My Custom Designed Music Server for under $500 that matches $3,000 Servers

[rrstesiak]

jabbr:

 

My mistake - I thought you did not employ a "low power" server. Q1900 is a good platform.

 

I also agree the Phasure is an excellent implementation.

 

As for upsampling, yes, I am listening to a LOT of redbook FLAC at 44.1. I find with all of my hardware tweaks and intentional design, with a few Linux tweaks such as realtime kernel and play from RAM help these files.

 

However, as mentioned in my previous reply to another member, my favorite FLAC files are my 192/24 ones without a doubt.

 

My Miles Davis: Kind of Blue at 192/24 sounds the absolute best on my setup.

 

Unfortunately, I have not dipped my toes in DSD yet..but plan to over the holidays.

 

Kind Regards,

 

Ron

[rrstesiak]

jud:

 

agreed on the upsampling being equivalent whether DAC or PC. But I again prefer not to add an extra step and just not change my files' native sample rates.

 

Also good point and agree on filters on PC vs. DAC being equal as well.

 

My ideal DAC would actually be two physical DACS:

 

1 for native PCM with zero DSD manipulation

1 for dedicated DSD

 

If I had more budget, I would go the Chord route... I am intrigued by their FPGA implementation.

Tied with Chord I also have heard consistently excellent reviews of the now slightly dated Aurelic Vega. The Vega seems to be a machine engineered on steroids to blast the crap out of the files and present a brilliant sound stage as a result utilizing proprietary hardware, aka Sanctuary processor. Both companies leverage no doubt brilliant engineering utilizing custom components.

 

 

All:

 

Back to the main topic -

My next mini-project is to build the sigma11 linear power supply. I may house it in the same case as the server; or have the option of a separate, external chassis. Some of the parts have a few weeks' lead time, so it will be a couple of months before the power supply is finished.

 

In parallel with that effort, I am trying to decide between a Juli@ soundcard or something like a Gustard U12 to increase the capabilities from my worthy but apparently somewhat mediocre M2TECH HiFACE TWO.

The logic behind the Juli@ is simply the fact Bryston leveraged it in their original BDP-1; of which has an A+ rating on Stereophile - something that cannot be ignored. I also want to change the communications to AES; as I have read that can produce amazing results on my Bryston BDA-1.

 

I carefully chose the Bryston line as they seem to have garnered excellent reviews, and have changed very very little in their design over the years, and finally the original BDP-1 and BDA-1 can be had for $800 each vs. $3,000 for current models.

 

I must confess if I simply cannot get the level of performance out of my music server I am hoping to achieve, I may break down and buy a used BDP-1. and perhaps at the very least enjoy the formidable combination of it with my BDA-1, as well as reverse-engineer what they did with the LINUX and Juli@. However, I am confident I will match its performance sonically with the addition of the linear power supply; and certainly surpass its performance with file management.

 

At any rate, I am looking now for feedback/recommendations on either a soundcard approach like Juli@ or newer Asus, vs. an improved USB/SPDIF converter for my BDA-1 DAC to perform at its best.

 

Respectfully,

 

Ron

[rrstesiak]

Sal:

 

Thanks for the encouraging compliments!

 

Anyone can build a very decent PC-based music server I think these days.

 

The cost of hardware, like SSD and RAM, has dropped considerably, and it's just a matter of reading up on which OS you want to use: Windows/Windows Server/OS X/Linux.

 

And then, you can, one step at a time, customize and improve upon it as your knowledge and budget permits.

 

I think the only systems that are a bit of a challenge are the Linux embedded solutions, such as Raspbery and BeagleBone..I think these are excellent too..but require a pretty good understanding of UNIX/Linux. Even my somewhat unusual embedded motherboard is powerful enough to run windows or OS X if that is what is desired. I myself think Linux is the most stable, and definitely the most customizable OS. For example. I don't even run a GUI and do not have any GUI components loaded. Resulting in a "quiet" PC, but not very user friendly with only a commandline! But to each their own - nobody is "wrong"...it's all in the implementation.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Ron

[Sal1950]

Sal:

 

Thanks for the encouraging compliments!

 

Anyone can build a very decent PC-based music server I think these days.

 

The cost of hardware, like SSD and RAM, has dropped considerably, and it's just a matter of reading up on which OS you want to use: Windows/Windows Server/OS X/Linux.

