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Author Topic: Dedicated Audio PC and Music Server Chat  (Read 4964 times)

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DaveBSC

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Re: Dedicated Audio PC and Music Server Chat
« Reply #20 on: January 17, 2014, 01:04:24 AM »
Quote from: Stapsy on January 17, 2014, 12:22:20 AM
I was looking around trying to find out more about CAPS and Vortexbox.  Found this site http://shop.smallgreencomputer.com/main.sc which sells pre-made versions.  Not sure if that would be worth it since I could probably figure out how to do it myself, though I haven't gone through the cost of all the parts.  With an internal HDD I might also be able to avoid the need for a NAS (and associated costs) as long as I could transfer from the HDD to my laptop.  Do both of these options run a music playback software internally like the Auraliti/Raspyfi or would this setup be more involved?

http://shop.smallgreencomputer.com/Micro-VortexBox-vbMicro.htm

That's not a bad deal at all. You could make one yourself for $350-400, but you'd have to install VortexBox yourself. It's functionally the same as the Auraliti, minus the SoTM card, but there are better options than that anyway, and opening up the case and installing a USB card isn't difficult. It should also support 90+% of DACs out there.

http://info.vortexbox.org/tiki-index.php?page=Compatibility+Guide
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Stapsy

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Re: Dedicated Audio PC and Music Server Chat
« Reply #21 on: January 17, 2014, 03:02:36 AM »
Cool, I like the VortexBox option.  I am going to get in touch with the company for some more info on the product. I actually saw them because they were selling the VortexBox through Amazon.  1tb is more than enough for my audio files right now and the price is within my budget.  If everything checks out I am going to see if I can get one when my brother goes to the States in a month to save on taxes  :)p1

In an unrelated note the Jremote app I downloaded for Jriver is excellent.  Super easy to set up and well worth the $10 if you have an iOs device and Jriver.  Unfortunately I have not yet been able to figure out how to implement my plan of connecting to Jriver through Jremote by utilizing my iPhones wireless network and connecting my laptop to the phone's wireless hotspot.  I think there is a way to do it, but the set up is different from a regular internet connection.
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DaveBSC

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Re: Dedicated Audio PC and Music Server Chat
« Reply #22 on: January 17, 2014, 05:13:27 AM »
Actually I forgot something - the case they use for the mini version has no slot for expansion cards. If you wanted to use something like the PPA studio card, you'd need this version.



For mPod or MPDroid to work as wifi remote controllers, the phone or tablet must be on the same wifi network as the server, controlled by a central router. I don't think VortexBox supports USB wifi adapters, nor would I recommend using one, but you can still add wireless support via an ethernet bridge, which is basically just a wifi adapter that connects to the ethernet port rather than USB port, and thus doesn't have to interface with the host OS at all.

The only thing it uses the internet for is to grab tags and cover art for CDs that you rip directly, otherwise you don't need it. So I think you could just plug a router into it that has no WAN connection, and just use that for wifi remote purposes. Not sure though, I haven't actually tried that.
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Stapsy

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Re: Dedicated Audio PC and Music Server Chat
« Reply #23 on: January 17, 2014, 11:51:01 PM »
I can't see the link you posted, I am assuming it is this one

http://shop.smallgreencomputer.com/Audiophile-VortexBox-vbAudiophile.htm

I don't foresee wanting to use the expansion slot but I might as well have it anyway.  As far as I can tell the VortexBox uses its own playback software that is based on MPD, so any of the mPod or MPDroid apps would work with VortexBox?


Quick update on my Jremote solution.  I got the remote to work using my iPhone 3G network connection by using the phones' wireless hotspot and connecting my laptop to that network.  I can now stream from my laptop to my phone or control Jriver using Jremote without needing a true wifi router.  Once I had the network set up using the Jriver network access key, closing the app and then restarting Jriver automatically updated the IP address so that it would function on my iPhone's network.  I am pretty happy with this solution for now.  I don't know if it would be useful to anybody else, but being able use Jremote when I am not at my home network works for what I want.
« Last Edit: January 18, 2014, 12:14:52 AM by Stapsy »
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DaveBSC

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Re: Dedicated Audio PC and Music Server Chat
« Reply #24 on: January 18, 2014, 01:14:41 AM »
Quote from: Stapsy on January 17, 2014, 11:51:01 PM
I can't see the link you posted, I am assuming it is this one

http://shop.smallgreencomputer.com/Audiophile-VortexBox-vbAudiophile.htm

I don't foresee wanting to use the expansion slot but I might as well have it anyway.  As far as I can tell the VortexBox uses its own playback software that is based on MPD, so any of the mPod or MPDroid apps would work with VortexBox?

