Dave the Rave Posted June 23, 2015 Posted June 23, 2015 Hi Folks, I want to try the Daphile with a NUC as my next investment on USB driven DAC system. Saw the spec below for the NUC costing around $450. Is it worth it? Let me know the recommended spec i should aim for? Cheers D CPU Intel Core i3-5010U 2.1GHz (2 physical cores, 2 logical cores via Hyper-threading) GPU Intel HD Graphics 5500 (900MHz Core) Memory 8GB DDR3 Storage 128GB SSD Networking 1 x Intel Gigabit Ethernet, Intel Wireless-AC 7265 802.11ac WiFi IR Blaster built-in Ports 4 x USB 3 (two front, two rear) 2 x USB 2 (via header)
Ancientflatulence Posted June 23, 2015 Posted June 23, 2015 Someone pointed out in one of the other threads that a disadvantage with the NUC boards and cases is that you cannot expand them easily. I am only parrotting what others said and am no expert but I see the point if you think you may want to tweak further later on. I am tossing up the NUC vs Other small boards vs the Mac Mini that I have. I need less choices ........
Ancientflatulence Posted June 23, 2015 Posted June 23, 2015 If I was going to do a NUC this is probably the one I would probably use, Intel® NUC Kit D34010WYKH. I may be cockeyed in my thinking but this one has no WiFi or bluetooth built in. I use a stripped out Mac Mini with a wireless router, which to my way of thinking moves the stuff transmitting away from the rest of the computer and would do the same with the NUC. It is not clear in some of specs that I have seen for this machine and I would have to check on this, but I think it has a full length PCI slot so in theory I could put a 1 TB Msata SSD and another 1 TB 2.5" SSD and store all the music I currently have plus masses of space for more. The H at the end of the part number designates High and these NUC have space to fit a 2.5 inch hard or SS drive. Disclaimer. Check all my "facts" with people who really know stuff before doing anything rash!!
TP1 Posted June 24, 2015 Posted June 24, 2015 Hi Folks, I want to try the Daphile with a NUC as my next investment on USB driven DAC system. Saw the spec below for the NUC costing around $450. Is it worth it? Let me know the recommended spec i should aim for? Cheers D CPU Intel Core i3-5010U 2.1GHz (2 physical cores, 2 logical cores via Hyper-threading) GPU Intel HD Graphics 5500 (900MHz Core) Memory 8GB DDR3 Storage 128GB SSD Networking 1 x Intel Gigabit Ethernet, Intel Wireless-AC 7265 802.11ac WiFi IR Blaster built-in Ports 4 x USB 3 (two front, two rear) 2 x USB 2 (via header) To run Daphile you don't need i3 processor - I suggest its better to aim for low power consumption units that produce far less EMI/RFI such as those with Intel atom. Depending on your budget, a linear PSU will improve sound quite a bit a as will SOTM USB card. If you do decide on the latter, you will need a spare PCIe slot. A couple of people use a $30 PCIe USB card powered externally. This gives some isolation from the motherboard and it should produce a cleaner sound Personally I would prefer not to have wifi running on the motherboard because of potential RFI issues but quite a few people seem to think the problem is minimal. Daphile is a headless player meaning there is no graphics output from the video chips. Video performance is therefore not relevant 1
stuarth Posted June 24, 2015 Posted June 24, 2015 (edited) If I was going to do a NUC this is probably the one I would probably use, Intel® NUC Kit D34010WYKH. I may be cockeyed in my thinking but this one has no WiFi or bluetooth built in. I use a stripped out Mac Mini with a wireless router, which to my way of thinking moves the stuff transmitting away from the rest of the computer and would do the same with the NUC. It is not clear in some of specs that I have seen for this machine and I would have to check on this, but I think it has a full length PCI slot so in theory I could put a 1 TB Msata SSD and another 1 TB 2.5" SSD and store all the music I currently have plus masses of space for more. The H at the end of the part number designates High and these NUC have space to fit a 2.5 inch hard or SS drive. Disclaimer. Check all my "facts" with people who really know stuff before doing anything rash!! Having bought this board as part of a kit I strongly recommend budgeting extra for a fanless case so you can toss the noisy fan that comes with the kit case. I'm using an Aqvox power supply to supply clean 5v power to my Stello U3 converter that sends SPDIF to the DAC. Edited June 24, 2015 by stuarth
Dave the Rave Posted June 24, 2015 Author Posted June 24, 2015 Thanks folks. I am a newbie in this area hence pardon my ignorance. What is a SOTM USB? Where can i buy some of the prebuilt servers and PSU which gives me the clean setup to feed my DAC thru USB? Cheers D
