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    mCubed hFX Silent Fanless Music Server Review

    m3_intel_thumb.jpgAudiophiles using Microsoft operating systems have many options when it comes to customized music servers. Everything from micro sized low power music servers to ultra powerful space shuttle-like music servers (think noisy) can be purchased from numerous online dealers. However, the much preferred silent and solid state music servers are few and far between. One company filling this void is End PC Noise. In collaboration with Goodwin's High-End, one of the most respected names in high-end audio, End PC Noise is offering music servers built specifically for audiophiles. I've been using the mCubed hFX Music Server built by End PC Noise since I arrived home from CES and I continue to be very satisfied with the audiophile-esque build quality and 100% silent operation. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

     

     

     

     

     

    <b>Intro</b>

     

    The day I arrived home from CES the fanless mCubed hFX Music Server from End PC Noise was sitting on my front step. The temperature here in Minnesota was -20 degrees Fahrenheit and it was snowing heavily. I unboxed the music server and literally could not hold it in my hands. It was like handling a solid block of ice with thick aluminum fins on the sides. After a twenty-four hour warm up period everything was ready to rock.

     

     

     

    <b>Background</b>

     

    <img src="http://images.computeraudiophile.com/graphics/2009/0215/Goodwins_logo.jpg" style="padding: 5pt 10pt 7pt 5pt;" align="left">Every audiophile who has ever read the traditional high-end audio magazines has seen the name Goodwin's High End countless times. Goodwin's is one of the most respected audio dealers in the U.S. and it carries some of the most highly regarded brands in the business. With products from Magico, Spectral, dCS, and Berkeley Audio Design on its shelves and decades of audio experience Goodwin's is as good as it gets.

     

    Most audiophiles have never heard of End PC Noise even though they've wanted to silence their noisy PC for many years. End PC Noise has been around for quite a while and has earned a solid reputation as one of the go-to places to purchase quiet and silent computers. Fortunately End PC Noise isn't only a place for geeks who can piece together their own music server. It offers turnkey music servers, home theater PCs, digital audio workstations, and even customized quiet XBox 360s.

     

    This collaboration between Goodwin's High End and End PC Noise is perfect for audiophile consumers. Each business sticks to what it does best and the customer benefits. Building and servicing silent computers is not the business of Goodwin's while at the same time End PC Noise is certainly no high-end audio dealer. I'll take a wild guess here and bet that neither company wants to get into the other's line of work.

     

     

     

    <b>How It Works</b>

     

    Executive Summary:

     

    1. Order the music server from EndPCNoise.com.

    2. The music server is built by End PC Noise and shipped to Goodwin's High End.

    3. Goodwin's installs, configures, and tests a Lynx AES16 with MediaMonkey as the playback application.

    4. Goodwin's ships the music server directly to the customer.

     

     

     

     

    Details:

     

    <img src="http://images.computeraudiophile.com/graphics/2009/0215/intel_ssd_drive.gif" style="padding: 5pt 10pt 7pt 5pt;" align="left">Audiophiles seeking an End PC Noise silent music server have two options. One is based on a Zalman TNN300 tower chassis identical to the server I built that was used in the TAD suite at CES. According to Zalman the TNN300 case has been discontinued for several months. If you want this style of music server I suggest you order soon before the well runs dry. The other option offered by End PC Noise, and the subject of this review, is the fanless mCubed hFX Music Server. This unit is styled like a traditional horizontal audio component and fits nicely in an audio rack. There are a few configuration options but ordering the default configuration is entirely adequate in my opinion. Once the order is placed End PC Noise will ship the music server within one to two weeks over to Goodwin's High End. At Goodwin's the Lynx AES16 is installed with the highly recommended legacy firmware and drivers. Goodwin's installs and configures MediaMonkey and tests each music server before it's shipped to the customer. The cost of the Lynx from Goodwin's is $695 and the installation fee is a flat rate of $500. At the customer's request Goodwin's also offers Network Attached Storage (NAS) units to suit the customer's disk space requirements. This may be very desirable for customers with more than fifty CDs as the solid state drive in thehFX music server will not hold a complete collection. This music server should be thought of as a transport only, that requires external storage and an external DAC.

