MarcB83

I've never tried them, but I took note of the Gigabyte Brix series of ultra-compact PC. They even come equipped with a S/PDIF output, which can be an alternative to USB - but not sure which is superior. GIGABYTE BRIX Ultra Compact PC Kit Good luck! Marc

Dear Narukama, As far as I know, a linear PSU is only applicable to the SOtM USB card. I was told that a linear PS is not meant to drive a computer which needs a switching PSU. In your case, assuming that indeed your DAC supplies its own power to the incoming USB signal, it appears to be a moot point. in other words, the PSU source of the PC should be irrelevant or at the very least very little significative. Regarding your second main point, my understanding is that despite the fact your portable PC gets its power from a battery, it still runs in the equivalent a switching PSU. It should make no difference whether your portable is on AC or only on battery audio-wise. My personal opinion is that shutting down everything but the bare minimum on the music player, CAPS or otherwise, shutting down all background running apps in Windows 8, not having any expansion cards, no fan, nothing mechanical such as the motors of HDD, will considerably quiet the electrical activity and any form pollution that would otherwise have come from an overactive PSU. Marc

Dear Narukama, With your DAC, you appear to have one issue resolved and do not require the SOtM USB card. But there are other benefits to the various CAPS design: - No moving parts - Fanless and complete silence - External brick power supply of the lowest power possible - SSD for the OS and JRiver - Minimalist design for the cleanest operation. Control your CAPS with something like TeamViewer (which I use and recommend), do not do anything else with that device than running JRiver (make sure it is configured to start automatically when Windows powers up), use JRemote on an iPad, and you'll be very satisfied. Marc

Hi Bill, I am still on the fence about forging ahead due in part to the cost of the software. A few questions: - Did you have an especially challenging room or setup where correction was almost a must? - Is your gear very high-end? - Would you the say the benefits are pretty much universal, i.e. regardless of music genre, volume level, etc.? - In very few words, can you please describe the main benefits you've gain. Thanks, Marc

You definitely need to have 32-bits drivers on a 32-bits system. They do not mix at all! But I've seen install files that had both 32 and 64 bits version within the install program, and the program was smart enough to figure out which Windows version it needed to install. But if on the download site, it explicit say it is a 64-bit program, then it is.

I just tried it and their server seems to be down. But here's the link I used and that worked last tine I used it (±2 weeks ago). http://www.sotm-audio.com/sotmwp/english/portfolio-item/tx-usbexp/

Your DAC might be USB 2.0, but the connectors on the SOtM card are USB 3.0. Not sure it will resolve everything but I would play it safe in installing them.

BTW, I presume you did install the USB 3.0 drivers for the SOtM card? Otherwise, you can get them from SOtM web site.

I use and love TeamViewer but have not really used it with an iPad. Marc

I also have that ASUS card on my office PC. Have you tried for testing purposes, to output from the analog outs of the ASUS card, bypassing the 300D, and feeding the i7 directly. This would give you a baseline to start with and rule out certain other aspects. I also presume you know from other digital sources that the 300D functions properly? A couple other places to look into: If you go in the Sound piece of the Control Panel, what is checked as default is the S/PDIF Pass-through Device? If you go in the Properties of the S/PDIF pass-through Device, in supported formats, insure that the sample rates are properly checked; then on the Advanced tab, pick at least 2 ch, 24b, 96000Hz. In the JRiver menu, Tools/Options, with the Audio item selected in the left column, in the first item, insure that you've selected the S/PDIF... Otherwise, I'm at lost as to what's wrong as it appears the bits are reaching the DAC. Marc

The whole point of the suggested motherboard is that is fanless and operates with an external also silent power supply. I can confirm that it is plenty powerful to operate as a dedicated music server. Therefore, why use anything more powerful? A product that piqued my curiosity and that came out since the original Zuma & Co. builts, is the Gigabyte Brix series, which features a S/PDIF port. I have not tested it but it would seem to me that S/PDIF should be superior to USB to feed an external DAC since there is no power passed on with the data.

As long as you have a sufficiently capable power supply of quality, no it does not matter. The Sotm card, which I've purchased and used, is meant to filter/clean potential electrical noise from the USB connection to the DAC. It does that to begin with, but it can be further enhanced by having an external power supply (ideally a linear power supply) to replace the power that travels in the USB connection from the PC to a clean external source. I've also tried that with an external linear power supply but failed to notice any improvement. It might have to do with the cleanliness of your power provider, age of the building you live in, etc. But when you run a dedicated music server where nothinh else than JRiver runs on it, you've already minimized the problem. Good luck. Marc

Sounds prudent to return. At my end, everything on this site is A-OK with a speedy response time - and it has always been like that over time.

There is always the possibility that the board or one of the memory sticks is DOA... To reach POST, HD, Win and JRiver are all irrelevant; unless you are recycling the Motherboard from the previous build, and the BIOS of the board was set not to show its splash screen in booting, which would make it very difficult to go into the BIOS. I see two possibilities: try a different memory stick, or if you use 2 sticks, try only one at the time; disconnect the SATA cable to the HD prior to booting to neutralize the impact of the old build which obviously has all the wrong drivers and settings forthe new hardware.

The short answer is yes, to set it up, you will need temporarily a monitor and keyboard/mouse. Not familiar with the usability of a MAC monitor and keyboard on a PC? I suspect that the monitor is usable but not the keyboard/mouse. Afterwards, you can control remotely your Music Server (including logon, restart, shutdown, transfer files, etc.) from either a Mac or PC. I am a huge fan of TeamViewer which works great and is completely free. Obviously, it only works with a network connection on both the Music Server and the device used to control it - but you do not need to be on the same network.