC and Intel X540-T2 are both PCIe CPU-direct and don't. Both Optane and SSD get an LPS spur but one is 5V direct (SSD) and the other PCIe 6-pin to mobo. These are the differences in descending order of importance as I would interpret things.

 

[motberg]

Sure
I had disabled SATA on the mobo leaving everything PCIe/CPU as explained.
For a simple comparison at your request, I enabled SATA and put in fb2k the "same" flac/track (Silver threads and golden needles from Fotheringay 2 - not the one on Youtube) on Optane on the one hand and on the SSD on the other (all LPS).
The Optane instance sounds better. It breathes. It has depth. The SSD instance is thinner - more like a transistor radio. Less subtle. Fewer layers to voice.
Just to be clear - Larry's smaller Optane cards are M.2/chipset hinged.
Thanks for prompting me. I had planned to check this anyway. I can relax now

Thanks a million...
(I already bought the PCIe-> M.2 Optane adapter card, but not yet the Optane module.. so not out much cash currently)
I did not know that integrated Optane PCIe/SSD thing you are using even existed until I just looked it up...

BTW, I have been using the larger NOFAN cooler for about 3 years on my current i5 build and works perfectly..
The i7 I am working on now is 35W, so I have assembled with the same NOFAN as in yours
Thanks for the photos, nice power cables routing..... I also will be using the HDPLEX 400W so very helpful to see an example of the assembly.

 

[Iving]

Thanks a million...
(I already bought the PCIe-> M.2 Optane adapter card, but not yet the Optane module.. so not out much cash currently)
I did not know that integrated Optane PCIe/SSD thing you are using even existed until I just looked it up...

BTW, I have been using the larger NOFAN cooler for about 3 years on my current i5 build and works perfectly..
The i7 I am working on now is 35W, so I have assembled with the same NOFAN as in yours
Thanks for the photos, nice power cables routing..... I also will be using the HDPLEX 400W so very helpful to see an example of the assembly.

Welcome
Yep - https://www.ballicom.co.uk/intel-ss...MIxbn18IPi2QIVzLXtCh1stwoeEAYYASABEgIO8_D_BwE
There is a 480Gb version too.
I bought from Ballicom even if a few £ more expensive because they were able to supply Star Citizen instances. The codes are still worth about £70 net.
Yep - No cooling issues with NOFAN (with my config. anyway)
Thanks for sharing

 

[lmitche]

Just to be clear - Larry's smaller Optane cards are M.2/chipset hinged.

Irving,

True yes, but like your system, my signal path DOES NOT go through the PCH as the only user of the Optane drive is Windows. Roon and Hqplayer pull music in from the USB NIC(Tidal) or USB HDD and push music out to the USB dac. All this happens from the same lt3045 powered cpu direct USB card. The system sounds wonderful.

I'm currently contemplating an upgrade to a new motherboard with at least two direct to cpu pcie slots. Choices include your Asus z270 ws motherboard $$$$, an Asus Z270 ROG Gaming G, an Asus P10S-M, or a Supermicro x11ssl. The goal is to move the m.2 Optane to a pcie adapter card in the second direct to cpu slot. With the first two choices my current 6700k processor and memory can be re-used. In the second two, a Xeon processor and ecc memory needs to be purchased. The Supermicro board is the only one wired x8+x8 without use of a plx or Asmedia switch. I don't need 3 direct PCie slots, and the purity of the Supermicro solution is tempting.

 

[peteAllen]

Irving,

True yes, but like your system, my signal path DOES NOT go through the PCH as the only user of the Optane drive is Windows. Roon and Hqplayer pull music in from the USB NIC(Tidal) or USB HDD and push music out to the USB dac. All this happens from the same lt3045 powered cpu direct USB card. The system sounds wonderful.

I'm currently contemplating an upgrade to a new motherboard with at least two direct to cpu pcie slots. Choices include your Asus z270 ws motherboard $$$$, an Asus Z270 ROG Gaming G, an Asus P10S-M, or a Supermicro x11ssl. The goal is to move the m.2 Optane to a pcie adapter card in the second direct to cpu slot. With the first two choices my current 6700k processor and memory can be re-used. In the second two, a Xeon processor and ecc memory needs to be purchased. The Supermicro board is the only one wired x8+x8 without use of a plx or Asmedia switch. I don't need 3 direct PCie slots, and the purity of the Supermicro solution is tempting.

That supermicro board looks tempting but there are some negative reviews online. I’ve had three non-asus boards and had troubles with all of them. Personally I would stick with Asus where possible

 

[Iving]

That supermicro board looks tempting but there are some negative reviews online. I’ve had three non-asus boards and had troubles with all of them. Personally I would stick with Asus where possible

Agreed re Asus - for the BIOS if nothing else - I see the 300 Series is current - but there doesn't appear to be a Z370-WS.

 

[lmitche]

That supermicro board looks tempting but there are some negative reviews online. I’ve had three non-asus boards and had troubles with all of them. Personally I would stick with Asus where possible

Links to any negative (or postive) reviews would be helpful thanks.

 

[peteAllen]

Apparently the cheap Asus Prime Z270M-Plus supports Optane with the latest bios

We should probably leave this thread dedicated to dante and rednet tho!

 

[lmitche]

Apparently the cheap Asus Prime Z270M-Plus supports Optane with the latest bios

We should probably leave this thread dedicated to dante and rednet tho!

Actually I'm just using Optane as a boot SSD and it works great on my z170 motherboard. A z270 or z370 mb with Optane support for caching is not required.

 

[Iving]

Windows taming strategies are of interest presently, especially after the Fall Creators Update which seems to have spawned numerous additional svchost processes and other "we know what you want better than you know what you want" non-options.

(I don't mean to divert too much but I *loathe* Apple for this perverse approach to personal computing and prefer Microsoft as the lesser of the two evils.)

There was minor consideration hereabouts: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/aud...-computer-audio.806827/page-216#post-13788088.

Any relevant experience to share - from uninstalls, to closing down services, to use of third party apps such as AO, Fidelizer, Process Lasso etc?

I ask particularly because AoIP is a special case owing to inter alia network issues.

Ideally - is anyone using a single app/script which doesn't FUBAR everything at the beginning of each listening session and getting unambiguous positive SQ results?

 

[mourip]

I have been using AO for several years. When I first started using AOIP I thought that it might be immune to server tweaks but have found that to not be the case.

I use AO for my Win10 Pro headphone build and for my Win2012R2 speaker build. I believe that it improves SQ.

It has a free trial so you could give it a try...