PC for MUSIC ONLY

[prepress]

OK, Now it's time to assemble a music PC/server. The components I have finalized are below, other choices/information welcome:
1. Cabinet (Cooler Master HAF EVO)
2. Power Supply (Corsair VS Series VS550 - 550 Watt Power Supply)
3. Motherboard/Chipset (Not decided yet, need suggestion)
4. RAM (Corsair Vengeance 4GB DDR 3 1600Mhz)
5. Keyboard/Mouse (Logitech K400 Wireless Touch Keyboard)
6. HDD (Western Digital Green 2TB, already purchased)
7. Sound Card (Asus Xonar DG Professional Sound Card) it has optical out, if doesn't sounds good will add DAC later
8. CD/DVD reader/writer (LG DVD Writer 24X SATA)
8. Monitor (Acer P166HQL 15.6 Inch LCD Monitor), can't go beyond 17" in actual width of monitor to make consistency with the other equipments in rack
9. Fans required (Cooler Master/Corsair)
10. Applications : Foobar2000/JRiver/XMBC.


This PC would be for MUSIC ONLY, so please suggest if anything better, or best thing in price.

 

[ranjeetrain]

For a music only PC you're already on a road to overkill. But for the joy of discussing it, get the best that fits in your budget. It will be more than what you will utilize.

 

[manniraj]

For a music only PC I would suggest getting a fanless small PC like the Zotac/Foxconn if budget permits. But I think this fanless models should cost on the same lines as your DIY. I have a Foxconn model brought couple of years back from US during a sale for $170 with free 64GB SSD and 4GB RAM. Try and see if you can get similar kind ones within your budget.

 

[dheerajin]

+1 to ranjeetrain's comment...
IMO, cut down on some aspect of this PC and utilize the amount in good DAC.
If you see other threads on PC music in this forum, you will realize that normal ATOM processor laptops are good enough for music , if only being used for music , nothing else.
Means within 15000 Rs you will be having good music server.
and YMMV.

Cheers

Dheeraj

 

[prepress]

For a music only PC I would suggest getting a fanless small PC like the Zotac/Foxconn if budget permits. But I think this fanless models should cost on the same lines as your DIY. I have a Foxconn model brought couple of years back from US during a sale for $170 with free 64GB SSD and 4GB RAM. Try and see if you can get similar kind ones within your budget.

For DECENT music pc my budget is 25-30K. I want to go with DIY route as I can manipulate the things as per my requirement (HDD, RAM etc.)

For a music only PC you're already on a road to overkill. But for the joy of discussing it, get the best that fits in your budget. It will be more than what you will utilize.

Agree, Actually I already have my PC and Macbook Pro but both are for my professional use. I already have Blu-ray player and I use only Blu-rays for movies not downloaded stuff so not going for proper HTPC.

I am okay with any lower end configuration/components but that may create some issues like NOISE, HEAT, SLOW etc.

+1 to ranjeetrain's comment...
IMO, cut down on some aspect of this PC and utilize the amount in good DAC.
If you see other threads on PC music in this forum, you will realize that normal ATOM processor laptops are good enough for music , if only being used for music , nothing else.
Means within 15000 Rs you will be having good music server.
and YMMV.

Actually I was looking for HTPC cabinet but that was costing more than this one, also small cabinets support few motherboards, and due to lack of space I have to compromise with few things.
I can go with cheap components (all) available in market but the important thing is durability.

If you guys can suggest other configuration for music PC, that is fine with me. The major things are sound quality, smooth operating, decent look.

For the meantime I am looking for the threads if it helps.
By the way if I cut the cost from the PC which DAC would be great in terms of sound quality?

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

<Crossposted*>

When building or buying a PC it is really, really difficult not to get picked up by the numbers/specifications game. We know we've really got it bad when we start talking to ourselves about it being future-proof! Yep: been there, done that! And, even for a general-purpose home machine, my 3.1Ghz processor almost never gets stretched much over 25% of its capacity.

Well, I don't mind too much, because it led on to an interesting hobby in buying and trying out fans and cooling to minimise its audible presence. And a lot of us tend to love this sort of messing around... audiophiles... gadgetphiles...

(and by the way I now love Noctua)

But for a seriously music-only pc, there are boxes that actually look good on the hifi rack, and designs/specs that rely on passive cooling with no fans at all. Fascinating stuff. One day...

