My budget streamer for Roon

[newlash09]

I am interested in doing this streamer idea insider mate but I’ve just sold my amplifier for £800 and being picked up tomorrow but I am thinking Dali rubicon 6s or 8s as richer sounds will let me take my opticon 8s back without any loss of money and upgrade to the rubicons  .

anyway I am tempted. *smile* but just means if I take the offer up on the rubicons then the streamer will have to wait a little bit longer 

I would go with the rubicon suggestion. That will be a bigger jump in sound quality. And besides as insider9 has shown, you can always build one in stages.

The previous raspberry pi suggestion is also good solution. Though even I don't have that level of computer knowledge to make it work for me .

pretty sure I can do the build part as I’ve built my own PC before but might need insider help with the software part but we will see as I can put a operating system on a pc and find all the drivers  ..

but as insider said last night what do I connect it to the router as part of my network ? That’s one thing I haven’t thought about 

Will have to wait till early next year to get the funds going again. Will continue with wxc50 for now. My next priority will be nuc rock kit for roon server.

And there is a great American company called audio alchemy. Some great audio engineers with stellar talent but poor pockets started it. And their reviews are excellent. However they didn't have the pockets to hold on long enough for the brand to gain foothold and it tanked. Presently bought by elac. So their stellar gear is going steeply discounted. Iam considering getting a audio alchemy dmp-1 as the roon end point , once the diy roon server is built. I don't need a dac anyways. So that will be my completed setup, as when I get to complete it.

Rome wasn’t built in a day mate a specially when you keep getting side tracked  *smile*

 

[brownz]

Nice - looks similar to the one I knocked up last year.
Akasa fanless chassis.
Intel DH67CF fitted with an i3-2120T (so only 35W TDP).
80GB 2.5" SATAIII SSD for the OS (Samsung Evo)
5TB 2.5" SATAIII 5400RPM drive for Storage (Seagate BaraCuda).
I tested a 1TB SSD alongside the 5TB HDD and neither could saturate the Disk I/O or Network I/O when streaming, and the 5400RPM is silent, no vibration or noise with it all.
Only PITA was that the chassis wasn't designed for that uATX board, so I had to drill and tap new heatsink attach holes for the big chunk of alloy that sits between the CPU heat spreader and the chassis.
All in all a tidy little box.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/xxy6nbdo020tp7h/AACCs5BSwRxwOo14A8MA30Tqa?dl=0

 

[insider9]

I wasn't sure about using a CPU with 35W TDP. I'm sure you know that if you didn't use your case to dissipate heat you'd run into problems unless you clocked it down. And my thing was I actually quite like the look of the case.

However your build looks very neat. Well done, Sir!

Out of interest what software did you go with and what OS are you using?

 

[brownz]

I wasn't sure about using a CPU with 35W TDP. I'm sure you know that if you didn't use your case to dissipate heat you'd run into problems unless you clocked it down. And my thing was I actually quite like the look of the case.

However your build looks very neat. Well done, Sir!

Out of interest what software did you go with and what OS are you using?

Yup, the Euler MX chassis was designed to work with CPU's upto 35W TDP, hence selecting that specific CPU.
Luckilly it was knocked together from bit's and pieces I had laying around, apart from the 5TB 2.5" drive from ebuyer and the chassis from my friends at Akasa (I worked with them for around 20years in my previous job as a Hardware Engineer for a large OEM computer manufacturer!).

Software - for testing with IOMeter (performance) and Intels Sandy Bridge PTU (themals) etc just W764 with Roon running as a service.
Now in real life at home it's running a dedicated ROCK install.

 

[insider9]

I would've used ROCK but fancied CD ripping facility. So put a Roon server over Vortexbox after getting rid of LMS.

It happens quite a bit that I have people coming round and they bring their CDs. Not having a transport and having to rip on another piece of equipment isn't very user friendly so we'd end up using Tidal. Now it's all automated.

 

[insider9]

Today I've included Daphile. Streamer is dual boot now with Daphile residing on a USB stick. I'll only use it when needing extra functionality I can't get with Roon.

Daphile is a tiny Linux distro that requires very little setup and the installation iso file is 195MB. That's a fully functional streamer based on LMS with CD ripping setup for full headless operation and possibility to add many plugins.

Best part is you can run FIR convolution (room correction) on all the sources. It works flawlessly from a USB stick. I'm shocked.

Currently testing with my usual room correction fileters (however it outputs everything at one sampling rate) playing Tool - 10,000 Days at it sounds superb.

It's a worth addition as I will be using Upnp render, YouTube and possibly many others.

