Article: Computer Audiophile Pocket Server - C.A.P.S.

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Bernhard - I control my servers with a MacBook Air that sits next to my listening chair. I usually open and close the Air when I need it or am done changing something. The Air goes to sleep and wakes from sleep almost instantly.<br />

<br />

I can't wait for the iPad. I will probably use Jaadu VNC.<br />

<br />

I agree, when I listen to music I don't want to work but I also need full control of my servers as I change advanced setting often to check sonic differences etc...

[EuroChamp]

Hey man! This is the first real application area for the iPad. :-) We will see, if and when the guys of J.River, Mediamonkey & Co will release a nice plugin. Apple will be the winner in this race, I think.<br />

<br />

The notebook, even a Mac Air, is a no-go for me.<br />

<br />

I am IT system administrator, so I am a MS$ guy. But nobody offers a nice application designed for touchscreens. And Apple has iTunes and the iPod, that works. Amarra is a nice upgrade, indeed.<br />

Windows Media Center (Windows7) is a great application, but it is not bit perfect. It would be the program i prefer.<br />

I will have to order a touchscreen monitor and test all the (bit perfect) programs out there. Today you can buy computer cases with a 7 inch touch integrated in the front. They are more expensive, but you do not need an extra monitor.<br />

The rest of the hardware, you selected, is really very nice, totally silent and low power consumption.<br />

I think, some persons want one single server for video, too. Then they need more graphics power for Full HD video. It is possible to build it noiseless.<br />

So - let's stay tuned.<br />

<br />

Bernhard

[BobH]

I just thought it might be worth mentioning that a nice monitor, located somewhere near to the listening position, together with something like the Logitech MX Air mouse might be an elegant solution for anyone simply looking for a way to control playback.

[av_passion]

Chris,<br />

<br />

What a great article. Thank you for doing all of the work, the research, the testing and the trouble shooting. This makes building a great music server achievable and relatively painless. Thank you.<br />

<br />

James

[ldolse]

The guy who wrote MPOD for the iPhone and MPD is looking at re-designing things for the iPad. This would have some great potential for a remote control application. If you're willing to give Linux a go then you could leave some feedback for him on what you'd like in the ipad version here:<br />

http://www.katoemba.net/makesnosenseatall/2010/01/30/ipod-mpod-ipad-mpad/<br />

<br />

Regarding mounting the network share, I've been working on a custom distribution for MPD, and I didn't have a problem using the mount command in rc.network:<br />

<code>mount-FULL -t cifs //ipaddress/sharename /mnt/music -o username=username,password=password</code><br />

<br />

Getting the right packages to use that command in Voyage may be more difficult, not sure. I was using Puppy Linux, which can also be set to read only like Voyage, though they use a different technique to accomplish it. I agree that even this could be complex for some users, but essentially what the user needs to know is the IP address, sharename, and user/pass - pass is optional if you can configure guest access on the NAS. All is plain-text. <br />

<br />

Guess I should get around to finishing that distribution and instructions...

[av_passion]

Chris,<br />

<br />

What a great article. Thank you for doing all of the work, the research, the testing and the trouble shooting. This makes building a great music server achievable and relatively painless. Thank you.<br />

<br />

James

[jbpsrca]

Thanks Chris. Is it still th v.67 asio driver you are using, or have you moved to the current release (v2.1?).<br />

<br />

Unfortunately, I get infrequent clicks, and sometimes extended distortion, with the v.67 asio driver under win7 32 bit w MediaMonkey. Haven't tried asio v2.1 yet.<br />

<br />

For now, I've switched to wave_out, which is stable. Doesn't seem to be as magical, tho (haven't done critical back to back listening yet). Is wave_out same thing as WASAPI? I also see a Direct Sound this weekend, but haven't tried it yet.<br />

<br />

I'll switch to J River this weekend. Thanks for all the tips and research. Love this site!

