Akasa-based NUC for Roon and digital music playback

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by Formerly YB-2

Looking at the Akasa boxes for my NUC i7, but am wondering if one must remove the internals from the NUC box and install in the Akasa or does the full NUC chassis simply fit into the Akasa?

As far as I understand it, you only need a few of the internals from an Intel NUC i7 to install in an Akasa chassis. As shown here, there's only the main CPU board and some small boards on the other side of the chassis for the USB ports and an on/off switch and power indicator LED.



I do know you don't want to install the fan sub-assembly, as it contributes a lot of noise (electrical noise), and and there are likely other sub-assemblies, parts, boards, chips, etc. that don't need to be installed, as well. But, I don't have a "build list" of exactly what to install, and where to get additional parts or boards (e.g. the small circuit boards use to make USB connections, power on or off, etc) and what to leave out. There are number of folks that have built these, or are building them for sale, e.g. Elberoth, but what I haven't found is a BOM, and a detailed and specific build protocol.

Be nice to have a detailed "protocol" as we say when working in the science lab doing experiments.

[Formerly YB-2]

Thank you.

[robfine]

Originally Posted by Formerly YB-2

Looking at the Akasa boxes for my NUC i7, but am wondering if one must remove the internals from the NUC box and install in the Akasa or does the full NUC chassis simply fit into the Akasa?

This is a link to the assembly manual to the Akasa case I got for, and installed a NUC 10 i7 in it. It was not particularly difficult but you need to move with patience. The instructions look unnecessarily complicated. If you go to Youtube and search something like “install NUC in fanless case” you will see a number of 5 - 10 minute long videos showing the process of taking a fully assembled NUC, removing it from it case and installing into an Akasa case. It takes longer than 5-10 minutes in reality but certainly under an hour and maybe as little as 20 minutes if you’ve “got skills”.


https://www.akasa.com.tw/download/ma...200623_web.pdf

My NUC in an Akasa Turing case:

[Formerly YB-2]

Originally Posted by robfine

This is a link to the assembly manual to the Akasa case I got for, and installed a NUC 10 i7 in it.

Thanks for that.
Did you remove the fan on the CPU when installing in the Akasa case?

[robfine]

Yes. That is the reason I got the Akasa case- to be able to get rid of the fan. No fan inside the Akasa. Right now I have the NUC /Akasa in my equipment rack so I needed to have no fan noise. I may relocate it in the future but it is not an easy job to run fiber where I would need/want to if I do relocate it.

[Formerly YB-2]

Originally Posted by robfine

Yes. That is the reason I got the Akasa case- to be able to get rid of the fan. No fan inside the Akasa. Right now I have the NUC /Akasa in my equipment rack so I needed to have no fan noise. I may relocate it in the future but it is not an easy job to run fiber where I would need/want to if I do relocate it.

Thanks, again. Just have to decide which Akasa case I want. The Turing case appears to be the simpler to do the installation in.

[Formerly YB-2]

Stephen - got my NUC up and running. 16GB of RAM and 250MB of SSD & 1TB of HD.
Maybe I missed it................
- are you running a CAT6 from your router to your NUC?
- what cable are you using between the NUC and your streamer?
Thx.

[Zelkop]

If you are using Roon, in my experience it is best to have no direct cable between the NUC and the Roon-ready streamer. I plugged both into the router and Roon takes care of the rest.

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by Formerly YB-2

Stephen - got my NUC up and running. 16GB of RAM and 250MB of SSD & 1TB of HD.

Originally Posted by Formerly YB-2

Maybe I missed it................
Q1) are you running a CAT6 from your router to your NUC?
Q 2) what cable are you using between the NUC and your streamer?
Thx.

Hey Glenn,

Congrats on getting the NUC up and running.

For Question 1:
I'm using Shunyata Sigma Cat 6 Ethernet cable between Alita (my nickname for my my Akasa-cased NUC) connected to EtherREGEN's A-side. The dirty Pace Router connects to ER via another Sigma Ether on ER's B-side, so John's "moat" keeps all the frickin' crap from the dirty el-cheapo Pace router away from A-side where the optical fiber exits out and runs into the main audio rack in the living room area to the P-1, as shown:



Question 2: I'm running Corning 9/125 singlemode fiber from a Planet Tech MGB-TL40 1310 nM SFP optical transceiver from ER's SFP cage on A-side into the living room area and into the back of my Lumin P-1, using the same specification Planet Tech MGB-TL40 optical transceiver in the P-1's SFP cage.

As shown here: Shunyata Sigma Ethernet cable coming in at the right from Alita; going out via optial via the SFP port on the left side.

ER A-side:


out to the P-1 here via single-mode optical fiber:


This is what is really nice about the Lumin P-1: I don't need any other "gear" between EtherREGEN and the P-1...just a run of optical straight from ER straight into back the P-1. This was a principle reason I bought it, because it's the simplest and most effective way to connect the music server to the amp. One optical cable to the P1, one pair of ICs from the P-1 to the Constellation. Job done!

In my experience, the simplest way one can mediate a transfer function (and, everything is a transfer function)...the better.

Nelson would agree.

The fact the P-1 sounds f**king amazing doesn't hurt, either.

Cheers!

[Formerly YB-2]

Stephen - thank you for posting your 'block diagram' and details.
Might you have any leads on purchasing an etherREGEN? Nothing available on their website.
Is there a viable alternative that you are aware of?

Lumin looks nice, but I "don't do Chinese", so will go with Bryston or Aurender (if I'm feeling rich).