Old Listener

If the Lyngfdorf DAC module is decently implemented, the NUC should be just fine feeding the Lyngdorf. I'd suggest that you get the NUC working with the included power supply before you think about audiophile upgrades. If you want to play with audiophile upgrades later, you can. If you are just playing music in one room, you really don't need a network device like the ultraRendu. It adds complexity and problems. uPnP/DLNA is a pretty sloppy standard. Get the NUC based system working and listen to it rather than to your friend.

A couple of practical comments before you set up your NUC and install Windows 10. 1. I've used a Skylake i% NUC for about 17 months for both general use and audio. It has a 1TB m.2 SSD. The regular Win 10 updates are an annoyance but not fatal. However, My i5 based laptop with a 1 TB hard drive was completely unusable for hours while an update was going on. During a major update, the laptop was unusable for 1 1/2 days (and the update failed.) 2.5" laptop drives are a lot slower than 3.5" drives that fit in regular desktop PCs. I replaced the HD in the laptop with a 2.5" 1 TB SATA SSD and updates are no longer a crippling problem. I'd suggest that you consider one of these alternatives: -- Buy a 256 GB m.2 SSD and install that in addition to the 1TB SATA HD. Install Win 10 on that SSD. Your music can live on the HD. - Return the 1 TB HD and get a 1 TB SSD instead. Install Win 10 on that SSD. - Disable the process or task that looks for and installs Windows 10 updates. This is not a good idea for a general purpose PC but it may be fine if you do not browse the web or run software other than a trusted music player program and if you have a robust WiFi router between this PC and your internet connection. I had dedicated MusicPCs running XP and then Win 7 with updates disabled for 8-9 years without any malware problems. 2. Intel i3 NUCs have a small fan. The BIOS has settings for the duty cycle of the fan and the thresholds at which the fan speed is increased. You may want to experiment with those settings to keep it quiet under your conditions.

I got interested in good sound around 1966 and started writing computer software for my research in 1967. I earned a living writing computer software: mostly device drivers, real time kernels and kernel level software and data communications software. Listening to good music (mostly classical, early jazz and Broadway shows) remains the key thing for me. I don't change amps and speakers very often; not much to get excited about there. I ripped my CD collection and transferred LP content over 11 years ago. The computer side still gets more of my attention than the post-DAC side. However, I expect to replace the amps and speakers in my main system soon.

Lili Kraus made two sets of Mozart piano sonata recordings. The earlier one in mono is on M&A label. The later set on Sony is stereo and in good modern sound. The Sony set is my long time favorite. Kraus plays with energy coupled with a natural sense for Mozart. My second choice would be the set on Vox by Walter Klien. Recorded sound is not a problem and the performances are just fine. The problem with Kraus concerto recordings is that many were made with less than the best orchestras and recorded less well than the best contemporary recordings. That is true of the Vox recordings. There is a complete set made with Stephen Simon conducting the Vienna Festival Orchestra. Kraus's playing is fine, sound is OK stereo but the conductor and the orchestra are a letdown.

Beethoven, Piano Sonatas - John O'Conor Mozart, Symphony No. 25,28,29 - Mackerras/Prague Chamber Orchestra Symphony No. 38 but not Sym. 31,33,34 which were recorded with far too much echo and hall sound

Here's a gallery of screenshots and text to show how to build a view for classical music. constructing a JRiver view for classical music. I use the genre tag to distinguish classical music from other types of music.

Both composer and performer(s) are important in browsing classical music. Most players don't let you browse using those attributes separately. JRiver lets you use whatever tags you want in views you define. Here is a screenshot from several years ago of JRiver view that I use for classical music. I researched alternatives 11+ years ago and picked JRiver. I have never found anything else that is close for browsing classical music.

I went through several Creations before settling on the Fruhbeck de Burgos / Philharmonia Orchestra recording. Haydn: Die Schöpfung (The Creation) / Donath, Tear, van Dam

Fighting forest fires is physically hard work in difficult terrain. Temperatures are brutal and the working hours are long. There is always a risk of severe injury or death. The people who do that work and those who manage the firefighting organizations have my respect. A map of current wildfires in the northwest. http://www.oregon.gov/ODF/Fire/pages/FireStats.aspx and one for California http://www.fire.ca.gov/general/firemaps and one for British Columbia. http://globalnews.ca/news/3585284/b-c-wildfires-map-2017-current-location-of-wildfires-around-the-province/ The federal government, states. and counties devote a lot of resources to fighting wildfires. This season is stretching them all thin.