     

    I elected to have End PC Noise send the hFX music server directly to me because I already have a couple Lynx cards and configuring the software is a piece of cake since I have done it a hundred times. It is also entirely possible to use this music server without a Lynx card. The server has built-in HDMI , S/PDIF (optical), FireWire 400, and USB ports. Each one of these ports is completely capable of outputting an audio stream although not all ports operate at the same level with this hFX music server.

     

     

     

    <b>Block of Frozen Aluminum</b>

     

    <img src="http://images.computeraudiophile.com/graphics/2009/0215/m3_intel.jpg" style="padding: 5pt 10pt 7pt 5pt;" align="left">As I mentioned earlier, the hFX music server was awaiting my arrival home from CES in January and sitting outside on my front door step. The unit was a heavy block of frozen aluminum when I removed it from several layers of boxes and packing material. I guarantee I could have reproduced the famous scene from <i>A Christmas Story</i> when Ralphie's friend Flick succumbs to a "triple dog dare" and sticks his tongue to a flag pole in the middle of Winter <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWCebEMxkSU">(Video)</a>. The hFX music server is built like a smallish power amp with its thick aluminum fins attached to the sides. The edges are somewhat sharp and serrated. It's a good thing this server can be placed in a component rack and left there for good. I moved it to a couple locations in my listening room and my hands suffered each time I lifted the unit. As the photos depict the hFX has a minimalist exterior that lends itself well to an audiophile's equipment rack. In addition the front slot loading CD drive on the hFX unit is a really nice touch. I doubt any of us want to look at an unsightly Dell or HP spreadsheet machine while we listen to our favorite songs. A big reason thehFX music server is able to operate without fans is the external power supply. This removes a substantial amount of heat from the chassis and allows a smaller chassis with less sizable heat-sinks. The external power supply is fanless and connects to thehFX music server via a captive 48" power cord. The power supply then connects to a standard outlet with a ubiquitous removable cord. This is my only major complaint with this unit. Captive power cords limit options. I'm not interested in upgrading to an audiophile power cable, but I can envision moving the external PSU further than four feet from the rack location of the music server. This isn't a showstopper and it's likely that mCubed , the manufacturer of the case, can offer a longer captive cable. Of course this leads to a bundle of cable if one ever wants to move the PSU close to the server, but at least the option is available. My one minor complaint with the mCubed hFX Music Server that I received from End PC Noise is that the BIOS was not configured correctly for a fanless music server. One of two options must be set in the BIOS for a fanless music server to boot without user intervention. Either the option to pause and require the user to hit F1 upon errors must be disabled, or all fan monitoring must be disabled. The server I received had both of these options enabled. The end result was a message on the screen every time I rebooted. FAN ERROR! Hit F1 To Continue. Not only was the message annoying, but it required that I get up and hit F1 on the keyboard to continue loading Windows XP. After a few reboots I entered the BIOS and made the changes myself to enable a smooth boot sequence.

     

    <i>Note: After this review was published End PC Noise informed me that the BIOS configuration was correctly done prior to shipment and must have reset between the time it left the facility and the time I powered the music server up in my system. I'm guessing the extreme temperatures had something to do with this problem. - Ed.</i>

     

    Upon boot up the silence of the hFX music server is appreciated immediately. The only noise to come out of the music server is from the CD-ROM drive. This noise last about one second and is pretty much unnoticeable. Without a monitor connected to this music server most people wouldn't know it's powered on. It takes a while to get used to a computer working without any noise. Them Cubed hFX Music Server from End PC Noise comes with Windows XP pre-installed. I had to enter my name, the license key code, and a couple other items before entering Windows. This sure beats installing XP from scratch. I installed MediaMonkey and connected to my 5 TB Thecus 5200B Pro NAS drive as soon as Windows loaded. This is not a special version of Windows XP so there is no need to discuss the ins and outs of the operating system. I will say the music server arrived without any software "tweaks" such as disabling services and unloading unneeded programs. This was as I expected because I did not ask for anything other than Windows XP. <i>(End PC Noise informed me that Goodwin's High End does this configuration should the user decide to have it shipped to Goodwin's. - Ed.)</i> To my surprise the mCubed hFX Music Server did not run hot to the touch even though all the heat escaped via the chassis and a few holes in the case. This is a really nice bonus for audiophiles putting the music server in a component rack with other heat producing components.

