DCAudioDIY.com

So many features and so much customization capabilities, nerd's dream come true.

Thanks, I will try it out.

Grover,

Thanks for the info on your setup with Gentooplayer and Audrivana. My setup is pretty different from yours, obviously. Considering the number of computer audio players servers, hardware, cables, etc. out there, it is really challenging to find the "best" that works on all architectures, topologies and equipment, plus having the usability features one likes. Not an infinite variety of choices, but a fairly large set that one cannot possibly explore all the possibilities. You have to rely on others' experiences to narrow the choices into a pathway that works best. Sometimes the path turns out to be a dead end, other times it seems to continue to offer improvements as one refines the parts that make up the whole. Who thought getting digital audio files off the disk to the preamp (including the DAC in the mix) would be so complicated, but it all makes a difference, and there are different ways to get there. It is like the title of the recent Occasional Podcast interview with Nuno Vitorino of Innuos, "Everything makes a difference".

Charlies' observation that digital cables make a profound difference in sound, greater than switching DACs, streamers, etc., I found to be clearly audible in my system when he brought over his SuperServer earlier in the month. It is amazing how much difference there is going from a really good sounding KingRex uArt USB cable to a JCAT Signature USB cable (the JCAT cable opens the sound up and the system seems to disappear). The dual BNC cables between the M Scalar and the Qutest (and now the DAVE) make a significant difference in the character of the sound, I have tried 4 different sets, and each have a different sound. Just a cable change makes more difference than many things on the digital transport and DAC end. It is crazy!

David,

When you upgrade look a fanless chassis like this.

https://hdplex.com/hdplex-h3-v3-fanless ... assis.html



Thats right. I use minimal or no compression when I rip the CDs. Storage being so cheap, size of files is not an issue anymore. If you have a decent i5 CPU, inflation should not be any issue. But then, I haven't done any comparison between uncompressed and compressed FLACs.



That just means the NUC doesnt have sufficient heat dissipation.

Shashi,

Correct, but this is an initial setup issue due to processing data on 1600 albums in the library. Once I throttled back on the processing, it runs cool. It will take several days to get through, but I really do not even use this data, it is "nice to have" but not essential in my setup with 2 channel (no headphones). I do not even do any DSP on my system, so all I need it to do is stream. It is fine with that and not worried at all about adequate cooling in use. Frankly, I could fix the processor speed in BIOS instead of allowing burst speed, and in retrospect, probably should have done that before booting up the first time in the case. But it should work fine 24/7 in normal usage, adding to the library occasionally.

BTW, I was looking at the HDPlex cases, and will likely go that route when I setup my "SuperServer" with a motherboard and PCIe cards.

My problem is that my collection is so unwieldy, full of 78 and LP rips from collectors, foreign imports and generally messily tagged stuff, that a drag-and-drop player is kind of essential for me. I've also found that a "memory" player like Audirvana, that loads the files into memory before playback, offers a sound I prefer. But everyone's gotta find what works best for them.

Grover,

Bad tagging is the big stumbling block with a playback system dependent on them, so see why drag and drop is a better choice for you, and for many. Having spent the past three days cleaning up my library to get rid of the Roon import errors before transferring to a new drive (and still not completely fixed), I have some small appreciation of the vast effort involved. At least most of my library is on online databases for tagging, but I have a bunch of CDs from performers (mainly early music) that are obscure and do not show in databases. I am not ripping those, at least for now. I am also not ripping my record collection, unless I have to drastically downsize (not out of the question, but probably not for 10 years or more).

One of my complaints about Roon is not being able to browse a directory structure to find music. Once I get over the novelty of the great curation and graphical interface, I will have to finally get MPD running as an alternate path to my collection.

David

That's a consistent complaint about Roon, one they claim they cannot fix. ?? And yes, the graphical presentation is alluring---but get over it!

Grover,

Can you explain how Audirvana is piping music to gentooplayer and which renderer you are using in gentoo?

My previous headless music server was the Auraliti PK90 using a SOtM USB card that I absolutely loved served me well for almost 10 years. It ran MPD under Linux and was controlled by the mPod app on my iPhone. The Auraliti replaced my MacBook Pro running Audirvana or my Windows XP running JRMC. The first hiccup occurred several years ago when mPod (or mPad) disappeared from the iOS app store, so unfortunately, I had to keep an old iPhone with mPod around to control the Auraliti. Last year I decided to move on and get a sonicTransporter i9 music server and run Roon version 1.7. Everything was great until Roon came out with version 1.8. I didn’t upgrade my server in order to avoid the expected problems of a new version, but the Roon app was upgraded on my iPhone by mistake and now cannot control my music server. Fortunately, I have MacBook Pro and Windows computers to control the Roon server remotely. Life is too short to deal with these problems so I recently decided to go back to my old software and upgraded my Audirvana and JRMC licenses to give me options and flexibility rather than being dependent on any one developer.

The number one problem I have with Roon is no ability to browse through my folders containing music. That is a very serious deficiency for anyone who has a large digital library. The number two problem I have with Roon is no ability to roll back an upgrade to a previous version. Other than those problems Roon is great but where it falls short or is lacking, seek comfort elsewhere.

Sure. The Mac Mini and Allo USBridge are connected to a Netgear network switch, which is connected to the main router. Audirvana pulls the files, loads them into memory, then sends them to the Allo through the network switch. I am using MPD and UpMpdCli in gentooplayer.