An upgrade!

I did an interesting upgrade today. Not to the hifi directly, but it had an impact.

I changed my computer's PSU for a silent one. In addition, I cleaned out the computer's heatsink thouroughly. This has allowed to me to switch off one of the case fans (and it still runs on average 8C cooler), and so the computer's noise level has dropped very significantly. Now the hard disks are amongst the loudest things in there.

Since I have the computer on most of the time that I listen to the hifi, this has actually had a surprising impact on sound quality. Lowering the noise floor in your room is a serious upgrade!

 

This is very, very true. The difference between listening at 8PM with quiet traffic noise (I live in a third floor flat around the corner from a busy main road) and 3AM with no traffic noise is surprisingly huge. You hear so much more and the experience is so much more involving - a bit like headphones actually.

Dunc

 

This is a very good point and one I haven't often heard made.
In fact it's inspired me to spend the next ten minutes boring you all to tears. :SLEEP: :SLEEP: :SLEEP: : :SLEEP: :SLEEP:

Lowering the noise floor, isn't that one of the major things we try to achieve within our systems? And the room is part of the system.

The self is also part of the system and one that is more commonly downgraded rather than upgraded over time.

Do you remember when some Hi-fi Journos went through an ear syringing fad? It was supposed to improve one's hearing. Sadly , it did assorted other damage as well so everyone but the hard core crazies decided that this was a bad idea.

To broaden this topic out a little. There is also working to 'reduce the noise floor' of the body. There's a direct correlation between tenseness in the muscles and the electrical signals they emit. When we're relaxed and comfortable (lower noise) do we enjoy music more?

What about the mind? Taking a more Eastern philosophical approach ...

A Yogi from India might say that the key is to learn to focus on listening to the music, to the exclusion of all the other sounds, until the other sounds just disappear.

A Zen Master might tell you that the way is to listen so that you're aware of all of the sounds but totally undisturbed by the non-musical ones.

A child might just listen to the music naturally and not be disturbed by sounds below a certain level - like when we find ourselves really listening to the music and not to aspects of the hi-fi.

Of course a bottle of Scotch or Thai stick can also make a big difference to our perception of sound. Is this an upgrade, or is it just a difference? :guiness: :tempted: :MILD:

I can't go without mentioning the colour blue. How much would one's quality of sounds go up if the "G" of "zeroGain.com" was blue instead of orange?

 

Hence my shopping list for my PC :

Zalman CNPS7000A CPU Cooler
Antec SLK-3700BQE Case
AcoustiPack pre-cut for Sonata case (very similar to the SLK3700BQE)
2x Antec 120mm fans (may 7v them, but these two will be significantly quieter than the 6x 80mms (!) I've got running at the moment)

I need to find a buyer for my modded Coolermaster first though its got a lot of blue LEDs and lights, any takers?

 

Re: Re: An upgrade!

This much:

 

Chris
you star

such luverly bl00ness

 

If you have a look round the net you can find enclosures to put the hard drives in. These make the drives virtually silent. Try www.silentpc.com (I think) for more details. The only drawback is that it increases the heat inside your case

I also just swopped for a new case on the pc (bought the antec sonata one) and the noise difference is noticable!

 

the G5 powermac has four thremal inclsoures with dedicated fans for each. Although there is 10 fans in this thing it is very quiet.

Just goes to show a PC isn't about raw performance but design as well, most of us have to live with these things.

 

I've not seen any hard disk enclosures I'd be happy to put my disks in because they tend to mechanically isolate the disk to lower the noise. Fine in principle, but hard disks rely on their mechanical connection to the case for a significant proportion of their heatsinking.

I am not a fan of the Zalmans, as my review of the CNPS6000Cu made clear, but I've not tried the 7000. Certainly the 6000 with its fan on a reasonable setting was no quieter than the Alpha PAL8045 with 7v Mechatronics. Performance was not in the same league.

The most effective cure for hard disk noise is prevention. Use Fluid Dynamic Bearing disks, which can be extraordinarily quiet.

 

Chris Excellent mate,

Iaasc, for helicopter rotor bearings we used to use a telfon suspension, with some top secret molececluar adehsion voodoo, maybe this on computer fan bearing sub assemblies and then bathed in BLUE light would work a treat

 

Isaac,
Can you not put the computer in a different room?

I'm just about to do that with mine. I have bought 5m ps/2 and vga cables so my keyboard mouse and monitor can be that far away (in the attic space next to my room, alongside my music server).

Next to my monitor I will have a little box with a USB2 hub in it, an IDE to USB2 convertor and my cd writer, along with extra power button and leds'. This will be connected to my PC with a 5m USB2 cable and a slave wiring harness to the motherboard.

Haven't actually done it yet because I am waiting for a couple of things, but going by experience of the music server, it should be inaudible.

 

Can you not just switch the puter off when you listen to music?

Dunc

 

How about using the pc to cancel its own noise?

Get the mic. to pick up the computer noise while the hi-fi system is off, use software on the pc to create an inverted signal and play this back through the computer's speakers. Adjust volume to best effect. Pat yourself on the back and enjoy the music. Simple.

I estimate that a substantial proportion of the fan's noise held steady over time, plus the sound dispersion seems to be fairly even around the pc, so it could work.

You would probably need the software to delay the inverted waveform, so to tune the system you would adjust the amount of delay for best fit, as well as the volume. Then again, the program could probably be made do the adjustments automatically.

Can anyone do that? It would be a fairly easy program and could be a nice little earner (if it worked). . It wouldn't just be for listening to a separate hi-fi system but could also be useful for everyone using the pc as a music source. At $9.99 a hit it could sell millions. :groupies:

Oh, and if it does work, don't thank me - just send money.

 

Steve,

We'll have to fit some BLUE LED's to your Nosuch 4's and little awesomes sir, the benefits are nothing short of :mana:

 

Steve,

Tact will already do that to the best of my knowledge. The RCS will correct for any noise picked up by the mic during measurement. So theoretically it will reduce the impact of fan noises. You would laugh if I relayed the stories of Tact users getting up at 4am to take multiple measurements

As for "blue lights", these stangely have little effect at that hour

 

Excellent news. Just let me know where we can pick up Tact systems for $9.99 a throw and we'll be happy bunnies.

 

Steve, I seem to recall there is someone renting them out for that figure, but many people simply refuse to believe the measurements.