New NOS1 dedicated PC. Less terrifying thanks to you. All help still welcome!

[Nick]

I would say this though. In my opinion, fundamentally, your approach is wrong, because instead of proceeding in a holistic fashion based on a deep understanding of how this very complex and audio unfriendly environment that is the personal computer works, you approach the "audio pc" in a random, piecemeal manner, that will ultimately paper over the cracks and not solve the deep-seated issues. Unfortunately, I think that everyone here has no choice but adopt this haphasard method. It is clearly not unscientific because as with many fields of knowledge significant progress can be made in this way. But it is not ideal.

You are at the first step the haphazard method, been there 7 years ago. Too many variables with too many effects. You do have a choice.

Now try stuf, loads and loads of stuff for years (most in my case not posted about it gets boring to read). Get your nose in data sheets read white papers anything available that might be relevant. Deliberately go off on tangents to chech ideas out, from the location that data is stored to the point is is streamed into the dac chips. Buy the same devices with as many different chip sets as possible to listen to differences, pore over there circuits to understand differences, modify and try stuff out. Look for the common themes, understand where you can. Swim against the flow of opinion at times.

This is what I did.

I did not attack people out of frustration because they drew a line.

You were inviteded to contact me you chose to do otherwise. You then post a passive aggressive point here that I take exception too. You follow up with the rubbish above.

Last time from me. Take it down a notch you will get further and learn more.

Nick.

[PeterSt]

Dear Rakesh,

By now your topic is used as a, how to say it ..., "abusing of". But what I like, is to explicitly continue this, thus in your topic. Btw, you already decided that yourself but I can see that this is also just you.

What I like to grant you (very explicitly) is the sheer capability of sorting things out as they really are. But let me tell you if you didn't know it yourself already, you live by :

etiquette

and I think you noticed very very well that I am the same, that everybody in this forum tries to be the same or just is the same and the reason to be here, but that one person is disobeying this little unwritten rule, also after asking more than once to behave otherwise.

Sorry for the long sentence.

But in short : I am now done with this.

I'll probably have a couple of more posts coming up and this is only introductionary announcing the "abusing" of your nice topic, Rakesh, but of which I feel it just suits you very well.

For others :
Undoubtedly you will think that Rakesh and me are exchanging emails about this. I'd even think that myself, reading Rakesh' musings about this. But it is not so. Nothing.

So a first thing I like others to see through is how in the world it is possible that someone resembles all what is happening in here, so very well, only by reading posts (but for days and days I'd say). This is just US.

From which has to follow that what Nick is doing is not us at all. I hate it so much that I have even considered to close down this whole forum. Only because one messes up and obviously can't stop himself from doing that either. Ad neither can I myself, as it seems.

Now we are calling names. I won't let that happen ...

Peter

[PeterSt]

A very quick post - just no time...

Oil on the fire.

You understand that, right ?

[PeterSt]

Rakesh, IMO you are VERY wrong about Nick and his product.

Sorry, but IMHO Rakkesh is VERY right.

But I understand your (and Peter's) frustration with the way things are being communicated on this forum.

Sorry again, because there is nothing communicated as such. NO-THING.

and you'll understand why Nick might be a bit cautious.

Hey Mani, no. I understand that you try to have a resembling example, but it is not at all. M2Tech had(/has) a product and it comes with a description. May it be important, Phasure has a product or two and it comes with description (some times of 1000s of pages and STILL not telling all up to what I deem necessary). Nick has no single description at all. It probably goes (unconsciously) beyond you, but then you are dreaming too, just like Nick who claims he spent some words about it and next claims that I rejected that and lastly keeps on saying that he THUS doesn't tell anything anymore. So no, he never told anything to begin with.

Please don't take this too personally, but it should be clear by now that I don't like this at all.
And it is funny (and great) to see that some one who is actually totally objective on this, comes up with how we all should see this stupendous thing. At least that is my opinion, but that's a bit obvious.

Regards,
Peter

[manisandher]

A very quick post - just no time...

Oil on the fire.

You understand that, right ?

Yes. But not my intention. I suppose I just feel inclined to support someone I know and like.

