bodiebill Posted August 24, 2017 Share Posted August 24, 2017 Anybody knows whether this low voltage, passively cooled Mini-ITX motherboard with Intel Avoton C2750 Octa-Core Processor and 4x DDR3 ECC (max. 64GB) could perform well in an audio PC? http://www.asrockrac...#Specifications audio system Link to comment
bodiebill Posted August 25, 2017 Author Share Posted August 25, 2017 To rephrase my question in more general terms: Will the low voltage Intel Atom C2550 (quad core) and/or C2750 (octa core) processors perform well in an audio PC without Bughead? audio system Link to comment
plissken Posted August 25, 2017 Share Posted August 25, 2017 If you plan on doing any significant amount of convolution on the PC then don't use these CPU's. You can do better for the $$ these boards are. What is your goal, what is your budget? What are your formats of music? Link to comment
bodiebill Posted August 25, 2017 Author Share Posted August 25, 2017 Thanks plissken. It is meant for a single audio PC. Formats are WAV and DSD. I am using the Russian Album Player and Hysolid for DSD and XXHighEnd (the most demanding of my SW players) for PCM. The only on-the-fly upsampling (WAV => DSD256) is with foo_dsd_asio. Apart from that I am looking for low power (fanless) and ECC memory. Budget = cheapest considering the above :-) audio system Link to comment
plissken Posted August 25, 2017 Share Posted August 25, 2017 You won't need ECC memory either. Link to comment
bodiebill Posted August 25, 2017 Author Share Posted August 25, 2017 And apart from ECC? Regarding ECC: so you think people who claim that ECC sounds better are mistaken? Just a question, as I do not have an opinion on that yet. Never tried ECC myself. audio system Link to comment
plissken Posted August 25, 2017 Share Posted August 25, 2017 51 minutes ago, bodiebill said: And apart from ECC? Regarding ECC: so you think people who claim that ECC sounds better are mistaken? Just a question, as I do not have an opinion on that yet. Never tried ECC myself. Didn't know people were saying that. RAM holds data, not audio. I would put a good amount of money to theirs that they couldn't tell the difference blinded. If they would like to place a wager send them my way. Link to comment
plissken Posted August 25, 2017 Share Posted August 25, 2017 What are all your requirements both format, physical form factor etc? Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted August 25, 2017 Share Posted August 25, 2017 I wouldn't worry about ECC. Even if ECC by itself was found to be beneficial, these things aren't in a vacuum. Usually, having ECC brings along with it many other items on a motherboard that may not be needed or could cause sonic issues. I think it's really cool to see manufacturers building some cool motherboards with audio in mind. using good caps, and traces on the board that avoid noise etc... Back when I held the Computer Audiophile Symposium at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, representatives from ASUS attended and spent a good deal of time talking to some of the audio engineers present. It was like a dream for me. My two favorite things, computer and audio were finally meeting to create better stuff :~) In the ten years I've been running CA, I've heard people swear by powerful PCs, not powerful PCs, more memory, less memory, and just about everything in between. I don't judge or doubt they heard what they heard or that they believe in what they were saying. I can only go by my breadth and depth of knowledge (not really that much compared to some) and my own experience. Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
bodiebill Posted August 26, 2017 Author Share Posted August 26, 2017 Thanks, The CA, for your philosophical thoughts, appreciated! In my experience, for audio PC, an 'empirical build' sounds better than a 'logical build'. I admit, there are many things we 'know', but the complexity is high and there are many more things (including subtle interplay between various components) that we cannot fathom with logic or science. Luckily we have our intuition (I hope) inspired by sensitive ears to make final choices. For me going ECC is just a way of finding out for myself whether it makes a difference, i.e. add empirical information to (un)validate the logical expectation that it could hardly make a difference. However you are right: ECC boards are prone to have additional polluting components. audio system Link to comment
