What’s so bad about cpu fans?

[MarcelNL]

2 minutes ago, elan120 said:

Just curious, is this an endpoint or a server connected directly to DAC?

 

what is the difference? I'm running Daphile (Linux distro with embedded LMS) which sends data to my DAC via I2S, is it an end point, is it a server?

 

[davide256]

17 hours ago, Miska said:

For NAA, if you like high rate PCM (1.5M) or DSD1024 output, best option is some Intel Atom SoC based device. Powered from a suitable PSU or a battery.

 

For lower rates, you have various options with low power ARM CPUs. Powered from a suitable PSU or a battery.

 

Try to go for lowest power device that fits the bill. This also makes the device small and easy to have passive cooling.

 

Primarily, as much as possible, try to use Linux-based NAAs and avoid big bloated massive OS like Windows.

 

Smallest device I've been running NAA on is 400 MHz ARM9 CPU with 64 MB of RAM.

 

 

Most optimized out combo is:

• HQPlayer OS running as HQPlayer Embedded
• NAA OS running as NAA

 

I don't know anything about "Intel Atom SoC based devices". Can you suggest an example that could be powered at 12V DC?

[elan120]

2 minutes ago, MarcelNL said:

 

what is the difference? I'm running Daphile (Linux distro with embedded LMS) which sends data to my DAC via I2S, is it an end point, is it a server?

 

Thank you for the information.  I consider server-endpoint setup as a 2-PC approach, where server sents signal to an endpoint PC, where endpoint is connect to DAC.  In your description, it is connecting server directly to the DAC, and this us how my setup is now.  This work great as single systen setuo, but I am trying to find out what will work good in a secondary system.

[Rovo]

Davide256, 

Until a half year ago I used a Asrock N3150DC-ITX. This one uses 19V, but it gives you an example. 

[Miska]

17 hours ago, davide256 said:

I don't know anything about "Intel Atom SoC based devices". Can you suggest an example that could be powered at 12V DC?

 

This is what I use as a NAA:

https://up-shop.org/up-gateway-atom-x5-z8350-w-4g-memory-32g-emmc-board-w-vesa-plate.html

 

This kind of bigger machine works also for simple HQPlayer Embedded tasks and as NAA with HQPlayer OS:

https://up-shop.org/up-squared-edge-8gb-ram.html

 

These run from a 5V DC PSU, so likely USB VBUS is a direct feed.

 

[davide256]

2 hours ago, Miska said:

 

This is what I use as a NAA:

https://up-shop.org/up-gateway-atom-x5-z8350-w-4g-memory-32g-emmc-board-w-vesa-plate.html

 

This kind of bigger machine works also for simple HQPlayer Embedded tasks and as NAA with HQPlayer OS:

https://up-shop.org/up-squared-edge-8gb-ram.html

 

These run from a 5V DC PSU, so likely USB VBUS is a direct feed.

 

Thanks! Anything you care to share on the advantage of these vs something like a Pentium NUC booting off an SD card? is it purely that these are fanless? I note that they

are "back ordered" just like the latest NUC 11 TNK series, so much messed up with current product availability.

[ericuco]

21 hours ago, davide256 said:

I don't know anything about "Intel Atom SoC based devices". Can you suggest an example that could be powered at 12V DC?

Several us here on AS have been using a fitlet2 as NAA. One option is to include a SFP port (fiber optic) which makes it similar to a Sonore opticalRendu (at about 1/3 price). It can be powered with a wide range of DC voltages, mine is powered with 7v LPS.

 

Get Linux Mint OS pre-installed, install HQP NAA and you are off. If you want to control remotely, install SSH and use something like PuTTY to log-in.

[Miska]

41 minutes ago, davide256 said:

Thanks! Anything you care to share on the advantage of these vs something like a Pentium NUC booting off an SD card? is it purely that these are fanless?

 

They are fanless, low power (2W), and take 5V DC input to allow nice passthrough supply to the USB instead of having to go through a switching regulator.

 

41 minutes ago, davide256 said:

I note that they are "back ordered" just like the latest NUC 11 TNK series, so much messed up with current product availability.

 

Yes, a common problem these days. IIRC, these are also available through Mouser, they have one in stock.

 

[davide256]

  To @ericuco and @Miska  thanks for the suggestions. Not sure if Euphony runs on Atom processors, have posed the question to Euphony support as ideally

I'd like to run Euphony to allow switching between NAA and Stylus endpoint options. Miska's 1st option looks ideal, no assembly required other than software install

and Euphony install requires no Linux knowledge.. really hated that part of fiddling with Audio-Linux.

[Miska]

1 hour ago, davide256 said:

  To @ericuco and @Miska  thanks for the suggestions. Not sure if Euphony runs on Atom processors, have posed the question to Euphony support as ideally

 

This was about NAA. I don't see much point in using Euphony for NAA purposes. Instead as I suggested before, use either NAA OS or HQPlayer OS image for such.

 

1 hour ago, davide256 said:

and Euphony install requires no Linux knowledge.. really hated that part of fiddling with Audio-Linux.