     

    The installation of my Lynx AES16 digital I/O card was very uneventful. (If you don't want to bother with this install Goodwin's High End will do it all for you.) Once this was finished the music server had three interfaces I used for this review, TosLink, USB, and AES/EBU. I began with the S/PDIF TosLink interface connected directly to my Berkeley Audio Design Alpha DAC. This interface was a major headache for me. No matter what I tried I could not get bit perfect output via TosLink. Adding to my displeasure with this interface was the fact that I couldn't get auto-sample rate recognition working either. I believe the cause of these problems was the ASUS/Realtek HD Audio software. First, the software required manual sample rate adjustments. Second, even when the sample rate was correct and all the features of the software were disabled the digital output was still not bit perfect. After several hours I moved on to the other interfaces. I used the USB interface on the hFX music server exclusively with the Bel Canto USB Link. The USB Link converts USB to S/PDIF coax. This allowed me to keep my Alpha DAC and the rest of the system constant. Using MediaMonkey and the USB Link brought me back to the listening experience I was used to. Browsing my NAS device for music, clicking on tracks with different sample rates, and seeing my Alpha DAC read the correct sample rate every time was very nice. Without the beta version of Sonic Studio's Amarra my beloved Mac Pro can't even adjust the sample rate on the fly. The USB interface performed as I thought it would, flawless. Then I moved on to my reference interface the Lynx Studio AES16 digital I/O card with custom HD26 to XLR AES cable. Using this configuration I was able to output bit perfect music from 16/44.1 up to 24/192 and every sample rate in between. Auto sample rate recognition was flawless as well and my listening experience was wonderful. A silent music server with an ultra low jitter source and high resolution audio is tough to surpass. However, comparing the End PC Noise built mCubed hFX Music Server to the Zalman TNN300 that I built from scratch yielded an interesting result. Sonically I prefer the Zalman TNN300 over the hFX server. There was something I can't readily identify missing from sound of the hFX music server. My Zalman is not perfect by any means, but I have no doubt it sounds better than the mCubed hFX Music Server. This certainly does not mean the mCubed hFX Music Server is incapable of sounding as good as my Zalman TNN300. Considering the two music servers have almost identical components I'm willing to bet it's all in the configuration. If I built themCubed hFX Music Server from the ground up, tweaking the BIOS and the OS from the beginning, I'm pretty confident the two would sound virtually indistinguishable. The main reason I did not undertake this reconfiguration is that I wanted to review the music server as it was delivered from the manufacturer and without the added cost of Goodwin's Lynx installation services.

     

     

     

    <b>Final Thoughts</b>

     

    The mCubed hFX Music Server is currently one of only a few silent fanless music servers for audiophiles. The hFX has a plethora of digital interfaces to connect this music server to a complete high-end system. Not all the interfaces perform equally but I have no doubt audiophiles will be able to find the one or two that suit their needs in terms of sonics and convenience.The build quality of the mCubed hFX Music Server is very good. If this music server was located in a traditional high-end audio store it wold not turn heads. The quality and unassuming looks make it fit right in with many existing high-end components, more so than the Zalman TNN300 tower style fanless server also offered by End PC Noise and Goodwin's High End. The absolute silence of this music server is what the one feature that separates it from the likes of Dell, HP, and Gateway etc... Many machines advertise extremely quiet or even silent operation, but these terms often fall into the category of marketing speak. The mCubed hFX Music Server from End PC Noise really is silent and has the makings of a fabulous music server that would fit nicely in an audiophile system.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    More details about the <i>mCubed hFX Music Server</i> and purchasing information can be found at <a href="http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/std/sku=mcubed_music_server.html">End PC Noise</a> and <a href="http://www.goodwinshighend.com/silentmusicservers.htm">Goodwin's High End</a>.