It's definitely worth having, as you can substantially upgrade the USB output over a standard motherboard port for very low cost. Yep, any MPD remote interface will work fine. mPod and mPad are the ones I know about for iOS, on Android there's 3 or 4 of them, but MPDroid is the most polished. VortexBox can also be controlled from any web browser.
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ericfarrell85

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Re: Dedicated Audio PC and Music Server Chat
« Reply #25 on: January 18, 2014, 05:55:17 PM »
I was hoping Dave could tackle this, but anybody in the know is of course welcome. I'm considering building a C.A.P.S., but don't know that it's a worthy expenditure compared to my current setup: Laptop (Asus something rather with an I7 processor, SSD drive)> Fidelizer (networking disabled) running into an Aqvox USB PSU > Offramp 5 > i2s > Lampizator/M7/PWD. What, if anything, would a dedicated server bring to my setup in your opinion?
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DaveBSC

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Re: Dedicated Audio PC and Music Server Chat
« Reply #26 on: January 18, 2014, 06:19:30 PM »
Quote from: ericfarrell85 on January 18, 2014, 05:55:17 PM
I was hoping Dave could tackle this, but anybody in the know is of course welcome. I'm considering building a C.A.P.S., but don't know that it's a worthy expenditure compared to my current setup: Laptop (Asus something rather with an I7 processor, SSD drive)> Fidelizer (networking disabled) running into an Aqvox USB PSU > Offramp 5 > i2s > Lampizator/M7/PWD. What, if anything, would a dedicated server bring to my setup in your opinion?

The first question is whether or not your laptop is capable of running the CPU at a fixed clock rate. Speedstep is great for general purpose computing, giving CPU power when you need it and slowing it down when you don't. It's not great for USB audio streaming, but laptops are not designed to run their CPUs at full blast all the time, and will likely have to ramp up the cooling fan to compensate, which is not something you want either.

The other thing you can get with a server that you can't with a laptop is a true zero moving part, zero noise system. Even if you want to run a high power CPU, which you really don't need at all for a music server, there are huge passive heatsinks that can handle that without any fan noise and without any of the associated DC noise from that fan being fed back into the system.

For VortexBox or JRiver though, a board like MSI's soon to be released J1800I would be perfect. It's got an on board 2.4Ghz Bay Trail-D dual core Celeron. More than enough for Linux and enough to run Windows perfectly well, and it's a 10W chip so it needs basically no cooling. Put it in a little Wesnea box with a PPA Pico PSU and you're good to go. PPA's USB card will also provide a much higher quality output than the AQVOX can, and you can easily power the system with an Empirical Dynamo LPS, which is capable of ~3-4A at 12V.

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Stapsy

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Re: Dedicated Audio PC and Music Server Chat
« Reply #27 on: March 29, 2014, 06:19:04 AM »
I wasn't quite sure where to put this.  I thought it would fit best here...

I downloaded Fidelizer today and have been listening using it out tonight.  Since I only use my laptop for surfing the internet and I am technically inept I thought I would give it a try. 

I am very impressed by the results so far.  The things that jump out at me straight away are a blacker background and improved dynamics (likely because of the reduced background noise.  I have no idea if it is cocking up my computer but the results are hard to argue with.  I haven't really tested thoroughly, but I also haven't noticed any issues so far that would make me want to turn Fidelizer off.  I am at the point where I don't particularly care if it is an improvement or not. I am enjoying the results.  Unless there is some drastic issue that someone mentions I think I will just keep using it.


I have been having some issue with crashing when using my OR5 with kernel streaming in Jriver (24 bit integer mode).  I thought Fidelizer might help with that.  Seems like the issue comes up when using the pause button, though it has happened randomly when listening to music.  I am going to keep my eye on it.  If the worst case scenario is that I can't use the pause button I will happily avoid it. The improvement is such that I don't have a desire to press pause anyway. 

I am still looking at getting a vortex box as an endgame solution.  For now I think I will just put that money towards a DAC improvement.
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Riotvan

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Re: Dedicated Audio PC and Music Server Chat
« Reply #28 on: June 10, 2014, 09:53:27 AM »
I have been using MPD for a couple of years now and it's been great and stable, however i've been eyeing mopidy. Which is basically MPD with streaming and extension support for things like spotify etc. By just going over the configuration documentation i'm a bit concerned it's limited in certain options i use with MPD, like specify which soundcard to use for output and disabling any resampling and/or software mixers. My xmos interface does not have volume control support(under linux) so i guess the perceived problem of bit perfect by way of volume control is not present. But still there was nothing mentioned of soundcard output device selection. With MPD it's a simple hw:1,0 to get the first output on the second soundcard.

Perhaps i should be the guinea pig and try it out hehe, was just wondering though if Dave or anyone else gave it a try. The weather is too nice here to mess with it atm...
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DaveBSC

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Re: Dedicated Audio PC and Music Server Chat
« Reply #29 on: June 10, 2014, 10:00:51 AM »
I haven't tried that, but I am planning to migrate my VortexBox server to the new 2.3 version which replaces MPD with Squeezelite - and also adds support for streaming services like Spotify. According to Darko at least, Squeezelite is also supposed to sound a bit better than MPD.
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