Tumpin

Thanks, I will give Voyage MPD a try on a USB stick..

I didnt read through all of the replies but for near field use take a look at some of the studio speakers out there. They are perfect for on a desk either side of your screen, thats what they are designed for. the imaging will be just right. Look at something by KRK Systems or Adam, 5 or 6in should do..

Well as I said in my first post I want to build my music server to be more like an appliance than a PC. I would not be impressed if I had to wait 2mins or more for my DVD player / TV to boot up so the same goes for my music server. Part of my project is to hide the fact that my music player is a PC. I want to just turn it on and control it via remote so it just works. Of course it is a PC inside and you will never get away from that completely but I am still debating what OS and build to use on my player and boot time will be a factor in my choice. That is why I started this thread. Looks like you can get some pretty impressive boot times with Win7 if you set it up right. I would like to compare how long a Linux build takes to boot from cold to being able to play music. That will help me weigh up the choice of win7 or Linux for my build (along with other factors such as cost and flexibility)..

Thats pretty reasonable.. Do you use the sleep function at all or fresh boot each time? Anyone with any Linux figures?

Hi all, Im trying to build a music server that acts as much as possible like an appliance rather than a computer. One annoyance with a computer based server is the boot time. What boot times are you all achieving and what build is your server running? Would like to know the boot times from both full cold start and from sleep start. Truthful now, From pressing the power button to the unit being online and ready for remote control

Also by the the way, there are lots of upsampling options on Jriver..

Hey buddy, there is one very important thing that people haven't mentioned to you regarding PC sound quality, the drivers. To get the very best quality you need a sound card that supports ASIO drivers (maybe your sound card already does?). ASIO creates a direct link between your sound application and the computer sound card. It bypasses the Windows sound mixer and delivers the sound bit perfect to your sound output. The small downsides to ASIO are that you can no longer control the volume from your PC and also you can only hear sound from one application at a time. This is because the Windows mixer is bypassed. iTunes for PC doesnt support Asio. JRiver Media Center does (its very good, I have it) Also Foobar supports Asio if you download the plugin (also very good). Most studio sound cards (M-Audio, ESI) come with Asio drivers. Also the Asus Xonar range of cards also support Asio and are very good. that will get you the absolute best sound quality from a PC setup. Oh yes you can also try the ASIO4ALL drivers. This is a universal driver designed to work with any sound card. Its free so you can give it a try and see if it works with your setup. ASIO4ALL - Universal ASIO Driver But if you want good sound I would by a new card that comes with its own Asio drivers. If you are using the onboard sound of the PC its never going to be as good as the cards listed above. Get one, they are not that expensive and you will be pleased with the results. hope this helps! I was just passing through this forum and thought I would reply when I saw this topic