Music server recommendation?

[audiofool1982]

Hi Guys, I bought a server here on Computer audiophile. It comprises of The Ryzen 7 2700 in a Streacom FC10 case and a HD Plex power supply. I have installed Euphony OS on it and using Roon Core and HQ Player. Recently I got a Sonnet Morpheus DAC and whenever I set the sampling freq to 384 Khz on HQ Player settings, I am hearing severe crackling noise. I reached out to Sonnet and they said that my processor may not have enough power to process 384 Khz with HQ Player's algorithms. Any thoughts?

 

If I were to upgrade, do u think I can build on what I have (use the same fanless case) and replace with a better processor? Would that help? I was also interested in buying a better server like Phasure Stealth mach 3 or something like that. Any suggestions?

 

Iam intrigued by the idea of building my own music server (I can handle the software side of things) but not quite confident about building / attaching heat - sinks etc. Has anyone done this and have any suggestions? Here is my setup :

 

 

 

[davide256]

You should likely read this thread, then direct your questions there. There is no question that HQPlayer can tax CPU & memory, when I've trialed Euphony with HQPlayer up conversion to DSD256 with an i7 NUC  it takes a while for playback to start and DAC sync is intermittently lost. Have had no issues using Euphony

with its PCM up conversion to 706/768 on i7 NUC but do like what I hear trialing HQPlayer DSD up conversion a bit more.

 

 

 

[elan120]

15 hours ago, audiofool1982 said:

Hi Guys, I bought a server here on Computer audiophile. It comprises of The Ryzen 7 2700 in a Streacom FC10 case and a HD Plex power supply. I have installed Euphony OS on it and using Roon Core and HQ Player. Recently I got a Sonnet Morpheus DAC and whenever I set the sampling freq to 384 Khz on HQ Player settings, I am hearing severe crackling noise. I reached out to Sonnet and they said that my processor may not have enough power to process 384 Khz with HQ Player's algorithms. Any thoughts?

 

If I were to upgrade, do u think I can build on what I have (use the same fanless case) and replace with a better processor? Would that help? I was also interested in buying a better server like Phasure Stealth mach 3 or something like that. Any suggestions?

 

Iam intrigued by the idea of building my own music server (I can handle the software side of things) but not quite confident about building / attaching heat - sinks etc. Has anyone done this and have any suggestions? Here is my setup :

 

 

 

Nice looking system.

 

The issue you are describing sounds like some setup related.  Assuming you are using HQPlayer to upsample Redbook to PCM 384KHz, and not using too CPU intensive filters, it should work fine with Ryzen 7 2700, and if the CPU isn't powerful enough, you should either have no output or stuttered output instead of crackling noise.  Can you check and see what CPU usage when this happened?

 

Meanwhile, are you using USB input from your server to the DAC?  From the DAC spec you have, looks like only USB input is capable to receive maximum 384KHz input, I wonder if there is a way you can get another computer and install HQPlayer to check if there is any issue?

 

 

[audiofool1982]

Hello, thanks for the reply. This morning I was trying to see what the CPU output was, and to my surprise, no output. No sound at all at 384 Khz. Weird. I got a new DAC, a sonnet Morpheus which could be the culprit too.

[elan120]

1 hour ago, audiofool1982 said:

Hello, thanks for the reply. This morning I was trying to see what the CPU output was, and to my surprise, no output. No sound at all at 384 Khz. Weird. I got a new DAC, a sonnet Morpheus which could be the culprit too.

Are you using USB output from your server to the input of DAC?  Meanwhile, if 384KHz doesn't work, does 192KHz work?

[audiofool1982]

Yes. There is a uptone audio iso Regen in between. It works with 192 , no sound is coming out on 384

[elan120]

When there is "no sound" coming out, does computer show usage at all?

 

Meanwhile, do you have another DAC or have access to that can accept 384KHz input to test?  If not, how about another computer or laptop to test HQPlayer?  Based on the "no sound" symptom, the culprit leans a bit more towards the DAC.

 

 

[audiofool1982]

Tried this again and I am hearing the crackling noise again, I recorded it, Will try and post it . the CPU usage says only 5%

[audiofool1982]

 

 

Will post the pics

 

 

 

 

[audiofool1982]

[audiofool1982]

[audiofool1982]

You can hear the crackling noise here in this video...

[elan120]

CPU usage to upsample to 384KHz should be relatively low, since based on the pictures, it show maximum of 2%, you should check it with 192KHz to see what the usage is to compare.  As a reference, I just ran usage test on my server using the same HQPlayer parameters you have, my server has a more powerful CPU, and the usage show 0.99%, so your 2% usage doesn't sound off target.  Your server likely be working just fine.

 

To further eliminate other possibilities, do you have other USB cables you know working fine and swap with what is in your current setup?  In addition, remove the ISORegen, so the setup will be: Server -> USB cable -> DAC, and see if it works in this setup?

 

I suspect the minimum setup above will yield the same result as before, where the issue could be the DAC.

 

 

[audiofool1982]

Hello @elan120 thanks for your help. Turns out its the DAC. I got another DAC and tried to use DSD and it works fine. I am able to do upto DSD 256 and here is the usage report of my server. Its okay to operate the server at this level right? the 25% you see on the screenshot below is DSD 128 and the 55% usage is DSD 256. If I do DSD 512, I am hearing dropouts and the CPU operating at 98% in the red.

 

The

[elan120]

Glad to know you found where the issue is.

 

6 hours ago, audiofool1982 said:

Its okay to operate the server at this level right?

Yes, the CPU usage looks about right, and pending the Modulator you use, CPU usage will be different.

 

[audiofool1982]

Thanks. What modulars do u use?

[elan120]

I am primary using ASDM7EC modulator upsample to DSD256x48.  It is a heavy load for the CPU, which drives the usage for an Intel i9-9900KS up to 83~89% range.

[audiofool1982]

Oh cool. Wow so it's okay to run the processor that high eh?

[elan120]

I am running between 56~61 degree C on CPU, so yes, it is ok.