Audiolinux Server configurations, Software, Hardware, and Listening Impressions

[lmitche]

Luisma,

 

You could also send us a picture of the output from the AL "Show Configuration" choice on the top menu.

[lmitche]

1 hour ago, luisma said:

Sure Larry, here it is, I really did a lot of testing, posted on the HQP thread with results etc. enabling multicore on hqplayerd.xml as Miska recommended did made a difference, better core utilization but still not enough

Sorry Luisma,

 

The pictures don't seem to open.

 

Larry

[lmitche]

1 hour ago, luisma said:

No problem

 

How about this?

 

 

 

That looks good, except I'd recommend the default (not BFQ) kernel. I'm not sure it will speed up Hqplayer, but it sure sounds better.

 

You said this is a Ryzen 7 3700x right? Which motherboard and ram ?

 

I'm surprised that the load isn't spread more evenly across processor threads. Are you sure the hqplayer multicore settings are correct?

 

Larry

[lmitche]

51 minutes ago, sig8 said:

I have been using AL for couple of years now. I was using RAMROOT, but at this point it does not fit on 8gb RAM, and Miska from HQP suggest it is not best to use HQP in RAM mode. So my question is if AL can be installed on an internal Optane drive.

Which Audiolinux are you running GUI or headless?

[lmitche]

8 minutes ago, sig8 said:

I have both, GUI on server and headless on NAA. Thanks.

For a headless installation, AL fits into 8gb using ramroot with RoonServer and Hqplayer embedded without issue. Headless will also fit into a 16 or 32GB Optane NVME drive configured as an SSD.  I recommend the larger of the two as the extra space can be useful for other things like the Roon DB.

 

I haven't booted AL with the GUI for many years and can't speak to that.

 

I am sorry I can't be more helpful.

 

Larry

[lmitche]

24 minutes ago, sig8 said:

Thanks Larry, sorry for not being clear, I have 8gb on server, and 4gb on headless at this point. I can add RAM to both or install on Optane.

 

How you install on Optane? Thanks.

Installing on Optane is done by using DD to move the image to the Optane drive from a USB stick. Here is a reference that explains how to use DD: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dd#Disk_cloning_and_restore

 

Also, Piero has some copy commands on the headless AL menu that may work as well.

 

Are you saying that headless doesn't ram boot on a 4gb RAM machine? If so, another ram stick is the easiest solution. Headless definitely boots on a 8gb machine. I don't know about the GUI version. Maybe Piero can chime in?

 

 

[lmitche]

2 minutes ago, hifi25nl said:

# maximum MiB free ram:
zram_max=1000

To be precise, do you mean 10000?

[lmitche]

2 hours ago, hifi25nl said:

No, that should be the max free zram. Zram is a virtual hard disk and that line define the max free space you want to leave on it.

You can go down to 250, if needed.

 

OK so perhaps this should be 400 not 4000?

 

# preferred MiB free ram:
ram_pref=4000

 

[lmitche]

On 10/6/2020 at 3:25 PM, cat6man said:

 

no responses at all.

is anyone using cpu isolation?

Hi Cat6man,

 

I used to configure AL with cpu isolation for Roon. Later Roon made a change in a new release and sound is better without the isolation. If you run Roon, I'd leave this alone.

 

Larry

[lmitche]

2 hours ago, cat6man said:

 

thanks for replying Larry.  I am only using squeezelite and have a dual core 7i7 NUC.

if you can, would you share the details of how you would set up cpu isolation for this case?

its not obvious to me what should be done (or even how)!

 

thanks

 

Hi cat6man,

 

The AL menu should contain all you need. First create the isolated cores, one for the OS and one for apps. Next assign your app, squeezelite to run in the isolated core.

 

Having said that, I couldn't tell you what will happen to your SQ if you do this. With two cores, you may be better off leaving things alone. This really depends on the squeezelite process architecture which I have never explored.

 

 

[lmitche]

15 hours ago, cat6man said:

 

hi larry,

 

cockpit error here.............i have a 4-core i7-8650 cpu.

any recommendations on how many cores to assign to squeezelite?

is there anything else to isolate if squeezelite is the only audio app running?

