Pink Faun av Streamer

edorr

WBF Founding Member
May 10, 2010
3,139
15
36
Smyrna, GA
Here is the inside of my new server (Pink Faun av streamer) currently on the testbench. Massive linear powersupply. Operating system on a chip, 2 x 1TB SSD (for music), and 2 x 6TB for video. Multi channel I2S card, which will be feeding a stack of 3 x Directstream PS audio DACs over I2S.

I am speculating his machine can go toe to toe with the best 5 figure servers. Will take delivery in a week or two I hope.

Av Streamer.JPG
 
Nice !

How much is it ?
 
Nice !

How much is it ?

I paid around $5,000. There is about $2,500 of standard components (including $1,200 for the 4 drives). The power supply and I2S card are custom build and should be added to the cost just to build it. How they make any money at this pricepoint is a mystery to me.
 
Is that an ATX PSU ?
 
So is that good bad or indifferent?

On other forums enthusiasts have been enthusiastic about the product. Personally, I have no experience and don't know how it would compare with what vendors such as Aurender or Core Audio are using.
 
On other forums enthusiasts have been enthusiastic about the product. Personally, I have no experience and don't know how it would compare with what vendors such as Aurender or Core Audio are using.

The secret sauce is in the powersupply and the custom I2S card. Lots of attention to detail - the OS is running on a chip. The whole philosophy is shortening the digital signal path. I listened to the I2S card already in my CAPS 3.0, but never did a proper A/B comparison.
 
So is that good bad or indifferent?

There are two types of PSUs. ATX or single rail.

Single rail uses a single voltage input, usually on a barrel DC connector. ATX uses standard ATX connector, which looks like this:

atx-power-connector-4014721.jpg

With single rail MoBos, all voltage regulation is done on the MoBo, with inbuilt DC-DC converters, which are quite noisy.

With ATX input, you get an option to use a linear PSU, with high quality, low noise voltage regulators. That gives sound quality advantage.

How much is the board, with the case and PSU ? (no I2s card and no HDDs)
 
There are two types of PSUs. ATX or single rail.

Single rail uses a single voltage input, usually on a barrel DC connector. ATX uses standard ATX connector, which looks like this:

View attachment 20067

With single rail MoBos, all voltage regulation is done on the MoBo, with inbuilt DC-DC converters, which are quite noisy.

With ATX input, you get an option to use a linear PSU, with high quality, low noise voltage regulators. That gives sound quality advantage.

How much is the board, with the case and PSU ? (no I2s card and no HDDs)

That would be 3,600 euro, or about $4,000. This includes VAT, so for non EU countries, subtract about 20%.
 
There are two types of PSUs. ATX or single rail.

Single rail uses a single voltage input, usually on a barrel DC connector. ATX uses standard ATX connector, which looks like this:

View attachment 20067

With single rail MoBos, all voltage regulation is done on the MoBo, with inbuilt DC-DC converters, which are quite noisy.

With ATX input, you get an option to use a linear PSU, with high quality, low noise voltage regulators. That gives sound quality advantage.

How much is the board, with the case and PSU ? (no I2s card and no HDDs)

In regards to single or dual rail, with a good linear power supply feeding the Pico PSU you will have extremely low ripple effect due too the LPSU. Also a good quality Pico PSU can provide low noise performance.
 
In regards to single or dual rail, with a good linear power supply feeding the Pico PSU you will have extremely low ripple effect due too the LPSU. Also a good quality Pico PSU can provide low noise performance.

True, but I still believe you can do much better with all linear PSU. PicoPSU uses same noisy DC/DC converters as single rain MoBos. The only difference is that they are outboard.
 
That would be 3,600 euro, or about $4,000. This includes VAT, so for non EU countries, subtract about 20%.

Can you post some images which would show some design details - how it looks from the outside, back etc.

And having explained what ATX is, can you verify is that an ATX PSU ?
 
Hello Edorr

Could you tell us your findings with the AV streamer, what does it sound like? I'm interested in buying one myself. Thx.
 
Hello Edorr

Could you tell us your findings with the AV streamer, what does it sound like? I'm interested in buying one myself. Thx.


It probably sounds like music. :D
 

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