Ever since Nick posted his "Nick's Tweaks" thread all those years ago, I've considered him as someone who bends over backwards to share with others here what he has discovered through a lot of his own time and effort. But maybe you're right Peter. Maybe the $ signs do start to interfere with things at some point. [And this is one of the reasons I've always tried to stay above board with all my 'suppliers' in this hobby (i.e. I've never asked for any discounts or favours) - and this includes Nick, Bert, and of course you yourself Peter (as you well know).]

But I have one admission, and I will apologise to Nick at the outset. I've never been comfortable with the idea the "Chronos PC" as a 'product' offered by Nick. And I'm sorry to have started a thread that included the name. To me, Nick's services are quite clear - he modifies the mobo with the aim of improving its SQ. If anyone were to ask me whether I have a "Chronos PC", I would categorically deny it. I call my PC 'Le Monster'. I selected all the components and built it myself (with a lot of knowledge gained from this very forum). My PC remains my own 'Le Monster', but it now has some of Nick's mobo mods applied to it. Does this help? Probably not one iota. Oh well.

Right, I'm done with justifying myself or trying to support others. Seems I've failed on both counts anyway. So time to stop digging...

Mani.

[rakeshpoorun]

One Cable to rule your audio pc, One Cable to display your Covert Art,
One Cable to find your music files and in the darkness play them

Looking ahead, I suggested earlier in this thread that good things might come to those who can wait:

...
As a side note, I would add that, in my opinion, if anyone here is in my shoes and is thinking of a new audio pc, and has something that will competently do the job for now, then they would do well to wait until next year if they can, when Intel will have launched the new Skylake desktop processors and the Xeon DE processors (like the recently released D1540), which are low power  and multicore, and with the advantages associated to the new chipset such as USB3.1, even Thunderbolt 3 and even integrated TGbase Lan. For those planning to build their audio pcs next year, they are likely to be able to tick a long list of what I see as these ideal characteristics and then some.
...

I think the following might add credence to that opinion for anyone interested in building a new 'audio pc' later this year (more likely next year), once Skylake and Thunderbolt 3 are well and properly launched in due course.

The backward compatibility of Thunderbolt 3 with USB 2.0, 3.0 and 3.1, its proper integration in the next Skylake socket motherboard because it is an Intel technology, the possibility of using it for 10Gbe networking, maybe all with one single cable, makes this a tantalising prospect for those who can wait.

The original article can be found at this link:

http://arstechnica.co.uk/gadgets/2015/06/thunderbolt-3-embraces-usb-type-c-connector-doubles-bandwidth-to-40gbps/

Text copied and pasted below:


Original story

At Computex 2015, Intel has unveiled Thunderbolt 3. The headline feature: Thunderbolt 3 has changed connector from Mini DisplayPort to USB Type-C.

In addition to the new connector, Thunderbolt 3 now also supports USB 3.1 (i.e. Gen 2, up to 10Gbps), and the Thunderbolt transport layer sees its max bandwidth doubled from 20Gbps to 40Gbps (bi-directional, full duplex). Thunderbolt 3 also offers an optional 100W of power, in accordance with the USB Power Delivery spec. Without USB PD, Thunderbolt 3 will provide up to 15 watts.

Thunderbolt 3 is backed by Intel's new Alpine Ridge controller. USB 3.1 support is provided by integrating a USB 3.1 host controller into Alpine Ridge. There will be two flavours of the controller, one that uses four PCIe 3.0 lanes to drive two Thunderbolt ports, and another version that only uses two PCIe lanes connected to a single Thunderbolt port.

With the increase in max bandwidth, Thunderbolt 3 now supports up to two 4K @ 60Hz displays or a single 5K @ 60Hz display running off a single cable. The official Intel slide deck says that Thunderbolt 3 supports DisplayPort 1.2 (not 1.3), but there's no mention of HDMI. The Alpine Ridge leak back in April 2014 suggested that HDMI 2.0 would be supported, but Intel today says that DisplayPort 1.2 is "the native standard" for display over Thunderbolt 3, though HDMI 2.0 monitors will be supported with an "adapter."

The same leak also suggested that Thunderbolt 3 would be paired with Skylake, Intel's next chip after Broadwell, but we can confirm that isn't the case: Thunderbolt 3 would theoretically work with Broadwell. Intel hasn't given an official release date for Thunderbolt 3, but it has told us that it will probably launch alongside Skylake. Updated: We asked Apple about its involvement with Thunderbolt 3, and a spokesperson responded with, "we do not talk about things that may lie ahead." (It wouldn't be surprising if the first outing of Thunderbolt 3 is with a Skylake-powered MacBook Pro in late 2015.)
Enlarge / A promotional image from Intel Light Peak, which is what Thunderbolt started off as, before it got turned into a copper-wire tech.