 

And then, you can, one step at a time, customize and improve upon it as your knowledge and budget permits.

 

I think the only systems that are a bit of a challenge are the Linux embedded solutions, such as Raspbery and BeagleBone..I think these are excellent too..but require a pretty good understanding of UNIX/Linux. Even my somewhat unusual embedded motherboard is powerful enough to run windows or OS X if that is what is desired. I myself think Linux is the most stable, and definitely the most customizable OS. For example. I don't even run a GUI and do not have any GUI components loaded. Resulting in a "quiet" PC, but not very user friendly with only a commandline! But to each their own - nobody is "wrong"...it's all in the implementation.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Ron

 

WOOT, a hardcore CLI guy, you have my admiration.

Been on a Linux platform exclusively for close to 15 years now. People say Sal's a geek ask him about your problem, then I can't even figure out how to launch the menu on Doz8. LOL

Actually that's a lie, I have a partition with DozXP on it that I boot once a week to run Quicken and do my finances, but it is a small vice.

I worked on the QC team and did admin duties for the website at PCLinuxOS for about 7 years before I burned out on being asked the same support questions for the 5 thousandth time, along with disagreements over more critical OS future direction issues and retired.

Now do to my age and health-med issues I have concentration issues that limit my ability to get into some things I'd like to any more.

My box is getting a little long in the tooth now and was built to be a more general hotrod at the time before it's main use became as a music server. Will be readdressing it in the near future to be decreasing noise levels. It doesn't do any hard work any more and no longer requires the heavy duty level of cooling I have running.

Anyway best regards,

Sal

[RayBan]

Ron: In 2009/2010 many hundreds of us were using the Juli@ in our cMP setups. At one time I had 3 of them just so I could start building a new "Machine" while still using the current for listening.

 

I don't know if he is a current member of CA but GregStew was a resident expert on this and LPS we were building.

[rrstesiak]

Ron: In 2009/2010 many hundreds of us were using the Juli@ in our cMP setups. At one time I had 3 of them just so I could start building a new "Machine" while still using the current for listening.

 

I don't know if he is a current member of CA but GregStew was a resident expert on this and LPS we were building.

 

RayBan:

 

I am aware to many people this technology is obsolete and passé...however, I can't argue with an A+ rating on Stereophile for the Bryston BDA-1 which used the Juli@ card.. Any further information or links would be greatly appreciated. I'll also look into GregStew.

 

Which architecture/design did you and others migrate to after your experimentation with the Juli@?

 

Thanks In Advance,

 

Ron

[RayBan]

The cMP devices took a lot of "building and modifying" on an almost weekly basis. I had a huge project to manage so migrated to a simple MacMini to Weiss DAC202 system using PM with iTunes. If I was younger I would go back to building but not possible.

 

Good luck with your project and would consider one if fully developed. The Mini is long in the tooth.

 

GStew is amazing in his insights and abilities!!

[rrstesiak]

RayBan:

 

Thank you for the information and kind words -

 

Sincerely,

 

Ron

[cmiu]

hi there,

glad to see another project around mpd.

 

here are few things from my experience with mpd:

 

1. you should opt between a high power horse cpu or solution based on arm (rpi; bbb etc...). use high (x64) when you plan to do stream processing like upsampling/drc or go for lower (arm - BBB or something with quad core) if you plan for bit perfect and trust your dac (your case).

 

pros for low power arch - everything in cheaper eg: power source ; case ; small physical footprint.

 

2. ditch everything that is unnecessary from your computer. eg: hdd - with enough ram you can make a ram disk (the system I'm running consumes aprox 90MB), you can perfectly boot from PXE from your nas or you can use voyage mpd

 

3. tweak irq smp affinity and monitor /proc/interrupts

 

4. force cpu to a stable frequency with cpufreq-utils, ussualy the lowest. frequency adjustments are the source of a lot of electrical noise inside the computer.

 

5. RT kernel is somelike obsolete with kernels > 4, and you are not recording music so low latency is not a must

 

6. if you can avoid usb data transmission entirely eg: http://bbb.ieero.com/ (BBB+reclock+bufallo II) in my opinion, for an entry level diy-er, is the best aproach.