stuarth Posted June 25, 2015 Posted June 25, 2015 Thanks folks. I am a newbie in this area hence pardon my ignorance. What is a SOTM USB? Where can i buy some of the prebuilt servers and PSU which gives me the clean setup to feed my DAC thru USB? Hi, SOtM make an 'audiophile' card that slots in to the PCIe slot on a PC mainboard - http://www.sotm.sonore.us/SOtM3.html This cleans up the 'dirty' signal from the PC to provide a clean feed to the USB port to feed a DAC the Intel NUC having a tiny form factor has no room for this full-size PCI slot, which is why I went for the simplest option which is to clean up the USB feed between the PC and the DAC using the Aqvox unit:http://www.aqvox.de/usb-power_en.html There's another (better) way of doing it for those with more $: http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/620-caps-v4-maroubra-and-bundoran/ In terms of a pre-built server, it's easy enough to buy the NUC pretty much ready to go if you buy a 'kit' with the OS installed like I did. Of course that's using the kit case which currently has a fan which may not bother you (I expect the next generation NUC may be fanless - about time). There are several articles online which describe how to shut down un-necessary windows services to reduce CPU load etc - or if that's too scary, use a utility like Fidelizer http://www.fidelizer-audio.com/ I trialled the free version and it worked fine for me. Oh and a thumbs-up for Daphile from me. I trialled that on another PC (mini-ITX board with SOtM card) and it was easy to set up and sounded good. But I like the J River Media Center interface, so I'm running Windows 8 on the NUC.
TP1 Posted June 25, 2015 Posted June 25, 2015 SOTM card also has an ultra low jitter clock that reclocks the sound. It depends how good you want the server to be. Good enough or better?
Dave the Rave Posted June 25, 2015 Author Posted June 25, 2015 Thx Stuarth & Tasso. The SoTM seems interesting. While reading, i found some mention of Raspberry Pi which is dirt cheap. Will this be an option - i am yet to understand how it works - was hoping to install Daphile on the Raspberry Pi SD card (unsure if that works). But read some issues with HiFace dacs (mine is Lenehan PDX using M2Tech Hiface USB) Anyone can weigh in for advice?
davewantsmoore Posted June 25, 2015 Posted June 25, 2015 SOTM card also has an ultra low jitter clock that reclocks the sound. This could be a little bit confusing for people if they're into the detail. <pedant alert> It doesn't "reclock" anything .... it is the (one and only) original USB clock. It's good that the clock is low jitter ...... but what is more important, it the power supply for the clock (and that it doesn't radiate noise into anything else).
davewantsmoore Posted June 25, 2015 Posted June 25, 2015 (edited) The SoTM seems interesting. It's difficult to generalise on whether it is necessary. Probably would be unless your DAC has good USB electrical isolation and/or jitter rejection. But read some issues with HiFace dacs (mine is Lenehan PDX using M2Tech Hiface USB) Anyone can weigh in for advice? Hiface support was a long time coming to Linux (but it did). They were third party drivers, but you may have to install them yourself in Daphile/RspPi distros. I'm not sure. Edited June 25, 2015 by davewantsmoore
Ancientflatulence Posted June 25, 2015 Posted June 25, 2015 (edited) But read some issues with HiFace dacs (mine is Lenehan PDX using M2Tech Hiface USB) Anyone can weigh in for advice? Go to the Geiseler Audio page in the sponsors section http://www.stereo.net.au/forums/index.php?/forum/143-gieseler-audio/ and ask Clay. He built the PDX's and uses Daphile on his NUC so there's a good chance he will know. @@Gieseler Audio Edited June 25, 2015 by Ancientflatulence 1
TP1 Posted June 26, 2015 Posted June 26, 2015 It's difficult to generalise on whether it is necessary. Probably would be unless your DAC has good USB electrical isolation and/or jitter rejection. Hiface support was a long time coming to Linux (but it did). They were third party drivers, but you may have to install them yourself in Daphile/RspPi distros. I'm not sure. It goes against everything we know about good audio reproduction to deliberately choose high noise, high jitter sources in the hope that it will get sorted out down the line. I doubt that there is a DAC currently available that will not benefit from a lower noise , lower jitter signal. Computer audio has been held back for too long through users trying to get the rest of the audio world to fit in with their regular noisy PC's. The decision that needs to be made is whether people want the best sound or not. If it's the former, then your average SMPS computer is not going to deliver it .
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