Building a DIY Music Server

[AudioDoctor]

@Nenon

 

You're saying that Roon running on/with these other platforms and over a network sound better than Roon server does on my Mac Mini playing over my network to a Sonore Optical Rendu Signature SE?

[AudioDoctor]

3 hours ago, Mops911 said:

@Nenonwhy would you choose AMD over Intel? Is this based on your last builds documented in this thread?

 

More processing power and less heat is two reasons...

[AudioDoctor]

27 minutes ago, ASRMichael said:

Understand! I use Pink Faun Ultra usb. I would also need a demo before purchasing a Taiko USB. Very happy with my PF mind you. 

 

Just something to keep in mind. When I was doing some research about USB cards, I learned that to use the Pink Faun USB card you need an AMD Processor. That's straight from Pink Faun themselves.

[AudioDoctor]

44 minutes ago, ASRMichael said:

Are you sure? Thought was just spdif? I’ve just PF USB with 3 Intel processors without any issue at all. Windows & Linux. 

 Let me find the email from Jord Groen

 

This is from January 26th. And may refer only to Euphony as an endpoint, I am not sure.

 

Quote

- Yes, the Pink Faun cards, we call them bridges, are of very high quality and available with our ULTRA OCXO clock. It is also possible to insert more than one Pink Faun bridge into the server, and you can switch easily between the different connections to the DAC. For example, there are people who setup a USB connection to the DAC fully optimized for DSD playback, and a second AES/EBU connection fully optimized for PCM playback.

- Our Pink Faun bridges are also sold separately so one can built his own streamer or endpoint. Please note than when you build your own endpoint using Euphony as OS you need to use an AMD processor for your build to get the bridges work properly.
 

 

[AudioDoctor]

3 minutes ago, ASRMichael said:

I’ve just tried playing from my nuc using stylus to server (PF Usb is located). It’s running StylusEP and plays fine. I don’t understand why he would say this?! As I said no issues from my end. 
 

Maybe not suitable with some Mobo manufacturers. Saying that I’ve used ASRock & Asus. 

 

I have no idea either. I thought it was odd at the time but didn't inquire further because the server I built has an Intel processor.

[AudioDoctor]

Just now, ASRMichael said:

I’ve just emailed Jord & asked him to clarify on this thread. 👍

 

Awesome.

[AudioDoctor]

36 minutes ago, ASRMichael said:

Response from Jord

 

About the cards, I think where the confusion comes from, not the full conversation is posted. It is like follows:

 

The USB card working fine on any system both Intel and AMD running either Linux or Windows.

The SPDIF- and I2S bridge working fine on both Intel and AMD on Windows systems.

The SPDIF- and I2S bridge working only on Linux on AMD based systems.

Something is going wrong between the Intel CPU and the PCI Express audio processor we use on both the SPDIF- and I2S bridge. What is odd is that the issue between the audio processor and Intel is random, it will play fine in some Intel/Linux systems, but most Intel/Linux systems produce issues with the SPDIF- and I2S bridge.

 

Thanks for following up and getting some clarification.

[AudioDoctor]

9 hours ago, MarcelNL said:

it is large-ish 😁 as I am looking to create thermal stability over a larger range of in house temperature as our current house gets incredibly hot ridiculously fast and it affects the server temp quite a bit,

 

I ordered the heatsink at Reichelt, I can post a link if anyone is interested (I;d suggest to wait until I know if it actually can cope with the AMD Ryzen 9 3900X @ 105 TDP

 

 

Quoting you, because I couldn't find a way to get you to come up with a mention, however... I see you have an X570 board in your signature. What are you doing, if anything about the chipset fan?

[AudioDoctor]

My new thinking on a silent server.

 

A giant case with minimal components inside it, ridiculously quiet fans, isolated water cooling components, SSDs only, and lots of airflow. Asus has released 4 new X570 motherboards with passive chipset cooling also. I am hoping to get the X570 ProArt and test my theory out in a Fractal Meshify 2 XL case.

 

SO far, here are the parts I am considering.

 

Noctua Fans:  https://noctua.at/en/nf-a12x25-pwm

Asus Board:  https://www.asus.com/Motherboards-Components/Motherboards/ProArt/ProArt-X570-CREATOR-WIFI/

Meshify 2 XL case:  https://www.fractal-design.com/products/cases/meshify/meshify-2-xl-light-tempered-glass/Black/

 

one giant 480 radiator on the top, 3 fans in the front, 1 in the back, all the Noctua fans which claim a 22.6dB noise output at full speed.

 

a water cooled CPU and GPU, 5800X and 3080

 

a pump mounted on rubber grommets, an EK D5 pump which claims a 33dB noise level.

 

I also want to try fitting the side door from the Define 7 XL which is solid metal instead of the glass on the Meshify.