 

for linux based audio solutions you can find valuable info here: Linux Audio the way to go!? - diyAudio

 

PS: IMO Jude&all are spot on about upsampling in computer vs letting dac chip do whatever upsampling likes; listening now mpd -> sox-r upsampling from 16/44.1K to 24/176.4K -> brutefir (processing at 64/176.4k bytes for a little DRC to tame my room) and an old i3-3225 running at 1.60GHz hava a load around avg 10% per core and a lot in consumed by irq/23-ehci_hcd ...

[Qhwoeprktiyns]

I must confess if I simply cannot get the level of performance out of my music server I am hoping to achieve, I may break down and buy a used BDP-1. and perhaps at the very least enjoy the formidable combination of it with my BDA-1, as well as reverse-engineer what they did with the LINUX and Juli@. However, I am confident I will match its performance sonically with the addition of the linear power supply; and certainly surpass its performance with file management.

 

At any rate, I am looking now for feedback/recommendations on either a soundcard approach like Juli@ or newer Asus, vs. an improved USB/SPDIF converter for my BDA-1 DAC to perform at its best.

 

Respectfully,

 

Ron

 

I believe the BDP is based on an Alix 3D2 board. I have used these on and off in different flavors, most recently with lightMPD (in Japanese, but Google translate does a good job: https://sites.google.com/site/digififan/home/lightmpd). However, since the BDP came out, there are many more options now available, and reverse engineering the BDP may not be the simplest way to go.

[Tone Depth]

I don't understand why you are taking a S/PDIF signal from your motherboard pinouts into a sound card which transforms it into a signal over USB, and then converting it back to S/PDIF to send it to your DAC. Why not just send the S/PDIF signal directly to your DAC?

 

Also, isn't AES limited to inches of cable run rather than feet as with S/PDIF?

 

jud:

 

...

 

In parallel with that effort, I am trying to decide between a Juli@ soundcard or something like a Gustard U12 to increase the capabilities from my worthy but apparently somewhat mediocre M2TECH HiFACE TWO.

The logic behind the Juli@ is simply the fact Bryston leveraged it in their original BDP-1; of which has an A+ rating on Stereophile - something that cannot be ignored. I also want to change the communications to AES; as I have read that can produce amazing results on my Bryston BDA-1.

 

...

 

At any rate, I am looking now for feedback/recommendations on either a soundcard approach like Juli@ or newer Asus, vs. an improved USB/SPDIF converter for my BDA-1 DAC to perform at its best.

 

Respectfully,

 

Ron

[Markhh2]

I'm using a Q1900 board with a pico power supply and a MF 192 USB converter/uptone regen. The biggest improvement I got in SQ was to power the SSD with an Anker battery. I'm not a Linux guy so I'm using Win 8.1 and a standard wall wart power supply. BTW. I owned a BDP-1 and my server sounds better, costs less than $350 and with Roon and Jremote and splash top I run it headless.

[ronalde]

Hi, music playback on any linux system has nothing to do with ASIO, and everything with alsa, which is the linux equivalent of all kinds of other 'direct to hardware low level' approaches found on Windows (like ADIO) and OSX.

 

The music player software (like HQPlayer) sits on the highest level, taking files from storage, reading its PCM or DSD stream (using alsa libraries) and feeds it (hopefully without alterations) to the alsa kernel module (=driver) in use.

 

To get bit-perfect results, the music player has to be configured to use the 'hardware address' (in the form of `hw:x,y`) of the alsa interface.

 

Currently, the alsa library (version 1.1.0) supports unsigned little and big endian encodings using 8, 16 and 32 bits. On the kernel module (=driver) side, things look grimm. Have a look at sound/usb/quirks.c to see which devices are currently supported in current linux kernels. If DSD for a DSD-capable UAC DAC is not (yet) supported, you could check

https://github.com/lintweaker/xmos-native-dsd (contains kernel patches for XMOS based USB receivers).

 

To list the formats and sample rates each of your devices supports, you could copy and paste the following in a terminal and press ENTER:

bash <(wget -q -O - "http://lacocina.nl/alsa-capabilities") -s

 

See alsa-capabilities shows which digital audio formats your USB DA-converter supports

 

Regards,

Ronald

[nyc_paramedic]

Ron,

 

Hopkins is correct. The original Bryston BDP is based on a PC Engines Alix single board computer. Link: PC Engines home I believe they used the 1D model with PCI as they needed to use the Juli@ card.