*Yes, I don't think that the good-looking, passive music-only PC is necessarily going to be cheap

 

[dheerajin]

For the meantime I am looking for the threads if it helps.
By the way if I cut the cost from the PC which DAC would be great in terms of sound quality?

Nowadays market is flooded with DACs and which one floats your boat is hard to decide. Because you need to have same setup to have auditions on different DACs and that is not possible under one roof.
Go for your budget and reviews available on the net.
Recently VFM Sonodyne DAC is making waves, since for the same quality you have to spend twice as much for firangi DACs. And also read IFI-IDAC.
Both are good and within 25K.

Cheers

Dheeraj

 

[prepress]

Nowadays market is flooded with DACs and which one floats your boat is hard to decide. Because you need to have same setup to have auditions on different DACs and that is not possible under one roof.
Go for your budget and reviews available on the net.
Recently VFM Sonodyne DAC is making waves, since for the same quality you have to spend twice as much for firangi DACs. And also read IFI-IDAC.
Both are good and within 25K.

I like this term "Firangi DACs" :lol:

Yes, There are many DACs available and some are really really expensive, not sure how much difference would be in quality.
Do you think expensive DAC really works like magic than 20-25K DAC?

 

[dheerajin]

Do you think expensive DAC really works like magic than 20-25K DAC?

You cant really make out the difference except noise level inherited in the signal.
its all gamble out there. Buy only decently priced DAC based on the reviews. May be down the line you may find some expensive good DAC.

Cheers

Dheeraj

 

[haisaikat]

What is your rest of the chain since you want digital out from your soundcard?

Also I see that you have listed a CD Rom drive for your music PC? What is the utility? Do you have lot of Audio CDs? If that is the case you might get better SQ if you rip the CDsas flacs since these are consumer grade CD drives and not as good as dedicated CDPs when it comes to error rates. There are of course a few brands like AQVOX and Plextor who claim to make audiophile grade CD drives that cost insane but I do not have any first hand experience.

 

[prepress]

What is your rest of the chain since you want digital out from your soundcard?

Also I see that you have listed a CD Rom drive for your music PC? What is the utility? Do you have lot of Audio CDs? If that is the case you might get better SQ if you rip the CDsas flacs since these are consumer grade CD drives and not as good as dedicated CDPs when it comes to error rates. There are of course a few brands like AQVOX and Plextor who claim to make audiophile grade CD drives that cost insane but I do not have any first hand experience.

Actually my other equipments supports analog only (Vintage Stuff, but sounds awesome). For now I will give a try by using sound card analog output, if not satisfied will add a DAC.

CD Rom in this PC would be to RIP CDs as uncompressed WAV and some other tasks. Yes, I have lot of ACDs and still purchasing them. I am satisfied with the quality of LG/Samsung Drives to rip the CDs.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

For now I will give a try by using sound card analog output, if not satisfied will add a DAC.

Although I am currently using a USB DAC (ODAC), I am a great believer in sound cards, having discovered the wow of hifi sound from my PC with an RME card over a decade ago.

I would suggest that you look at the ESI Juli@ as a possible alternative. Yes, it is a lot more expensive, but it is well-spoken-of by everyone I have seen mention it. I have not heard it, although I'd really like to try one, analogue out. In a loop-back test on Gearslutz it performed way up there with some much more expensive kit.

I would also be much happier buying a PCI Express card than a PCI card. Whoa! I nearly used the word futureproof! (Juli@ is available as either.)

Juli@ will also give you digital i/o. It will also give you the possibility of configuring it for either balanced or unbalanced analogue connectivity.

Actually my other equipments supports analog only (Vintage Stuff, but sounds awesome)

Then you may want to digitise LPs and or tapes at some time in the future. There are all sorts of reasons for doing this even if you want to go on using your analogue playback gear, ranging from pure archiving/backup to copies for car or portable devices. A good sound card will allow you to do this, whereas a DAC, of course, won't.

NB: I actually prefer the terminology audio interface. "Card" make us think that it is literally a card for installation inside the case. Whereas the models that we are talking about just now are cards, the sound card/interface can, equally, be an external box.

 

[prepress]

Although I am currently using a USB DAC (ODAC), I am a great believer in sound cards, having discovered the wow of hifi sound from my PC with an RME card over a decade ago.

I would suggest that you look at the ESI Juli@ as a possible alternative. Yes, it is a lot more expensive, but it is well-spoken-of by everyone I have seen mention it. I have not heard it, although I'd really like to try one, analogue out. In a loop-back test on Gearslutz it performed way up there with some much more expensive kit.

