tigerwoodKhorns Posted January 15, 2006 Share Posted January 15, 2006 I have tried this several times and the search function on the website really does not work. Please help me build a music server. I have an outboard DAC (Benchmark) and really want to build a server. What do I need? I know that I need a soundcard with a digital coaxial or optical out. What is out there and cheap? Processor - I figure at least a Pentium 4 at 1.5 ghz. Memory - I figure I will need 512 Hard drive - I think that as alonmg as I can add hard drives from Frys when they go on sale I'll be happy. Please help me here. Anyone have experience with this? What do I need? I am not a computer guy but do have a basic knowledge. What do I have to do? Thanks, Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevind2 Posted January 15, 2006 Share Posted January 15, 2006 Check out this link: http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/656559/ShowPost.aspx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted January 15, 2006 Share Posted January 15, 2006 http://www.audioadvisor.com/store/productdetail.asp?sku=CAMB640HB&product_name=640H%20Music%20Server Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerwoodKhorns Posted January 15, 2006 Author Share Posted January 15, 2006 I saw that one Dean. I'd rather build one for about $300 to $500. I can't see spending $1400 on an audio component that will be worth $100 next year. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
codhead Posted January 15, 2006 Share Posted January 15, 2006 I'd suggest a HagUsb (USB to SPDIF converter). Works with Mac or PC. No drivers to screw with - just plug it in and go. I'm currently running one on my bedroom system, connected to a Mac iBook and my Cal Alpha DAC. Works great. They cost $129, and come with a 30 day money back guarantee. Download a copy of iTunes, rip your favorite songs to AIFF files, and you've got an instant music server. http://www.hagtech.com/hagusb.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerwoodKhorns Posted January 16, 2006 Author Share Posted January 16, 2006 That's really interesting. I have a Pentium III 600 hz laptop. I could get an external 250 gi9g hd for about $150 and one of these and have a music server if teh laptop is up to it. I will also need to get windows XP. anyone see any problems with this setup? Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted January 16, 2006 Share Posted January 16, 2006 You are way over stressing the performance needs of your computer for music playback....even my old 200mHz Pentium Pro (experimental version of the P2) with 128mB of RAM can handle music without a glitch (and running windows 98 too). In other words, your laptop will be more than overkill. And the external HD is the only way to go (especially because it doesn't require you to have any special networking to get music onto the drive). What OS is your laptop currently using? As long as it's not 95, 98, or ME you should be just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted January 16, 2006 Share Posted January 16, 2006 Dr. Who or others, What's your take on XP Media Center... I've wondered about this, but don't have a clue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerwoodKhorns Posted January 16, 2006 Author Share Posted January 16, 2006 I'm running windows 98 on the laptop. I also have a pentium II 233 that has windows 95. Looks like I will need to get a copy of Windows XP. Will teh Pentium II recognize a large hard drive if hooked up to it? (like a 250 gig unit) How do I know what USB speed I have? How do I tell the difference between 1.0 and 2.0? Thanks, Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerwoodKhorns Posted January 16, 2006 Author Share Posted January 16, 2006 OK, I have most of my ducks in a row. I just made a trip to Fry's and picked some stuff up. I'll be using: My Pentium III 600 hz laptop as a server (194 bits SD Ram, 4 gb HD) A 250 Gig external hard driver (just picked up at Fry's) ran through a 2.0 USB port. I now need to get the diugital signal out of my laptop and into my Benchmark DAC1. The HagUSB (above) as well as an external sound card at Fry's have a maximum output signal sample rate of 48 khz. The Benchmark can accept inputs of up to 96 khz. Now, I realize that Redbook format is only 44.1 and other formats that arre compressed will be lower. So, my question is am I going to be giving anything up by limiting myself to an iput rate of 48 khz? Next question, is the HagUSB any better than a cheapo $40 Fry's external soundcard with digital optical out? Thanks, Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted January 16, 2006 Share Posted January 16, 2006 So, my question is am I going to be giving anything up by limiting myself to an iput rate of 48 khz? Well do you plan on recording anything onto your computer? Like converting your LP's to digital? If not, then there's no need to worry about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerwoodKhorns Posted January 17, 2006 Author Share Posted January 17, 2006 I found a soundcard that should work very well. An M Audio AUdiophile 2496 external USB unit. Sam Ashe has them for $119 and they will work with a Pentium II 266 hz is needed. It is a 24 bit 96 kHz card. I think that for the money, this is the way to go. Even though I don't currently need anything more than 48 khz right now, you never know. The upsampler on my AH! player made a really big difference. If I can find, (or eventually find if not invented yet) upsampling software for my computer, I do not want to be limited by the sound card. Especially as the M Audio is the same price as the HagUSB device. Plus, I may want to convery albumms to digital, I really don't know. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khorn51 Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 You should try the EMU 0404 cards as the converters are way better than the M audio . I had the m audio and it sound weak and lifeless. Plus with EMU you get wav lab with it a real nice mastering program that can copy anything that plays through the sound card like itunes files. It also is great editing cds you can cut and past section of sound do fade in fade out add effects ect. plus it's only around 100 at guitar center. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerwoodKhorns Posted January 17, 2006 Author Share Posted January 17, 2006 K Horn, Thanks for the advice. That looks like a better card but it will not work for what I am doing. I am using an old Pentium III 600 hz laptop as the server. That card needs 1,000 hz or faster. Because I am using a laptop, I need an external soundcard that can hook up to a USB port. The funny thing is that I do not care about the DAC's in the card at all and wish that I could find a cheaper outboard card with no DAC's (M Audio has one for $80 but it looks so cheap that I think that I will spend teh extra $40 for the Audiophile 2496). I will be feeding the signal from the laptop USB to the external soundcard, then digital out to a Benchmark DAC1. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrsonGarnsey Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 I've done this with some success. After extensive research, I determined that the most important element is a sound card with a "bit-perfect" output. The least expensive option (which I chose) is the Chaintech AV-710. I found several references which descibed flashing this card with the Auditrak Prodigy 7.1 firmware. This makes the optical output "bit-perfect", but disables the analog outputs. You can have a second sound card in your system to handle that, if required. You DO NOT need a P4 1.5GHz. I am using a PIII at 1GHz and it works flawlessly. The only obivious drawback is greater time to RIP CDs to your hard disk. The differences are minor, however, and the extra money is better spent on a quiet power supply, quiet CPU fan and a quiet hard disk (fluid bearings). Or, optionally, a passive cooling system. The current software standards are Exact Audio Copy (EAC) for ripping and Foobar2000 for playback. The AV-710 soundcard works with Foobar in Kernel Streaming mode to ensure bit-perfect output. This probably sounds like alot of work, and it does take time, but is well worth the effort. My setup includes the PC, a Monarchy Audio DIP jitter reduction device and a modified Channel Islands Audio VDA-1 DAC. The sound kicks !@#. I've compared it to a Denon 5900, both as a transport and a source, and it wasn't even close; the PC was better by a large margin (won a bet with a local audiophile friend who admitted defeat). I have mine in an adjacent room. The SPDIF out feeds the DIP and the DIP drives a 25' coaxial cable that feeds the VDA-1. I access the PC using a laptop and a remote control software called VNC. This keeps the PC noise out of the room. I've also used the PC with a video card that has "video-out" and a wireless mouse. This works too, but you'd want a quiet PC. Save money on the PC and the sound card by being smart, and spend money on two large hard disks, one for active use and one for a backup. Having the second disk may seem excessive, but losing 100GB of digital music would be a disaster. Also, I RIP my CDs to .wav files for perfect reproduction of the music, but there are some "loseless" formats that use less drive space. FLAC and Apple Loseless seem to be the most popular and this time. Good luck, it will be worth it. References: http://www.foobar2000.org http://flac.sourceforge.net/ http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=75655 http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=75655 http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/ P.S. An option that has become quite popular is the "Squeezebox", though you still need a PC, and I'd be surprised if it'd sound as good. Reference: http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/670233/ShowPost.aspx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerwoodKhorns Posted January 17, 2006 Author Share Posted January 17, 2006 I wanted to use my Laptop as a server (600hz PIII). I guess that I can go out and get a tower and control it with the Laptop if it will be close in price and yield similar reults. Do you know of a cheap external soundcard that will work from my USB on my Laptop? Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 Do you know of a cheap external soundcard that will work from my USB on my Laptop? Does it need to be strictly 2-channel or do you want to do movies too? And is there a reciever with digital inputs? I know everyone hates the creative cards, but I've had great success with their USB external lineup: http://www.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=204&product=9103 The trick is to disengage all their "enhancements" (which may make crappy speakers sound good, but it really hurts a good sound system). And don't forget the very handy remote control - it takes a while to get setup with all your software, but once you do it is a very nice extra feature (and gets pretty good reception too). We were actually using this card in the studio on our secondary system and there was one situation where we had to do some recording through the card....and we were quite suprised when the quality was on par with the Motu gear we were running! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerwoodKhorns Posted January 18, 2006 Author Share Posted January 18, 2006 I just want two channel. That card will work. I am wondering if I am gaining anything here by using my laptop. I need a $140 250 gig hd, a $40 2.0 USB adapter and a $100 sound card. I can get a used 933 Mhz PIII for $150 and load it up for not too much more. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted January 18, 2006 Share Posted January 18, 2006 Oh the joys of finding the best compromise... If you went with the used computer you could make it a permanent addition to your system, which would allow for very easy upgrading in the future. I'm using a computer right now for all my playback needs and I can never imagine going back to filling racks with seperate players for everything. Though by the time you invest in quiet fans and quite harddrives you're probably looking at spending just as much. Since you're strictly 2-channel, then allow me to recommend a few other products: http://www.emu.com/products/product.asp?category=505&subcategory=491&product=13554 (this particular unit would plug straight into your laptop port thingy) or a version for a desktop computer: http://www.emu.com/products/product.asp?category=505&subcategory=491&product=9870 http://www.echoaudio.com/Products/PCI/Gina3G/index.php http://www.echoaudio.com/Products/PCI/MiaMIDI/index.php And if you want to connect to the laptop, you can go with these two: http://www.echoaudio.com/Products/CardBus/Laptop/index.php http://www.echoaudio.com/Products/PCI/Layla3G/index.php (or just go with the layla for the desktop too). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerwoodKhorns Posted January 23, 2006 Author Share Posted January 23, 2006 Dr. Who, I can get an Intel Celeron 1.29 Ghz computer really cheap. I do not like the Celeron processer because it has very little cashe (sp?) and just does not seem to be nearly as good as a pentium. However, I shoudl be able to swap out a Pentium 3 or 4 motherboard and processor. Is the celeron up to the task as a computer music server? Thanks, Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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