 

NAA OS and HQPlayer OS don't require any either. NAA OS is as simple as it can be, you flash it and boot it up and that's it. HQPlayer OS is equally simple for the same purpose (and with two commands you can disable HQPlayer Embedded on it).

 

[Miska]

And switching between NAA OS / HQPlayer OS and something else is as simple as booting from a different media.

 

[davide256]

24 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

This was about NAA. I don't see much point in using Euphony for NAA purposes. Instead as I suggested before, use either NAA OS or HQPlayer OS image for such.

 

 

NAA OS and HQPlayer OS don't require any either. NAA OS is as simple as it can be, you flash it and boot it up and that's it. HQPlayer OS is equally simple for the same purpose (and with two commands you can disable HQPlayer Embedded on it).

 

Zelijko says he has registered users for same processor, so have ordered your first suggestion. Right now I'm split between HQP embedded for native rate files

and Stylus for PGGB files on an i5 USB out server, will see what this changes.

[sledwards]

4 hours ago, Miska said:

HQPlayer OS is equally simple for the same purpose (and with two commands you can disable HQPlayer Embedded on it).

Can you please repost those two commands to disable embedded?

[Miska]

15 minutes ago, sledwards said:

Can you please repost those two commands to disable embedded?

 

This disables automatic hqplayerd start at boot time:

systemctl disable hqplayerd

 

And this stops it immediately:

systemctl stop hqplayerd

 

Similar way you can disable/stop networkaudiod on the HQPlayer OS image if you don't need it.

 

[sledwards]

On 8/28/2021 at 7:35 PM, Miska said:

 

This disables automatic hqplayerd start at boot time:

systemctl disable hqplayerd

 

And this stops it immediately:

systemctl stop hqplayerd

 

Similar way you can disable/stop networkaudiod on the HQPlayer OS image if you don't need it.

 

I am a bit confused. Apparently I can not ssh into HQPlayer OS image to issue command to disable automatic hqplayerd start?

[Miska]

1 hour ago, sledwards said:

I am a bit confused. Apparently I can not ssh into HQPlayer OS image to issue command to disable automatic hqplayerd start?

 

No, you need to do it on local console.

 

[AudioDoctor]

On topic of quiet PC fans I came across this website earlier in a search I was conducting for my own purposes of quieting my PC even more, and I think you guys will like it as well.

 

You can sort by all kinds of criteria as well.

 

https://www.quietpc.com/casefans

 

This is a direct link to the fan category, there are others.

[firedog]

10 hours ago, AudioDoctor said:

On topic of quiet PC fans I came across this website earlier in a search I was conducting for my own purposes of quieting my PC even more, and I think you guys will like it as well.

 

You can sort by all kinds of criteria as well.

 

https://www.quietpc.com/casefans

 

This is a direct link to the fan category, there are others.

I've bought two PCs from them: one a fanless NUC, the other a i7-10700K with large slow quiet fans and soundproofing. 

 

The i7 server is very quiet, you can't hear it unless you are within a meter or so, and then only if you are in a very quiet room. It makes only slightly more noise than the background level of a quiet room. It stays very cool, rarely hitting temps above 35-40 C even with upsampling to 256 DSD, DRC, and digital EQ. 

I built it with an intake and and outtake fan on the back and front of the PC, respectively. The result is that it also stays pretty clean inside, with little dust buildup. When I open it to clean it, there isn't much there to clean.

 

The quietpc.com  people are very helpful. The technical people helped me build a PC for my needs without breaking the bank, something a little different than the featured builds on the website. The service people arranged special shipping outside their normal providers so I could have customs clearance and door to door service. 

I also had a weird issue after a Windows update, and they helped me over the phone with that. 

Recommended. 

 

[AudioDoctor]

I have ordered one of these. I hope that what it will allow me to do is use a Ryzen 5900X and have fans at 0rpm for the majority of the time.

 

https://noctua.at/en/nh-p1

 

The case this will go in is a Fractal Design Meshify 2 Compact.

[MarcelNL]

@AudioDoctor I doubt it, 105W TDP is not what that Noctua is listed for....

I'm using a 300W Heatsink with heatpipes and am at a pretty steady 53'C core temperature, until I have the CPU do anything more than play a file....so upsampling oversampling digital filtering and whatnot makes heat dissipation go up like crazy and fast.

 

Will keep my fingers crossed for you, I had my finger on the trigger to order one too until I reviewed the specs in detail.

[Dev]

moreover, you really need a good amount of case fans to blow the heat off the fins. All fans, however good and quiet they are, is detrimental to sound quality.

[MarcelNL]

4 minutes ago, Dev said:

moreover, you really need a good amount of case fans to blow the heat off the fins. All fans, however good and quiet they are, is detrimental to sound quality.

you mean with the Noctua?

 

[Dev]

21 minutes ago, MarcelNL said:

you mean with the Noctua?

 

 

yes. no ?

[MarcelNL]

yeah I think so, for a sec I thought you meant with all passive heatsinks ;-)

That Noctua is not rated for 105 W TDP, but I am curious to see the results! 

[Dev]

for hdplex h5 heatsink, it really helps to blow a couple external ones. it does reduce the temps as much as 20 deg in my case but they are also nasty for the sound.