bodiebill Posted August 26, 2017 Author Share Posted August 26, 2017 12 hours ago, plissken said: What are all your requirements both format, physical form factor etc? Mini-ITX or micro-ATX. My previous mobo broke down. I am using a Streacom FC5 case. audio system Link to comment
plissken Posted August 26, 2017 Share Posted August 26, 2017 Look at the i3 or i5 based Intel NUC's. Link to comment
bodiebill Posted August 26, 2017 Author Share Posted August 26, 2017 Thanks plissken. However, as I already own the Streacom FC5 case, I would be better (and cheaper) off to just put a new motherboard and cpu in it. Plus I can try ECC in that case. Currently thinking of Gigabyte GA-X150M-PRO ECC and i3-6100T, together for under $250. And if I do get this, I will let you know if I hear any difference with the ECC memory :-) audio system Link to comment
plissken Posted August 27, 2017 Share Posted August 27, 2017 Not bad for $250 all in considering the ECC support. Link to comment
bodiebill Posted August 27, 2017 Author Share Posted August 27, 2017 Update: I finally ordered Supermicro (micro-ATX) X11SAE-M, Intel Core i3-6100T and 2x Kingston KCP424ES8/4 ECC memory. audio system Link to comment
j3294 Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 Is the i3 able to upsample on the fly WAV to DSD 256/512 in foobar? Link to comment
bodiebill Posted August 28, 2017 Author Share Posted August 28, 2017 Good question. My max would be FLAC to DSD256 using (Russian) Album Player and foo_dsd_asio. I am expecting to build the audio PC sometime this week, and will let you know when I have tried. I took a chance as the new i3's are reported to have pretty good performance. audio system Link to comment
bodiebill Posted September 7, 2017 Author Share Posted September 7, 2017 Upsampling WAV to DSD 256 with foo_dsd_asio (using Album Player) seems to be no problem at all with the i3. CPU usage stays well under 20%. I must say I was disappointed with the sound improvement going to ECC. It is certainly not better than my previous setup, rather a little less mellifluous, more strident. Not sure of course which role the ECC memory plays in this as I also have a whole new motherboard (Supermicro X11SAE-M) and new CPU (i3-6100T). Anyone knows whether new PC HW needs burning in? Another thing I found: connecting my DAC to a USB3.0 port sounds better than 2.0. With my previous system this was the other way around. The Supermicro also has USB3.1 ports, but I prefer 3.0. audio system Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 36 minutes ago, bodiebill said: Anyone knows whether new PC HW needs burning in? In my experience (and education), no burn-in necessary. Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
chauphuong Posted September 8, 2017 Share Posted September 8, 2017 On 8/26/2017 at 2:38 AM, bodiebill said: Thanks plissken. It is meant for a single audio PC. Formats are WAV and DSD. I am using the Russian Album Player and Hysolid for DSD and XXHighEnd (the most demanding of my SW players) for PCM. The only on-the-fly upsampling (WAV => DSD256) is with foo_dsd_asio. Apart from that I am looking for low power (fanless) and ECC memory. Budget = cheapest considering the above :-) A little off the topic. Is there any way to control Russian Album Players using Android phones? I mustvsay Album Player seems better than Foobar 2k Link to comment
bodiebill Posted September 8, 2017 Author Share Posted September 8, 2017 5 hours ago, chauphuong said: A little off the topic. Is there any way to control Russian Album Players using Android phones? I mustvsay Album Player seems better than Foobar 2k I agree with the latter. APlayer can be controlled with a web interface that should work on all platforms including Android. How is described in the manual which can be downloaded here: http://vv.uka.ru/aplayer_eng.html audio system Link to comment
bodiebill Posted September 8, 2017 Author Share Posted September 8, 2017 On 07/09/2017 at 3:25 PM, The Computer Audiophile said: In my experience (and education), no burn-in necessary. I will find out... JPLAY forum members seem to agree that HW does need burn-in. One mentioned 500 hours for a new motherboard :-| audio system Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted September 8, 2017 Share Posted September 8, 2017 No worries. Everybody has different experiences. Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
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