Audiophile PC vs Streamer

[Diet Kokaine]

Perfectly fine with my lowly SOtM RPi streamer too with Ultracaps LPS-1. Beats the pants off any non-modified audiophile PC



While hardware can definitely improve it, careful attention to software is also needed. Standard Windows OS sucks for audio. You need to have the Windows Server version or the IoT enterprise LTSC edition to truly unlock the potential of the hardware mods you have

I agree. Software can be a bottleneck.
I use my PC for gaming and 4K UHD content. Watching a 4K movie with 24 bit audio on a high end sound system is JAW DROPPING.
To me, it's a necessity at this point.

In your experience, what's the difference between a regular and a Windows server version? In features, and audio wise?

@fliz I know it's tricky. I had a hell of time building one. I'm using a LT3045 regulators for my my ATX power supply (12V, 5V, 3.3V, 1.2V). Another separate LT3045 5V dedicated 2 amp module for the JCAT XE USB card.

 

[fliz]

I agree. Software can be a bottleneck.
I use my PC for gaming and 4K UHD content. Watching a 4K movie with 24 bit audio on a high end sound system is JAW DROPPING.
To me, it's a necessity at this point.

In your experience, what's the difference between a regular and a Windows server version? In features, and audio wise?

@fliz I know it's tricky. I had a hell of time building one. I'm using a LT3045 regulators for my my ATX power supply (12V, 5V, 3.3V, 1.2V). Another separate LT3045 5V dedicated 2 amp module for the JCAT XE USB card.

replace the LT3045 regs w/ belleson regs. all your transformers should have a VA rating about double what you actually need, too.

Windows requires finicky setup. LibreELEC is plug and play

Kodi is also a FOSS project w/ over 20 years of active development, so the UX UI is extremely polished (and customizable). RPi5 can hardware decode x265, so 60fps 4k HDR is flawless and *just works* w/o any finicky setup process at all w/ LibreELEC (which is a JeOS that runs Kodi).

The only thing the RPi5 can NOT do is tone map HDR content to SDR if you have a HDR mkv file but your TV is SDR only. It'll come out muted looking.

If you think there's a difference between FFMPEG playback and MPD, you can go that route, too w/ the MPD server addon for Kodi.

(this is mandatory if you want native DSD support, but that's not something I personally care about)

 

[Whazzzup]

This is abjectly false.

Well harsh response to my opinion from your opinion. Let’s agree that there’s plenty of delivery methods available as there are dedicated music server companies that provide extraordinary playback. I won’t list my head to head observations, it’s moot, I’m not trying to convince anyone to do anything.

 

[theveterans]

I agree. Software can be a bottleneck.
I use my PC for gaming and 4K UHD content. Watching a 4K movie with 24 bit audio on a high end sound system is JAW DROPPING.
To me, it's a necessity at this point.

In your experience, what's the difference between a regular and a Windows server version? In features, and audio wise?

@fliz I know it's tricky. I had a hell of time building one. I'm using a LT3045 regulators for my my ATX power supply (12V, 5V, 3.3V, 1.2V). Another separate LT3045 5V dedicated 2 amp module for the JCAT XE USB card.

I’m a firm believer of non-audio related background services from standard Windows OS disturbing the digital sound quality in terms of timing consistency and some unnecessary noise too (CPU cycles keep ramping up and down on other pipelines other than video/audio playback)

At least with the IoT or server edition, you do not have that extra clutter so your hardware can focus 100% of its power to audio/video hence very stable timing consistency and ultra low noise hence consistent amazeballs sound

 

[Diet Kokaine]

I’m a firm believer of non-audio related background services from standard Windows OS disturbing the digital sound quality in terms of timing consistency and some unnecessary noise too (CPU cycles keep ramping up and down on other pipelines other than video/audio playback)

At least with the IoT or server edition, you do not have that extra clutter so your hardware can focus 100% of its power to audio/video hence very stable timing consistency and ultra low noise hence consistent amazeballs sound

This is why I use decoded memory playback for all serious listening.
Jriver as far as I know, is the only program that offers this option.
Volume disabled with kernel streaming/ASIO.
CPU is almost completely idle during playback. Everything is on the RAM.

 

[fliz]

Well harsh response to my opinion from your opinion. Let’s agree that there’s plenty of delivery methods available as there are dedicated music server companies that provide extraordinary playback. I won’t list my head to head observations, it’s moot, I’m not trying to convince anyone to do anything.

I *am* trying to convince people to save their money.

I’m a firm believer of non-audio related background services from standard Windows OS disturbing the digital sound quality in terms of timing consistency and some unnecessary noise too (CPU cycles keep ramping up and down on other pipelines other than video/audio playback)

At least with the IoT or server edition, you do not have that extra clutter so your hardware can focus 100% of its power to audio/video hence very stable timing consistency and ultra low noise hence consistent amazeballs sound

100% hard agree, which is why using a JeOS is innately a better approach.

Unrelated background services can't harm performance if there aren't any. Big_think.jpg

 

[Whazzzup]

I *am* trying to convince people to save their money.

Don’t let a thing like cash get in the way of one’s audio goals. It will inherently be leverage as an individuals sweet spot. Might as well just use a dongle from a phone which is a legit audio outcome for some. Otherwise let the bones roll, there’s rewards to be had.

 

[Jake2]

I *am* trying to convince people to save their money.


