 I love the SOTM products for their sound and their price performance, but when they introduced an audiophile PC motherboard and accessory boards, I wasn't interested in reviewing them for I'm no seasoned PC builder. But let's first mention my voice, for I bumped into a virus or so that felt like laryngitis. Just when I thought I had to skip a week, my voice came back, kind of. It still doesn't sound perfect, but I think it's sufficient intelligible. If not, please switch on the closed captions by pressing the cc button on the bottom of the screen. Back to SOTM. As said, I was not going to build an audiophile computer myself, but I told them that as soon as they or another party would build a ready-to-use PC using these parts I would be interested. And so they did. They shipped me a fully loaded system with every board they offer. Given my experiences with other SOTM products, I was expecting a lot. The SOTM products are built into a Silverstone case, hence the name on the front. But it's a computer, so it can play music and depending on the music player's software, it can be bit perfect or rather it should be bit perfect when using this hardware. Think of programs like Audivana, Amara, J River Media Center or Roon. I use it of Roon. It is intended to be used with a stereo, so an amp and loudspeakers. A DAC is also needed that is connected to the amp over RCA or XLR cables and over USB to the audiophile USB board on the computer. The computer itself can be connected over your router to the internet for streaming services and internet radio. And in my case Roon method data and license. Although you can connect a monitor, keyboard or mouse for normal use with bit perfect music player software, a tablet or smartphone can be used as remote control. So it's a PC that contains an SOTM motherboard and other components that are optimized for audio reproduction. A SMB Q370 micro ATX motherboard for the 8th and 9th generation Intel core processors, Intel Pentium and Celeron processors up to 95 watts DDP. It uses an Intel Q370 chipset and Intel HD graphics. Then the SNI-1G Ethernet card that is connected to an external power supply and to an M.2 port for data. The well known audiophile USB card TX USB EXP is also externally powered. Last but not least the CLK EX25-25-2448M50 board was mounted. This is an ultra low phase noise isolation circuit that will clock not only the USB card and the internet card but also the motherboard at two points. Furthermore the clock signal can sync to an external clock over a B and C connector on the rear of the PC. The complete kit would cost you $2250 USD. The ethernet card, the USB card and the clock card were powered by the SOTM's external power supply, the SPS500 that adds $500 USD. But to get it working you need a CPU, RAM, a silent cooler, a power supply and a case. The review computer was fitted with an Intel i7-9700 CPU with a No-Fan CR80EH cooler that looks like a copper crown. Samsung 16GB DDR4-3200x2 RAM, a 1TB PM981 M.2 NVMe SSD and a CSONIC TX850 power supply, all fitted in a Silverstone SSD GDO9B case. The SOTM products plus the rest now adds up to $4600 USD. That's a lot for a computer but if it's a very good digital source, it's a fair price. We'll see. The case and the ancillary equipment can be chosen differently, for instance a less powerful CPU, a more compact cooler and so on. But this is the configuration that was sent to me and there's nothing wrong with it. So let's take a look at the cabinet that holds it all, with the exception of the external power supply to power the critical components. It measures 440 x 360 x 170 mm and weighs 7.6 kg excluding the external power supply. The front has the power button on the right with next to it the sleep button. On the left two USB 3.1 ports with in between the 3.5mm headphones and microphone jacks. The internal power supply for the computer components is on the right here with on it the power inlet and main switch. On the opposite side we find the standard computer interfaces, two times USB 2 ports, two video ports, one HDMI and one display port, then four USB 3.1 ports and an Ethernet port. The through audio file ports can be found in the extension slots. The USB audio class 2 output has a switch to switch off the 5 volt power line on that USB port. Most DACs need these 5 volts to have their interface chip identify itself even when the DAC is switched off. Some DACs don't, these will not identify themselves when switched off which might lead to software losing its setting so you have to select a DAC time and time again. The motivation is to block out the polluted power line for that can cause distortion in the DAC. Not in this case by the way since all SOtM cards here are powered by the external power grid by SOtM power supply. So the 5 volts USB power is clean. Then to the next card which is the audio grade Ethernet card that can also be externally powered as it is in this case by an internal jumper cable from the USB card. One slot to the right holds the DC input which is for the master clock board that is mounted in a 3.5mm disc slot. That board also has a 50 ohm clock input that is connected to the B and C connector in the next slot. When the lid of the case is removed we first see the enormous cooler on the left side with