Here is my most recent project. The HDX1000 uses a Sigma Designs SMP8635 processor and connects to my wired ethernet router. It will play FLACs on it's own hard drive, and play FLACs from a hard drive on my PC that I have set up as a share behind my firewall. Of course it will also play videos. I still have an older Popcorn hour A100 that I have for video use.
I bought the HDX1000 online and it was shipped by FedEx from Texas.
I bought the HDX1000 online and it was shipped by FedEx from Texas.
Now the HDX needs a hard drive and a minor modification.
I bought a SATA 128 gigabyte solid state flash hard drive from Micro Center in Columbus. I just checked again today and they are not on the web site any more, I don't know if you can still get the same model.
You can ignore the online reviews of this hard drive that complain the Kingston model is slow. It may be slow as a laptop hard drive, but it is plenty fast enough to be a media server. The faster 128gb SSD costs about 180 US dollars more. Don't pay the extra money.
My main requirements were that it have no moving parts, so it is silent and won't crash. It doesn't seem to heat up the unit, either.
I also had to scrounge through my parts bin for some small metric screws, the included ones didn't fit.
http://home.roadrunner.com/~rossl/images/mod/HDX/01_HDX_8.JPG
I bought a SATA 128 gigabyte solid state flash hard drive from Micro Center in Columbus. I just checked again today and they are not on the web site any more, I don't know if you can still get the same model.
You can ignore the online reviews of this hard drive that complain the Kingston model is slow. It may be slow as a laptop hard drive, but it is plenty fast enough to be a media server. The faster 128gb SSD costs about 180 US dollars more. Don't pay the extra money.
My main requirements were that it have no moving parts, so it is silent and won't crash. It doesn't seem to heat up the unit, either.
I also had to scrounge through my parts bin for some small metric screws, the included ones didn't fit.
http://home.roadrunner.com/~rossl/images/mod/HDX/01_HDX_8.JPG
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
I turned it on for some listening tests. The coaxial output sounds OK. The TOSLINK does sound harsh, as reported in some HDX1000 reviews on some other web sites.
http://home.roadrunner.com/~rossl/images/mod/HDX/02_HDX_7.JPG
http://home.roadrunner.com/~rossl/images/mod/HDX/02_HDX_7.JPG
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
OK now we get down to business. Time to trace out the wires. This picture is the bottom corner of the board. The TOSLINK transmitter has plastic pins inserted near the label M9 and output goes to the left. TOSLINK has 3 soldered pins just to the right of that, and the bottom pin is the signal.
I determine the TOSLINK is a 5V part and there is no bypass cap within an inch of the transmitter, so I solder a ceramic cap directly to the 5V and GND pins. Later listening tests reveal the cap helped, but it's still not as good as the coax. I can see no marking on the TOSLINK. If I had a 5V Toshiba TOTX part, I would replace the transmitter and see if that helped. I don't have any on hand and Digikey is out of stock. Since I'm not going to use the optical, I'm not going to pursue improvments to it. If I had one of the units like the Popcorn A110 that only have optical out, I would definitely try to improve that.
ceramic capacitor is a 10uF 10V 1206 size X7R - digikey number 587-1333-1-ND
I trace the SPDIF signal from TOSLINK pin back to C158. That PCB then traces directly back to a place where it goes under the BGA CPU Sigma processor. I see no evidence of a series termination near the Sigma CPU. C158, unknown value, couples the signal to R105, 220R and then R106, 120R. The divided voltage SPDIF Signal goes from the left side of R106 to the large coax pin that is inbetween the labels L18 and L20. The coax ground is the pin above L20.
The divided voltage SPDIF is close to 75R impedance but not perfect. If R106 was a little lower in value it would be closer to 75R. 110R would be a good starting point to try, just guesstimating on the output impedance of the BGA driver. I'm going to leave it as-is for now. Later I may solder a 1K3 resistor across the coax pins to lower that impedance a few ohms.
http://home.roadrunner.com/~rossl/images/mod/HDX/03_HDX_6.JPG
I determine the TOSLINK is a 5V part and there is no bypass cap within an inch of the transmitter, so I solder a ceramic cap directly to the 5V and GND pins. Later listening tests reveal the cap helped, but it's still not as good as the coax. I can see no marking on the TOSLINK. If I had a 5V Toshiba TOTX part, I would replace the transmitter and see if that helped. I don't have any on hand and Digikey is out of stock. Since I'm not going to use the optical, I'm not going to pursue improvments to it. If I had one of the units like the Popcorn A110 that only have optical out, I would definitely try to improve that.
