XXHighEnd

As Peter says over and over: Get a desktop. I finally did (inexpensive one from a big box store) and it's made a wonderful difference in the performance of XXHighend. All of my numerous glitches have, so far, disappeared. Sound quality is nearly the same, though desktop is somewhat better. All functions of XX work so fast and smooth its like a different program from what I ran two days ago.

Currently I have desktop for my XX installation, but am planning to move to some powerfull laptop in the future.

I want to take a look at these 2 computer types from power perspective.
As we know good power is very crucial for audio and we also know that desktop PC power units are noisy and are not the best for this purpose. I have not investigated this, but could not it be so that laptop when running on battery is having much more better power??? I mean, unplugging laptop from the mains while listening is probably the best way to go?
I now own JKDAC32 which is HiFace+DAC in one box completely powered by batteries. Sound is really great. One reason for this is because power from batteries is extremely stable.
So, was thinking what is the power that comes out of laptop's battery? Isn't is better than the one coming out of regular PC power source?

Ivo

Well, if you think it is the noisy supply hurting your sound, then yes.
But I don't think it will be about that (for your DAC maybe, but not for the PC). Of course, eliminating noise "in" the PC will help possibly, but it really is about the laptop being so much underpowered ...
(this really goes beyond the GHz your processor shows)

Peter

Peter,

Can you be more precise on , please?

If I choose multi-core CPU with 8 GBs of RAM based laptop, will it somehow degrade the sound if compared to similar desktop?

Has anyone actually compared something like this?

Ivo

While Battery power probably offers more " isolation " ,it  doesn't *necessarily* work for better noise and sound specs .There are few examples of experiments  where it is demonstrated that Batteries can be more noisy than Power Supplies .

That said , in my laptop I changed a little bit the grounding scheme , for good reasons .

When I was using the JKenny MKII and a laptop the difference between using batteries versus the wall wart  with the JKenny were very significant; however, there was very little, if any difference, between AC power and battery power with the laptop. Never did understand why.

You mean, running MK2 + Laptop with power cord disconnected was a way better than with laptop's power cord connected?


Not sure I got this? Can you explain a bit more, please ;)

Sorry I wasn't clear. The Jkenny was far superior powered with  battery power v Walwart power; XXHighend with laptop battery power v laptop AC power made no difference.

Hope this is clear.

In my setup I definitely prefer battery power to AC on my laptop.

Its not a large diference but is slightly warmer and smoother, less noise.

For critical listening always use battery from full power.

Remember to run battery right down before recharging helps preserve battery life which seems to be about as long as the warranty lasts.

I've yet to read anywhere where that is the best approach to take. Battery life longevity is more a function of the "smarts" within the charging circuitry.

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/charging_lithium_ion_batteries

Cheers,

Russ