For anyone with a couple of USB sticks do give it a go. You'll need one to perform installation on the other. Also another PC to set everythng up from browser. Once all is done. You can operate it with your mobile or tablet.

Here's a link

Andrew don't be surprised if this sounds better than anything you've run under Windows.

 

[insider9]

Oh yes, did I say it was FREE *dance4*

 

[Andrewjvt]

Andrew don't be surprised if this sounds better than anything you've run under Windows.
[/quote]

I don't think any software running the same resolution can sound different
But what do you mean?

 

[insider9]

I don't think any software running the same resolution can sound different But what do you mean?

So you wouldn't fancy a comparison to Jriver under Windows?

 

[Andrewjvt]

I don't think any software running the same resolution can sound different But what do you mean?

So you wouldn't fancy a comparison to Jriver under Windows?

Why not roon or any other software?
I don't understand

 

[insider9]

I don't think any software running the same resolution can sound different But what do you mean?

So you wouldn't fancy a comparison to Jriver under Windows?

Why not roon or any other software?
I don't understand

You know Jriver, so it would be a more meaningful comparison. That's why I suggested it. You could try other software too.

 

[Andrewjvt]

I don't think any software running the same resolution can sound different But what do you mean?

So you wouldn't fancy a comparison to Jriver under Windows?

Why not roon or any other software?
I don't understand

You know Jriver, so it would be a more meaningful comparison. That's why I suggested it. You could try other software too.

If the sound is changing due to software then it's manipulation or eq/filters etc
Can't be anything else.

So how do I try anyway?

 

[cheeseboy]

I've done quite a bit of testing and always managed to get the same sound out of a windows based player as I have linux. Providing you make sure things are being passed through and there's no filters, effects etc in the way etc, it's all the same. Otherwise I'd suggest biases are kicking in.

I've been banging on about daphile for a while, not because I found it sounded better, but more because it was a nice compact distro that you can run on a very very low powered machine. Plus it's basically what a lot of the foo audiophile peeps strive for when they try to start unnecessarily hobbling windows - ie an operating system with just the bare minimum loaded for playback of audio and network connectivity, but then most I've said to try it to won't and don't. probably beacuse it's free (and that's a bitter pill to swallow if you've just spend hundreds on bits of useless software) and it wouldn't give them anything to blindly tinker with.

edit: - there's an older daphile thread here you might want to bump https://www.whathifi.com/forum/hi-fi/daphile

 

[insider9]

I've done quite a bit of testing and always managed to get the same sound out of a windows based player as I have linux.  Providing you make sure things are being passed through and there's no filters, effects etc in the way etc, it's all the same.  Otherwise I'd suggest biases are kicking in.

I've been banging on about daphile for a while, not because I found it sounded better, but more because it was a nice compact distro that you can run on a very very low powered machine.  Plus it's basically what a lot of the foo audiophile peeps strive for when they try to start unnecessarily hobbling windows - ie an operating system with just the bare minimum loaded for playback of audio and network connectivity, but then most I've said to try it to won't and don't.  probably beacuse it's free (and that's a bitter pill to swallow if you've just spend hundreds on bits of useless software) and it wouldn't give them anything to blindly tinker with.

 

edit: - there's an older daphile thread here you might want to bump https://www.whathifi.com/forum/hi-fi/daphile

Sure, we're discussing differences in sound as Andrews focused on that part of my comment. And all I'm doing is highlighting an interesting and free solution. Something I've heard of before but wasn't really bothered to look what it is exactly. That's been highlighted on another forum in an unrelated conversation.

As to sound I'll answer below.

 

[insider9]

I don't think any software running the same resolution can sound different But what do you mean?

So you wouldn't fancy a comparison to Jriver under Windows?

Why not roon or any other software?
I don't understand

You know Jriver, so it would be a more meaningful comparison. That's why I suggested it. You could try other software too.

If the sound is changing due to software then it's manipulation or eq/filters etc
Can't be anything else.

So how do I try anyway?

It is manipulation and that's sort of the whole point. I'm using DSP as you know. The way Daphile processes DSP is different to Roon. It also outputs at one sampling rate after DSP, so potentially there's further resampling.

If you fancy a try to see whether you like functionality Google Daphile and second search should be Installation Instructions.

 

[nopiano]

An interesting thread, but I had to look up NUC and distro, (which spellchecker changes to distortion!) so I know I’m out of my depth.

My modestly priced secondhand Sneaky does offer Space Optimisation for free, which permits digital correction/adjustments for room artefacts, standing waves, and so on. And Linn now supports Roon. Just sayin’.