     

    Price of reviewed music server: $3000 w/o Lynx Card

    Associated Equipment: Mac Pro, Lynx AES16e card, Zalman TNN300, Lynx AES16 card, Kimber USB cable, Cambridge Audio DacMagic, Weiss Engineering Minerva, Benchmark DAC1 PRE, Kimber Select cable, Avalon Acoustics speakers, Focal Electra Be series speakers, McIntosh tube amplification, Virtual Dynamics power cables, Richard Gray's Power Company cables, Bel Canto USB Link, Berkeley Audio Design Alpha DAC.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    <center>mCubed hFX Music Server Front</center><center>

    <a href="http://images.computeraudiophile.com/graphics/2009/0215/m3_front_large.jpg"><img src="http://images.computeraudiophile.com/graphics/2009/0215/m3_front_small.jpg" alt="mCubed hFX Silent Fanless Music Server Review"></a>

    </center><center>click to enlarge</center>

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    <center>mCubed hFX Music Server Back</center><center>

    <a href="http://images.computeraudiophile.com/graphics/2009/0215/m3_back_large.jpg"><img src="http://images.computeraudiophile.com/graphics/2009/0215/m3_back_thumb.jpg" alt="mCubed hFX Silent Fanless Music Server Review"></a>

    </center><center>click to enlarge</center>

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    <center>mCubed hFX Music Server Side</center><center>

    <a href="http://images.computeraudiophile.com/graphics/2009/0215/m3_side_large.jpg"><img src="http://images.computeraudiophile.com/graphics/2009/0215/m3_side_thumb.jpg" alt="mCubed hFX Silent Fanless Music Server Review"></a>

    </center><center>click to enlarge</center>

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    <center>mCubed hFX Music Server Inside</center><center>

    <a href="http://images.computeraudiophile.com/graphics/2009/0215/m3_inside_large.jpg"><img src="http://images.computeraudiophile.com/graphics/2009/0215/m3_inside_thumb.jpg" alt="mCubed hFX Silent Fanless Music Server Review"></a>

    </center><center>click to enlarge</center>

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    <center>mCubed hFX Music Server Ordering Options</center><center>

    <a href="http://images.computeraudiophile.com/graphics/2009/0215/order-options-full.jpg"><img src="http://images.computeraudiophile.com/graphics/2009/0215/order-options-small.jpg" alt="mCubed hFX Silent Fanless Music Server Review"></a>

    </center><center>click to enlarge</center>

     

     

     

     




    User Feedback

    Recommended Comments



    Chris,<br />

    <br />

    Allot better avenue would be to go to LogicSupply.com They specialize in fanless computers and will build anything you want and ship it too you. They have tons of mother boards and some cool looking chassis and some real cheap ones.<br />

    <br />

    You could save yourself some serious coin by doing some of the leg work.<br />

    <br />

    There are a ton of these micro sized units that don't even have room for CD's. But if you are looking for a playback only device these things are killer. I put a 4300 PC together with an SSD drive for less than $500. I am trying out some Linux stuff on it but it can boot easily any Windows OS. There is also FitPC while I did not care for their service or their Linux setup that comes with the unit it does seem like pretty good hardware.<br />

    <br />

    http://www.wdlsystems.com/<br />

    <br />

    Thanks<br />

    Gordon

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    Chris,<br />

    <br />

    As always a great review. I too am interested in the sonic difference between your own PC and the review PC. If you're using the same card, the same drivers, the same software and the same audio file the only way there can be a difference is surely down to other processes running in the background.<br />

    <br />

    You don't state the spec of the PC reviewed, but unless there really is a lot going on and Media Monkey is running at high priority, then it's kind of confusing.<br />

    <br />

    <br />

    Gordon,<br />

    <br />

    That's a cool website. But it's also important that Chris reviews such systems for those uninterested in configuring and setting up a PC themselves. Gotta get rid of my Antec case. Almost perfectly quiet it is, but ugly it also is too !<br />

    <br />

    <br />

    Matt.

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    <br />

    I'm always looking at ways I can have my cake and eat it. A nice slim, silent and good looking case would be perfect but given that I want all my audio and video requirements catered for in one small package I've never been able to find anything that'll fit a nice, small case.<br />

    <br />

    'till I found the J&W 780G based motherboard below. The only one of it's type in a min-ITX form factor meaning it'll fit into pretty much any case. The 780G gives you the power to watch BluRay smoothly and you can of course configure your PC via whatever means (but possibly external) to give you great audio playback.<br />

    <br />

    http://www.jwele.com/motherboard_detail.php?419<br />

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    I've been looking at this PC for some time. I plan to order mine with a conventional Western Digital quiet drive, however. I doubt I'd hear it from more than a couple of feet away, and I've discovered that it's useful to have local storage for your music files to eliminate network bandwidth issues with high-res multi-channel files. I don't have 1Gb wired ethernet in my music room, and loading those 24/88.2 5.1 channel files over 802.11n or HomeplugAV introduces as much as several seconds of latency when starting playback, ff or rewinding, advancing tracks, etc.<br />