 

it isolated cores 2 and 3 and i assigned squeezelite to both of them.

Hi cat6man,

 

With little squeezelite experience, I can't say which of the four possible permutations of core isolation in a 4 core box would yield the best SQ. You are going to have to try each one and have a listen. There is really no avoiding this.

 

Don't forget to assign the squeezlite app to the non-OS core segment using the expert menu.

[lmitche]

14 hours ago, luisma said:

Yeah the Realtek card won't work with the LTS, so for now it is not for me

[audiolinux@audiolinux ~]$ lspci | grep Ethernet
06:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8125 2.5GbE Controller (rev 05)

Maybe in the future

 

Luisma,

 

Plug one of these into one of the direct to cpu USB 3 ports on your motherboard and you will be good to go.

It will sound better then the onboard NIC ever will as you avoid the PCH. In the US the cost is $12 on Amazon.

 

https://www.tp-link.com/us/home-networking/usb-converter/ue300/

 

This NIC is fully supported in Archlinux. Remember to disable the onboard NIC in bios.

[lmitche]

1 hour ago, luisma said:

Thanks Larry, greatly appreciate the advise, going to go ahead and get it, I was browsing boards last night and none of the B550 or even X570 with Intel nics are practical to use for my build, this saves me the trouble ... thank you

If you like the Tplink, the next step is to get a Monoprice Slimrun USB fiber cable externally powered by a good 5 volt source. Just plug the Tplink into the downstream port.

 

Using a Monoprice on the DAC side increases SQ as well.

[lmitche]

On 11/17/2020 at 3:27 AM, Bricki said:

Thanks for sharing this Larry... I've put this UE300 on my endpoint nuc between my Etheregen b side and turned off the LAN in the bios.... I'm impressed with the change after a few days... Things are still settling in and the initial harshness seems to have worn off now.

 

Have you found that there ue300 sounds particularly good/better than other usb nics? Or will others have a similar impact? Are all USB 3.0 ports direct to cpu?

Hi Bricki,

 

Answers to your questions are below:

 

Have you found that there ue300 sounds particularly good/better than other usb nics? Or will others have a similar impact?

• While I certainly haven't done an exhaustive review of the various USB nics, the Tplink does seem to sound best. However, most run with the same realtek chipset so are probably close to identical.

Are all USB 3.0 ports direct to cpu?

• No this varies across motherboards and cpu manufacturers. AMD machines have a PCH onboard the processor chip so there are usually 4 direct to cpu USB 3 ports on AMD motherboards. Look at the block diagram of your motherboard to determine which ports go direct.

Larry

[lmitche]

On 11/17/2020 at 5:46 AM, Miska said:

Problem with USB ethernet adapters is that USB devices always require quite a bit of CPU involvement to deal with USB protocol.

Playing a 192/24 Qobuz track in Roonserver with no-upsampling, an 8 core AMD machine at 3200ghz  runs at 98.64% idle and draws 16.14 watts. With playback stopped, and 100% idle, power usage is 15.75 watts. The machine is USB DAC direct so two USB ports are in use.

 

The USB NIC plus Roonserver overhead appears to be negligible at 1.36% of the processors and .39 watts.

 

The CPU direct USB NIC approach also avoids the motherboard PCH and the 4x PCIE lane congestion on most consumer motherboards. This just sounds better.

[lmitche]

21 hours ago, Csaba said:

Could you please advise if 16Gb Optane Card is sufficient for the following?:

- Audiolinux headless,

- Roon Rock (currently 1.500 albums, which will increase to 2.000-2.500 in the following 1-2 years),

- HQPlayer (desktop or embedded, not sure which version).

 

I would use 16 GB RAM and probably run Audiolinux in RAM root mode.

 

Thank you for your advice. 

My 2 cents on the Optane sizing question of 16gb or 32 gb, is that 32 gb is always used here.

 

You may be able to squeeze everything into 16gb, but it is close to the edge. For the $30 price differential for the 32gb version, it doesn't seem worth the risk of running out of space.

