Best music server for the money

It doesn't need that space. In fact, most of my SSD is unused. I would have purchased a smaller one should they had been available.

R2.
Is this what you are referring to?

I didn't. It just flowed through the regular installation process. I did have another drive, a 1 TB HDD, for music also connected...but I doubt it had anything to do with it not quitting on me.

I installed from a USB pen drive, if that makes any difference.

I'm clueless, but trying to help...

Hi!
Value for money is such a relative term. Probably a cheap laptop would be best value for money to 95% of the population...

Anyway, wanted to chime in about the DIY route. I am certainly not a computer savvy person. I use computers for work every day, but my biz is far and away from anything computer-related. But I'm DIY inclined, and at times brave...and at times stupid! :-)

Last February I built my first computer EVER. I did a lot of homework to understand what were the parts I needed to source and trusted I would be able to figure out how to assemble them. And sure enough it wasn't that difficult, with a little help from the suppliers.

My server: Streacom FC8 Evo fanless case, Intel S1200KPR mobo, Xeon 1265l v2 processor, Crucial 8GB ECC RAM, Crucial v4 64GB SSD for OS and PPA red slim SATA cable, WD Green 1TB HDD for music fed from independent SMPS (cheap) and generic SATA cable, PPA USB v2 card, lab linear PS. Windows Server 2012 R2, AudioPhil's Optimizer, JRiver MC 19, JRemote. No moving parts, except the music HDD that actually sits outside the case.

I didn't find the heat-exchange assembly on the Streacom that hard. Sure one needs to be careful and think before acting, but it wasn't super hard.

And this was the first time I installed the operating system on a computer too! A very good aid for this, if using Win Server 2012 is the guide for the Audiophile Optimizer, that takes you step by step on doing so. And it worked perfectly for me.

Computeraudiophile.com has the guides to assembling the CAPS, one of which needs a fanless case similar to the one I used. That's also good reference reading.

All in all, if you enjoy DIY and are brave enough to live through the uncertainty until you see things work - not a minor factor! - I'd say is not THAT hard!

And since you were DIY, this offers endless options to try optimizations thru battery power, etc. I have tried some but would be too long to get into.

Oh, and sound is fantastic and operation is rock-solid. Apparently these server motherboards and operating system are super stable.

Right. Essentials came out later and provided a way to make it cheaper or something. At the time it seemed to me that was the only reason why people were trying it out.

Mine is Windows Server 2012 R2. I'm certainly no computer expert and I'm just agnostic about operating system, but in my experience running the Audiophile Optimizer (designed for WS2012) made the largest software-or-format-related difference so far. Meaning the impact for me was larger than going from 16/44 to 24/96 or 24/192 or DSD at 5.6MHz. On top of that, WS allows running in core mode, which made another significant difference on top of that made by the Optimizer. So in my case and with my setup, WS2012 + Audiophile Optimizer are keepers.

Unfortunately that kills the option to use HQPlayer, which does sound very good despite the user interface that doesn't fit my needs. But JRiver run with the above configuration and controlled with an iPad and driving my Audiophilleo and Metrum Octave sounds as good as HQPlayer upconverting to DSD at 5.6MHz and feeding my exaSound e22 natively.

I guess I now should try JPlay, which works with WS+Optimizer.
BTW, there is a new version of the Optimizer (1.30 I believe) people are raving about, but I have not tried it as I was exploring DSD/exaSound/HQPlayer.

I encourage you to contact AudioPhil, maker of the Optimizer. He's super helpful and will likely know why you are having the issue you do. Of course, in good faith the end game should be buying the Optimizer from him. His website is highend-audiopc.com. Feel free to use my ID. BTW, I have no affiliation whatsoever; just a happy customer.

Cheers!