Glad it’s a good choice from others. Has he used it yet. ?
mine is xion I7 3.50 and no issues. I have three systems going. But I do know some need more power. But I have it doing everything. Main board and cpu power
plus PPA USB card and two SA drives.
Al
alrainbow said What firmware are you using in DS DAC? It's good to read about others hearing the improvements as I do. So either it's real or we are both crazy lmao. The linear psu and atx board is also not suttle a well worth while investmemt.Al
I am actually still using my PWDAC with 2.4.6 I tried the DS for 30 days when it first came out. I did not find any qualities that were superior to my slightly modified PWD. In fact I liked listening to the PWDAC better. I thought this might be in part due to having WinSvr and AO giving such a stable input to the PWDAC.
MY 100W linear supply arrived but no ATX power supply yet. I am not sure what happened yet.
I recently installed server 2012 and AO. I have not run this in Core mode yet. But,
the results are not subtle. Can’t wait to get in core mode.
Really the the setup is pretty easy but it seemed overwhelming at first.
More to come.
Glad your trying it. This is stuff that works and is easy to use once you get last the learning curve.
rfajardo said @magicknow:I think you mentioned your system was drawing 125 watts from the wall… the HD Plex linear supply is rated to supply 100 W. Yes, the DC-ATX board can take up to 250 W, but the external box is only feeding it 100. I am sure there is a margin here, but you may be pushing its limits at a system power of 125 W.
Let us know how it goes.
Thanks for this. Given PC supllies are approx 80 % efficient this means the PC is actually using about 100 W.
Delivery of my ATX PC is this Thursday
I emailed HDPlex to ask about headroom. This is their replyHi
I have built some headroom into the transformer and the maximum A is 7A based on LT1083 spec.
19V 7A is 133W Max.I think it should work for your system.
sgrowan said I recently installed server 2012 and AO. I have not run this in Core mode yet. But,the results are not subtle. Can’t wait to get in core mode.
Really the the setup is pretty easy but it seemed overwhelming at first.
More to come.
Steve
I would be interested to hear you opinion on the difference in firmware versions on the DS after you get your AO all tuned up. I have a feeling that when the DAC is getting a more stable input that the DS firmware may not have as much effect, especially if the upgrade is eliminating more jitter from the source.
It is worth really following the instructions to get the best sound quality.
Even a year into development AudioPhil keeps coming up with new ways to improve the sound. For example the improvement for 1.29 to the 1.30 was very significant.
Also when I first built the server I used the AHCI disk protocol for compatibility with another install. Since I have dedicated this machine to audio I reinstalled WinSvr using IDE as recommended, once again the improvements were very notable.
Al
Have you been following the developments with the new PCI SSDs? They have a new protocol called NVMe (Nonvolatile Memory Express) that is designed specifically for SSDs. I am curious to see if the new protocol along with the fact that plugging directly into the PCI bus eliminates the SATA Cables (which apparently can affect the sound)
No I have not tried it or heard of it. Post alink to a thread please.
Also how does it connect to main board . There is only one PCI x slot on ATI MINI BOARDS
there is no thread I have not seen any mention of it yet in audio forms it is quite new. So far all the cardsare Server related and very expensive but in a couple of months we should se more mainstream NVMe drives.
I will post a question on the AO form.
http://www.thessdreview.com/tag/nvme/
The SSD card plugs directly into the PCI bus so yoiu need one slot forthe drive
First off the new AO makes it easier to hear the changes .
It does make the noise floor much easier to spot as well as the level of micro detail ,s
I have a friend that works on high throughput database servers - he got a few Gigs of those PCI SSD drives for one of their development servers…I think he said it was like $14k for them all. They aren’t cheap by any stretch, and are still very, very new. So give them a couple years to trickle down I think.
So give them a couple years to trickle down I think.
I would like to have one just to try to see if I need to start lusting 
@magicknow
That is generous headroom on the HDPlex supply, and good news indeed. With that kind of margin, I don’t expect you’ll have any issues.
