What is the basic definition of a "dual head" CA system?

[mjm6]

OK, so I've seen people mention using a dual head system, where one is running WS2012, and the other may not be, (and other variations), but I realized that I don't really know how this is being configured.

 

What is the first computer (the one nearest to the DAC) doing? Is it running JRiver or JPlay or something similar?

 

What is the second computer doing? I presume it is the source for the music files. Is it running a media server program like JRiver or some other DLNA server software? I suppose they could even still be remote from this one, so there would actually be a third computer in there as well (but we normally don't count a NAS as a computer).

 

I am putting together a dedicated file/music serve in the network I have installed (wired network), and it occurred to me that I could place the file serving functions on the main server and use the CAPSv2 that I have as the local head in a quasi-dual-head setup. That's when I realized that I had no idea what people are actually doing when the talk about dual head systems.

 

Any help defining the basic configuration of a dual head setup so I can understand what/how these are typically configured, and what the benefits of them are would be appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

---Michael

[Hifidelit]

Have a look at using JPlay in streamer mode here:

Manual | JPLAY - hi-end audio player for Windows

 

The second machine can be used with minimal configuration without a monitor or router etc.

[mjm6]

Thanks for the link... I hadn't realized people were using JP for the dual head approach. Does that appear to be the only way to approach this?

 

I haven't tried JPlay, but it may be worth trying this approach on the system. I have JRiver, but have not upgraded, so I am able to do this without any complex effort.

 

I was originally thinking that I would install JRiver on both the file server and the music server, run the file server as a DNLA device and pull to the audio computer from that, but that's about when I realized that there may be benefits from attempting to set up a more optimized arrangement (hence the question on dual head CA).

 

 

---Michael

[tranz]

It is as if you are creating your own streamer setup, where the computer connected to the DAC has minimum things going on to lower electrical noise and provide a steady stream of audio.

 

The alternatives discussed quite a bit are the Sonore, SoTM, Auralic which are essentially optimized-for-audio-computers.