100% hard agree, which is why using a JeOS is innately a better approach.

Unrelated background services can't harm performance if there aren't any. Big_think.jpg

Always interesting getting different perspectives and experience. For those of us a little time poor and not so DIY or software tinkering inclined any off the shelf products you can point us to with the software and PS with Belleson regulators along the lines you are recommending?

IIRC from a quick search prompted by your posts some time back LTA does a nice looking LPS with Belleson regs, but I don’t recall anything else.

 

[fliz]

Don’t let a thing like cash get in the way of one’s audio goals. It will inherently be leverage as an individuals sweet spot. Might as well just use a dongle from a phone which is a legit audio outcome for some. Otherwise let the bones roll, there’s rewards to be had.

You misunderstand. Cash isn't getting in the way. Veblen logic is.

For those of us a little time poor and not so DIY or software tinkering inclined any off the shelf products you can point us to with the software and PS with Belleson regulators along the lines you are recommending?

As far as the unit itself goes, LibreELEC involves flashing an image on an SD card and inserting it into the Pi. It's so easy a boomer can do it. To get the maximum value out of what it can do, does admittedly require a little bit of technical knowledge, but even in it's uncustomized form, the UX/UI is on par w/ off-the-shelf music servers.

What you get w/ off the shelf products for the extra cost is *paid* customer support that you can reach w/ a phone number. The UX/UI is also created by a *paid* team. This has it's positives and negatives. It's FAR more costly to create than something that's been actively developed by volunteers for literally decades, and it's closed source, but the best of the best do have great UX/UI.

Regarding an aftermarket PSU using Belleson regs, Check my signature for who I use. He'll make anything you need wrt any particular streamer/music server. Lately, he's been modding Eversolo units, but if you just want an outboard PSU for something you already have (or a RPi5), he just needs to know the voltage and amperage requirements, and what kind of plug you need to connect it to your unit. The RPi5 requires a rather unusual 5v5a supply, but he's also done a 12v supply for a fanless industrial PC running windows (and pretty much anything else)

 

[theveterans]

It’s like a childs walk to flash an OS to a RPi streamer than installing Windows on the good old days of pre-UEFI BIOS and manually creating your own partitions and their own unique formatting

As far as the unit itself goes, LibreELEC involves flashing an image on an SD card and inserting it into the Pi.

The Eunhasu one from SOTM is pretty good too. Best of all no need to buy a Diretta license just to be able to use it unlike other Linux OS’s out there

 

[AlexMa]

Over the past five years, I have been setting up and helping to set up a variety of computers for high-quality music playback: desktops, laptops, mini PCs, workstations, and even servers. Various operating systems were tested and compared, including macOS and various Linux builds. Comparisons with streamers were also made.

Right now, I have the following operating systems installed on my workstation: Windows 7 Pro, Windows 10 Pro, Windows IoT tiny, Windows 10 Pro tiny, Windows 11 Pro.

From my experience I can draw a clear conclusion: any computer with a properly configured Windows OS will be better than any other OS and better than any streamer.

 

[fliz]

Over the past five years, I have been setting up and helping to set up a variety of computers for high-quality music playback: desktops, laptops, mini PCs, workstations, and even servers. Various operating systems were tested and compared, including macOS and various Linux builds. Comparisons with streamers were also made.

Right now, I have the following operating systems installed on my workstation: Windows 7 Pro, Windows 10 Pro, Windows IoT tiny, Windows 10 Pro tiny, Windows 11 Pro.

From my experience I can draw a clear conclusion: any computer with a properly configured Windows OS will be better than any other OS and better than any streamer.

You're a member of the trade and sell windows based music servers.

Hardly unbiased.

 

[AlexMa]

You're a member of the trade and sell windows based music servers.

Hardly unbiased.

I do not sell and have never sold any computer products. My work has never been related to audio. It is my hobby and nothing more. I always help my friends and acquaintances with Windows setup for free.
I accept donations for the development of a software audio player, but this can hardly be called a commercial project. I made the choice between Windows, macOS and Linux about 7 years ago. I chose very carefully, so as not to waste time on developing a player for the wrong OS. And I have a lot of information from music lovers from different countries about their experiences.

 

[fliz]

I do not sell and have never sold any computer products. My work has never been related to audio. It is my hobby and nothing more. I always help my friends and acquaintances with Windows setup for free.
I accept donations for the development of a software audio player, but this can hardly be called a commercial project. I made the choice between Windows, macOS and Linux about 7 years ago. I chose very carefully, so as not to waste time on developing a player for the wrong OS. And I have a lot of information from music lovers from different countries about their experiences.

Your link in your signature leads to software that is not free (a commercial product).

Here's the relevant section of the ToS for participating in this website

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[Maxpain]

From my experience I can draw a clear conclusion: any computer with a properly configured Windows OS will be better than any other OS and better than any streamer.

How can this be?

When we are talking about an OS handling music as a transport....its job ends if it can offer bit-perfect playback....which is offered by ASIO on windows and by ALSA on linux (don't know about macOS)....sure there are optimizations for limiting the system processes...so there would be less cpu usage leading to less noise...but....that is already done on dedicated streamers who run their own dedicated derive of linux os with minimal processes and bit perfect playback.

They also offer hardware optimizations though...like better I/O ports that handle noise....better internal clock and way better psu solutions than a regular computer running windows.