ceramic capacitor is a 10uF 10V 1206 size X7R - digikey number 587-1333-1-ND
I trace the SPDIF signal from TOSLINK pin back to C158. That PCB then traces directly back to a place where it goes under the BGA CPU Sigma processor. I see no evidence of a series termination near the Sigma CPU. C158, unknown value, couples the signal to R105, 220R and then R106, 120R. The divided voltage SPDIF Signal goes from the left side of R106 to the large coax pin that is inbetween the labels L18 and L20. The coax ground is the pin above L20.
The divided voltage SPDIF is close to 75R impedance but not perfect. If R106 was a little lower in value it would be closer to 75R. 110R would be a good starting point to try, just guesstimating on the output impedance of the BGA driver. I'm going to leave it as-is for now. Later I may solder a 1K3 resistor across the coax pins to lower that impedance a few ohms.
http://home.roadrunner.com/~rossl/images/mod/HDX/03_HDX_6.JPG
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
time to rip out that RCA coax
I coudn't unsolder the RCA coax ground because the pad is too well connected to the ground planes. I had to snip the RCA leads and snap off the jack that is piggy-back on the TOSLINK. No going back now, I destroyed the leads to the RCA.
I prepared a small piece of RG-187 75-ohm coax. The center conductor is very fragile. I stripped the insulation from the shield and soldered a wire around the shield and then attached it to coax ground, so that the force of bending the wire would transfer stress to the shield and not the center conductor. Then I soldered the center conductor and put on a glob of hot melt glue for good measure.
http://home.roadrunner.com/~rossl/images/mod/HDX/04_remove_RCA.JPG
I coudn't unsolder the RCA coax ground because the pad is too well connected to the ground planes. I had to snip the RCA leads and snap off the jack that is piggy-back on the TOSLINK. No going back now, I destroyed the leads to the RCA.
I prepared a small piece of RG-187 75-ohm coax. The center conductor is very fragile. I stripped the insulation from the shield and soldered a wire around the shield and then attached it to coax ground, so that the force of bending the wire would transfer stress to the shield and not the center conductor. Then I soldered the center conductor and put on a glob of hot melt glue for good measure.
http://home.roadrunner.com/~rossl/images/mod/HDX/04_remove_RCA.JPG
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
The 75R BNC bulkhead connector is digikey number 501-1151-ND
it is isolated, the cable shield does not contact the case ground.
http://home.roadrunner.com/~rossl/images/mod/HDX/05_digi_bnc2.JPG
it is isolated, the cable shield does not contact the case ground.
http://home.roadrunner.com/~rossl/images/mod/HDX/05_digi_bnc2.JPG
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
The hole for the RCA jack is a little too small for the BNC. I buzz out the hole with the Dremel tool rotary sander. It cuts through that soft aluminum pretty fast. I enlarged the hole in the direction away from the optical and analog RCA jacks to give it a little extra room.
http://home.roadrunner.com/~rossl/images/mod/HDX/06_install_bnc1.jpg
http://home.roadrunner.com/~rossl/images/mod/HDX/06_install_bnc1.jpg
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Tighten down the nut on the inside with a 5/8 inch socket
http://home.roadrunner.com/~rossl/images/mod/HDX/07_install_bnc2.jpg
http://home.roadrunner.com/~rossl/images/mod/HDX/07_install_bnc2.jpg
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Put the circuit board back in and solder up the 75R transmission line. again, I soldered the shield first to absorb the stress of bending the coax. then the center was soldered in.
Before I re-installed the circuit board, I decided to solder an RC termination on the bottom side directly across where the RCA coax leads were formerly soldered. 5pF and 332 ohm in series across the SPDIF output signal. That will lower the impedance at high RF frequencies and reflections.
