Linux for the Audiophile - Snakeoil OS

[tp1]

I have installed Snakeoil OS on to my server and so far its been impressive in terms of excellent sound quality - Its the best i have experienced with Squeezelite so far.

 

The built in JRiver option (license required) is a great feature - I would have found it too difficult to run JRiver from Linux any other way.

[tp1]

Please remove JRiver from your distribution.

 

I have a J-river Master licence which i have used with Linux with excellent results. I have also used it on my windows and mac machines and while these are easy for anyone to setup, for linux it is very hard unless you are proficient in that OS.

 

Why Linux? one approach to reducing overhead on a music server is the windows / audiophile Optimizer approach ( i also have bought licences for those) or start with a stripped down, headless, light- weight built-for-purpose Linux distro. The appeal of Linux audio distros like Daphile, Vortexbox and now S/O is that it opens the world of Linux to all.

 

If JRiver does not want to allow others to make it easy for us to use JRiver software for headless stripped down Linux versions, would you be able to do your own release of a Linux based ready to play JRiver distro? Now that would be awesome i think.

[tp1]

Some versions of Linux are dead simple to install, like Ubuntu.

 

It is indeed simple for the GUI version but an optimised for audio solution is not so simple. To create and run a stripped-down bare-bones , real-time headless kernel for best audio reproduction is the real hard part for those not fluent in Linux. With windows we have AO to make it easy, but for Linux there is no such luxury hence the dependance on audio specific distro's .

[tp1]

Just install server version, install linux-lowlatency , remove the keyboard and monitor and use ssh to log into your computer from a terminal window in a laptop -- this is how I run NAA -- Google is your manual

 

That is in no way an easy option for the average windows or mac user.

[tp1]

Which is why you have the choice of Windows and Mac

 

 

Room treatments for headphone users

 

I am in this thread because I do not want to use Windows or Mac. Hence the attraction of an optimised easy to use Linux distro.

[tp1]

There already exist optimized Linux distros for the audiophiles.

 

MPD would be the primary option. Many based on it for the Pi like moOde, Rune, Volumio, etc.

 

Daphile is another contender.

 

Starting with something in beta and/or being part of the beta testing team is not the "optimized easy" way to anything.

 

 

I am also chasing sound quality to my tastes and its great to have options. I have been using Daphile and and Vortexbox for some time - including when they had teething issues. The latest version of S/O seemed easy enough to install and use.

[tp1]

With the GUI in Ubuntu, it is about the same level of difficulty as installing something under Windows. As for optimizing Linux, that is very dependent upon the platform. A little Atom based machine should probably not be running a GUI if you really want the best sound. Or just running th display server remotely under Windows, MacOS, or on a tablet.

 

You can change the sound by monkeying around with scheduling, priorities, and so forth. That is why Bryston's Linux based player sounds different from say, an Araliti or other similar units. However, with even a modern Celeron processor, that becomes less and less true, and the differences in sound become more due to hardware differences.

 

I applaud efforts to build Linux distros with great sound. The current best one I know of is Vortexbox, which installs on a computer nearly by itself, and has a web based interface you can do just about every audio task from. Multiple players, ripping, and it even serves as a NAS if you want.

 

While I abhor the naming of this, and the name makes me deeply suspicious someone is pulling our legs...

 

 

The point of using Atom based machines is to minimise RFI/EMI for better SQ. To make it work for audio they require light weight OS and to achieve that you don't start with the biggest operating systems on the planet. hence the Linux distro's. Sound quality preferences are largely personal perspectives and I too preferred Vortexbox up until recently but S/O is my current favorite. In its latest format, I think it is incredibly easy to install.

 

As for the name of the O/S? That says more about the developers sense of humor in his region of the world than anything else.

[tp1]

Well, that's debatable actually. A high powered beefy music server sounds really good when you use SSDs, and even better if you isolate the machine via ethernet and use network or SAN storage.

 

Small low power players however, almost always sound great, but today's models are almost always pulling their source across a network. (Streaming, if not from the internet...) It is difficult to say how much of the improvement is from Ethernet and how much from the low power usage.

 

Linux in and of itself, even a stropped down version like this, is not a small or tiny OS by any means. But like I said, I really applaud these efforts, and think they will eventually lead to better sound. Besides, I like almost anything Unix-like.

 

I do not applaud the naming and if humor is the underlying cause, I still have to wonder what the joke really is. Let me see how many audiophile legs I can pull off?

 

-Paul

 

You are right it is debatable as is anything for the sake of debate. For my part i have personally purchased and tried several different motherboards with a range of CPU's and capabilities and have arrived at my optimal configuration from there.

 

As for your comments on the name, there is nothing left to be said to someone who does not judge software on its merits but makes disparaging remarks without having tried it.

[tp1]

On 4/24/2018 at 10:59 PM, SoundSea said:

The name is hilarious, btw, and I'm not even Australian. My only problem with it is snakeoil is such a common term among audio junkies that any Google search just brings up forum discussions about expensive audio products being called snakeoil. I suppose that will change as you take over the world.

 

Thank you! Looking forward to playing around with it.

 

 

I think you will find that the name "Snakeoil" is a product of the developer's wry sense of humour.  Releases such as "cable -lifter" seem to be an extension of that.