Article: Computer Audiophile Pocket Server C.A.P.S. v3 Zuma

[Kevin M.]

My main question is, why an i7? That's some serious horsepower. Any of the Core gen 3 processors should handle any music server load, and most HTPC loads, without breaking a sweat. Going for an i7 seems like serious overkill, especially since this server is designed to offload the music processing to an outboard DAC via the SotM.

I emailed Dirac Live support about adding 24/192 processing. Currently it's limited to 24/96. Even at the rate, Dirac support says it "loads down" many PCs. They are still going to offer 24/192 support in a future update. I think if you are running Dirac Live in the future at 24/192 or 24/176 and in addition using SACD ISO files, you will need a lot of horsepower to make it all work.

[Kevin M.]

I am using Dirac Live for room correction on a laptop with an Intel Core2 Duo P8600 @ 2.4GHz without any issues, I suspect even the Topanga with Atom N2800 runs smooth with Dirac Live as it consumes very little processing power during playback, only the generation of the filters will take a few minutes more.

I asked the question as to whether Dirac Live calculated filters and then just stopped running. My assumption is that the processor should not matter, that as you assume as well that it would just take longer. I was told no, the program is not "static," and continues to make "calculations," the entire time. Are you also running SACD iso files at the same time? You didn't mention that? I have an Intel Duo Core2 T4400 @2.20GHZ and it can not run multi-channel SACD ISOs WITHOUT constant buffer and playback stopping. There is no way it can run Dirac live in the background as it can't even run multi-channel SACD iso files alone. My Quad Core Q8200 @ 2.33GHZ barely can since Jriver switched to multi-threaded handling of SACD iso files.

 

I'm not sure how many channels you are using and what formats. I believe 5.1 SACD iso files, expanded to 7.1 with JRSS processed with an active program like Dirac Live will require quite a bit of horse power. My Quad Core has two cores pegged just with multi-channel SACD iso files.