[lmitche]

1 hour ago, cat6man said:

progress report:

i now have LMS and squeezelite running under A-L on a RPi-4 (w/8GB ram), output to a GeekOut DAC and music stored on a 8GB usb stick.  RPi powered by standard ac wall wart.

 

next steps: 

1.  add large 4-5GB usb HDD for music storage (can RPi power it?)

2.  replace wall wart with portable battery backup capable of 5v @ 3A

3.  listening and squeezelite buffer optimization (**)

5.  run A-L in ramroot (more listening)

6.  add iso-regen between RPi and DAC (more listening)

 

** i ran into a problem setting up.  when selecting DAC and setting buffer for squeezelite setup, there was about 5+GB shown as free, so i set up the buffers with 2G each.   then, even though both LMS and squeezelite were nominally working fine, LMS was unable to find the squeezelite client.  when i changed the buffers to 1G each, LMS could see the squeezelite and, voila, music happened. 

 

 

Funny, I have had a NUC running in my car. The center console has a container with 12 volt and USB power along with analog RCA inputs into the factory head-end. With a IFI Black label DAC, SDcard storage, and Roon remote on the phone all is good. SQ is crazy good. Costs of second Roon license sucks.

[lmitche]

4 hours ago, cat6man said:

has anyone compared the SQ of audio-linux, comparing a RPi with a NUC?

Not here.

[lmitche]

14 hours ago, cat6man said:

 

"have had a NUC running in my car", as in past tense?

SQ crazy good....................

if so, what did you replace it with?

I mostly listen to news and sometimes books in the car. A bluetooth DAC was simpler for this purpose.

 

Nevertheless, it was a fun experiment.

 

 

[lmitche]

18 hours ago, luisma said:

Already posted on the HQPe thread but just in case here too.

 

Just wanted to provide an update on an issue I had before with HQPe fingerprint changes. After testing both Audiolinux and Ubuntu Focal it turned out something in an Ubuntu update apparently (as I never figured what it was) changed temporarily the license fingerprint, going back to Audiolinux and after updating Ubuntu again the fingerprint was rock steady, even changing and renaming of the network adapters the fingerprint was consistent.

 

I suspect the issue I experienced initially might have been related to the custom wired Realtek new chipset driver (not supported on kernels 4.9 and such) , I looked for an Intel on board network card on every manufacturer board B550 and X570 but my Hdplex H5 won't allow tall VRM heatsinks on the left side of the board as these will block the copper pipes setup. So the few boards that fit have the Realtek which for me at least for now a necessary evil. If you can, avoid the Realtek like the plague and go with Intel.

Let me add that IMO keeping consistency with the driver and fingerprint Audiolinux in my case worked better.

Just wanted to provide an update as my previous comment might have pointed Audiolinux as the cause of my problem and it really wasn't.

 

 

Disable the motherboard NIC and stick a USB NIC like a TPlink UE300 ($12) into one of the direct to CPU usb 3 ports. You will enjoy the SQ improvement.

[lmitche]

13 hours ago, pranabindu said:

However, I can't see the NUC or the connected USB drive on my network

What do you mean by this? If you can see the RoonServer the machine must be on the network. 

[lmitche]

12 hours ago, luisma said:

Check Turemetal, and Streacom

 

Or maybe consider going with a Fractal chassis with fans

 

 

 

A Fractal case with a big heatsink, no heatsink but with well placed chassis fans separately powered works well for a Hqplayer upsampling machine.

[lmitche]

The Linux 5.17 kernel SQ exceeds expectations.

[lmitche]

The sound quality with the locally built cpu optimized kernel is the best ever!

 

Many thanks Piero.

 

 

[lmitche]

This is a quick note to say thanks to Piero for the V4 kernel upgrade option.

 

Running Audiolinux on Ryzen 7 series ZEN4 machines with the V4 kernel brings a immediate sound quality upgrade, with increased image density first noticed in the deep bass range but across the spectrum.

 

If you have a ZEN4 machine this upgrade is highly recommended.

 

Thanks again Piero for making this happen.