More info about the intended use would yield better answers. What software do you plan to use, to drive what, where will your music be, etc. |
Thank you. Sounds like this will be a secondary source, and like this would be an initial foray into PC audio. In that case the specs look good. How much RAM does it have? 32 or 64-bit?
I'm of the opinion this is the best way to get your feet wet in computer audio and later decide if you want to pursue it further. Some tips to think about down the road:
Dedicating the computer to audio playback only is the preferred route so you can eliminate other processes that cause internal noise.
Using the same computer for ripping and playback is not ideal. You can rip at any other computer, copy the files into a flash drive, and copy them into the audio computer. Take a look at computeraudiophile.com guide to ripping CDs. I follow it to a t and works great.
Switching mode power supplies introduce a lot of noise. Replacing it with a linear PS yields nice benefits.
Eventually, using an audiophile usb card, like the Paul Pang Audio, also yields improvements in sound. This is a big plus of a desktop vs a laptop.
If your PC is 64-bit, consider using Windows Server 2012 as operating system and later use AudioPhil's Optimizer. Big improvement in sound!
Also eventually, using a SSD for the operating system and another drive for music also yields sound improvements.
Further again, powering the hard drives independently from the mobo and the audiophile usb card also yields benefits.
Going passively cooled and getting rid of fans (because of both the noise we hear and the electrical noise their motors generate) is also a plus, but to get there you need to replace the computer case, at which point you might as well replace the whole thing. But you could feed the fans from an independent switching source.
You can see this keeps going in typical audio fashion...
Bottom line is this would be a great way to start and will allow you enough flexibility to try improvements.
Hope this helps. |
Peter,
As usual: it depends. My server is a fanless black anodized aluminum box that looks like yet another audio component, with no screen (headless, in PC audio jargon). I control it through an iPad/JRemote and works very well. As clean and silent as it gets, I guess.
Plus I don't have the electrically noisy display and all the other processes not needed for audio. But frankly this is a highly optimized computer. Several people at specialized fora have been moving from optimized Mac Minis to this kind of solution with Windows Server 2012 + Optimizer driven by sound, but it is more work than a plug and play Apple solution, for sure. And probably Apple's interfase is more user friendly - that is one of their key capabilities.
So it depends how interested/willing is one to go into these complications. Like setting up a highly optimized vinyl playback system, I guess. |
Mwheelerk,
Upfront I'll say I don't exactly remember where I saw this. I thought I saw it at computeraudiophile.com, maybe at Chris' guide to ripping CDs? But you frequent the site and don't remember it. Frankly I don't remember where I did.
My take (and I reckon this doesn't offer a whole lot of support!) is we want to keep any un-needed processes outside of the audio computer so these don't run in the background. Additionally, in my case, I just don't have a CD drive (or any spinning motors) connected to my mobo, so in fact I couldn't rip at that computer. Moreover, these days after having applied the Optimizer in WS2012, my audio computer is only useful as a music box...can't use it as a regular computer anymore.
So the bottom line is I started ripping at a different computer 2+ years ago for what I thought was a good reason at the time, but have now forgotten the reason and anyway now I couldn't rip at my audio computer even if I wanted. Sorry I can't offer better support for my statement, but did offer a honest answer :-)
cheers! |
I reckon this can sound absurd to some, just like cables sounding different sounds absurd to some. At this point this is not an exchange of views anymore, so I'll leave it here. There are plenty of people at specialized fora stating this, and I have experienced it myself. Maybe we are all delusional.
For those interested, check out computeraudiophile.com or jplay forum. I'm more than willing to help those intrigued/interested with what I know, but I'm in no way on a crusade to turn folks into believers. |
Yeap, all power amps measuring the same sound the same, all bit-perfect software players sound the same, yadda-yadda. Ignorance is a bliss...for some. |
Mwheelerk,
I didn't take your question as an attack. A fair challenge, which is a very healthy thing to have in a place like this. Hopefully my post from 4/6 addressed to you didn't come through as defensive. Was not my intention, anyway. |
Onhwy61,
I think you are partly right. A process that doesn't run while playing music should generate electrical noise/jitter.
However, there are many reports from users talking about sound improvements from minimizing the processes that run on a computer. I know I experienced a very significant improvement in sound from running the same OS on the same hardware without and with AudioPhil's Optimizer, which does exactly that. So I'm a believer. One of the critical processes to disable seems to be graphics and running headless, rendering a computer useless for anything other than audio playback. So in my view a computer dedicated to audio is the best way.
This doesn't mean audio will sound bad on a multi-purpose computer. For a long time I used a laptop to feed my Audiophilleo and DAC with great results. I'm only saying to get the BEST results a dedicated computer is the way to go. Just like anything in audio, I guess, a full blown assault renders better results than "just" a very good one.
Many other folks who use JPlay report best sound from using two computers optimized for audio: one as controlPC and one as audioPC. I can't comment on this as I haven't tried it, but again it shows there are improvements to be gained from dedicating a computer to audio only.
Some folks are experimenting with EMI/RFI shielding and absorption inside a computer and report improvements. Overkill? Maybe, but I haven't tried it so can't speak. |
Dtc,
FWIW, I'll share my experience. My music server has plenty of headroom (Xeon quad core, 8GB RAM), runs Windows Server 2012 and JRiver, and feeds an Audiophilleo with PurePower. The PurePower works pretty much like the iFi iUSB Power, but designed for Audiophilleo only. When I compare the server running audio only with no antivirus or other programs vs the same hardware & software plus the Optimizer, the difference is very clearly noticeable. I think whatever is going on does not only correlate with CPU load, and the example in my mind shows the iUSB/PurePower don't turn the upstream irrelevant. |