    <br />

    To your difficulties with getting bit perfect output from the built-in S/PDIF, I think you'd have better luck using WASAPI exclusive mode under Vista SP1. I've got a couple of HP desktops using Realtek built-in audio, and using exclusive mode under Vista with J River, they automatically and reliably send bit-perfect output to the S/PDIF coax interface, at least up to 24/96 (my Meridian processor doesn't accept greater than 96K, but I see no reason to think 176 and 192 wouldn't be fine as well). I would suggest to CA regulars that there is no reason to automatically assume XP will be the superior OS for audio applications - it very much depends on the particular application. As more of the high-end cards and external interfaces begin to support WASAPI drivers, I think that WASAPI will often be the driver of choice.<br />

    <br />

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    Hi Chris,<br />

    <br />

    What would be your advice to those who want to enjoy multi-channel records, e.g., from iTrax.com? To connect three Berkeley Audio Design Alpha DAC to the sound card? Or maybe simply to connect Lynx Aurora 8/FW to the computer?

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    Multi-channel is somewhat awkward. I do know of people who've designed systems with multiple Berkeley Audio design Alpha DACs for this purpose. I guess is ultimate fidelity is desired this is the way I would go. For simplicity the Aurora may be a better choice. Multi-channel is not my specialty and it seems that no many people produce multi-channel content anymore. That said, I don't want to diminish what Mark Waldrep is offering over at iTrax. Good music with good sound quality is always welcome.

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    I believe Waldrep at iTrax has been using the Lynx cards with three Benchmark DACs. I'm personally using a Weiss AFI1 multi-channel digital firewire interface into the multi-channel input of a Meridian 861 digital processor/converter (the Lynx card would work for this, too). The 861 (or its little brother, the G68) provides many processing options (volume,speaker delays and levels,tone control,room correction) in the digital domain, as well as high-quality D/A conversion. The G68 is regularly available on Audiogon in the $5K range - just make sure you get one with analog outputs (rather than digital-only outputs for Meridian speakers).<br />

    <br />

    Note that the Lynx, Weiss, etc have AES/EBU digital outputs, while the Meridian and many other DACs only accept S/PDIF coax. There are simple, small passive transformers available from Neutrik which will convert AES to S/PDIF for use by these devices:<br />

    <br />

    http://mercenary.com/neditr.html<br />

    <br />

    Contra Chris, there is actually a lot of multi-channel content being produced these days, particularly in the Classical domain. Check out Kal Rubinson's regular "music in the round" column in Stereophile for examples. The problem is, of course, that most of this is released in SACD format, which can't be ripped except with a lot of time, trouble, and quasi-legal gear. But we are starting to see some of this appear as downloads, from iTrax, Linn Records, and the hi-res section of Music Giants. If people like us continue to buy it, more of this content will become available on these sites.<br />

    <br />

    <br />

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    Mahlerfreak,<br />

    Very nice. Then obviously you store multichannel content on your pc/Mac? I know there are rippers like DVDAExplorer that can rip MLP but all I've ever done are 2 channel. My hirez mch are still discs (DVD-A and SACD) and therefore require players (and in the case of Meridian, would require the proprietary 3 spdif setup)...So...what do you use to capture these hirez mch files for storing? <br />

    <br />

    BTW I agree that it's not a desert out there for us mch fans; you just need to know where to go to find it. Although I like classical (and have the dozens of obvious mch choices from Telarc, RCA Living, etc), I don't love it and therefore have to look a little harder to find jazz and other genres. But the David Cheskys and mark Waldreps of the world, along with newcomers like 2L, are keeping us busy.<br />

    <br />

    Ted

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    I have only about a dozen mch albums on my music server at the moment, all downloads from iTrax, Linn, and Music Giants. I have a couple hundred or so SACDs, and a few DVD-A, that I play on an Oppo 980 universal player modified with a multi-channel S/PDIF output board from this company:<br />

    <br />

    http://www.switch-box.com<br />

    <br />

    The Oppo internally converts SACD (DSD format) to 24/88.2 PCM - this is a mathematically trivial, lossless digital conversion - which the Meridian happily accepts on its other mch digital input. It would also be possible to "rip" sacds in real time by recording that mch digital output from the Oppo to a mch input of a Lynx, Weiss, etc - but the time involved, not to mention having to recreate track breaks, tag the files, etc, makes it prohibitive for me.<br />

    <br />

    I've ripped the CD layers of the SACDs to my music server, along with the other 1300 or so CDs, and I apply a custom tag to mark these in J River. If I run across one of these albums while browsing my library, and want to play it, I note the SACD tag and just go get the disc to play. Not optimal, but its the best compromise for now.

