The best bang for the back streamer right now is $75 Audirvana+ for Mac. It unfolds Tidal MQA and produces up to 32/384 stream that you can catch with your old Android phone and free BubbleUPnP for Android. Then pass 24/96 or 16/44 stream DAC (1000 people could not discern the difference between 24/192 and 16/44 in a controlled blind test). Thus for only $75 and few 100s more depending on the which 24/96 DAC you buy and you will have the best possible streaming ever. Let blind testing be your guidance!
Very Much appreciated Mike ! You say " I am giving it out free... as I have something much bigger in mind for all of us. " I wonder what that could be ?
Great advice, I build a great player to replace my Rpi. I did choose a similar Mini ITX board with 12v external power and used a car battery to power it. The HD Plex case is expensive but worth every penny. And the Element H USB card also works like a charm. The only bit that I needed to research was de software side. I use Volumio on one partition of the SSD, on the other my Music. Thanks for the Tip!
I use Matrix USB card with Sbooster LPSU as well. Fantastic USB output especially for a much lower price than its competitors. Regarding the SOTM streamer mentioned in comments, that's fine and dandy if you can use Linux. I need to use Windows to do DSD 512 into a T+A DAC 8 DSD so this gives that added flexibility and sounds damn good to boot.
The need to use windows to play DSD 512 would have Me not listening to DST 512. To me The OS is more important. I just can't hand all the windows updates and silly stuff I like purpose built software that's open source that anybody can get under the hood with. But DST 512 does sound interesting thanks for leaving a comment
Thank you for the shopping list to build a music player. Would you please comment the SQ between your DIY player vs. some comparably priced commercially made players out there? Thank you again!
Thanks you Mike. This is awesome. You are kind, generous and completely and passionately mad. If you find your self in India the kebabs and beers are on me.
Very Nice offer Brother !! Some day I will visit your exotic and intriguing country. Kebab sounds like North India I am guessing . I like the Indian food, almost all of it , at least the stuff they have here. Daal, Saag Paneer, Tandoori, Garlic Butter Naan, maybe a little chutney, after eating perhaps Mango Lassi ;-) The deity I most resonate with is Shiva, the mandala I most resonate with is Sri Yantra, Mantra of course Om Nama Shivaya. I have not kept a strong Sadhana, many distractions drew me away and I anticipate feeding it again... Namaskaram !
@@OCDHIFiGuy wow! I am impressed. I live in a small city called Mumbai. It was formerly known as Bombay. We have only about 21 million official inhabitants and maybe another 4-5 million unaccounted for. The offer is open anytime! We can even do a temple tour if that’s up your alley.
Great vid! I'm wondering if we'd go 1 step further and implement a fibre PCI card to this setup. That would make this the ideal Roon Core. Or is wifi the better option to eliminate ethernet noise from this server? Wonder if wifi is stable enough for Roon core. If not, I'm looking at a ITX build using the HD plex H5 that has more room for a 2nd PCI slot.
Thanks for the great video and last one too where you exposed systems like Innuos. Thanks for advising me about metrum adagio which is now part of my stereo system. I'm also going to build my own system but I will use sotm card which is tx-USBexp for $350 which should be able to give better result IMO. I may be wrong though. This chassis and LPS is really cool and reasonably well priced. BTW if I have to add cdrom to rip CDs then which chassis you would recommend?
I know nothing about them. I think the marketing is a little kitschy but that's all I've got. As a gift to you guys I'm thinking about something just to show where I am with all of this. I may divulge my source for push pull tube power amps made in USA. This guy is under the radar. Hes been doing tube amps 30 years or more. You would never ever find A better value on a PP pentode tube amp. I've got to see if he wants the onslaught of sales.
