May 25, 2016 (last edited June 9, 2016)
This first post has been rewritten so it is clear right from the start what this is all about. Regarding this aspect, please notice that the first responses only had for context the second picture below, and no text at all.
High Resolution link XXHighEnd MachII LPS 02The Phasure Mach II Stealth LPS is an
all passively cooled Audio PC with
10 core (20 core hyperthreaded) processor and which houses a
Linear Power Supply. All in a case of only 10cm / 4" of height (that includes the footers). It is 43,5cm / 17.5" wide and 35cm / 14" deep.
24 core and 28 core is OK just the same, but the 24 core requires the (~16dBA) inaudibe CPU fan to run.
High Resolution link XXHighEnd MachII LPS 01Behind the nicely machined bracket for the power inlet (115/230V switchable) and power switch there's a transformer and Linear Power Supply, delicately tuned for the best Sound Quality possible today.
This new Mach II Stealth LPS should be able to set the audio standard for the upcoming years;
The LPS is the result of the on-going expertise and motivation of us all and say that I have been there to finish it off with now 10 years of quite explicit "audio building" experience. This resulted in something which is well beyond a "XXHighEnd PC" as all this expertise is now packed into one small box, previously thought to be impossible.
Besides that, and of course is has been the sheer objective, this "box" changes the sound so drastically that it is once again beyond belief how it can happen.
There are no large heat sinks part of the case - there is no forced air cooling, there is nothing getting hot and there is a 20 core processor.
Minimum !
Like the first edition of the XXHighEnd PC, this one can be heavily underclocked in combination with the XXHighEnd software. And, although it has not been explored for SQ, the Mach II LPS can run at a ridiculously low 120MHz, which is too low to operate really (all is not responsive enough). For that reason XXHighEnd 2.06+ contains a "boost" feature which kicks in when needed (like with volume change), while after the operation of concern the pre-set playback frequency is automatically re-engaged.
And oh, I am also very proud
and thankful that I got ASRock as far as adjusting the BIOS especially for Phasure.
SpecificationsXeon processor,
minimum 10 Core (minimum 20 Core Hyperthreaded) .
ASRock X99M Motherboard.
No running fans anywhere;
For unknown "emergency" situations a CPU Cooling fan can be switched on by means of an external switch (this just in case with the notice that we could not find such a situation) . This fan is completely silent (13dBA or so) and it will draw the heat from the case's internals as well.
When the fan is running, a led now will show so. We also added a thermal safety switch, which switches on the fan+led when the cpu cooler becomes 60C (140F); the fan then runs for maybe 60 seconds (this is estimated) and will have cooled all to 45C (113F) and then switches off again.
Side note : The real conditions could not be tested because there is no way to get the lot so warm that the fan kicks in. Of course all was tested, but in an oven.
The (white) led is assembled in the side of the case and is fairly bright. It is the idea that it will be visible when the fan is running because you can't hear it by any means. Still it could influence SQ so for this reason it is good to see it. Keep in mind though that the fan will never kick in in the first place. But what would we think when for safety it
could be running while there would be no means to check it; we'd be restless. I thought that the extra 60 euros for this, is justified.
Without the emergency cooling fan running, the Internal case temperature is between 40C and 45C (104F and 113F), with the hottest component (outside the CPU) being 50C (122F). This is at an ambient temperature of ~24C (75F) and further normal operating conditions.
The heat generating components are rated at 170C (338F) at least, while the advised
continuous max temperature of the CPU is 70C (158F). In the Mach II environment, the CPU is ~59C (138F) max, during continuous playback of several hours (32 bit / 705.6 KHz, never interrupted).
When idle, the cpu is 54C (129F) or a bit less.
A hot-swap 2.5" drive bay is provided for the Operating System SSD, which is also provided (240GB) and pre-installed with the OS RAM Disk Operating Systems (for free for those who obtained the RAM OS Disk already - otherwise 200 euros extra).
Of course the SSD can be removed after the OS of choice has been booted into RAM.
The RAM OS SSD serves 14GB of "disk space" within the 32GB of provided internal Memory (this "disk space" is 5GB more than the standard RAM OS Disk).
A DVD drive is provided for the rare occasion it is needed.
Two LAN ports come to your convenience, so now the route to the WiFi access point (etc.) can exist in parallel to a NAS (while protected from the Interet).
There's one PS2 port for a shared Keyboard and Mouse connection (Y connector not provided, nor are keyboard, mouse and monitor).
There are USB2 and USB3 ports all over the place as well as a pile of SATAIII connectors and even Thunderbolt, but you won't need those.
The video card again comes with HDMI, DVI and VGA connector.
For again a vastly better SQ (this is serious), the video card can be taken out, so all will be "headless" and controlled by means of RDC. Notice that the multi-boot SSD can be controlled by XXHighEnd and that the boot of choice - and also shutdown can be controlled over RDC.
With no video card assembled during normal operation and with the RAM OS Disk (SSD) removed after booting, the power consumption is 30 Watts during (32/705600) playback.