Mac Mini(s) VS Aries Bridge
while we are on the Caps subject ( I also have one coming from a friend in the next weeks) we started with a comparison of my stock 2009 mini, a quad core 2012 Mini running a server version and the new Aries Bridge.
2009 lost on the Air and slightly in Articulation and stage, but had more soul and naturalness to the sounds.
2012 had more AIR, a wider STAGE and a greater EASE in the delivery. It did seem to feel more like a “STEREO” system though and somehow distancing our envolvement in spite of some impressive characteristics.
then came the Aries
It had been on and warm for 24 hrs to help eliminate the warm up period.
It bested both Minis by a long shot.
first it seemed to deliver more detail and in a way that was very harmonious with the rest of the sound. There was more excitement but with the same ease as the 2012. Timbre was nothing less than spectacular. Cymbals, horns, violins, voices and percussion.
my guess is this is mostly due to the DS and Aries is just adding LESS contamination between the source and the DAC.
to test this theory we switched back and forth between JRMC and Minim Server and heard differences between the two. JR, that we used for the above listenings got whipped by Minim in this session. Perhaps because it is a more bloated pgm?
for all the above we used the “lightning” IPAD app which is a bit short of being “perfect” but once you get the hang of it, it does the job and not much to fiddle with once it is set up.
i would love to give Elyric a shot as the “server” but my head says “don’t go there”.
I have heard some interesting Caps but never in my home system. I wonder if Aries is giving me a taste of what you Caps owners are experiencing? So moving up stream from the Aries are computers ( I include NAS) power supplies, EMI, spinning drives and cables.
Gee, I wish Aries had an SD card slot. Ther are up to 64g now. It does have a USB input slot that they promise to activate by the end of Oct. ( for ext HD or USB stick or, in my case an SD card reader)
now I am really anxious to try my bud’s Caps Server but it still is a “computer” so I really want to wait for the USB activation to compare the two.
ya know when you hear the close miced female singer take a breath? Well now I hear moisture on that breath.
Ohm
G
Interesting Gordon, do you have a comparison with the Bridge vs ARIES ? You were connected with USB .
Good question.
it was on my to do list but thus far I have found the SQ and functionality to be better via USB on the DS.
my Bridge was very solid and used almost exclusively with the PWD. The DSD and SACD files take long gaps before playing (JRMC) so I moved back n forth and settled on USB for SQ n immediate play. I will now be moving my Mini and it’s 4ext drives back to the closet where they belong.
Good to see that you also are happy with your Aries, Gordon
It seems to me that more and more people (finally) becomes aware of what kind of product this really is…
Gorden. A few pages back I posted a link to hd plex. They make linear PSU,s and atx dc to dc converters. Anyway what ever server you have coming for 400 bucks usd. It will best any PSU inside a cpu case . Also do you plan on trying the A.O with the caps ?
Al
Al
For now, I would just like to hear a well made CAPS in my system. I have been happy with the Mini for many years but it just got beat by a little plastic box and it’s ext PSU. This has me curious of how big a difference a true full blown CAPS could make. My friend with the CAPS also has a few great transports including my old PWT that I no longer used.
I am hoping to get away from using a puter so I am waiting for the USB input to work on the Aries so I won’t need an external server or storage outside of the Aries. That should make for a fun comparison.
Frode
Yes I was quite surprised. I have an SD card ready to try when they enable the USB input.
Can you describe the caps
cpu , memory and type of psu.
Al
Probably not in a way that is correct.
I know he did have contact with Phil but I don’t know his parts list. He is a maniac so probably similar to the one you built.
You are welcome to brign yours over for the weekend. 
EDIT
It does make sense that “better” server parts n power should make for better SQ.
I am just hoping to eliminate rather than do the “better” path. The best server is NO server?
I know I am a broken record on the flash storage issue but the technology is already here and getting bigger and cheaper so what remains is a good shoot-out between that and a good CAPS like yours and if the SQ is very close, then that’s where I would like to play. Something like a PWT with a card and USB slot, a player pgm, and the ability to stream internet audio services to the DS.