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AudioLinux and NUC Troubleshooting and Tuning

rickca

By rickca
in Music Servers

austinpop
Message added by austinpop

Summary of useful findings and recommendations

 

This section will be a living repository of useful info from this thread. It's very similar to a wiki and will be maintained by a small group of thread moderators.

 

Before you get started please refer to the Audio-Linux website to ensure you have the latest info and the proper versions of the OS. Audio-Linux.com  

 

**** Updated for AL 1.30 menu 118 or later.

 

  "First Run" setup for headless.  

 

Setup your NUC with a keyboard, mouse, and monitor to the NUC BIOS settings.  From the menu note the IP address of the machine to SSH into.  From a MAC the macOS terminal program supports SSH:

324537708_ScreenShot2019-01-28at3_02_19PM.thumb.png.739dc7f9cdb05e04da806c7c66877332.png

 

Then it is simpler to cut and paste into the terminal session. After entering the password for the audiolinuxuser you will be presented with the AL headless menu:

 

1518375894_ScreenShot2019-01-28at3_04_18PM.thumb.png.a7b2867a163f8f014e56e52ff69f94b4.png

 

Option 8 takes you to the command line for the following basic setup.  You will need to be the Root user for this setup and the su command first:

 

su

 

Fix the time zone:  (this is my timezone - look in directory /usr/share/zoneinfo)

 

timedatectl set-timezone America/Chicago
 

Setup and Start NTP daemon (to keep the system time in sync)

 

*** the config file is now properly filled in.

 

Now Start the daemon

 

timedatectl set-ntp true

 

 

NOTE: Sometimes the system takes a little while to get synced up.
 

Set hostname  (this provides a unique name for the machine on your network.  Replace <NAME> with your chosen name)

 

hostnamectl set-hostname <NAME> 
 

Once the above items are set up your machine is ready to be configured for say a Roon bridge/endpoint. That is done using the AL menu.  To return to the menu do the following commands.

 

exit

menu

 

----------------------------------

 

For most of us, the following basic settings are key.

From the configuration menu:

6. START and enable Roonbridge

15. SET Realtime Priority to extreme

16. ENABLE ramroot (reboot after)

 

Return to the main menu and reboot the NUC using 

 

11 Reboot

 

------------------

Roon Server setup is a bit more complex and we will cover it completely a bit later.  The key is where you are booting from and where the Roon database is stored.  In general; say a 32gb OPTANE "SSD".

 

  • You have to partition the SSD into a boot drive and a storage drive.  
  • The transfer the USB stick install to the boot partition.  
  • Reboot from the boot partition.  
  • Do the basic setup. Timezone and name
  • Transfer the Roon Database to the storage drive
  • Start the Roon Server
  • .....

 

----------------- 

The machine will reboot and from the display attached to the NUC you can watch it boot up and load into RAM.  Once the AudioLinux menu is showing the endpoint should be available in Roon.    This completes the basic startup sequence.  The system is ready to start testing.    

 

 

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boneman

boneman

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Posted

As a W10/JRM for Win users, I'll keep my comments to my NUC experience.  I do have a RPi3 with an Allodigione but that making it sound good is this winter's project.

 

I bought a used NUC5PPYH with a 120 SSD and 4GB in ram plus the W10 Pro 64 OS.  It is a low powered Pentium offering and for my 192/24 flac files played without upsampling, it has more than enough horsepower.

 

My music files are on a Synology DS412 NAS which has two LAN ports, one which is hooked into my router/home network and the other which is connected directly to the NUC via CAT6 cable.  The NUC is connected to the DAC via USB.  I've considered trying a SPDIF output but to date have not gone that route.

 

I used it unchanged for a month and then I went with a Akasa fanless case.  Surprisingly the sonic change was negligible with the case change.

 

A couple of months later I built a DIY o11 LPS, outputting 18.75vdc.  This single change, about $100 for parts, made a big difference in lowering the sound floor and cleaning up the sound. 
 

 

 

 

20180422_150358 (Large).jpg

FLAC and AIF files mainly 192/24 and lower on Synology DS412 4x4Tb WD Red  in SHR2>direct ethernet to NUC>Intel NUC5PPYH w/JR Media 20 Akasa Newton P fanless case and DIY o11 LPS>Straightwire USB cable>W4S Recovery w/LPS>W4S DAC2DSD V2 w/Femto clock>Kimber Silver Streak balanced>Balanced Audio Technology VK3000SE>Kimber Monocle XL>Sonus Faber Cremona floorstanders

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boneman

boneman

Posted
Posted
11 hours ago, Middy said:

I did it the other way around. I had a spare LPS S booster 13v with a quad cable Ifi DC MOD. Removing the fan made a difference to my ears. Subtle but there...

Power is the main factor and a lovely job you have done with your PSU.

Have you considered adding Linear LDOs on your outputs? Ldovr for example?

Many people seem happy with thier addition of a low noise regulator. Not all of us can afford some of the better LPS's, i wish i could make one Boneman.

Thanks for posting it here.

Dave ?

 

 

 

Thanks for the kind words.  I actually never thought about adding LDOs to the output.  I had built a 5V version of the o11 LPS for my RPi3 and it seemed to be tightly regulated although I never tested the consistency of the outputs.

20180421_095506.jpg

FLAC and AIF files mainly 192/24 and lower on Synology DS412 4x4Tb WD Red  in SHR2>direct ethernet to NUC>Intel NUC5PPYH w/JR Media 20 Akasa Newton P fanless case and DIY o11 LPS>Straightwire USB cable>W4S Recovery w/LPS>W4S DAC2DSD V2 w/Femto clock>Kimber Silver Streak balanced>Balanced Audio Technology VK3000SE>Kimber Monocle XL>Sonus Faber Cremona floorstanders

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boneman

boneman

Posted
Posted
8 hours ago, John769 said:

Thanks for the feedback boneman.  Just out of interest: What is the N3700's usage percentage during normal playback?  (task manager/performance).  Did the fan spin at all/ much with music before you changed the case over?  Thanks

 

Again, this is with JRMedia and Win10, CPU utilization is generally under 3% except when the album to be played is selected at which time it goes up to 20% before subsiding back.

 

Fan was on low setting via the BIOS.  It did come on, not sure there is a totally passive mode in the default settings.

FLAC and AIF files mainly 192/24 and lower on Synology DS412 4x4Tb WD Red  in SHR2>direct ethernet to NUC>Intel NUC5PPYH w/JR Media 20 Akasa Newton P fanless case and DIY o11 LPS>Straightwire USB cable>W4S Recovery w/LPS>W4S DAC2DSD V2 w/Femto clock>Kimber Silver Streak balanced>Balanced Audio Technology VK3000SE>Kimber Monocle XL>Sonus Faber Cremona floorstanders

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