Whats the best Linux distro for Audiophile?
Dec 11, 2015 at 1:53 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 65
Solduios

Solduios

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AP-Linux, KXStudio and AVLinux are some I have found but has anyone used these that can compare? I am looking at making a small micro computer for just music using my external dac/amp for playing music. Has any one done this yet?
 
Dec 11, 2015 at 4:08 PM Post #3 of 65
I have been using Lubuntu with a low latency kernel with an xDuoo TA-1 DAC for a couple of months.  This is on a several year old Acer Aspire One netbook.  I don't think that the low latency kernel was necessary, but I figured that since the Atom processor is relatively underpowered, it might not be a bad idea.
 
I did have to install gstreamer-alsa to enable bit-perfect audio.  I use the default desktop manager.  It all works flawlessly.
 
-dt-
 
Dec 21, 2015 at 3:53 PM Post #7 of 65
Based on the advice of people here and over at Computer Audiophile, I ended up with Lubuntu and Daphile (with Puppy Audio as a backup).  I run both Daphile and Puppy from a bootable USB drive.  
 
I also have an older machine with Audiophile Linux 2.1 installed - but I stayed away from 3.0 & 3.1 due to the convoluted install required.  They all sound pretty similar to me, but I'll know more once I get in my new DAC either this week or next.  
 
If only for the convenience of not having to turn on the big screen TV to hear music, I'm using Daphile as my primary music playback system now.  The latest version even allows you to load the entire album into RAM - rather than play the files from a hard drive.  
 
Jul 8, 2018 at 4:57 PM Post #9 of 65
I've created a music player called Strawberry based on Clementine with the Amarok 1.4 look and feel especially aimed at audiophiles. It's written in C++ and uses the Qt 5 framework.
It has support for multiple backends (gstreamer, xine and VLC), with advanced audio device options, like setting a custom alsa device string.
You can find it here: https://github.com/jonaski/strawberry/releases
 
Jul 10, 2018 at 4:04 PM Post #10 of 65
Solduios said:
AP-Linux, KXStudio and AVLinux are some I have found but has anyone used these that can compare? I am looking at making a small micro computer for just music using my external dac/amp for playing music. Has any one done this yet?
Click to expand...

Windows 10 / Foobar2000 on a small form factor computer is better than Linux for playing music in almost every way except that you can't run Windows headless.

And I say this as somebody who hates Windows and did not have a Windows box for the last 15 years. I got one recently because Linux is just too frustrating to use when all the proprietary device drivers are written for Windows.
 
Jul 10, 2018 at 9:46 PM Post #11 of 65
gimmeheadroom said:
Windows 10 / Foobar2000 on a small form factor computer is better than Linux for playing music in almost every way except that you can't run Windows headless.

And I say this as somebody who hates Windows and did not have a Windows box for the last 15 years. I got one recently because Linux is just too frustrating to use when all the proprietary device drivers are written for Windows.
Click to expand...

I agree with this. For what it's worth I'm a programmer and I think obsessing over operating system for digital music playback is overrated. I just use Windows 10 and Foobar2000 (I use Windows 10 only for this and PC gaming).
 
Jul 11, 2018 at 10:30 AM Post #12 of 65
I assume that you Windows 10 advocates are shutting down all kinds of background services when running music. For me, the constant interruptions in the audio stream became too intrusive in any version of Windows that I've used - although I have been considering an at least partial move back to Windows 10 (especially since a license can be bought cheaply in certain places) on my HTPC due to what I suspect is inadequate Linux driver support for the AMD Kabini APU that I use in that machine. This Kabini is a fabulous processor for a music only machine, but I want to also use it to watch videos at 2K resolution on a flat screen - and I have consistent crashes with it on Youtube and VLC regardless of the distro. Of course, inasmuch as AMD can be negligent in supporting old hardware, there's no guarantee that they will even offer up-to-date Windows video drivers for the Kabini APU (which I think they classify as R3).
 
Jul 11, 2018 at 11:17 AM Post #13 of 65
duetta said:
I assume that you Windows 10 advocates are shutting down all kinds of background services when running music. For me, the constant interruptions in the audio stream became too intrusive in any version of Windows that I've used - although I have been considering an at least partial move back to Windows 10 (especially since a license can be bought cheaply in certain places) on my HTPC due to what I suspect is inadequate Linux driver support for the AMD Kabini APU that I use in that machine. This Kabini is a fabulous processor for a music only machine, but I want to also use it to watch videos at 2K resolution on a flat screen - and I have consistent crashes with it on Youtube and VLC regardless of the distro. Of course, inasmuch as AMD can be negligent in supporting old hardware, there's no guarantee that they will even offer up-to-date Windows video drivers for the Kabini APU (which I think they classify as R3).
Click to expand...

Yeah. If using WASAPI or ASIO, then if something were to interrupt the music it should stop the music entirely, making any issue immediately obvious.
 
Jul 19, 2018 at 12:39 PM Post #14 of 65
Rhamnetin said:
Yeah. If using WASAPI or ASIO, then if something were to interrupt the music it should stop the music entirely, making any issue immediately obvious.
Click to expand...
stop promoting windows 10. i'm sure head-fi has rules against promoting spyware.

as for Linux, i think audiophile Linux is the best, though i can't get DSD to work. my favorite music player of ALL TIME is Audirvana. nothing else came close.
 
Jul 19, 2018 at 12:44 PM Post #15 of 65
theaudiologist said:
stop promoting windows 10. i'm sure head-fi has rules against promoting spyware.

as for Linux, i think audiophile Linux is the best, though i can't get DSD to work. my favorite music player of ALL TIME is Audirvana. nothing else came close.
Click to expand...

lol don't worry, I am rather anti Windows 10 and certainly pro Linux, just explaining my observations of ASIO and WASAPI.
 
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