There is hot forum on Audiophile Style (Computer Audiophile) regarding building a NUC with Akasa fanless case, powered with the LPS of your preference, it is a similar approach but is diskless, you boot the OS on RAM from a USB stick, wonder if building this specific PC booting the OS in RAM would ended being better sounding...i already but mine with a NUC7CJYH with AudioLinux booted in RAM powered by the HDPlex 200
Hey Mike, I did something very similar. I used the 6th gen Core I3 and the ASUS H110T/CSM Motherboard and put it into a fanless case from Akasa. It's gorgeous. www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01IBUF29O/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 That Core I3 with 8G of DDR4 can run anything you want and could easily act as an excellent media server as well as a streamer. I think under what could be considered a full load that the case will barely be warm to the touch. I did not however attempt to install a different USB hub. The DAC I use and the software on the server (Foobar2000) is set up to let the DAC do all the driving when extracting data from the library. In other words, the computer isn't controlling the USB, the DAC is. I'm not sure any kind of reclocking is necessary in that case. The OS is a very Debloatified Windows 10 Pro installation with all non essential services turned off, like print services, etc. Boots up and is ready to play in under a minute and is very responsive to the tablet controller. I also control it via Remote Desktop over the network so maintenance is a breeze. Besides music, I also use it to stream video to the 4K television in another room over the Ethernet.
The best bang for the back streamer right now is $75 Audirvana+ for Mac. It unfolds Tidal MQA and produces up to 32/384 stream that you can catch with your old Android phone and free BubbleUPnP for Android. Then pass 24/96 or 16/44 stream DAC (1000 people could not discern the difference between 24/192 and 16/44 in a controlled blind test). Thus for only $75 and few 100s more depending on the which 24/96 DAC you buy and you will have the best possible streaming ever. Let blind testing be your guidance!
Fuh king Ep ic
Very Much appreciated Mike ! You say " I am giving it out free... as I have something much bigger in mind for all of us. " I wonder what that could be ?
Great advice, I build a great player to replace my Rpi.
I did choose a similar Mini ITX board with 12v external power and used a car battery to power it. The HD Plex case is expensive but worth every penny. And the Element H USB card also works like a charm. The only bit that I needed to research was de software side. I use Volumio on one partition of the SSD, on the other my Music.
Thanks for the Tip!
Yes, you bet my friend, thank you for leaving feedback !
I use Matrix USB card with Sbooster LPSU as well. Fantastic USB output especially for a much lower price than its competitors. Regarding the SOTM streamer mentioned in comments, that's fine and dandy if you can use Linux. I need to use Windows to do DSD 512 into a T+A DAC 8 DSD so this gives that added flexibility and sounds damn good to boot.
The need to use windows to play DSD 512 would have Me not listening to DST 512. To me The OS is more important. I just can't hand all the windows updates and silly stuff I like purpose built software that's open source that anybody can get under the hood with. But DST 512 does sound interesting thanks for leaving a comment
Thank you for the shopping list to build a music player. Would you please comment the SQ between your DIY player vs. some comparably priced commercially made players out there? Thank you again!
Thanks you Mike. This is awesome. You are kind, generous and completely and passionately mad. If you find your self in India the kebabs and beers are on me.
Very Nice offer Brother !! Some day I will visit your exotic and intriguing country. Kebab sounds like North India I am guessing . I like the Indian food, almost all of it , at least the stuff they have here. Daal, Saag Paneer, Tandoori, Garlic Butter Naan, maybe a little chutney, after eating perhaps Mango Lassi ;-) The deity I most resonate with is Shiva, the mandala I most resonate with is Sri Yantra, Mantra of course Om Nama Shivaya. I have not kept a strong Sadhana, many distractions drew me away and I anticipate feeding it again...
Namaskaram !
@@OCDHIFiGuy wow! I am impressed. I live in a small city called Mumbai. It was formerly known as Bombay. We have only about 21 million official inhabitants and maybe another 4-5 million unaccounted for. The offer is open anytime!
We can even do a temple tour if that’s up your alley.