 

I had been using the Alix boards as a firewall since early 2000. IIRC, at around the same time that PC Engines released their first boards with USB 2.0 ports I noticed USB to S/PDIF converters being released for the audiophile market. Being a long time Linux user, I realized that MPD, Linux and Alix board and some type of USB S/PDIF or USB DAC was a very unique combination. You run a very minimal OS the runs entirely in RAM and boots off the compact flash. You'll need another small PC or your desktop running NFS and a disc with your music files. My original setup as the Alix in my dedicated listening room with the bedroom computer running NFS and a couple of big discs. All wired Ethernet except for the Thinkpad or Nokia N800 running an MPD client. Now I use MPDroid on my Android phone or ncmpc on my Thinkpad.

 

There are several companies using the Alix board and/or MPD in their commercial offerings.

 

I still have my original Alix board running: PC Engines alix3d2 product file It is about as minimalist you can get for a COTS SBC without paying a $10,000 (minimum) engineering fee to have a board designed for you.

 

This combo has been extremely popular worldwide. The Voyage MPD Linux distribution, Voyage MPD | Voyage Linux, is pre-setup for use with these boards. They package the latest ALSA and MPD versions.

 

I also have the PC Engines APU, PC Engines apu system boards , as I wanted to experiment with the APU connected to an SSD in a one box player.

 

And I also have one of these: https://www.embeddedarm.com/products/board-detail.php?product=TS-7700 It's all setup with MPD, I just haven't had the time to take a listen.

The board is tiny at approx 2.5" square. I think a custom SBC like this with all switching regulators removed could be a great DIY solution. Could be done via a Kickstarter campaign.

 

I think trying the Alix for $100 USD should be your first experiment if you like the sound of the Bryston. But I would insist on you purchasing the best Asynchronous USB DAC you can afford. I will state that the effort spent on setting up Alix (or any other really good Linux system) will be wasted if you're using USB to S/PDIF converters and DAC.

 

I currently use an Ayre QB-9 DSD. They do pop up on the used market for a very good price; the older 24/96 models are upgradeable.

 

Good luck.

 

Nick

[Qhwoeprktiyns]

Ron,

 

Hopkins is correct. The original Bryston BDP is based on a PC Engines Alix single board computer. Link: PC Engines home I believe they used the 1D model with PCI as they needed to use the Juli@ card.

 

I had been using the Alix boards as a firewall since early 2000. IIRC, at around the same time that PC Engines released their first boards with USB 2.0 ports I noticed USB to S/PDIF converters being released for the audiophile market. Being a long time Linux user, I realized that MPD, Linux and Alix board and some type of USB S/PDIF or USB DAC was a very unique combination. You run a very minimal OS the runs entirely in RAM and boots off the compact flash. You'll need another small PC or your desktop running NFS and a disc with your music files. My original setup as the Alix in my dedicated listening room with the bedroom computer running NFS and a couple of big discs. All wired Ethernet except for the Thinkpad or Nokia N800 running an MPD client. Now I use MPDroid on my Android phone or ncmpc on my Thinkpad.

 

There are several companies using the Alix board and/or MPD in their commercial offerings.

 

I still have my original Alix board running: PC Engines alix3d2 product file It is about as minimalist you can get for a COTS SBC without paying a $10,000 (minimum) engineering fee to have a board designed for you.

 

This combo has been extremely popular worldwide. The Voyage MPD Linux distribution, Voyage MPD | Voyage Linux, is pre-setup for use with these boards. They package the latest ALSA and MPD versions.

 

I also have the PC Engines APU, PC Engines apu system boards , as I wanted to experiment with the APU connected to an SSD in a one box player.

 

And I also have one of these: https://www.embeddedarm.com/products/board-detail.php?product=TS-7700 It's all setup with MPD, I just haven't had the time to take a listen.

The board is tiny at approx 2.5" square. I think a custom SBC like this with all switching regulators removed could be a great DIY solution. Could be done via a Kickstarter campaign.

 

I think trying the Alix for $100 USD should be your first experiment if you like the sound of the Bryston. But I would insist on you purchasing the best Asynchronous USB DAC you can afford. I will state that the effort spent on setting up Alix (or any other really good Linux system) will be wasted if you're using USB to S/PDIF converters and DAC.