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi jbpsrca - Yeah with my Lynx and MediaMonkey I use the 0.67 ASIO driver. I've been using ASIO4ALL version 2.1 and it works great with USB devices. I haven't tried it with the Lynx yet. When you use J River just select the ASIO option. There really is no need to install ASIO4ALL v. 2.1 unless you have issues. <br />

<br />

I'd move away from wave_out as it's pretty easy to change the bits with the slightest misconfiguration. Wave_out is not the same thing as WASAPI. This of WASAPI as the brother of ASIO :~)

[hubsand]

Looks like you're not the only one liking the ******* board as a Windows 7 music server: ********* Audio's recommended computer audio rig goes down that route much more cheaply. They don't like iTunes, although they share Chris' love for JRiver . . .

[hubsand]

A touchscreen would be the ideal control and display solution for this system, but we're not quite there yet: I suspect the technology will really take of in 2011, triggered by wider application support.<br />

<br />

Although the Pocket Server looks really cute, there's a weird contradiction at its heart: it was painstakingly designed for bit-perfect 24/192 audio from the ground up, yet it only has 60GB storage: how many albums exactly can you fit on that SSD at that quality?!

[gvb]

Hi Chris and everybody else. Thanks for this site which provides a wealth of information. I have had so far only browsed through the many topics, but this one made me think I have some knowledge I should share. <br />

<br />

I believe the choices made here are great ones. However I would like to point out that I do think Linux is still viable. For me, after acquiring a Bryston BDA-1, the ability of playing natively on all sample rates as per the requirement #13 was a must. I am able do that, both on Windows and Linux with the Juli@ card. I bought mine recently and was unaware of this supply problem. I acquired it from FloridaMusicCo. I just visited their site and don't know if they still have it in stock or not. But it is listed there. <br />

<br />

The issue with Linux is to have a sound card that has good driver support with ALSA (ALSA is the current sound infrastructure in the Linux kernel). This restricts the possibilities a bit. But the Juli@ (and other cards using the Envy24HT chipset) is supported. I think Juli@ is superior to other Envy24HT cards because it has two clocks. This card makes for a relatively unexpensive and effective digital I/O. However, the card's breakout cable is indeed a disaster. There are some DIY discussions in the web regarding better connections, for those that have the patience to deal with that. <br />

<br />

Now for the requirement #7. First I would like to comment that not all players are created equal in the Linux space, in particular for FLAC. FLAC decoding is typically embedded in the players, so mplayer and MPD (for example) produced different results on the same file. Some FLAC files, in particular the ones with "exotic" sample rates can be a problem. Much to my surprise, the most consistent player was also the one with the best user interface (in my opinion) - XBMC, from xbmc.org. While primarily a multimedia player, it behaves flawlessly with FLAC files, sending their decodes directly to the sound card with no manual sample rate switch anywhere. I haven't tested other music file formats.<br />

<br />

Two comments about XBMC. One: its installation was a breeze. I just had to install Ubuntu from the live CD - no fancy options or tricks there. Then, the XBMC site provides a few instructions to add the XBMC repository to the source list in your Ubuntu system. Next, it is just one command to install it. One other comment: XBMC (or any Linux player, for that matter) will not do bit-perfect output out of the box. You will need to create a file called .asoundrc that creates a virtual device that plugs straight to the hardware, bypassing the ALSA mixer. Then you have to choose that virtual device as your output in XBMC. I can provide details on that if required.<br />

<br />

And one last comment: I think everybody would agree that the Lynx AES16 is a better I/O than the Juli@. To my knowledge (I hope I can be corrected) the Lynx card is NOT supported on Linux. The other promising multiple sample rate interface is the M2Tech Hiface, but for the moment this one is only a promise as far as Linux goes. <br />

<br />

Sorry for the long post, but I hope this contributes to the dialog. Again, I don't think this Linux/Juli@/XBMC alternative disqualifies in any way the choices made by Chris.<br />

<br />

Gerson<br />

[Elprior]