I would also be much happier buying a PCI Express card than a PCI card. Whoa! I nearly used the word futureproof! (Juli@ is available as either.)

Juli@ will also give you digital i/o. It will also give you the possibility of configuring it for either balanced or unbalanced analogue connectivity.

Agree, ESI Juli@ circuit is better than the Basic DACs and definitely should sound better. Another thing is I don't want to change/modify sound, I need exact as it is in the source file. I don't mind if I have to spend more if it is better than adding an external DAC.

Then you may want to digitise LPs and or tapes at some time in the future. There are all sorts of reasons for doing this even if you want to go on using your analogue playback gear, ranging from pure archiving/backup to copies for car or portable devices. A good sound card will allow you to do this, whereas a DAC, of course, won't.

NB: I actually prefer the terminology audio interface. "Card" make us think that it is literally a card for installation inside the case. Whereas the models that we are talking about just now are cards, the sound card/interface can, equally, be an external box.

I did both, and I am pleased with the results of Vinyl digitizing. It feels exact like we are listening vinyls (at least to me).
I guess good sound card would be okay for now, as some BASIC DACs may produce almost same results like sound cards. But I really like ESI Juli@ :licklips:

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Assuming that one gets what one pays for, then even some internal cards (eg Lynx) can get very expensive. I think it is one of those ladder things: for any given DAC there may be a better audio interface; for any given audio interface there may be a better DAC --- and both come in a very wide range of prices.

One problem with the audio interface market is that, for domestic use, it has pretty much conceded defeat to the hifi DAC makers. It is very hard to get simple 2-channel stereo I/O without unwanted-to-us professional digital protocols, mic pre-amps, etc etc. Long live Juli@!

 

[panditji]

Hi, I am also trying to build a PC/Computer source and while I am concentrating on laptops, I discovered the all in ones from Lenovo and HP which are evenly matched w.r.t specs but also good looking...Can anybody give me any reason why they would not be better than a DIY PC?? Prepress you can also look at these options of all in ones as well....worth a look

 

[panditji]

What do you think of these :

Lenovo C260 All-in-One | Affordable Everyday All-in-One PCs | Lenovo (IN)

You just need to increase the RAM to 4 GB and I think with 3 USB inputs you just need a good asynch USB DAC ... others please chime in with your views

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

A desktop/deskside/media-case PC, will always beat the laptops, all-in-ones, etc, in some ways, amongst which are...

Ease of service/repair

Ease of upgrading

Flexibility

Possibly longevity (although I have a 10-yr-old laptop!)

Other machine formats are either because portability is needed, or they are lifestyle choices to match the furniture. I'm not knocking that, by the way: it is an important factor, especially in family life.

 

[panditji]

Thad, laptops can be easily repaired everywhere and if the laptop/all in one is going to stay put in a particular place, then the chances of things going wrong are minimal....a desktop looks ugly and out of place on a rack hence asking if this could be a better option....

A Pentium Dual Core all in one with 4 GB RAM should be more than sufficient for music only PC and if it looks nice and takes less space even better....

 

[prepress]

Hi, I am also trying to build a PC/Computer source and while I am concentrating on laptops, I discovered the all in ones from Lenovo and HP which are evenly matched w.r.t specs but also good looking...Can anybody give me any reason why they would not be better than a DIY PC?? Prepress you can also look at these options of all in ones as well....worth a look

You just need to increase the RAM to 4 GB and I think with 3 USB inputs you just need a good asynch USB DAC ... others please chime in with your views

Lenovo tried to make something like iMac
I think it is not Rough and Tough kind of thing like the DIYs, we can update/repair our DIYs ourself but in this Lenovo we may have to visit/call service centre.

Another point is it is above 19" and I am expecting something around 17" (just to make this PC like a part of my whole music system)

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Thad, laptops can be easily repaired everywhere

A desktop can be repaired in my house and [sometimes] by me. Upgrade, always by me.

.a desktop looks ugly and out of place on a rack hence asking if this could be a better option....

It could be a better-looking option. Yes, I agree that this does matter.

There are, though, many choices of hifi-looking cases available now. I remember seeing some (online) with built-in passive heat-sink cooling. Wish I could remember where just now...

Another point is it is above 19" and I am expecting something around 17" (just to make this PC like a part of my whole music system)

There could be a lot to be said for forgetting all about the monitor and controlling your music machine from phone or tablet.