A few disclaimers. While I do have a JRiver Id (packaged Linux and MC), I use it in the headless mode. My advice is based on using MC on Windows with names in English. I have mostly classical music and other genres for which the composer and performers are both important. I do not use Album views and never use the Album Artist tag. I had to work carefully through using it on compilation albums. Kroupa, Ted_b's suggestion is almost right. You need to place a value like "Various artists" or "Multiple artists" in the Album Artist tag rather than the Album Artist (Auto) tag. This article in the JRiver Wiki might make things clearer. https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Album_Artist_and_Album_Artist_(Auto) Adding a value to the Album Artist tag of compilation albums need not be too much work. Your second screenshot shows a album cover repeated a number of times. You could click on the first occurrence and then shift-click on the last occurrence. If the tag editing area isn't visible, click on "Tag" in the Edit menu at the top of the MC window to make it visible. Find the Album Artist line and enter a value and press return. Now scroll down in the list and find the next Album that is repeated and select all those occurrences and enter an Album Artist value. Keep going until you have found and fixed all the compilation albums. You may have to move to a different view and come back to the Album view before you see a change. There is a quick and dirty way to get a view that displays Albums without relying on the Album Artist tag. 1. Right-click on "audio" at the top of the list of audio-oriented views. Choose "Add library view" 2. In the window that appears, choose Panes (text only list) or Categories (Album thumbnails with text underneath) in the "View as" field. Give the view a name that will be meaningful to you. 3. Click on the "Add" button below and to the right of the "Show Categories in this order" text. In the windows that appears, click on "Expression" in the list under "Type". Under "Expression to Group by", click on the down arrow head symbol and choose Album from the list of fields. Click on the OK button to return to the previous window. [Album] should appear under "Show categories...". Click OK to exit from this window. See attached file You should see a single item for each compilation album even if the Album Artist tag is empty. For the record, the problem with compilation albums dates back 20 years to an inadequate definition of ID3 tags. It is pretty simple to deal with it in JRiver. The question comes up frequently in the JRiver forum and usually gets resolved quickly.

I do not know Kroupa or you or Fitzcaraldo215. I read what each of you post and go from those words. Just before I posted, I actually created a new view as I stated. I was not just voicing an opinion; I was stating my actual experience. " How about being friendly and asking someone to double check rather than telling them they aren't that smart. " After Fitzcaraldo215 stated that JRiver could sort by album alone, Kroupa continued to assert that JRiver could not sort by album. Miscommunication? Kroupa would be correct in saying "I don't know how to sort by Album name without Artist name". That is quite different from saying that JRiver does not support sorting by Album name alone. Kroupa may have meant something else entirely. Fitzcaraldo215 and I have pointed out that his oeiginal statement is not correct. It is up to Kroupa to state what he actually means.

I consider it to be confrontational for someone to blame his own ignorance on someone else or something else. Software like JRiver or Roon or iTunes required many man hours to make it useful to many users. Newcomers who have spent a few man-seconds before complaining should show a little respect for the efforts of those who brought real knowledge and real effort into developing something useful. For the record, I'm not a JRiver employee or an employee of any other company.

It took me about 10 seconds to create a view that lists albums by name in alphabetical order. (Not by artist and album name.) Less time than you have spent complaining. I've never used an online tag database that always provides tag values exactly as I want them. If you don't like the way JRiver tags a compilation album, you can edit the tag values. I check the values JRiver suggests before I start ripping a CD. When I import downloaded music files, I check the tag values in those files and make any changes that I feel necessary.

My favorite works in that period are 45, 39 (a nervous, unsettled minor key work like 45) and 48 (a manic C major work.) The Derek Solomons/L'Estro Armonico performances of these and other works in this period. A few works are on Sony CDs and the rest are available as transfers from LPs from Haydn House I think. My other favorite performances are by David Blum/Esterhazy Orchestra. These were on Vanguard CDs. MP3 versions in in two Vox Haydn and Haydn Symphonies Big Boxes for $ 0.99 from Amazon for a huge amount of music. Other people have made good recordings of Haydn 'Sturm und Drang' works too. There is a lot of first rate Haydn beyond the London, Paris and 'Sturm und Drang' symphonies. How about 88-92 for a start?

Other than 103/104, they sound undernourished. I have the Tafelmusik CDs and like them. Good sound, crisp performances. (HIP) An enjoyable set. My favorite for the Paris Symphonies as a set is Bruggen. However, a different performance on a single CD with 88 is my favorite for that work. Bernstein/NYPO is still one of my favorites for 82.