Re: CD Player - for Usher/Denon setup
@venkatcr - if i may ask, why two PC's when one can do all the function of video & audio...
Being a pure audiophile and videophile? :lol:. It was one of those moments when I had the money and the craze.
I have optimized each PC for its function. For example, the HTPC has a high end graphics card, PowerDVD, and nothing else. It also has some special drivers to pass HD Audio to the receiver. This is housed in an Silverstone HTPC cabinet with a Blu-ray drive and a separate DVD drive. This is connected permanently to the Net, though I don't download anything on this machine. I have also set off all updates. I download the graphics card driver outside, transfer it to the HTPC and update it when needed.
The Audio PC is a similar beast, but optimised for audio. I have removed literally every software I can uninstall, and have installed just Foobar and ASIO drivers as well as EAC. It has a Asus Xonar Essence Sound card which I am replacing. I have also installed a 450 watts power unit, as I suspected the Xonar may need a rush of power now and then. It has 6 TB of drive space, 16GB of RAM, 1 DVD drive and one CD drive. This unit is never connected to the Net. For safety, I have pushed some sponge into the Ethernet port, though no one other than me touches my machines.
I am toying with the idea of uninstalling Foobar and installing JPlay, but my experiments with JPlay has not been very encouraging to push me to choose it. I am happy with Foobar and may continue with just that.
Ultimately, the audio PC will be connected to a separate two channel amp and my single driver speakers from Audire. Over the next two weeks I am going to try out a few valve amps as well as Marantz amps. I am keen on the Marantz to see if the digital out will give me a better sound. I tried a few other external DACs, but always ended up going back to the Asus on-board DAC. Looking at replacing the card with a Essence STX II.
I don't experiment with either of these machine in terms of hardware or software. Both machines have 8 drive bays so I can potentially go to 32 TB of HDD space @4TB each.
I also have a DVD player connected to the receiver. I might connect a Blu-ray player if I get into the mood. Their prices are comfortable at around 10K which was the upper limit I had set for myself. I am buying Blu-rays like mad now. Crazy, eh?
Cheers
Re: CD Player - for Usher/Denon setup
Thanks for the pics. These pads can only be used under the legs of each unit but could not be placed underneath the entire unit if it has an amp underneath for the airflow/cooling. Right?
Yes, if an amp has a blower pushing air downwards, it is safer to keep one under each leg. But, most amps push air sideways or at the back. In any case, the legs will give a gap between the base plate and the pad.
Where can these pads be sourced from? Any name for them? The material should be rubber.
I have no idea. A friend of mine is giving these to me. I was actually thinking of sourcing them from him and making it available to all HFV members after some experiments. This was a year ago. But then I had got out of HFV because of work pressure.
Cheers