Eldar Vanyar

Hi everyone, I am a newbie to this forum. I would appreciate some advice I am looking to set up my system for serious listening pleasure and will be using either of the following Cambridge Audio DAC Magic connected via USB to a Raspberry Pi2B with Rune Audio SW using a WD 3TB MyCloud NAS with FLAC and WAVE Files. or Cambridge Audio DAC Magic connected via USB to a 1TB VoretexBox v2.3 I built a few years ago with FLAC Files. I know that the Rune Audio SW on the PI would also be able to use the VortexBox as a source over the network. What difference does the USB A to B lead make? Do I just use a standard USB A to B printer cable or do I need to use something more audio related? I do not want to spend too much on the cable so would appreciate any helpful or constructive advice and recommendations? Many thanks

I spent a lot of time on trying to get both AP Linux and Daphile to work but just couldn't get them to install which I think is possibly down to the Intel motherboard. I ended up going with VB2.3 which installed first time. Thanks for all your suggestions

Thanks for the comprehensive instructions I will give it a go ?

Hi, If I understand correctly a renderer streams the data from a HD and outputs it into a DAC (or in this case TV as well) Has anyone tried an MXQ box which is a single board and links very similar to an Odroid C1+ in relation to specs of processor etc to me. It would cost at least £50 to build the Odroid C1+ whereas the MXQ box can be bought for about £25 on eBay. So it's all assembled in a nice small box with external psu. It comes with Android OS but could probably be overwritten etc. I think it has an 8gb Emmc Do you think something like Rune Audio would work on this? I think it my be worth a punt for something like this. Has anyone used one or similar to this? The specs are below Hardware Specifications Chipset Amlogic S805 Quad-Core [email protected] GPU Quad-Core Mali-450@600MHz+ FLASH 8GB NAND FLASH SDRAM 1GB DDR3 Power Supply Specifications Power Supply DC 5V/2A Power Indicator (LED) Power ON :blue; Standby :Red Main Features OS Android 4.4 3D Hardward 3D graphics acceleration Support Decoder format HD MPEG1/2/4,H.265, HD AVC/VC-1,RM/RMVB, Xvid/DivX3/4/5/6 ,RealVideo8/9/10 Support Media format Avi/Rm/Rmvb/Ts/Vob/Mkv/Mov/ISO/wmv/asf/flv/ dat/mpg/mpeg Support Music format MP3/WMA/AAC/WAV/OGG/AC3/DDP/TrueHD/DTS /DTS/HD/FLAC/APE Support Photo format HD JPEG/BMP/GIF/PNG/TIFF USB host 4 High speed USB 2.0,support U DISK and USB HDD Card reader SD/SDHC/MMC cards HDD file system FAT16/FAT32/NTFS Support Subtitle SRT/SMI/SUB/SSA/IDX+USB High Definition video output SD/HD max.1920x1080 pixel OSD type of languages English/French/German/Spanish/Italian/ etc multilateral languages LAN Ethernet:10/100M, standard RJ-45 Wireless Built in WiFi Mouse/ Keyboard Support mouse and keyboard via USB; Support 2.4GHz wireless mouse and keyboard via 2.4GHz USB dongle HDMI HDMI 1.4b with CEC AV Support 3G Support SPDIF/IEC958 Coaxial Software Specifications Network Function Skype chatting, Picasa, Youtube, Flicker, Facebook, Online movies, etc Other feature Free Internet searching, thousands of android applications , many kinds of games, etc. CPU AmLogic S805 Quad-core @ 1.5Ghz GPU Quad-Core Mali-450 @ 600MHz OS Android 4.4 Memory 1GB DDR3 Ram, 8GB built in (Some reserved by Android OS) Extendable up to 32GB via SD card and 3TB via USB Hard-Drive Connectivity AV Out, HDMI with CEC, 4 x USB, WiFi, RJ45 Ethernet. Video Output 1920x1080P @60Hz Full HD Input Infra-red Remote (Supplied), compatible with optional USB keyboard & Mouse, Keyboard & Mouse Video MKV,AVI,WMV,RMVB,TS,TP,M2TS,H.264 / H.263, RM, MPEG, VOB,MOV,FLV, MP4, 3GP, etc Power 100-230Volt (UK Charger Supplied) TV Box size 12(w) x 12(d) x 2.5(h) cm Thanks