I may later try a RC termination on the bottom pin of the Toslink to ground to see if that improves anything. (on the 3V3 SPDIF out of the processor.)
http://home.roadrunner.com/~rossl/images/mod/HDX/08_install_bnc3.jpg
Before I re-installed the circuit board, I decided to solder an RC termination on the bottom side directly across where the RCA coax leads were formerly soldered. 5pF and 332 ohm in series across the SPDIF output signal. That will lower the impedance at high RF frequencies and reflections.
I may later try a RC termination on the bottom pin of the Toslink to ground to see if that improves anything. (on the 3V3 SPDIF out of the processor.)
http://home.roadrunner.com/~rossl/images/mod/HDX/08_install_bnc3.jpg
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
re-attach the hard drive and put the case back together
http://home.roadrunner.com/~rossl/images/mod/HDX/09_install_bnc5.jpg
http://home.roadrunner.com/~rossl/images/mod/HDX/09_install_bnc5.jpg
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
It doesn't look too bad on the outside.
(RG-187 courtesy of Jocko)
http://home.roadrunner.com/~rossl/images/mod/HDX/10_finished1.jpg
(RG-187 courtesy of Jocko)
http://home.roadrunner.com/~rossl/images/mod/HDX/10_finished1.jpg
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
I am really happy with the sound. I have been listening for a while now and I think the expense was worth it. A lot of my favorite songs are now in flash memory that may live longer that I do
I do not use HDMI to connect my HDTV. The component video looks just as good to me. HDMI is just a big conspiracy pretending to be a high quality connection.
The HDMI adds an annoying delay every time a file is played since the HDMI has to handshake and encrypt things. This delay cuts off the first note on a lot of songs. It helps if there is some silence at the start of your music files.
If you rip some CDs, use the setting "with gaps" in Exact Audio Copy to add a little bit of silence at the start of the track.
I also noted that my DAC takes some time to lock if the HDX plays a FLAC with a higher sampling rate. I edited some 24-96 files and added about 1.4 seconds of silence to the beginning of each track. That way it doesn't cut off the first note of the songs. It's a pain, but I actually don't have that many 24-96's to edit.
http://home.roadrunner.com/~rossl/images/mod/HDX/11_finished2.jpg
I do not use HDMI to connect my HDTV. The component video looks just as good to me. HDMI is just a big conspiracy pretending to be a high quality connection.
The HDMI adds an annoying delay every time a file is played since the HDMI has to handshake and encrypt things. This delay cuts off the first note on a lot of songs. It helps if there is some silence at the start of your music files.
If you rip some CDs, use the setting "with gaps" in Exact Audio Copy to add a little bit of silence at the start of the track.
I also noted that my DAC takes some time to lock if the HDX plays a FLAC with a higher sampling rate. I edited some 24-96 files and added about 1.4 seconds of silence to the beginning of each track. That way it doesn't cut off the first note of the songs. It's a pain, but I actually don't have that many 24-96's to edit.
http://home.roadrunner.com/~rossl/images/mod/HDX/11_finished2.jpg
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Yes. The Flash hard drive in the HDX shows up as a drive in the "My Network Places" on my PC. I just copy the FLACs over the LAN.
I am thinking of doing this to a Popcorn Hour C-200 along with throwing in a linear PSU if possible and separately powering the hard drive , re-clocking and re-capping and find out where the 12Sis in this machine which it supposedly does have do you or any one else think it would be a worthy project that might be able to keep up with a cMP hardwared and softwared PC
It seems similar in concept to the PS Audio Wave player this thing must have off the shelf parts in it ?
It seems similar in concept to the PS Audio Wave player this thing must have off the shelf parts in it ?
I am thinking of doing this to a Popcorn Hour C-200 along with throwing in a linear PSU if possible and separately powering the hard drive , re-clocking and re-capping and find out where the 12Sis in this machine which it supposedly does have do you or any one else think it would be a worthy project that might be able to keep up with a cMP hardwared and softwared PC
It seems similar in concept to the PS Audio Wave player this thing must have off the shelf parts in it ?
I don't know anyone with a C-200 so I have not looked inside of one. It sounds like a lot of work.
A PC can do a lot more than a Popcorn Hour. What apps are you going to use?
For me, the HDX-1000 meets my needs since I only use it for playing FLACs. Are you going to install a DAC board in the unit connected to the I2S bus?
Popcorn Hour C-200
It has a Sigma SMP8643 667Mhz chip in it similar to your HDX 1000 and runs a Linux based OS as I think yours does .
