Shootout at the Linux Corral: AudioLinux vs Euphony

[Lukasluis]

I find that the in my system the combination of AL and Euphony gives the best synergy.

 

AL 5.2 BFQ running Roon Server on NUC 8i7BNH Ramroot Enabled, Boot mode-Standard, Priority-Extreme, Scaling Driver-ACPI, Max Frequency, Turbo Off, Hyperthreading Off, RoonDB on Optane memory, LAN Bridged to NUC 7I3BNH, Akasa case, running Euphony-Stylus EP. 

 

I find that AL in both machines sounds lean. I have to adjust my DSP and subwoofer settings to have higher bass than my usual room curve to give me the much needed bloom and meat. With Euphony on both machines, I set to my normal room curve but I miss the. Transparency and PRAT of AL. It sounds quite boring. 

 

Both OS's have equal stage width and image height with Euphony better on image density. 

 

Combining AL and Euphony gives me Bloom, PRAT, transparency, Image Density, better defined Soundstaging and imaging. 

 

Both machines are powered by ZEROZONE 19volts Ultra Low Noise LPS and with low latency RAM

[Lukasluis]

1 hour ago, flkin said:

one trick I tried is to keep a backup of my music database (both local and Tidal) in another computer with my bookmarks/tabs settings via a Restore from a Roon backup from the 2.16. Then use that to run Roon for music searching. I use that as a reference when I can’t find things in Stylus. 

Thanks for the tip. I'll copy your process as Roon is now unused since moving to Euphony and now to Gentooplayer/MPD.

[Lukasluis]

Exactly the same reasons why I switched to Windows. No amount of tuning cured my feeling that instruments are overly fat but lacked the leading edges and timing is quite off. No harshness even with 4.5Ghz on my Intel 8i7 wide open and all the tunings in place but I don't feel the excitement nor the emotion of the singers with Euphony. My license is unused for more than 4 months now. I am thinking of going 12 cores to see if things change but at the moment, I'm very happy with Windows. 

[Lukasluis]

7 minutes ago, cat6man said:

 

not sure what you mean.

 

i very much appreciate your recommendations, because you (and a few others) have consistently made useful observations that have aligned with my own with regard to SQ.

therefore, i was very interested in trying out your suggestions, which i think i have done now.

 

i am surprised, to some extent, that my results so far have been different from yours.

 

however, i'm not clear what exactly is the point you're making that "is not getting through"

please help me, what am i missing here?

 

 

It looks like the Turbo Off. Did you try with HT On and Turbo On? 

[Lukasluis]

I too have tried Audiolinux and the best I experienced is euphony as a server and Audiolinux as an Endpoint. But for me, Windows makes me enjoy the music more. I can't explain why. I'm using Windows Server 2016 without any optimizations on a NUC 8I7 Akasa Fanleass case with a 8kg 19 volt Linear power supply. Perhaps the NUC is this good? I hope anyone here can chip in. I wonder if it is because of the SOC?

 

[Lukasluis]

6 hours ago, cat6man said:

specific conclusions for my setup (ymmv)

1.  with a single NUC solution and LMS/Squeezelite, HT and turbo both on, and running in ramroot, audio-linux easily bested euphony which smoothed out the transients and attacks of notes too much for me.  with AL i hear the fingers on strings and intake of breathing on vocals much more clearly.

2.  with a two NUC solution, Euphony as squeezelite endpoint did not have the oversmoothing of the one box solution but did not stand out as surpassing AL as an endpoint.

I did the same comparison early this year and I ended with the same conclusion. No amount of power supply capacity and quality cured the smoothing issue. Too bad I already bought the Euphony license. I then compared AL with Windows and preferred Windows for my main system. I still use AL for my bedroom system and alternating between endpoints running Gentooplayer and HQP NAA for my headphone rig. I am at the moment researching for the right hardware to run my Euphony license.