Hi Chris,<br />

<br />

excellent article !<br />

<br />

I am precisely in the mood for a silent computer near my dac.<br />

I was looking to the Atom platform too, and am already using JRiver MC14 (very good piece of software).<br />

<br />

Just a few questions :<br />

1) Is the Atom powerful enough to use the theater view ? I just could not make it work on windows xp with a core 2 duo laptop (and a crappy nvidia graphic card) and asio ouput : the ouput kept dropping, depending on the cpu load (asio issue ?).<br />

I am to say that I use flac files. But outside theater view, the cpu load hardly hit 1%.<br />

Using a loudy pc, under w7 bits, with a nvidia 7600gt, and the very same system, I could not suffer a single dropout in theater mode. So any figure/claim about the Atom stress would be greatly appreciated.<br />

2) Are you playing from memory ? I love this feature really, this eliminates the need for streaming through the network.<br />

3) What about this Debussy baby ? How does it compare through its usb input against the linx setup ?I know, this is too early a question <br />

<br />

Thanks,<br />

Elp

[bluedy1]

Thanks for this great piece. <br />

Is it possible to move the itunes music files (aiff) to be used in CAPS? <br />

I am afraid that re-rip is mandatory?

[One and a half]

The SSD is great for the OS. Music files can be stored on external drives, cause the streaming rate is pedestrian compared with the processing you need. <br />

[silverarrows]

Looking at the pictures, would this card fit in if the AES card is installed with the riser? While the goal is to build the best server for audio, I would like to have HD playback as well.

[hubsand]

The Atom is perfect for this job, but to be more widely useful, it needs reasonably meaty graphics: the Ion board is perfect and runs Win 7 64-bit no problem.

[hubsand]

The SSD is great for the OS. Music files can be stored on external drives, cause the streaming rate is pedestrian compared with the processing you need.<br />

<br />

-- Why have the SSD at all, in that case? Why not just put the OS on the external drive, too . . . once the player app is loaded, there's very little HD activity resulting from the OS or player anyway

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi silverarrows - The Broadcom card fits easily under the Lynx. It snaps into place perfectly with plenty of room to spare.

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi bluedy - It is 100% possible to play AIFF files from iTunes on the C.A.P.S. server. Using J River Media Center I played back my from my iTunes music folder to make sure this worked.

[The Computer Audiophile]

Husband - It appears that you are the Registrant of the domain that you are directing people to. I can only assume you are posting here for you own benefit and looking for free advertising. Your site sells audio components that readers here are possibly interested in. Consider this your one and only warning. More posts talking about products you sell or linking to your own Store will result in an immediate ban from the site.

[hubsand]

Understood. No linking to sites with possibly interesting things. Or at least, not interesting things we have a vested interest in.<br />

<br />

Actually, it's the recipe I'm interested in: like you, we've spent considerable time working out a recipe for an ideal music server: there is some overlap between yours and ours, and it's interesting to compare notes. Our customers keep asking us 'what PC?' Quite often we direct them here. We link to your site from ours.<br />

<br />

We're not box-shifters, and we don't sell PCs: as a service, we publish our 'reference' spec so people can buy the bits for themselves wherever they can find the best price: just as you have done here. Neither of us profit financially by this, other than by reputation and site traffic.<br />

<br />

The differences between proposed DIY music servers seems worth discussing: your recipe centres on the Lynx card: I'm not convinced this is money well spent, but I'm open to persuasion! Our recipe incorporates a linear regulated power supply: you apparently feel this is less important: we should (all) chat about it . . . it's a forum.<br />

<br />

hu(b)sand

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi hubsand - Thans for the response although the smart ass comment, "No linking to sites with possibly interesting things" is a little disingenuous. That said I totally agree we all benefit from discussing every option available. You can certainly accomplish this without directing people to your website where you sell audio equipment. Allowing these links is a slap in the face to the paid advertisers who support Computer Audiophile and allow me spend all this time working on these projects and improving the site.<br />

<br />

Thanks for your understanding.

