(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

I have not yet compared these combinations directly...will do over the weekend...but from memory (to be verified):

- The Alix 3D2 sounds analogue, but a bit hazy, not very brilliant.
- The Alix 1d2 sounds on the standard port already more open. I would always go for the 1d2. Reason: AMI-Bios where you can tune this thing. VGA...much preffered to terminal solution...and: Many Electrolytics on board, which can be exchanged easily against oscons...let's see how this will improve everthing...At the 3D2 there are only two small caps which you can tune...I guess the effect will not be big...and finally: you can upgrade to the marvelous SOTM-Board, when you feel you need it.

I need to verify the W7/Jriver setup. I expect it to be bigger, more powerful in sound, more "effects", but in some less muscal (from memory). I will report this weekend back. First I will now finish the discrete PSU for the Alix+Sotm...

Currently, my impression is simply: This is a very clear step towards more emotions and musicality without trading it in for transparencs / analytical abilities. Each time you have something like this going, you know that you move in the right direction...it is not just a trade / compensation effect.



ONe question to the group: HAs anyone tried the tuning suggestions on the Voyage thread http://www.symphonic-net.com/kubotayo/a ... tml#memory ?

There they touch nearly everything as it seems...NAS-Buffers etcetc

multiblitz
Do you have access to both 3d2 and 1d2 to compare? Very interesting to see comparison where the Alix is the only variable. I would have thought that the 1d would suffer from having all the extra components on board. Sounds like you experience more air and lightness in stock form.
I would guess this is due to better control thru the firmware. If 1d2 offers superior sound, it would be interesting to then hear one with the extra chips like vga removed.
If you make cap mods then give it a lot of time to settle. In my case 100 hrs +. I find oscons take a while, and blackgates are ridiculous in the way they continue to open up over time.
I do not have anything to compare it to, but very happy with mpdpup on the 3d2 with linear power and cap mods. It has allowed me to close the chapter on source for a while and return to building amp.

Yes, I have both boards here...over time I learned that in Hifi you need to take your time...so, I typiacally buy more than I need.....let it settle....and sell it afterwards. As by now nearly everything I own is DIY ( DAC, Amplifier, Speaker), not too much money is involved anymore...

I believe that the AMI-Bios gives you tremendous control over CPU-speed, latency, switching off the extra components on Board and has much mire capacity / a bigger PSU on board, therefore different sound...I will take my time to compare...but myintial impression is: Magic...with the Sotm Board. Without it is still good, but not the same.

GIve me some time to do my research...it is now 37 Degree celsius in Germany...I am moving slow....I need to install Jplay on the W7 machine to tweak it, I need a difffernt PSU on the 1D2, if the 1D2 will confirm itself as THE solution, I will buy another 1D2-Board, so that I can mod one and compare it with the normal one, so that I will not get confused what is a step forward and what not.

Have you tried the tweaks in the voyage thread ? I implemented your tweaks....without them, I would not be impressed at all. Your work was gold worth !

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Hi everyone,

Cool effort! I'm just about to order some hardware for jumping in on this. Read this thread and its interesting to see people's experiences regarding sound quality vs processing power. I've ran into that before on different platforms, I've done linn, pc, mac streaming and its interesting that a more powerfull processor, faster busspeeds/IO etc lead to a higher resolution/cleaner presentation. Then we downclock/undervolt that faster cpu for another increase (although that seems to lead more to the "analogue road". Even 2 mac mini's with just a different cpu sound different, the higher clocked one having more resolution.
How is that possible when cpu load on the slower mac mini doesnt even reach 10% on real time 16/44->24/192 software upsampled material?
Its very odd, maybe it's maximum cpu performance per watt dissipated?

RayCtech was running X the only problem why your not using the Intel dm2800mt? It seems like the best choice otherwise, just uses ~10 watts under load.

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Does it perform on par with your intel setup then? What linux distribution are you running?
I was thinking of ordering this one:
http://www.hardkernel.com/renewal_2011/ ... 3999328931
My main reservation with these boxes is most run ethernet off the usb bridge and most are thus also limited to 100 mbit which sortoff rules out full memory play for high res. Does the board your using run ethernet off pci?

Beaglebone has onchip ethernet, might be an interesting alternative.

Which board are you using? I have this idea of wanting multiple cores to maybe run brutefir on its own core one day, give mpd one aswell while at it etc..

RayCtech wrote: Now I am playing with a ARM based system with a single core 800MHz CPU, RAM at 400MHz etc. and it performs great with 3 watt maximum dissipation and I expect 1 - 1.5 watt when playing - and it needs only a 5 volt source.
Graphics is completely disabled by the kernel - and that is also PCI and the hardware I do not need to run MPD...

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Very nice find, a little pricey compared to the others but the I/O sure makes up for that. It's out of stock currently hmm.. My waveIO is shipping this week so I have some time.

But one big important question, sounding better then your i5 setup?

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Haha ok, so I guess ill endup ordering an atom board and something like that cubox aswell. The cubox has many unhappy customers but it seems most complaints are directed at videoplayback performance and lacking or no support at all but that does not really concern us. Also seems very unsure on how long the current waiting list is.

The atom N2600 jetway board looks ok, real low power and 1600/800mhz, dont know the pci bus speed but probably 100. Dont know what bios settings there are for the jetway. It is relatively pricey but your integer value theory intrigues me

I can put in some time in on this project aswell, did some os building back in the day

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Really very nice work

I cannot persuade you to disclose quickly perceived audible differences with your cubox setup with all your own custom work on it vs your previous downclocked i5 setup, even if its comparing apples and oranges?

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RayCtech wrote: I do not have the proper setup to evaluate the audio quality at the time being. In three - four weeks time my new music room will be finished and proper galvanic isolated USB -> I2S boards supporting all samplerates and formats, both a Light Harmonic Da Vinci DAC and a new (own design) DAC and the new AMT speakers will be run in and performing optimal...

Ah cool, I think I'll preorder that cubox or comparable anyway next to a x86 box, even if one of them just ends up being a plaything.

Hey RayCTech,

I remember you now, was interested in your AMT's, are they going to be available for DIY'ers soon?
Apologies for the OT. Just been reading your posts here, I have an Alix 2D2, I follow, but just nod and smile and nod cause that's about all I got when you fellas start on about compiling!
Great Work!

Cheers,

Drew.

Ah indeed that RayCtech! Ok ill deffo signup on the CuBox prebuy now since this guy is borderline crazy/brilliant

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RayCtech wrote:Ooops... I have discovered some potential issues with Intel platforms that I do not have on the CuBox...
In the ARM kernel I have also disabled USB HUB support (disabled printers, wi-fi, OSS etc.. etc.. mostly everything except USB 2.0 Audio and ALSA and proper storage devices), and that may be a issue as most Intel based hardware uses USB HUBs and the USB ports are then dependent of this...

Haha that would be a problem yes.

I think I'm ordering both an intel and an arm box so I'll compile kernel's for both anyway. Think I'm going for a beaglebone for now though since nobody knows when a new batch of cuboxes is available. Also it has much more support which will be a time saver, drawback only 100mbit ethernet so I guess ill just set at 10% buffering before playing. Ill upgrade later to something gigabit, I like the tegra 3, could run vst on cuda for digital crossovers/drc.

For alix users, there are some industrial miniboards with the newer AMD G series, the 1 GHz version with gigabit ethernet and 1Gb+ memory which still draw below 10 watts. So you could even fit a linear psu with superregs at not too high a cost. It may provide a faster and possibly better streaming experience.

Hey edbk,

Can you throw a couple links up for the mobo's you mentioned please?

Taw

Drew.