If you’re getting the HDplex heatsink case, use it to cool a desktop processor.
Thanks for doing this..appreciate it
About $1260, without euphon y-spelling?, for those wondering. Couldn't find the same price for power supply as mentioned in the video. Cool vid, btw!
Great video and much appreciated!
What would be the best way to add a CD ripper to this unit?
Great vid! I'm wondering if we'd go 1 step further and implement a fibre PCI card to this setup. That would make this the ideal Roon Core. Or is wifi the better option to eliminate ethernet noise from this server? Wonder if wifi is stable enough for Roon core. If not, I'm looking at a ITX build using the HD plex H5 that has more room for a 2nd PCI slot.
Thanks for the great video and last one too where you exposed systems like Innuos. Thanks for advising me about metrum adagio which is now part of my stereo system.
I'm also going to build my own system but I will use sotm card which is tx-USBexp for $350 which should be able to give better result IMO. I may be wrong though. This chassis and LPS is really cool and reasonably well priced.
BTW if I have to add cdrom to rip CDs then which chassis you would recommend?
Shouldn't you be using 8k audiophile quality sata cables in this build?
So we’re does one buy all this unobtanium?
Thanks so much for your video!!! Do you have a guide to build music server as well ?
Sorry, no, Learn how to build a PC is all you need to learn, its super simple ...
Thanks mikey very informative and heartfelt, thanks again. By the way. What do you think about the Carver tube amps.
I know nothing about them. I think the marketing is a little kitschy but that's all I've got. As a gift to you guys I'm thinking about something just to show where I am with all of this. I may divulge my source for push pull tube power amps made in USA. This guy is under the radar. Hes been doing tube amps 30 years or more. You would never ever find A better value on a PP pentode tube amp. I've got to see if he wants the onslaught of sales.
you are the best
There is hot forum on Audiophile Style (Computer Audiophile) regarding building a NUC with Akasa fanless case, powered with the LPS of your preference, it is a similar approach but is diskless, you boot the OS on RAM from a USB stick, wonder if building this specific PC booting the OS in RAM would ended being better sounding...i already but mine with a NUC7CJYH with AudioLinux booted in RAM powered by the HDPlex 200
Thank you very much!
Thank you for sharing sir!
Raspi +pi2aes. 300$ Blows all players 10k and below.
Pi2design is great, I'm using their product, but "up to 10k") - wishful thinking. Some products for 1k would be better.
Hey Mike, I did something very similar. I used the 6th gen Core I3 and the ASUS H110T/CSM Motherboard and put it into a fanless case from Akasa. It's gorgeous.
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01IBUF29O/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
That Core I3 with 8G of DDR4 can run anything you want and could easily act as an excellent media server as well as a streamer.
I think under what could be considered a full load that the case will barely be warm to the touch.
I did not however attempt to install a different USB hub. The DAC I use and the software on the server (Foobar2000) is set up to let the DAC do all the driving when extracting data from the library. In other words, the computer isn't controlling the USB, the DAC is. I'm not sure any kind of reclocking is necessary in that case.
The OS is a very Debloatified Windows 10 Pro installation with all non essential services turned off, like print services, etc.
Boots up and is ready to play in under a minute and is very responsive to the tablet controller.
I also control it via Remote Desktop over the network so maintenance is a breeze. Besides music, I also use it to stream video to the 4K television in another room over the Ethernet.
Can it do mqa on 32 bit 768khz and dsd 512. If appropiate software is installed.
Dies this cpu on motherboard need a quiet heatsink.or whats on the stock cpu sufficient.
Its fanless, so. Nothing to quiet
Sotm sms ultra neo at 1400 usd is similar functionality.if properly done will it be better than that.i am in a split between the two
I say that DartZeel $45,000 is less fraud than SOtM sms ultra neo at $1400. Both are fraud, to be clear. But DartZeel much much less than SOtM
Sms 200 ultra sounds great
Nice sir !