[hubsand]

Got it: also no advertiser-slapping. Maybe we should advertise: PM me...<br />

<br />

But to the music server: in our experience following a minimal path reaps rewards: the Lynx card (as opposed to the Zotac Ion's Realtek SPDIF drivers) seems on the face of it to be an over-elaboration. <br />

<br />

The Zotac board is also equipped with enough video processing muscle to do double-duty as a BluRay source (therefore more generally as a HTPC). It's passively cooled, and has no wireless or on-board DC conversion: all good, I would argue. The coax socket can be upgraded to a WBT or similar, but no break-out leads are needed: HDMI, optical and USB audio out are all inbuilt<br />

<br />

Given the necessity of a large HD (which can easily be located in a quiet box 60cm away), the SSD seems redundant, too.<br />

<br />

Conversely, powering it with an evil SMPS seems cruel: there are places where one can buy under-regulated linear PSUs outputting 12.5V quite inexpensively, so I hear. I believe it pays to prevent interference from piggy-backing on the coaxial or USB audio output, but at the very least, substituting an audio-grade power supply for a switching device will benefit anything else attached to that section of the mains.<br />

<br />

The net effect of trimming what appears at first to be excess fat could result in a major cost saving: something like $1000, which surely could be better spent elsewhere in the system . . . and more attention paid to the cleanliness of the power looks like an upgrade. Your recipe looks great, though: it just looks expensive.<br />

<br />

On the software front, I think we're completely on the same page: Linux, or Windows 7 + JRMC + WASAPI, the implementation of which we too are really impressed by in V14. <br />

<br />

I know from experience how irritating armchair critics are: especially when you've invested considerable time and resources creating something, so please don't think I'm aimlessly trolling: the pooled resources of fellow travelers makes for wisdom!

[Jammrock]

How many albums on 60 GB? Well, 60 GB using the SI system equates to 55.9 GiB (GibiBytes, or giga binary bytes) usable by Windows. Assume about 20 GB for OS, pagefile, apps and required free space and you have about 35.9 GB for music. With FLAC compression you're looking at ~350 MB per CD album, divided by 35.9 GB and you get roughly 102 albums, assuming full length.<br />

<br />

If we move into something like the HRx space you get about 690 minutes with 176.4/24 FLAC, or about 10 albums. Which is not a lot, but then there isn't a lot of 176.4/24 content out there yet. Of course the 60 GB SSD is only a suggestion.<br />

<br />

You can get 120-164 GB SSDs for slightly more cash already. The newly announced second gen Kingston SSDNow V is a good example, with Win7 TRIM support, garbage collection, good performance and a $377 MSRP for the 128 GB version.<br />

<br />

Since the HDD is the noisiest and slowest part of normal computers these days, going SSD and sacrificing some space is by far the better option for a truly silent PC. Then use a NAS, SAN or media server elsewhere with your big disks and stream music in if needed.<br />

<br />

I too wondered why the an ION board was not chosen, then I started to look at them. While they are significantly better in the video space, most of them come with active cooling on the heatsink which defeats the "no moving parts" qualification. I would personally wait for ION2 to come out before reevaluating the motherboard. Even better performance using even less power due to a die shrink and some chip tweaks. That should give more passively cooled options.<br />

<br />

I think the best cost saving for the CAPS will be the Asus Xonar Essence ST[X], assuming it has a solid WASAPI driver or gets a solid ASIO driver. At less than $200 you save a bundle over the Lynx AES16 and don't have to shell out for a custom cable.<br />

<br />

A CAPS with the upgraded SSD, Xonar Essence, ION2 and minus the custom cable would drop the price by about $225, assuming the motherboard costs $100 more. And it would make a pretty mean HTPC as well.

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi jammrock - I received an updated ASIO driver for the Asus Xonar Essence ST[X] this afternoon. Full support for 88.2 and 176.4 :~)