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    Thanks. Shawn and I have talked many times, and I was close to having his board mod done, but then never pulled the trigger on a used G68 yet; I've gone back to using analog outs of my modded Denon 3910 and an analog mch pre for hirez mch, cuz HDMi into a digital Integra/Onkyo processor (needed for Blu-Ray) was devolving, not evolving IMO (any more info and I'm getting way off topic...sorry).. <br />

    <br />

    Getting back to the music server, does anyone know if someone uses Firewire (with Weiss's drivers) then tries to go further than 15 feet without a hub, will sonics degrade?<br />

    <br />

    Ted<br />

    <br />

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    I'm using a 10m (33ft) Firewire cable from server to Wiess AFI1, without issue. The thing about Firewire is that it's used as an asynchronous communication protocol (similar to ethernet/TCPIP) here, which means that data gets sent only when the interface box requests it, and the data is clocked only in the interface box itself. Since the Firewire cable doesn't carry the clock signal, cable quality doesn't affect jitter performance in any way, assuming the transmission quality is not so bad as to cause outright data corruption (very unlikely). Most USB audio interfaces, on the other hand, <i>do</i> carry the clock signal, and therefore are subject to increased jitter from transmission quality. The exceptions, to my knowledge, are the Wavelength audio USB interfaces, and the forthcoming Ayre QB-9, which utilize custom drivers that map USB as an asynchronous communication protocol similar to Firewire.<br />

    <br />

    See this Ayre white paper for more information on this topic:<br />

    <br />

    http://www.ayre.com/PDF/Ayre_USB_DAC_White_Paper.pdf<br />

    <br />

    <br />

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    I was asking because of two issues:<br />

    1) Firewire standard says 4.5M max;<br />

    2) Daniel Weiss recommended to me, in an email, to use a firewire hub enroute (at each 4.5M), to get away from the theoretical max issue<br />

    <br />

    But since there are few real world Firewire dac experiences i thought I'd ask. I'm only thinking 20 feet here, anway. (Demoing the Minerva next week and want to prepare). Thanks!<br />

    <br />

    Ted

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    As a newbie I dont want to offend right from the getgo,but,there is much use of the term "Server" when the simple truth is that they are not,I see no sign or mention of any server software/hardware anywhere.Another issue is the XP/Lynx legacy driver thing,this is quite simple to explain,Lynx have no Vista drivers,hence in the sound panel it only shows up as "speakers" furthermore they freely admit to isues re Lynx cards and the Vista OS,and I wont even go there re the Alpha Dac/hdcd/Vista.......

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    Hi Bytefi - I'm not sure what definition of server you are using, but by all universally accepted definitions this is certainly a music server. I copied come info from Wikipedia below. None of the HiFi hardware used for music servers would qualify as an enterprise class server, but nonetheless any computer is capable of serving something up to a client and thus meets the definition. I also disagree with you about your assessment of Lynx and its drivers. The Lynx website offers Vista Drivers both 32 and 64 bit and I have used them before. Have you actually tried any of the things you are talking about? What are your thoughts about the Alpha DAC / HDCD / Vista that you steered clear from in your post?<br />

    <br />

    <br />

    From Wikipedia:<br />

    <i>"A server is any combination of hardware or software designed to provide services to clients. When used alone, the term typically refers to a computer which may be running a server operating system, but is commonly used to refer to any software or dedicated hardware capable of providing services.<br />

    <br />

    The word server is used quite broadly in information technology. Consider the multiplatform software known as the "Apache HTTP Server". This software runs on many modern computers which may not normally be called servers (like laptops for instance), but the host computer is also a server. Specifically, the combination of the hardware computer and the Apache software can be called a web server.<br />

    <br />

    In the hardware sense, the word server typically designates computer models intended for running software applications under the heavy demand of a network environment. In this client-server configuration one or more machines, either a computer or a computer appliance, share information with each other with one acting as a host for the other.<br />

