Building a music server - newbie


OK - there are probably posts already. Old guy wants to build a music server. From what I understand I just need a computer, sound card and some software. Waiting for Window 7 to come out & will get a PC.

Sound card. Looks like the Lynx is highly rated but it's $700.00. Any comments on the ASUS card for $175.00.

Software. Looks like a lot out there. Seems like J River or Monkey Media? comments.

I am just going to hook this up to my stereo preamp to run it through my speakers.

Any suggestions welcome as I am trying to educate myself and am not overly technical.

Thanks
dmgrant1
I forgot to state that I use a 1tb usb drive to store my music...and a program called "Orb" to stream my music to other computers in my home.

Dave
Any one can explain How will be the noice/jitter level while playing laptop as the transport? Is there any other way to play the music to avoid such problems.

Very difficult to predict. Connecting your laptop to a Benchmark DAC1 would be a solution if you suspect you have jitter.

Jitter is common but not always audible. Random jitter is the least audible. Correlated jitter (related to a signal of some sort) is much more audible. More than 250 psecs is roughly the threshold where it can become audible on most music when it is random (but many people might not hear it until it got to 1 nanosec). For correlated jitter it is probably much worse and some have suggested as low as 20 psecs (but of course it all depends very critically on the frequencies involved and many types of correlated jitter may not be audible so easily). Correlated jitter seems likely when you have electronics, data and a spinning transport involved.

Benchmark DAC1 is around 7 psecs - it seems very much designed around eliminating the jitter problem but that is no help unless it works well (synergy) with your speakers.
You better use a core 2 quad computer for optimized performance, or at least a core 2 duo computer, be sure to have enough storage space for your files. Creative labs soundcards are pretty good. Look for the high end ReakTek/NVidia onboard audio processors, such as supplied with ASUS. These probably outperform low end audio cards such as Creative Labs Audigy.
I would second the comments about using a USB DAC. I have a PS Audio Link DAC III and it works very well.

Alternatively, a friend of mine has a Logitech Transporter--no computer required. For the same price as a dedicated music computer and a DAC you get a very good sounding device that pulls music off of a hard drive (even over you home network). Sound is wonderful and it looks pretty too!

-Carl