Hi a.dent, Do you know which Linux distribution Daphile has been built on and the support? I have been on the website and it is very basic. I'm very keen to give it a go as I am struggling to install AP Linux. There is no md5 for the latest version and it's hard to tell if there is something wrong with the package I have downloaded. When I upgraded my Vortexbox last year from VB2.2 to VB2.3 I had a nightmare and it took me 3 days to find a solution. It's built on fedora and they often have problems with their mirrors etc. I also had to set the DNS to googles rather than the BT ones I was on. The forum as helpful but it was a huge task in the end. It's one way to learn by doing it I suppose. Thanks

Hi iago, Thanks for such a helpful reply. I shall check out Voyage MPD. ?

Hi guys, I would welcome your advice on the best or suitable OS to use. I want to play music via an older PC through a pa using a tablet or phone to control it. I will use the sound output from the PC into the mixing desk. It will not be attached to a monitor or TV. Its only purpose is to play music. I am aware it will not be audiophile quality and it doesn't need to be. It will not be connected to the internet and I will need to communicate with it via wifi with either an Apple iPad Mini Retina or my HTC One M8 Android phone. I bought a second hand PC of EBay and have used a 2.5" Sata HD from my old Dell Laptop which is over 300gb and plenty for what I need for now. I will probably use FLAC files that I have on my Vortex Box 2.3 at home from my CD Collection. I will transfer files to the HD via USB once the OS is all set up. The Specs are: Mini ITX Case: Antec ISK-100 mini-ITX PC Motherboard: Intel D945GCLF2D 4 x USB 2.0 - HDA/AC’97-compatible audio in/out • Motherboard compatibility: Mini-ITX only • Includes 90 watt internal adapter - Energy Star Level 5 qualified - 80 watt DC-to-ATX PCB mounted directly inside case – up to 92% efficient http://ark.intel.com/products/42492/Intel-Desktop-Board-D945GCLF2D CPU: Intel® Atom™ Processor 330 (1M Cache, 1.60 GHz, 533 MHz FSB) 64Bit Dual Processor http://ark.intel.com/products/35641/Intel-Atom-Processor-330-1M-Cache-1_60-GHz-533-MHz-FSB 2GB RAM HD - Hitachi 2.5" Sata (taken from my old laptop) I am used to Vortexbox which is headless and I could use again. It comes with Logitech Media Server, and can be enabled with Minim server. I do like to try other things and wondered what people would recommend. The only other OS I can think of is Audiophile Linux which is built on Arch Linux Audiophile Linux features: System and memory optimized for quality audio Custom Real-Time kernel Latency under 5ms DSD support Lightweight window manager Pre installed audio and video programs Lightweight OS, free of unnecessary daemons and services "AP-Linux distribution is based on Arch Linux with highly configurable and low resource demanding X window manager called Fluxbox" About Audiophile Linux | AudioPhile Linux I have looked at the Rune Audio Website but from what I can see it is for embedded devices. If you can recommend any apps on android and iOS I would be grateful as well. Thanks for your time.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Both the Voretexbox and NUC are too noisy with their fans, which is why I was thinking of building something small and silent that would negate the need for streaming over a network connection. I would be able to control it via wifi or Ethernet but have the music connected straight to the DAC into my hifi. Or am I mistaken in taking out the streaming element. Thanks again

Hi everyone, I am a newbie on the forum. I don't know if this is the right subforum for my question but here goes [emoji1] In the past I have built a Vortex Box as a music server, and also an XBMC / KODI box with an Intel NUC. With the drop in price of SSD drives I am thinking of bypassing the streaming side of things with a 240gb SSD. I am thinking of building a silent server / player (I need to learn all the terms) using a Odroid C1+ which is fanless or similar, and using the SSD connected via USB as storage. The other option is to use an Android Box which is preassembled for KODI, with a quad core processor etc for about £35. I would think that it is more than capable of just playing FLAC files and it should be able to be reprogrammed with another OS. I can then connect straight into a DAC, I have various ones. It seems to me it would cut out the streaming challange via WiFi or Ethernet, and be small and silent. What SSDs would people recommend in the 240gb size and any other recommendations as to an Odroid C1+ or Android box etc? Thanks Lee