    <br />

    While nearly any personal computer is capable of acting as a network server, a dedicated server will contain features making it more suitable for production environments. These features may include a faster CPU, increased high-performance RAM, and typically more than one large hard drive. More obvious distinctions include marked redundancy in power supplies, network connections, and even the servers themselves."</i>

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    I use the term "server" in the accepted (IT ) sense,how else ?Re the Lynx drivers,I repeat,VISTA drivers (true) will show in config as SPDIF....not Speakers,thought everyone knew that ?????????<br />

    Currently running the 16 and 16src in Bitperfect multi media server (yes,and it does have the SQL server software)...<br />

    Re the Alpha dac,havent tried it...yet,not ROHS compliant so cant be sold in UK/Europe,but again some issues,hence only 2004 firmware/drivers for Lynx card.

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    Hi Bytefi - The accepted IT sense of the word in your world seems to be vastly different than the rest of the world. I have over a decade of enterprise IT experience and it's commonly accepted that anything can be a server as long as it serves clients. Many people get away with little desktops to run DNS and I don't know anyone who wouldn't call it a DNS Server. Serving music to clients is no different.<br />

    <br />

    I don't really understand what your trying to say with the rest of your statement.

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    Really,I use the term the same as any other IT pro does,but I figure that calling them servers sounds better,to some....Longevity is no substitute for ability....Einstein<br />

    Lynx and Vista,one last time, a true Vista audio driver,when you go control panel,sound,playback will show as spdif, if you are using digital out, not speakers(this indicates just that,speakers,as in analogue) as with the lynx drivers.<br />

    Lynx/Berkely dac will not work with your suggested firmware and driver(both legacy 2004) in Vista because they precede Vista,thats it in a nutshell,not exactly rocket science is it ?????

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    Forgot to mention,you might want to check with Paul at Lynx and Mike at Berkely,think you will find they confirm my statements.

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    I have and I know Michael pretty well :-)<br />

    <br />

    Looks like we'll have to disagree on this one. I have all the components we are talking about and can back up every one of my statements.

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    Fair enough,just for the sake of it then,explain how the legacy drivers from Lynx that precede the Vista release can work with same,and just one more tiny thing,its about the Bios settings you refer to in the review,"they reset themselves",must be the heat, gotta say thats defo a first,please tell me you didnt go for it..<br />

    As to Mike and Paul,yeh me too,nice guys both,and really understand the business.

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    Bytefi, I won't get into the semantic warfare over what does or doesn't constitute a server. However:<br />

    <br />

    1. Vista SP1 does not report SPDIF interfaces in the same way as SP0 did. The primary channel pair shows up as "speakers".<br />

    <br />

    2. The latest Lynx drivers and firmware function just fine under Vista, and in fact they support Vista WASAPI, which is designed from ground up as a low-latency audio interface for Vista. Using J River and WASAPI, I get bit-perfect output at all resolutions from the Lynx AES16. I set up my machine - the identical configuration as the one Chris tested - dual-boot with XP, and listened with legacy firmware and drivers - no difference that I could tell. I did, though, think the AES16 sounded better in a PC with a conventional case, something I've not yet got an explanation for.<br />

    <br />

    3. I have a Berkeley AlphaDAC, and I also didn't hear what I would call "confirmation" of your statements from Mike.<br />

    <br />

    4. You might have more credibility on a board like this if you presented information in a way that was more open to the possibility that other people might know what they're talking about, too.<br />

    <br />

    <br />

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    I agree,the latest Lynx drivers function OK with vista,still issues with Direct/waveout but OK with Asio,configured correctly.my point is,legacy firmware/drivers will not work with Vista hence the OS of choice must be XP,this is why the combo works together only in XP,what part of this is not clear..........<br />

    Your comment re the case is interesting,given all components are the same the only explanation could be a mild case of sound card cookery,the hfx case is well known in the UK and Europe and given reasonable ambients should be OK,would be interested in finding out room temps,might exlpain it...........<br />

    Am always open,but wont agree just for the sake of it,objectivity is much more important than opinion..Am happy to say I dont crave credibility,see previous......

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    Just a quickie,when you say it sounded different,was it,for want of a better expression a lack of "sparkle" by any chance.

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