Originally Posted by TopPop
Bumpy bump.
Anyone?
Hi, and thanks for your reply. I wasn't expecting too much interest in this thread as it requires some knowledge of Linux. It's not a plug n' play solution (like using a laptop or buying a Slim Devices), but it is far cheaper, and being open source you are not beholden to any one company for support or bug fixes.
To try answer some of your questions...
I know nothing about Foobar or ASIO. My household has been strictly Linux for the last 10-12 years. I do know that ALSA (the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) will pass bit perfect audio when you specify a hardware address in MPD's config file.
I have not heard any sound degradation using MPD's buffer. MPD will play WAV files as well as an assortment of other file types. I suggest you rip your music to FLAC, as the WAV file format has no facilities for tagging.
I haven't tried using my music server with an external USB HDD. I wanted to eliminate any HDD or fan noise (I have plenty of Real Trap treatments which makes my room very quiet) from my listening room. My FLAC files are sent over CAT 5 100Mbit ethernet via NFS from my desktop machine in the bedroom. NFS stands for Network File System. It makes files and directories appear over a network as if they were locally attached. Since the ALIX board is running off Compact Flash, and I didn't want any HDD's in the listening room, NFS makes the FLAC files appear (to MPD) on the ALIX as if they regular local files.
The ALIX boards does have 2 mini-PCI slots. I suppose one could add a wireless card and keep the wiring down to a minimum. You could also move it from room to room if you wanted to.
If you know NOTHING about Linux, this might be a difficult project, software wise, to put together. Especially since there is no GUI involved in setting up the ALIX board. You also need to do the initial configuration of the board via SSH or the serial port; there is no VGA port. Or you could buy one of the more expensive PC Engine ALIX boards with VGA and keyboard. It's still %100 fan-less and draws only 5 watts compared to my 3 watts. The serial port option would also require the purchase or loan of a serial cable and null modem adapter. On the plus side, since Voyage is based on Debian, and it retains the excellent apt package manager, installing software is a breeze: apt-get install mpd alsa-base is all that is needed to get the audio software installed.
As an aside, my profession has nothing to do with computers. I taught myself Linux over the years. If you can use Google and subscribe to one of the better mailing lists, like Debian user, you can learn quite a bit.
As an update to my server running so far:
I haven't had any issues. The ALIX board runs for weeks between powering down with not a single crash yet. CPU is still 5-8% playing FLAC files of all sizes. No skips, pops, click or any other extraneous noises. Internet radio stations play without any issues.
I managed to pick up a Nokia N800 and a used Linksys Wireless router ($150 and $20, respectively) from Craigslist, and can now control my music and play-lists from the couch wirelessly.
If you have any other questions, please let me know.