below it the motherboard. The master clock board is mounted here while the USB card is in this slot with next to it the Ethernet card. But looking from above gives you a poor impression of it all so let's dive into the case to look at the cooler from another angle. You now understand why the case had to be this tall. It are countless copper tubes to get as much possible cooling surface so that the fan you can see here only has to work at very low RPMs to be virtually inaudible. On the right side we see the master clock board that is connected over these blue and white cables to the DC input on the rear. The four clock signals are connected from here over these black cables to the USB card, the Ethernet card and two places on the motherboard. This connector goes to the B and C on the rear of the PC. The small board here is plugged into an M.2 slot and over a cable to the Ethernet card. Here we see the normal power input of the USB card that is not in use here since it is powered from the external power supply. The PC came with Windows 10 installed. I installed the music software most accustomed to, Rune. I connected a 10 terabyte USB 3 drive holding my music to the computer. Logged into Rune, deactivating my Rune account or my Grim Audio player in the process and had it indexed all music and subsequently complete the metadata. It did that raving fast, so fast that I regretted not timing it. Rune on an i7 Intel Core with directly attached storage is very fast indeed. Of course I logged into Tidal and Coboose although Coboose currently does not seem to work comfortably with Rune, not on my Grim player and also not on this PC. But that's not something to blame the hardware for. There is one thing you must know using this PC. You need to first switch on the external power supply, in this case the SOtM SPS 500, before switching on the PC. Otherwise the PC will not start up since the motherboard looks dead to the booting sequence and it will attempt to start up again and again without any results. The SOtM setup uses the SPS 500 external power supply you see on top of the PC. It came with a splitter cable that is to be connected to the power input in the rear of either the USB card or the Ethernet card. Those two have the power connection connected internally so only one needs to be connected to the external power supply. The second connector from the external power supply is to be connected to the power input of the master clock board that is next to the Ethernet card. That Ethernet card was connected over an audio Quest Diamond Ethernet cable to the SOtM SNH 10G network switch that in turn was connected to the router over normal CAT6 patch cable. The SOtM USB card was connected to the Core Dave DAC over a network acoustics ENO USB cable. The Dave was connected to the air acoustics AX520 amplifier over Grim Audio SQM XLR cables. The Amp drives the PEMC FAC12 signature loudspeakers over Audio Quest Robinhood 0 loudspeaker cable. The equipment was placed on a creative 23-3 audio rack. After having it playing for quite some time I started my listening test. Crystal oscillators always need some time to get run in and to achieve a stable temperature and thus low phase noise. Right from the start it was clear it outputs a very clean and stable USB audio class 2 signal. Sibilance was clean, the lows were deep and texture full. Voices sounded clean, there was a good deep and wide stereo image with lots of focusing. This is the first PC that would be on its place in my set of 1A. It doesn't beat the Grim Audio but at half the price it's very good and by memory at least equal good sounding as the Airs G2 I owned previously. The idea of an only one device, storage and player software and hardware I like very much. And may you wonder, I didn't hear the PC's forced cooling at all. It is a big box that can be configured to your taste. If you like Amara or Ivana, Jayriver, Rune or any other bit perfect player it is easily installed and controlled using the TV as a display and wireless keyboard plus mouse as remote control. Or use a tablet or smartphone. If you install Jayriver Media Center you could even do video, although I have learned not to mix audio or video in one device. But unless you are an experienced PC builder, I would find someone to build it for you. The manuals by SOTM are extensive but unavoidably full of jargon while the many options offered don't make it easier. On the other hand, SOTM might guide you through the options and help you on your way. They are rather communicative. And that concludes this video. As usual, there will be a new video next Friday at 5 pm central european time. If you don't want to miss that, subscribe to my channel or follow me on the social media so you will be informed when new videos are out. Help me reach even more people by giving this video a thumb up or link to this video on the social media. It is much appreciated. Many thanks to those viewers that support this channel financially. It keeps me independent and lets me improve the channel further. If that makes you feel like supporting my work too, the links are in the comments below this video on YouTube. I am Hans Beekhuyzen, thank you for watching and see you in the next show or on theHBproject.com. And whatever you do, enjoy the music.