It is assumed that you have a valid License for Windows 10 (Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 is also fine) with the clear notice that no Windows license is part of the standard package.
If you don't have a valid License or you are not sure about it, ~130 euros must be added to the price and a License will be provided.
Controlled environmentIt will be obvious that this is not any normally "put together" PC as all would be too hot and no Linear Power Supply would be in there (by miles). Therefore it is to be noted that this PC can operate like it does (in sustained fashion !) because of the carefully selected components which closely co-operate and which all has been tested extensively. It is thus not so that, for example, the PC can be bought without its dedicated power supply, that it can be shipped with 16TB of harddisk inside (which btw sure would fit), that it can be shipped with a random untested processor, or that the Linear Power Supply can be provided as a separate unit;
Instead, it is a dedicated machine purely made for the best audio possible as how Phasure could create it.
This PC is to be used as an Audio Processor only - the music stored on the LAN somewhere (in another PC or NAS etc.). The PC is thus not meant to directly attach storage to via e.g. USB, or assemble that storage internally (via SATA). It is tested in empty condition, though with OS Disk (SSD) inserted (might you think this is more convenient to let it in always). Of course it has been tested with the Video card assembled, although the advice is thus to remove that for better SQ.
The PC has been tested and is guarandeed to sustain its capabilities regarding speed and temperature control for continuous playback and being idle - all under control of XXHighEnd - with an ambient temperature of 25C (77F) and with RAM OS Disk (SSD) and Video card in. This also incorporated stress testing for a reasonable period of time, under extreme non-controlled conditions, like operating at maximum processor speed for 10 minutes. This is without the readily assembled CPU cooling fan, which thus can be switched on when necessary.
The fact that this testing has been done with an ambient of 25C (77F) does not tell that all will break at a higher ambient, but because this has not been tested it can not be guaranteed. With CPU fan all will be OK always (say up to an ambient of 40C (104F) - but hey ...).
Pricing (ex VAT if liable to VAT, and shipping)
Edit January 1, 2017 : The price of each of the versions below had to increase with 150 euros. Also see
here. This 150 is already incorporated in the prices you see below.
Edit October, 2017 : Price has to increase again (with 50 euros) because of by now crazy memory prices. This is again already incorporated in the prices below.
(pricing is subject to supplier pricing, obviously, which in the end also depends on euro - USD currency rates; with euro 1000+ costing processors this can wildly change in (near) future).
Price with
20 core Hyperthreaded 2.4GHz Xeon 2640v4 processor : 2510 euros.
This has been extensively tested/tuned for the best Sound Quality.
Price with
20 core Hyperthreaded 2.2GHz Xeon 2630v4 processor : 2260 euros.
After several days of listening it was decided that the 2630v4 is not the way to go really.
Re: Mach II XXHighEnd PC with Linear Power Supply.
Price with
24 core Hyperthreaded 2.2GHz Xeon 2650v4 processor : 2710 euros.
Edit June 9, 2016 : By now this processor has been extensively tested and it sounds better than the 2640v4. This can be explained by means of the presence of the aditional cores, which theoretically help SQ. To this regard, notice that this was tested with the due XXHighEnd 2.06 which supports 28 cores.
Downside : Apart from a more powerful Linear Power Supply (which was developed meanwhile), this needs the CPU fan to run. Without that it is ~9 minutes without fan followed by 90 seconds with fan, then again 9 minutes without, and so on (this goes automatically). So this is no way to go and the fan has to be on permanently.
Please notice that the fan is not PWM controlled (would be bad for SQ otherwise) and that the totally inaudible fan maintains the CPU temperature at 32C / 90F max, during playback. So really no problem at all.
Lastly, the SQ observation has been done with continuously running fan. This with the notice that I myself never heard a difference between with and without fan (consumes less than 0.5W), contrary to with and without video card (may consume 19W). So in my view really good to go.
Price with
28 core Hyperthreaded 2.0GHz Xeon 2660v4 processor : 3010 euros.
Edit Sept. 2016 : This processor now has been tested too and found to be very OK; contrary to the 2650, the 2660 does
not require the CPU fan to run (it may switch on during more severe tasks the PC needs to process, but not during normal Audio playing).
Benefit of more processor cores : the more cores the less the audio processes "can" be interrupted by other processes in the PC (Operating System) which benefits SQ (largely).
Besides that, each core will load a track in parallel to other tracks, thus an e.g. 24 core processor will load an album of 24 tracks in the time of one track (about 1 second).
When you do not pocess the RAM OS Disk, 200 euros will be charged for that (the SSD will have 5 pre-installed Operating Systems, of which 4 can be booted from RAM - W10 10074,
10565 (edit Sept. 2016) 14393.0 and 10586.0 plus W8).
When you don't have an XXHighEnd License for your Household, 72 euros adds to the price.
AvailabilityToday ! However, each PC is build to order (first come first serve as always). Processor lead time can be immediate but can also be 2 weeks and far more at times (depending on supplier stock and/or world wide availability).
Peter