At launch, there'll be one passive Thunderbolt 3 cable that supports Thunderbolt, USB 3.1, and DisplayPort 1.2, but with a max bandwidth of only 20Gbps. Intel confirms that this passive cable will be a standard, cheap USB Type-C cable. There'll also be an active cable that allows for up to 40Gbps, but drops DisplayPort 1.2 connectivity. Intel is also working on an active optical cable for Thunderbolt 3, but it isn't sharing any more details at the moment, and it won't be on the market until sometime in 2016. (Is this the rebirth of Light Peak?!)

The most exciting aspect of Thunderbolt 3 is its adoption of the USB Type-C connector. Type-C has a much smaller Z-height (about 3mm) than Mini DisplayPort (about 5mm), which in theory will allow Thunderbolt to make the jump to tablets and other small form factors. Ultra-thin laptops, such as the new MacBook with just a single USB Type-C port or Microsoft's Surface line, may also stand to gain a lot from Thunderbolt 3.

With a total bandwidth of 40Gbps, Thunderbolt 3 offers a tantalising glimpse of "one cable to rule them all." In theory, you could use Thunderbolt almost everywhere: to power your laptop, to power and drive your 4K monitor, and to power and connect all of your external peripherals. The one obvious exception is external graphics cards, with all but the lowest-end GPUs still drawing more than 100W. By supporting USB 3.1 and jumping on the Type-C connector, Thunderbolt 3 may actually be the interconnect to usher in that tidy-cable utopia.



That's obviously relevant for those buying a new 'Skylake' socket motherboard. But now imagine if it so happens that Add-On-Cards should come out to add Thunderbolt 3 to X99 motherboards. Obviously it's likely the 100W charging capability would be lost (who cares?) but the remaining functionality as described in the above article would be extremely useful in the context of a Phasure NOS1(a)/XXHighend PC system.

Best regards
Rakesh

[rakeshpoorun]

Hi guys,

Another relatively irrelevant post I imagine but for me it is all just one project with different strands so I hope you do not mind...may be of interest to some members here.

If you do and I am upsetting sensibilities (as being as remote from an 'audio pc' project as conceivable), please let me know and I will get rid of the post.

These pics were taken by Louis last month and the lathe that you saw in the video I posted earlier in this thread (post #67 above) should be back in action this week when he comes back from his vacations. The indication is that they will be finished by the end of the month but realistically, I now think it is going to be the first week of July. And I am myself off shortly after that until early September, so timing is not great. Well, it is out of my control (I did place the order with an agreed delivery time of April and pay what was required of me months ago), all I can do is wait.

Louis Eastman's website can be found here:

http://www.goldstandardaudio.com/

You can see some sketch-up pics of my project there, as well as some smaller horns!

He also does some other stuff, furniture and the like:


www.madebylouis.com

www.valelaneworkshop.com



best rgds
Rakesh

[rakeshpoorun]

AUDIO AND CULTURE

Hi all,

I hope that I will not be advised to edit this post by Peter.

I will weigh my words very carefully and hope not to give offence.

I will be mindful that although it has been established that I do not come from Algeria or Mauritania,(ha ha ha) that potentially my culture is so different that it might cause maybe some misunderstanding or difficulty in the future.

I have explained that I have lived from a very young age in England, where I did my higher studies at what's considered a very good university, met my wife here, married here, had my children here and consider myself English through and through.

Are audio and culture related topics?

I think one should not refer to cultures, even in private e-mails, as this is likely to come across the wrong way but there is no doubt that different cultures will have different attitudes to different aspects of music, audio maybe even music playback. Sure we should be aware of it but it is not right that it should become an issue.

Our interest in audio and music is a universal language that links all of us together, in this wonderful world that we can appreciate for an ephemeral moment.

We should remember that.

Kind regards
Rakesh

[rakeshpoorun]

Thought I might post a pic of hopefully the end product of my current multi-channel horn project. Overall height is exaggerated as total height in my current room would be 1.8-2m as listening distance is approximately 2.5-4m.