[AudioDoctor]

2 minutes ago, MarcelNL said:

writing @AudioDoctor does that trick too.

 

I 'm not doing anything about the chipset fan other than that it probably does not move due to manual fan setting scheme I'm using, I have not done anything with it yet as I have bigger fish to fry first. Will be able to see how it behaves when the MB is mounted on a board next week, test flying the heatsink solution.

 

I read that the new MB's do not need a chipset fan anymore, and at some point I probably will use one of those.  

 

I tried writing @MarcelNL I see the problem, I was using an I instead of an l

 

haha. Thanks for your reply.

[AudioDoctor]

9 hours ago, MarcelNL said:

@AudioDoctor I am guessing your build is for gaming ? Otherwise I'd leave the GPU's out, huge powerdrains, a headless server is quieter both due to lower power draw and due their fans.

 

 

Its for HQPlayer.

[AudioDoctor]

Just now, MarcelNL said:

if you can I'd try run HQ player headless.

 

It will be...

[AudioDoctor]

31 minutes ago, MarcelNL said:

I was triggered by the 3080, my use case is different. No upsampling processing or DSP so I have an ancient video card that gets shut down by Daphile after booting.

 

HQPlayer uses Nvidia CUDA software to offload processing to make it possible too upsample to higher rates than using CPU alone. It won't be used for video output at all.

[AudioDoctor]

48 minutes ago, Jud said:

Too bad about Bitcoin.  GPU prices used to be somewhat reasonable, now one 3080 costs more than my last PC upgrade (ASUS mobo, Intel CPU, nVidia GPU, RAM, water cooling).

Yeah, its ridiculous.

[AudioDoctor]

6 minutes ago, NEMO777 said:

I also plan to use bakel plywood for damping capacitors, transformer and chokes like Taiko did. It is not difficult to buy such plywood in my region. Now I'm thinking about what kind of plywood to use, it can be birch or beech. Judging by the photo from neon, there is plywood from Beech. Although Emil himself said that he uses birch plywood.

 

Birch plywood is used in a lot of audio applications, usually under a veneer. It's sturdy and strong and lasts a long time.

[AudioDoctor]

So, this might be another dumb question, but...

 

How in the heck are you guys installing an OS on your headless servers?

[AudioDoctor]

in response to my post above, I may just make this easier on myself and use Euphony. I already have a license.

[AudioDoctor]

Ok, plans have changed slightly...

 

Current thinking and plan for build is as follows.

 

An HDPlex H5 case with an AMD Ryzen 5800X and a Jcat Netcard XE running HQP OS. Nothing else. No hard drives, no SSDs other than a small one for the OS. It will pull files from a ZFS pool running on a dedicated file server running Ubuntu via an SMB share. It will output to my Aqua LinQ running as an NAA, which then goes i2s to my DAC.

 

I may put another Jcat Netcard XE in the Ubuntu file server, I have not decided yet.

 

The H5 will be powered by the HDPlex 300W linear power supply as will the Jcat card.

[AudioDoctor]

6 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Here is what my friend uses to deliver heavy speakers. It’s really cool. 
 

https://youtu.be/iKk5t3EEksA

 

 

Holy crap. 

[AudioDoctor]

4 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

New Streacom SG10

 

https://www.fanlesstech.com/2023/05/exclusive-streacom-sg10.html?m=1

 

 

That's interesting.

[AudioDoctor]

On 5/29/2023 at 10:34 AM, The Computer Audiophile said:

New Streacom SG10

 

https://www.fanlesstech.com/2023/05/exclusive-streacom-sg10.html?m=1

 

 

Chris, Streacom also has these available...

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/look-ma-no-fans-case-passively-dissipates-600w-of-heat

[AudioDoctor]

Just now, The Computer Audiophile said:

No way! Seems like they were inspired by something :~)

 

 

 

 

I had that same thought!

[AudioDoctor]

41 minutes ago, MarcelNL said:

based on what I'm hearing Core precision overboost is gonna stay :-)

 

AMD Motherboard?

[AudioDoctor]

43 minutes ago, MarcelNL said:

surely, it's only a few Asus motherboards that can do this trick as far as I know

 

Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Extreme

 

I have the Asus X670e pro art, so I am going to go turn that on and see what happens.

[AudioDoctor]

Apacer is the first I have seen to come out with DDR5 ECC UDIMM memory that runs faster than the base of 4800MHZ.

https://www.apacer.com/en/product/industrial-product/detail/industrial_dram/fully_lead_free_ddr5_ecc_udimm
 

HQPlayer likes fast RAM

 

edit: ASUS claims that ALL B650 and X670 boards support ECC UDIMM RAM as long as you're using an "X" series Ryzen CPU.