Gigabyte DAC-UP motherboards

[EuroDriver]

The last time I looked, the GIGABYTE mobo's that had the independent USB power supply for audio, also had very powerfully graphics, as well as a heavy duty sound card, which influenced me to look at other simpler boards

[EuroDriver]

The spec of the GA-B85N looks suitable.

 

If you build one we can meet up and compare to the H97M-D3H ;-)

[EuroDriver]

Dear Eurodriver,

I cannot specifically answer the OP’s question, however he raises issues relevant to my situation as I am considering a Gigabyte board with DAC-UP technology.

I am in the middle of building a combined high-end audio(hopefully)/HTTP server. Data input will be media NAS (custom) to server to DAC (Audiobyte Black Dragon) to desktop music system (headphones/2.1 nearfield speakers). The server will interface with the DAC via I2S (Pink Faun bridge) and USB (SOtM tX-USB). (I need USB to play DSD on the DAC.). HTTP (HDMI + 5.1 audio) will be via motherboard outputs (“…very powerfully graphics, as well as a heavy duty sound card…”) to 4K monitor and 5.1 speaker system. Power to server motherboard via HDPLEX linear PSU and probably battery PSU to ssd. I was not anticipating any decrement in sonics from the motherboard’s audio (or video) circuitry when using the Black Dragon (be it I2S or USB input) which are PCIe (northbridge). Currently I’m planning on using the Gibabyte GA-Z97MX board (fits my Streacom fc9 alpha, has enough PCI slots for my Pink Faun, SOtM and Ceton tuner cards and has reputedly great sonics for a (gaming)motherboard that is!). Am I making a big mistake?

 

Thanks in advance and for your other many valuable posts on this site!

 

I am always leary about heavy video processing on the PC when you are trying to achieve the best sound possible for your down stream components. So my suggestion is to look at a two PC setup built around HQ Player.

 

Then you have two choices, using HQ Players NAA on the second PC or using JPlay on the second PC. HQ Player will do a very nice job on upsampling your redbook tracks to DSD 128 with the filters and modulators of your choice

 

For OS, I would suggest Win 10, by the end of this month, the full version should be released and that should be able handle your video needs

 

Just my 2 cents, and please note I have no relevant experience of playing 4 k video from an audio centric PC