There is no mysterious rocket science in our GulfStream. Some people ask, if they can assemble a similar machine themselves. Yeah, sure, but it will be similar only in "tech" parameters, but nowhere near - in sound.
We spent 6 years refining this machine, doing everyday tests and prototyping new solutions. We destroyed over tens of different motherboards, tried and tested (musically) every RAM brand available, same for processors, USB cards, SSD drives etc. We created our own version of Linux, that is as lean as possible, while optimizing the collaboration between Roon, Linux kernel, motherboard bios, processor core assignments, temperature control, fanless cooling, etc.
Our Linux which is stripped down and optimized to the bone, doesnt have any GUI functions but it allows us to do remote servicing by RemoteViewer app, and helping clients without physical shipping. We optimized Linux for sound - comparing it to well known Linux builds as well as Windows server with Optimizer and Fidelizer.
Our motherboard is selected from the best professional server types, not for gaming and not for graphics. The motherboard and it's bios is also remotely serviceable from our office. Just connect the LAN cable and provide internet connectivity.
The biggest issue is: DSD support up to 512x, ability to cool the processor in real time PCM to DSD upsampling (almost nobody on the market can do this), long term stability of the system.
Our GulfStream can read say 6 databases simultaneously, and play to 6 different users at the same time (like to all family members). It is a multi user, multi login, multi client server.
We took the hard route of designing and building our own fully linear power supply for this streamer. It is not HDplex, it is not impulse, it is the big and heavy PSU that delivers the power in the most music-friendly way. The PSU is the key factor in making the streamer that is more analog sounding than best vinyl.
It takes time and money to buy EVERY part from a different vendor from a different country. First we have to import and stock this stuff in bulk. Pay shipping, customs and duties. Make sure everything matches. Have a skilled IT man put everything carefully together which takes 3 full days and 2 days testing and troubleshooting. Everything is in house designed and specified: the 350 Watt transformer, fully potted, encapsulated, with 4 secondary windings, each for different task. Then our PSU is fully linear, CLC filtered, regulated, with 12 outputs, each custom built for each task. The whole PSU is fanless.
The mother-board is the best we could find with really “open budget”.
It is dedicated to Intel XEON processors that are used only in professional servers. It fully supports our custom BIOS and remote management in case of need to do Remote Viewer.
Other specs are:
16 GB DDR4 -PRO type RAM (Linux will not read more ram anyway, so we decided not to use more) , the heart of the system - embedded drive carrying our own, home made audiophile Linux version, dedicated to Roon software and our hardware. It is so lean that there is not a single line of code we can remove further. A tablet acts as a remote control, This machine plays both PCM and DSD and as far as we are concerned it is the best that PC technology has to offer. Power consumption 30W.
Playing test music is conducted always with Pacific or Horizon DAC, as our ultimate sound benchmark!
Playing in our special dedicated listening room that no other "normal" computer company can even comprehend.
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For quick playback you can instantly play from a memory stick, from USB external 3_1/2 inch drive or from the internet. A 5 inch drive requires a docking station with separate PSU to work.
- Our software of choice is only ROON which can play from internet radio, Tidal or QOBUZ. Your own NAS, your HDD stack and Tidal + QOBUZ will appear seamlessly in the ROON.
All machines come with English version.
All machines will play DSDx64, DSDx128 DSD256x and 512 in native form.
Conversion on the fly is possible with right settings. It concerns both DSD to PCM and vice versa. It allows you to play internet streams like QOBUZ and Tidal MQA converted to DSD on the fly.
Specification is subject to change.
WHAT YOU WILL HEAR
The GulfStream will be undeniably sound superior to any digital source you ever heard. In our tests it beats any CD transport - Esoteric VRDS Neo, Theta, Teac VRDS series, Philips PRO series, CEC TL-0 3.0, simply - anything out there. The sound is very dynamic, spacious, large, full of un-forced details and very musical at the same time. There is more meat on the bones of music, these are not cardboard cut-out skeletons. You get the sensation of immersion in a huge musical cloud of sounds, three dimensional and omnidirectional. That's what high end is all about.
REVIEWS
The LampizatOr DSD computer is a professional Canon 400 mm f/2.8 lens, bringing astounding clarity and vivid imaging; when you are used to shooting photographs with a stock lens, the differences are astounding. It wasn’t that my system lacked for clarity and detail before; the Von Schweikert VR-5 Hovland Special Edition is a very revealing speaker, but with the DSD computer as its source, my system’s performance is superb.When the song finished, he said, “I feel like I died and went to heaven!”I couldn’t have said it better. An Audio Expo in my living room? Yes -- and more. With the LampizatOr DSD computer, my quest for a music server has ended.
I’ve found SuperKomputer to be an exceptionally fluent performer. Its inherently easygoing sound, enhanced by deep, tangible and precise soundstage with background as black as Autumn’s night, makes the outcome coherent, very enjoyable and on the laid back side.