Shootout at the Linux Corral: AudioLinux vs Euphony

[dc-audiogeek]

I bought a Euphony Audio PTS (i3 8 GB ram linux-based server) from the company and have been using Euphony for a year and I really like it. I think the Euphony Stylus-based music app sounds great but is a bit pokey. Euphony works perfectly fine with HQPlayer and Roon. 

 

Arthur, their USA rep, is very responsive to questions and getting bug reports to the engineering group. He's great. His email is: [email protected].

 

Euphony regularly updates their software with additional features and better audio quality (v3 just came out and sounds fantastic). It blows away Auralic's products (the last generation... haven't heard the latest models).

 

I'm very pleased with Euphony overall.

[dc-audiogeek]

12 hours ago, bobfa said:

That sounds great.  I have been playing with the Stylus server and it sounds great.  The UI is "different again"!  I am used to using Roon which I cannot test till I send them money!

 

What are you using on a regular basis and how is your system configured?

 

Thanks for helping!

 

I haven't had a chance to write a detailed response, but you made the right choice by purchasing a license. Euphony Stylus v3 sounds the best yet, better than version 2, and much better than version 1. One of the new features in Euphony Stylus v3 lets you stream music to your Euphony drive via AirPlay if you own an Apple device.

 

I used Euphony Stylus v1 as my main player for a while, but then decided I wanted to upsample via HQPlayer. Euphony has that option baked in. In my case, my Euphony PTS server runs on an i3 processor and does not have enough power to upsample above 192Khz. (Euphony Stylus' basic OS does not need a lot of resources or power It runs very well on an i3 7th generation chip). After Euphony Stylus v2 came out, I decided I wanted to go further with HQPlayer. I purchased a Mac Mini and used it to stream audio to my Euphony PTS, using HQPlayer on the Mac to upsample audio to DSD256 and controlling it through Roon. That sounded great. Then Euphony Stylus v3 was released, and my system sounds even better.

 

A Euphony Stylus license may seem expensive, but I get such good sound, as well as great support and troubleshooting from Arthur, and the Euphony engineering team makes incremental updates regularly.

 

That is my current setup, and I am quite happy with it. I have attached a picture of my Euphony PTS server.

[dc-audiogeek]

3 hours ago, jkelly said:

Do you know if I can connect the Euphony server to my NAS music folder instead of a USB or internal storage drive? 

 

Yes. I have done this in the past.

[dc-audiogeek]

43 minutes ago, ted_b said:

Can you expand on this?  Cuz you ended with "Then Euphony Stylus v3 was released, and my system sounds even better. ".  What are you using to choose music (i.e GUI) and what sort of architecture/setup are you using HQplayer (embedded with NAA, etc)?   Thx

Each new version of Euphony Stylus has better sound quality than the previous version [ V1(good)<V2(very good)<VS3 (great)].

 

I originally used the Euphony PTS server/Euphony Stylus software (with a built-in 2GB SSD) to connect the server directly to my DAC to play music. Euphony Stylus has HQPlayer built-in as an option (in its audio player) and is Roon ready. If you want to use the built-in HQPlayer option, you can use it for 20 minutes at a time and then restart your music to get another 20 minutes. I purchased an embedded Linux version of HQPlayer to be able to use it without interruption. It's a little pricey, but worth it if you're going to stick with the default music player. You can also stream Tidal and Qobuz through the Euphony Stylus player.

 

Now I have Euphony Styus set up as a NAA, controlled by my Mac Mini, which runs HQPlayer desktop and Roon server. I use Roon remote on my iPad to control music choices going from Roon to HQPlayer to my Euphony PTS server. The sound quality I get through my headphone amp is truly excellent.

 

Hope that answers your questions!

 

Here's what the Euphony Stylus music player interface looks like, courtesy of @bobfa.

[dc-audiogeek]

3 minutes ago, ted_b said:

Sorry I'm still confused.  As a long time HQPlayer user (I started the embedded thread) I am wondering what you mean.  I was told that Stylus is Euphony's music player, yet you describe using Roon (as library manager and ipad gui) to HQplayer (as upsampler) and then running HQplayer NAA on the PTS box.  Where does Stylus (a music player) even fit in here?  How did their going to Stylus V3 affect your sound if what you use is Roon and HQplayer?  You show Stylus as a GUI, but it's now what you use, right?  You use Roon.  Thx

It's confusing because Euphony uses the word Stylus for both the operating system and the music player. I tried to differentiate between the two by referring to a Stylus music player app.

 

The option to use the Stylus OS as a NAA is one of the options for how you configure the Stylus OS server.

 

Even when I use Roon and not the Euphony Stylus music player as my source, the Euphony Stylus OS processes the incoming stream with its behind the scenes magic (via the OS, a very light dedicated Linux software not running any other apps like Windows does) before sending that stream to the DAC. The stream that comes out of the OS and goes to my DAC sounds better than using a direct connection to my computer.

 

Does that help clarify things?

[dc-audiogeek]

1 hour ago, tedwoods said:

Could one use HQPlayer embedded without having to control it through Roon, either using HQPlayer's own library management or maybe through their Stylus app?

 

Yes to both! 😉

[dc-audiogeek]

3 minutes ago, dc-audiogeek said:

 

Yes to both! 😉

On second thought, yes to the latter and I'm not sure to the former.

[dc-audiogeek]

23 minutes ago, rickca said:

OK so @ArthurPower can you explain some key differences between AudioLinux and Euphony that might account for Euphony's reported superior sound quality?

 

So you're asking what's in the special sauce? 😉