New setup with ASRock ION 3D Blu-Ray

[Overdose]

I have received and finally set up my new 'HiFi' system, the ASRock ION 3D Blu-Ray version.

It replaces an old P4 tower/desktop and an OPPO 981 DVD player for all round disc playing duties, with the exception of SACD (which I can frankly no longer be bothered with).

Its diminutive size means that I have freed up a large amount of rack/shelf real estate and also in the process, removed another 'box'. In addition to freeing up space, its low power consumption means that I'll be saving money on energy too and the box is extremely quiet.

The Pc comes without operating system and is therefore unencumbered by bloatware, so should help in keeping everything to a minimum. This also keeps the price down by avoiding the Windows 'Tax'.

I decided to use Ubuntu, as I am familiar with this OS and find it to be very effective, fast and more importantly, free!

So, Ubuntu 11.04 'Natty Narwhal' installed clean onto the HDD, followed by the recent version of XBMC.

For ripping and tagging, I use Asunder and Puddletag respectively.

The remote that comes with the Pc needs to be reconfigured in the OS files, but this is a fairly easy job, once you know where to look.

Remote Apps for XBMC are available for iPod/Pad and Android devices and you can also configure remote desktop access to allow use without the TV being on.
Now it's all set up and XBMC is tweaked to my liking (for now) I can sit back and browse the contents of my NAS from the comfort of my sofa.
I have my UA25 hooked up to the Pc via optical in addition to the USB, with the NAS connected via ethernet,
music streaming is so far unaffected by drop outs and browsing is fast.

I won't talk about sound quality, as I don't personally believe that the Pc used in this way can have any noticeable impact, but suffice to say, the whole package works very well for me.

Pros:
Quiet, energy efficient, one box does all, cheap(ish), small footprint. Optical and HDMI audio out. Remote controllable

Cons:
HDD could be bigger, particularly for large music collections. I haven't yet found much to complain about.

The specs are here.....

http://www.asrock.com/nettop/overview.a … D%20Series

Some pics............

 

[Anonymous]

Nice Job! I've looked into this option recently. There are not that many options like this one around.

Some questions:

- Some people did complain about fan noise - how is it doing under a heavy load?

- Is the BD silent enough (with normal speed playing of CD/DVD/BD, and while data accessing/ripping at high speed)?

- Is the CD (DVD..) also be connected digitally internally, can you bypass the internal DAC for playing audio?

- If you have a NAS why would you want a bigger drive? A smaller SSD would even be nicer maybe.

- I would probably install W7 as I can get it very cheap. Would you prefer XBMC above Win Media Center?

 

[Overdose]

Fan noise is negligible and certainly not noticeable when playing movies. Any noise could be reduced by putting the Pc on a heavy base if required, such as granite, for example.

I have not played any BDs yet, in fact I don't yet own any and if I did I would not be ripping whilst playing the disc, so ripping noise would be a non issue for me.

I have a NAS because I wanted a networked backup drive for the family, cheap large capacity HDDs mean that I could store my collection locally on the Pc, for faster access and writing. A SSD would be faster, but no good for local storage of around 1K albums. I would counter that question with, if you can have a large internal drive, why bother with a NAS? A NAS just means an extra box needs to be switched on, ie more power consumption.

The internal DAC can be bypassed by using the optical out at the back of the Pc, HD 7.1 audio is available via the HDMI out.

I have not used WMC, but I dare say that it integrates well with W7. I use Ubuntu as an OS and have found XBMC to be a superior media player in all respects, compared to others that I have tried on XP and linux platforms. For me, there is no competition.

It is a very capable machine for its purpose, but if you want more processing and graphical power, then look to the ASRock Vision 3D, nearly twice the price, but very sleek and tidy looking, with some impressive specs for such a diminutive box.

 

[Overdose]

Some pics............

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks. Thet must have done someting to the fan (or it is not a problem unless load is high), as I've read a number of complaints. But it is a very nice system.

The new Wii sized Shuttle SX35GTV2 also looks nice, fanless. No SPDIF though.

 

[Overdose]

I'm really quite suprised that no-one else has cottoned on to this format (except Apple that is, but they don't do Blu-Ray). :quest:

 

[Anonymous]

reading up on reviews on this, i read this
''The ASRock ION 3D lost points for two reasons. The first and the greatest offender was the inability to bitstream high-end codecs such as TrueHD and several DTS variations.''[/b]

now. What does this mean?

i presume if my AV receiver can decode TrueHD/other DTS - then it doesnt matter? because the Asrock has an optical out on it?

please could someone confirm this, this is the only thing stopping me from buying it!

 

[landzw]

I'm really quite suprised that no-one else has cottoned on to this format (except Apple that is, but they don't do Blu-Ray). :quest:

Maybe not but you can now add a blu ray drive and software to you'r mac mini using 3rd party software

 

[Overdose]

I'm really quite suprised that no-one else has cottoned on to this format (except Apple that is, but they don't do Blu-Ray). :quest:

Maybe not but you can now add a blu ray drive and software to your mac mini using 3rd party software

Which is just as well, given that the new Mac mini has no optical drive!

I didn't get much of a chance to try out the HD thang, but it seemed ok to me with iPlayer. Unfortunately, the Blu-ray drive packed up and I couldn't get a replacement due to the unit being 'in constraint' due to hard drive availability issues. I would not hesitate to get another though and if bidget allowed, I'd buy the Vision, much more capable in every way.