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Roon + HQPlayer server (fanless, if possible)


JJarego

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Hi!

 

Like many in the forum (to which I'm new):

- I think Roon delivers the best front-end available;

- I discovered (recently) HQPlayer. I subscribed it since the SQ is outstanding;

- My experience confirms the idea that upsampling done by a good DSP (like HQPlayer) outperforms the DAC upsampling ...

- I've learned how CPU hungry is the HQPlayer (specially in DSD, as expected)

 

So, I need to replace my dedicated server and would like that it would check the following boxes:

  1. Be able to run ROON + HQPlayer upsampling to DSD 512  ... and, if this is not asking too much, use the xtr family of filters (heavy as hell but the ones I like the most)
  2. Silent and relatively compact due do space restrictions and the fact that I must keep it in the system room. Silent implies fanless cooling and compact means that a case no bigger than the Streacom FC10 would be ideal
  3. The FC10 is specified to TDP up to 95W, but 65W is the comfortable(?) TDP. [should I really stick to the 65W or can I stretch it up to the 95W limit? ... air circulation is not constrained]

I hope that these conditions are not exclusive ... :$ 

A CPU like the AMD Ryzen 1700 has a TDP of 65W and its performance seems decent (?) ... but would it support DSD 512 + xtr filters?

 

Other questions:

- Would a LPS (say from Teradak or JCAT) bring a significanf improvement regarding a ZF 240 (SMPS but a very decent one?)

- Are the Femto USB and NET cards from JCAT a recommendable upgrade?

- How important are the SATA cables and SATA noise filters?

- Wouldn't it be preferable (even if more costly) using a 2TB SSD than a smaller SSD + an HDD? 

 

Thank you!:)

Joao

 

 

 

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16 minutes ago, elan120 said:

I have both HQPlayer and ROON running on i7700 CPU that has TDP of 65W, and be able to upsample to DSD512 using Poly-sinc-xtr / mp -2 filters, and it can run without CUDA Offload.  In order to run Poly-sinc-xtr / mp non-2's filters, you will need a CPU with much more physical cores than just 4 as well as enough L3 cache.  I know of one person successfully build and run all HQPlayer non-2's filters using AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X, and he think 1920X likely will work as well, but I have not seen any confimation on this.  In any case, this will take the TDP up to 180W, which is going to be very challenging finding a suitable fanless case.

 

I do have both JCAT Femto USB and NET cards in my system, and I can recommend them without hesitation.  They both bring significant SQ improve for my system.  If you are going to get them, plan for good linear power supplies, as they do help contribute additional SQ improvement.

 

Thanks a lot! Yes, I imagine that a monster like the 1950X will be able to run (almost) anything one may throw at it ... but there is no way - as you mention - one can cool it passively :|

 

I do lean towards getting the Femto cards and an LPS. Thanks for sharing your experience! :)

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13 minutes ago, Miska said:

My i7-6950X + GTX 1080 combo, although with fans is quiet enough even for listening room. Needed a bit of care on component selection and BIOS fan control tuning, but I'm quite happy. This one is running Windows and driving T+A DAC8 DSD and exaSound e28.

 

@Miska, thank you so much for your input! :)

That configuration is, I'm sure, awesome. Nevertheless, I have constraints that don't allow me to have the server outside the listening room ... this is a compromise that I must assume :/ (with 3 kids and a relatively small house one must compromise). So, I'm not using an NAA and using the same machine to support Roon and HQPlayer ... (and yes: I agree that one should raway un from HDD)

 

BTW: the T+A dac is under the radar and it happens that I'm a good friend of the local distributor of the brand who wants me to bring it home for a "test drive" ... but for now I will not be able to feed it with DSD 512 ...

 

From your advantaged perspective, do you think it's relatively safe use a 95W TDP CPU on a Streacom Box? What would be your top suggestions for chips to run HQPlayer both in the 95 and 65 TDP class?

 

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Thank you for the precious feedback! :)

 

I really must compromise in terms of the processing power, since I don't have the option of keeping the server in another room ... meaning that all the cooling must be passive.

I've settled on the configuration below, which, I believe will be comfortable doing DSD 512 on the HQPlayer (with the possible exception of the xtr family ... :|). Furthermore, the friend who will assemble the machine has a lot of experience and will perform his "magic" with a series of tweaks ... of course I will post pictures once I have the whole thing put together!

 

Case:

HDPlex H5

Motherboard:

ASRock z370 Extreme4

CPU:

Intel i7 - 8700

RAM:

G.Skill Trident Z DDR4 2x8GB 4133MHz CAS19 Gray/White

Disk:

Crucial MX300 2TB SATA 2.5"

PSU:

HDPlex 400 ATX Linear

USB Card:

X-Hi USB 3.0 PCIe Card

SATA Filter:

Elfidelity AXF-94 Power supply filter for SATA hard drive

DDR Filter:

ELFIDELITY AXF-75 Power purification PC-HiFi Memory DDR4

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
 

 

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Another thing: I've brought the T+A DAC 8 DSD home two days ago ... This is a review unit, so the burn in is done. Now I understand the hype, even if I don't manage to upsample to DSD with HQPlayer for now (only with Roon DSP and even that with a lot of limitations). Looking forward to hear @Miska magic at DSD 512 through it!!!! the new machine will fix this :)

 

The T+A is not going anywhere :)

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43 minutes ago, Miska said:

I hope you are not using some expensive audiophile STP network cables - those can spoil purpose of the NAA! Always use cheap CAT6 UTP cables! Or better still, optical network links.

 

 

@Miska: I also have in mind avoiding the LAN network cables ... what should be the approach? Router -> cat6 -> ethernet fiber converter -> optical -> PCIe fiber network card?

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Dear @Miska, thank you for you patience ...

Could the following setup be an alternative?:

switch>Ethernet>TP-Link MC100CM >1 metre Fibre Optic cable>TP-Link MC100CM>Ethernet > PC Net Card?

 

The TP-Link MC100CM are inexpensive but my concern is that the second converter may be adding some noise of its own and, therefore, adding complexity to the setup without benefits ...

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