Mac Book Air or Microsoft Surface Fanless laptops for streaming?

[Turbo2288]

After experiencing Rpi, Pi2AES, Volumio, PicorePlayer, RopieeeXL, I think I still prefer using my PC to streaming music to my dac, for few reasons:

1: I prefer to use Window file folders to access and choose what music to play in Foobar.

2: I like using Foobar, more so than Jriver.

3: I've find the Tidal app within music apps like Volumio, Mconnect, Bubble Upnp not as good and full features as the PC's desktop Tidal app, which I use a lot.

 

I was going to build an audiophile PC but have given up becasue I could not find anything online in great detail.

I began to think if I could use a laptop like Mac book Air or Surface Pro/Surface Laptop since they are fanless, no moving parts, and has separate power supply, exactly what I  would like to build.

Please give me some suggestion on this subject as to sound quality, functionalty.

Thank you.

[Turbo2288]

I guess some audiophiles use Mac mini and no one uses Macbook Air and Surface Laptop here for some reason.

Mac mini has a fan and power supply in the chassic, does that degrade the sound? may be the display in MBA & Surface produce more noise? Or is there any fanless pc out there that's worth looking into?

I don't have any experience and knowledge on the subject and looking for guidance.

Thanks again.

[firedog]

I've used a Surace pro. Works fine as long as you are happy with the SP itself.

[Turbo2288]

3 hours ago, firedog said:

I've used a Surace pro. Works fine as long as you are happy with the SP itself.

Thank you, did you compare it to other server/streamer as far as sound quality is concern?

I am condisering using a Singxer SU5/SU6 DDC before the dac.

[GoodEnoughGear]

I don't recall my SPro USB ports being noisy or problematic, either direct on through the dock. However my DAC has a good USB implementation, so I imagine with a DDC you'd be in good shape.

 

I'd consider the physical format as well - MacBook Air = clamshell and no touchscreen, SPro = tablet-based design with touchscreen and addon soft keyboard (or BT keyboard).

 

A dock for the SPro would be ideal, so if you want to use it elsewhere it's super easy to undock without having to unplug the DDC and anything else attached. That's more $$$ of course, but if you're looking at saving $$$ as far as possible there are cheaper fanless windows devices out there.

[firedog]

2 hours ago, Turbo2288 said:

Thank you, did you compare it to other server/streamer as far as sound quality is concern?

I am condisering using a Singxer SU5/SU6 DDC before the dac.

 

I didn't directly compare it, because I wasn't interested in that. But I didn't notice any significant difference when I first used it  or when I replaced it with something else.

I would agree that having a DAC with a good USB implementation helps. Fortunately there are lots more of those today (even on some less expensive  DACs) than there used to be. If you use the DDC you pretty much take that issue out of the equation. The Pro dock is very useful but expensive.

 

If you don't need the big touchscreen, then the Pro is probably overkill. You could find a cheaper small fanless PC, or even use the Surface Go (you can internally upgrade it to full  Windows), or any old laptop. If you are just using the device for streaming and or direct playback, they will all work fine.

[Turbo2288]

On 5/19/2022 at 7:52 PM, firedog said:

I've used a Surace pro. Works fine as long as you are happy with the SP itself.

Thank you, did you compare it to other server/streamer as far as sound quality is concern?

I am condisering using a Singxer SU5/SU6 DDC before the dac.

On 5/20/2022 at 1:05 AM, GoodEnoughGear said:

I don't recall my SPro USB ports being noisy or problematic, either direct on through the dock. However my DAC has a good USB implementation, so I imagine with a DDC you'd be in good shape.

 

I'd consider the physical format as well - MacBook Air = clamshell and no touchscreen, SPro = tablet-based design with touchscreen and addon soft keyboard (or BT keyboard).

 

A dock for the SPro would be ideal, so if you want to use it elsewhere it's super easy to undock without having to unplug the DDC and anything else attached. That's more $$$ of course, but if you're looking at saving $$$ as far as possible there are cheaper fanless windows devices out there.

Thanks all for input.

As far as cheaper fanless PC, I did look into it and there are quite a few on Amazon, around $300-$400 they are mostly unknow brand with a Celeron cpu and unkown motherboard. For $750 and up I could get a brand name fanless Pc with i5 or i7 cpu, or a Intel Nuc for a bit more. My delima is I don't know if the SQ of these ready made pc is any better than my own htpc? Should I just may be start building my audiophile fanless pc?

 

[GoodEnoughGear]

Check out http://www.quietpc.com and https://silentpc.com/fanless-pcs/ for a good start if you're looking that direction. 

 

I went this route, but hybrid. I have a 10700K with the Noctua fanless cooler with the optional fan. I also have 2x intake on the case and 1x exhaust. These are set to engage only beyond a certain temperature level, which I control using CPU power settings on the OS. This setup is completely silent with no fan motion at all, unless I allow it to boost - then I can push a sustained 150 watts if I need/want to. Best of both worlds.

[Turbo2288]

On 5/25/2022 at 8:11 AM, GoodEnoughGear said:

Check out http://www.quietpc.com and https://silentpc.com/fanless-pcs/ for a good start if you're looking that direction. 

 

I went this route, but hybrid. I have a 10700K with the Noctua fanless cooler with the optional fan. I also have 2x intake on the case and 1x exhaust. These are set to engage only beyond a certain temperature level, which I control using CPU power settings on the OS. This setup is completely silent with no fan motion at all, unless I allow it to boost - then I can push a sustained 150 watts if I need/want to. Best of both worlds.

Thank you very much

What is " push a sustained 150 watts" ? sorry.

 

Also is there such a thing as " Fanless Mac Mini built" ??

[GoodEnoughGear]

11 hours ago, Turbo2288 said:

Thank you very much

What is " push a sustained 150 watts" ? sorry.

 

Also is there such a thing as " Fanless Mac Mini built" ??

It's a measure of how much work the CPU is doing. The 10700K is rated at 125 watts of power (with appropriate cooling) at it's full non-turbo clock speed sustained. I can run the CPU at a higher clock speed to the point where it is using 150 watts of power with the cooling system I have set up. All this means is if I want to do some CPU intensive work I am able to quite effectively, making good use of the CPU - but I can also choose to restrict the clock speed and run completely fanless. This gives me the best of both worlds.

[MarcelNL]

On 5/16/2022 at 4:03 AM, Turbo2288 said:

After experiencing Rpi, Pi2AES, Volumio, PicorePlayer, RopieeeXL, I think I still prefer using my PC to streaming music to my dac, for few reasons:

1: I prefer to use Window file folders to access and choose what music to play in Foobar.

2: I like using Foobar, more so than Jriver.

3: I've find the Tidal app within music apps like Volumio, Mconnect, Bubble Upnp not as good and full features as the PC's desktop Tidal app, which I use a lot.

 

I was going to build an audiophile PC but have given up becasue I could not find anything online in great detail.

I began to think if I could use a laptop like Mac book Air or Surface Pro/Surface Laptop since they are fanless, no moving parts, and has separate power supply, exactly what I  would like to build.

Please give me some suggestion on this subject as to sound quality, functionalty.

Thank you.

 

I'd say you can find plenty of detail here;