Cool magazine writeup of killer audio stack with laptop running Tidal at Munich 2023!!

[robpriore]

I thought this was really cool: it's a basic laptop running Tidal powering a $200K plus system! 

 

https://www.stereophile.com/content/raidhos-new-little-big-x2t-extreme-floorstander

 

Equipment list is stellar: 

 

Another contributor to this system's superlative sound was the top-quality components in the rest of the chain. Quoting from the submitted equipment list, which mixes prices in euros and dollars, we're talking huge Moon 888 monoblocks (€70,000/each, Moon 780 v2 DAC (€19,000), Moon 850P preamp (€35,000), Plixir Power Conditioner 2 × BAC300 ($5400/each), Plixir Power Conditioner BAC400 ($1500), USB Disruptor ($129), and Nordost cabling.

[audiobomber]

The question is, would it perform better with audiophile enhancements? IMO, yes, no doubt.

[Kal Rubinson]

14 hours ago, audiobomber said:

The question is, would it perform better with audiophile enhancements? IMO, yes, no doubt.

Clearly, not everyone agrees. 

[audiobomber]

22 hours ago, Kal Rubinson said:

Clearly, not everyone agrees. 

Do you not believe a Taiko Extreme or Antipodes Oladra would improve the sound? To keep it real,, even a Sonore opticalModule and opticalRendu would give a significant bump, IMO.

[Kal Rubinson]

Actually, I do not.   OTOH, I have not heard any of them.🤐

[cjf]

Personally, even if I won the lottery, I wouldn't buy a Taiko/Antipodes anything. I've not heard either of them and don't need to hear them to come to this conclusion. 

 

If a potential buyer has no Computer skills what so ever or is so busy as to not be bothered with it all along with very deep pockets then I wont hold it against them for just buying one and being done with it. But, if someone has even the most basic Computer skills then there is no need to drop the price of a nice Car on a music server to get great SQ.

 

A no holds barred home brew music server or very nice OTS Laptop will get you close enough. Spend a few hours killing extra processes and tuning the OS settings and you should have all you need to drive any system of any price....IMO

[audiobomber]

On 6/5/2023 at 9:39 PM, cjf said:

Personally, even if I won the lottery, I wouldn't buy a Taiko/Antipodes anything. I've not heard either of them and don't need to hear them to come to this conclusion. 

In other words, you don't really know.

On 6/5/2023 at 9:39 PM, cjf said:

 

If a potential buyer has no Computer skills what so ever or is so busy as to not be bothered with it all along with very deep pockets then I wont hold it against them for just buying one and being done with it. But, if someone has even the most basic Computer skills then there is no need to drop the price of a nice Car on a music server to get great SQ.

I agree, there's no need to drop a fortune on a server, unless you are shooting for SOTA sound. I'm not in that market, I just aim for sound that makes me happy. I have four streaming systems. Here's my music renderer ranking, based on personal testing in my systems:

1. exaSound PlayPoint

2. sMS-200 Neo

3. Chromecast Audio 

4. Raspberry Pi 3B+

5. Dell Inspiron 7000 laptop

 

 

On 6/5/2023 at 9:39 PM, cjf said:

 

A no holds barred home brew music server or very nice OTS Laptop will get you close enough. Spend a few hours killing extra processes and tuning the OS settings and you should have all you need to drive any system of any price....IMO

What settings do you suggest? I use my laptop in a very nice desktop system and any advice on how to improve it would be welcome. Note though that I also need to use it as a general purpose computer, so the settings would have to allow that . A laptop dedicated to simply playing music makes no sense to me, I would buy an actual single purpose audiophile streamer for the same price, not a laptop. 

[botrytis]

I think what I am using, currently works for me and could I tweak it further, sure, will I spend the money, is the real question. Other house priorities this year (and vacation priorities 😁 ).

 

Office Server room (where our Internet connection is): My main PC is a Ryzen R9-5900X on an ASUS ROG Strix B-450 F MB - 1 GB SSD for just OS and programs, 8 TB HDD for music, 1 TB SSD for games only, and one 3 TB HDD just basic storage. Running JRiver 30 server. I have 32 GB memory, also. I have a little NUC a Ryzen APU with 512 SSD and 16 GB RAM - JRiver for playback USB to a Gustard R-26 DAC - balanced - Rotel RC-1590 - balanced - Benchmark AHB2 - Revel M-126Be's and 2 - REL 7/ti subs.

 

Livingroom - Another NUC (A Gigabyte one) running JRiver 30 - USB - TEAC UD-501 - balanced - Hegel R-190 - home brew standmount speakers.

 

It works for me and my wife, who has more discerning ears than me, enjoys it and has no complaints, I am happy.

[cjf]

9 hours ago, audiobomber said:

In other words, you don't really know.

I agree, there's no need to drop a fortune on a server, unless you are shooting for SOTA sound. I'm not in that market, I just aim for sound that makes me happy. I have four streaming systems. Here's my music renderer ranking, based on personal testing in my systems:

1. exaSound PlayPoint

2. sMS-200 Neo

3. Chromecast Audio 

4. Raspberry Pi 3B+

5. Dell Inspiron 7000 laptop

 

 

What settings do you suggest? I use my laptop in a very nice desktop system and any advice on how to improve it would be welcome. Note though that I also need to use it as a general purpose computer, so the settings would have to allow that . A laptop dedicated to simply playing music makes no sense to me, I would buy an actual single purpose audiophile streamer for the same price, not a laptop. 

Its not too difficult to spot things that errr on the side of snake oil when it comes to Computers/Networking if you have background/experience operating in that field.

 

I'm confident (without hearing the Golden goose in question) that I have no interest in whatever it sounds like after seeing its 5 figure price tag and bits of Wood inside its chassis.

 

Good luck explaining that to an insurance company if it catches fire and burns down your house 🤣