[Spork67]

I've read a couple of suggestions on various forums for using a dedicated, fanless PC, running Linux, for music.
This could be done fairly cheaply. But is it worth it?
Who here has a mini PC just for music?
What parts are you using?
Does it have any real advantages over just playing files from the 2TB HDD in my main PC?

 

[cel4145]

Someone just ask who's using DACs this past week: http://www.head-fi.org/t/814003/how-many-people-use-a-dac.

 

[Spork67]

Yes, I realise all of us listening to digital music are using a Digital Audio Converter.
I'm sorry if my play on words is confusing, but I was asking quite a different question.

 

[Music Alchemist]

Yeah...a dedicated computer just for audio is not called a DAC; it's called a music server or transport.
 
Click here to view threads on this site related to that.
 
Here's another interesting site: http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com
 
I'm interested in the sonicTransporter and Sonore microRendu myself. (As opposed to a conventional computer.)

 

[yay101]

Just get a PI + hifiberry. Will sound as good as a dedicated PC and will cost (relative) peanuts and take 10 minutes to install.

 

[Spork67]

  Yeah...a dedicated computer just for audio is not called a DAC; it's called a music server or transport.
 
Click here to view threads on this site related to that.
 
Here's another interesting site: http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com
 
I'm interested in the sonicTransporter and Sonore microRendu myself. (As opposed to a conventional computer.)

 
Thanks for those links, will have a read.
 
 

Just get a PI + hifiberry. Will sound as good as a dedicated PC and will cost (relative) peanuts and take 10 minutes to install.

 
Never heard of a hifiberry - sounds intriguing. More reading to do... Thanks.

 

[Spork67]

I spent a chunk of Friday evening and yesterday looking at / reading those links.
The "Well tempered computer" was particularly interesting, even if it's a few years old.
He found that a PC with a fast processor, a good PSU and no / few moving parts was as good as or better than a lower spec. fanless audio machine.
I have a quality PSU, a decent i7 CPU, the quiet case fans, and software settings that allow all but the CPU cooler fans to stop spinning completely under low load conditions.
 
I had a spare SSD sitting around that I bought a while ago.
It was too small for my STEAM library, so I wasn't sure what to do with it.
Have now installed it and am using if for all musical duties - It's where I have installed a fresh copy of EAC, I have moved Foobar 2000 from my C\ drive to that one, and also storing all my rips and D/L music files on it.
 
It has helped and most my music now sounds as good as I think it can. The albums which are less than perfect I am in the process of re-ripping. Unfortunately, a few of them seem to just have crappy mastering and will probably never sound good over quality DAC and HP's. Might get away with their low quality with a cheap pair of HP's and the PC audio that won't pick up so much of the noise on those recordings.
 
Is there any (cheap or free) software that can "clean up" bad recordings? Get rid of some of the "noise" etc?
Or should I just try to find better mastered originals?

 

[Music Alchemist]

Is there any (cheap or free) software that can "clean up" bad recordings? Get rid of some of the "noise" etc? Or should I just try to find better mastered originals?

 
Well, you can use a parametric equalizer to alter the frequency response, but that can only do so much. If you can find better masters, that's your best bet.

 

[yay101]

I wouldn't take anything from the well tempered computer as the ultimate truth, a lot of it was questionable when it was released and is even worse now.

 

[cel4145]

Is there any (cheap or free) software that can "clean up" bad recordings? Get rid of some of the "noise" etc?
Or should I just try to find better mastered originals?

The latter. You really can't fix the recordings.

Alternatively, you just try to ignore it. That's what I do.

 

[RRod]

  Is there any (cheap or free) software that can "clean up" bad recordings? Get rid of some of the "noise" etc?
Or should I just try to find better mastered originals?

 
Audacity with all the plugins has a bit of stuff to try (de-noising, EQ, peak recovery, etc.), but none of it will ever sound as good as the recording not being messed up in the first place.