I think it may have been confirmed that it can play bit perfect 16 - 24 bit / 96 - 192 KHZ lossless flac and Wav through a recent firmware upgrade but I am still not 100% sure if it passes through some sort of DSP processing ?
I do not need it to any thing but hopefully output bit perfect digital Wav or Flac
or what ever loss less fromat for that matter .
Yes I would run i2S to a DAC inside it as close as possible the TDA1514A or Wolfson flavor .
It has a Sigma SMP8643 667Mhz chip in it similar to your HDX 1000 and runs a Linux based OS as I think yours does .
I think it may have been confirmed that it can play bit perfect 16 - 24 bit / 96 - 192 KHZ lossless flac and Wav through a recent firmware upgrade but I am still not 100% sure if it passes through some sort of DSP processing ?
I do not need it to any thing but hopefully output bit perfect digital Wav or Flac
or what ever loss less fromat for that matter .
Yes I would run i2S to a DAC inside it as close as possible the TDA1514A or Wolfson flavor .
Popcorn Hour C-200
So if it runs bit perfect with out any DSP filtering what makes the PC a better
Transport if you were to do classic cd player mods to it to bring the noise down
such as linear power supplies , quality caps , re-clocking , i2S , grounding work , discrete regulators separate hard drive power supply as the cPlay site has done etc etc ... would this not be better than a PC transport as it does not have the main problem as a PC having all that cross talk and dirty power , no fans , and running all that other stuff it has to make it stable , the Popcorn Hour C-200 or HDX 1000 could be something along the lines of a PS Audio Wave player unless that player has some sort of mysterious black art in it that thing can not be that different to a media player can it maybe more optimized ?
Rossi have you not tried typical cd player mods to see if it works , can a sound card and ASIO be that much better ?
Any one please correct me if I am totally nuts if it is wishful thinking or possible and if so how , and if not how are these so different to computers ?
So if it runs bit perfect with out any DSP filtering what makes the PC a better
Transport if you were to do classic cd player mods to it to bring the noise down
such as linear power supplies , quality caps , re-clocking , i2S , grounding work , discrete regulators separate hard drive power supply as the cPlay site has done etc etc ... would this not be better than a PC transport as it does not have the main problem as a PC having all that cross talk and dirty power , no fans , and running all that other stuff it has to make it stable , the Popcorn Hour C-200 or HDX 1000 could be something along the lines of a PS Audio Wave player unless that player has some sort of mysterious black art in it that thing can not be that different to a media player can it maybe more optimized ?
Rossi have you not tried typical cd player mods to see if it works , can a sound card and ASIO be that much better ?
Any one please correct me if I am totally nuts if it is wishful thinking or possible and if so how , and if not how are these so different to computers ?
No, PC is not better unless you want to use it for processing, games or other PC functions. The HDX-1000 sounds better than a CD player. I am very happy with the sound.
I didn't replace the switching power supply in the HDX-1000 because I am using it all digital except for the analog video out.. ethernet in, SPDIF out, no real need for a fancy linear power supply.
The HDX-1000 would be great for your use, IF you only need one SATA hard drive and will not add in a DAC board... and IF you already have a good external DAC that you can use.
The Poppy C-200 has room for two SATA and some space for add-in DAC boards and new linear power supplies if you want that.
I don't want a PC in my listening room. I wired in a CAT5 ethernet connection so I have network, cable TV and an antenna. The PCs and cable modem are in my office in another room.
Also, I did my own basement remodeling for my listening room, that's why the drywall finishing looks so bad
I didn't replace the switching power supply in the HDX-1000 because I am using it all digital except for the analog video out.. ethernet in, SPDIF out, no real need for a fancy linear power supply.
The HDX-1000 would be great for your use, IF you only need one SATA hard drive and will not add in a DAC board... and IF you already have a good external DAC that you can use.
The Poppy C-200 has room for two SATA and some space for add-in DAC boards and new linear power supplies if you want that.
I don't want a PC in my listening room. I wired in a CAT5 ethernet connection so I have network, cable TV and an antenna. The PCs and cable modem are in my office in another room.
Also, I did my own basement remodeling for my listening room, that's why the drywall finishing looks so bad
Attachments
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.