 

I currently use an Ayre QB-9 DSD. They do pop up on the used market for a very good price; the older 24/96 models are upgradeable.

 

Good luck.

 

Nick

 

Did you ever get around to trying that small board ?

[Qhwoeprktiyns]

By the way, the Alix (also a 3d2) makes a great Roon endpoint when running Squeezelite on debian (download link available on the PC engines site, then squeezelite compiled) . I am using it powered with a good power supply (anywhere from 5 to 12v works, have a 5v Daitron low noise PS) , and a Regen.

[amir57bs]

Ron,

 

Hopkins is correct. The original Bryston BDP is based on a PC Engines Alix single board computer. Link: PC Engines home I believe they used the 1D model with PCI as they needed to use the Juli@ card.

 

I had been using the Alix boards as a firewall since early 2000. IIRC, at around the same time that PC Engines released their first boards with USB 2.0 ports I noticed USB to S/PDIF converters being released for the audiophile market. Being a long time Linux user, I realized that MPD, Linux and Alix board and some type of USB S/PDIF or USB DAC was a very unique combination. You run a very minimal OS the runs entirely in RAM and boots off the compact flash. You'll need another small PC or your desktop running NFS and a disc with your music files. My original setup as the Alix in my dedicated listening room with the bedroom computer running NFS and a couple of big discs. All wired Ethernet except for the Thinkpad or Nokia N800 running an MPD client. Now I use MPDroid on my Android phone or ncmpc on my Thinkpad.

 

There are several companies using the Alix board and/or MPD in their commercial offerings.

 

I still have my original Alix board running: PC Engines alix3d2 product file It is about as minimalist you can get for a COTS SBC without paying a $10,000 (minimum) engineering fee to have a board designed for you.

 

This combo has been extremely popular worldwide. The Voyage MPD Linux distribution, Voyage MPD | Voyage Linux, is pre-setup for use with these boards. They package the latest ALSA and MPD versions.

 

I also have the PC Engines APU, PC Engines apu system boards , as I wanted to experiment with the APU connected to an SSD in a one box player.

 

And I also have one of these: https://www.embeddedarm.com/products/board-detail.php?product=TS-7700 It's all setup with MPD, I just haven't had the time to take a listen.

The board is tiny at approx 2.5" square. I think a custom SBC like this with all switching regulators removed could be a great DIY solution. Could be done via a Kickstarter campaign.

 

I think trying the Alix for $100 USD should be your first experiment if you like the sound of the Bryston. But I would insist on you purchasing the best Asynchronous USB DAC you can afford. I will state that the effort spent on setting up Alix (or any other really good Linux system) will be wasted if you're using USB to S/PDIF converters and DAC.

 

I currently use an Ayre QB-9 DSD. They do pop up on the used market for a very good price; the older 24/96 models are upgradeable.

 

Good luck.

 

Nick

 

Thank you

[amir57bs]

I ordered two ALix boards from PC engines. Pascal Dornier from PC Engines is a good guy, their stuff were ready and he shipped it at very low cost.

Thank you Pascal Dornier.

 

1. Alix 1 board with Sotm tx-USB (old PCI to USB card)

2. Alix 2d2 board

 

my project: Voyage MPD Real Kernel Linux + NAS + my iphone

[Shanepj]

All:

 

Being new to this forum, I figured it a good idea to literally show what my listening setup is currently:

 

 

The components are listed in my signature; except for the Bowers & Wilkins P5 v.2 headphones on the bottom middle of my music rack. As currently configured, the speakers are the furthest out from the wall I listen, with zero toe-in. The tone controls on the Creek integrated are bypassed, and the subwoofer is on. I find this setup to be the best at rendering sound stage width and depth.

 

This is essentially a near-field setup.

 

Best Regards,

 

Ron

 

Hi Ron

 

Sorry for the odd question, but where did you get the cabinet?

 

Cheers, Shane

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Computer Audiophile

[hurka]

Best signal without mess

[hurka]

not so hungry boy

[gridlock74]

I use an apu board, which is a relative to the alix. Fantastic bit of kit! I use a fedora 25 server installation on mine with mpd connected by nfs to the server. It's never missed a beat and I avoid dlna. Sounds very, very good!