Linux for Audiophiles

[juliocat]

anyone tried this?

 

AudioPhile Linux Distribution | Audio Perfection on Linux

[Paul R]

I just read through the docs - the screens look nice, but it doesn't seem particularly impressive to me. At least, not enough to convince me to load it and try it out. Didn't seen much mention of things that are rather important to me, like automatically switching sample rate and bit depth.

 

Have you looked at Vortexbox? If you have, how do you this compares to Vortexbox?

 

-Paul

 

 

anyone tried this?

 

AudioPhile Linux Distribution | Audio Perfection on Linux

[One and a half]

Never mind Linux, it's best used in embedded systems.

[AudioDoctor]

Hmmm, I can't seem to find out if it is using Pulse Audio or MPD. Considering it is using Audacious and Deadbeef, I want to err on the side of Pulse Audio which is, IMO, not the best player for Linux and audio.

 

edit: Pulse and Jack. NOT MPD.

[juliocat]

I install this in an old laptop Centrino duo 2 GB ram, and to my ears is excellent!!!!!!!!!

 

Better than anything a have hear from a computer, better than any mac or pc with whatever software, and i have tried alot.

Check it and test with your own ears.

[Kilauea50]

I have a linux machine I use to play around with. I will check it out

[juliocat]

I have a linux machine I use to play around with. I will check it out

 

You'll like it, i'm really impressed with the sound quality of this is really great!!!, i install vortexbox but AP Linux is miles from it.

[Kilauea50]

You'll like it, i'm really impressed with the sound quality of this is really great!!!, i install vortexbox but AP Linux is miles from it.

 

 

How is the graphics driver handled in AP? I usually install via command line but thought I'd ask. I am downloading now and it looks like it may take a while

[juliocat]

How is the graphics driver handled in AP?

 

There is some info in the FAQ

FAQ | AudioPhile Linux Distribution

 

I really don´t test videos but i tried some DVD ISO and some movies in mkv and play without problems

[Krisbee]

I'm sorry to say I don't think much of AP-Linux. It looks like someone's “remastersy” re-spin of Linux Mint. Perhaps those who have installed it can tell us if it has it's own repository. What sources does it use? ( i.e what's in /etc/apt/tsources.d )

 

As I've already said in this other thread http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f10-music-servers/audiophile-linux-1-0-2-distro-14617/, the idea that you need a fully pre-emptive real time kernel and jackd for best quality audio playback in Linux is mistaken. Hence I believe AP-Liunx is based on a false premise. It is also self-contradictory, as if, as claimed, optimising Linux for best audio playback quality means reducing running processes and memory footprint, why run any kind of graphical environment at all? Just follow the VoyageMPD route, or bake your own. IME standard Linux distros are easily capable of high quality audio playback with the correct configuration and without the need for the extensive “optimisation”AP-Linux talks of.

 

 

Didn't seen much mention of things that are rather important to me, like automatically switching sample rate and bit depth.

 

You don't have to do anything special to achieve this in Linux. Avoid, or correctly configure “Pulseaudio” if it is installed not to work at a fixed sample rate like 4800Hz. Don't use any ALSA dmix, there should normally be no need for a user .asoundrc file, and follow these guidelines for “bit-perfect” audio:

 

Bit Perfect Audio from Linux

 

Hmmm, I can't seem to find out if it is using Pulse Audio or MPD. Considering it is using Audacious and Deadbeef, I want to err on the side of Pulse Audio which is, IMO, not the best player for Linux and audio.

.

 

 

FYI, “pulseaudio” is Not an audio player. See here :

 

PulseAudio - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

 

I install this in an old laptop Centrino duo 2 GB ram, and to my ears is excellent!!!!!!!!!

 

Better than anything a have hear from a computer, better than any mac or pc with whatever software, and i have tried alot.

Check it and test with your own ears.

 

Juliocat, I'm glad you've found your audio nirvana, but that's quite a claim. I'd be interested to know just what other Linux distros you've used and with what player software and how you've configured them. Have you, for example, used any of the following, none of which come with “pulseaudio”installed and all of which have tweaked kernels?

 

Xubuntu

Lubuntu

Siduction Linux ( XFCE or LXDE)

PC-LinuxOS

[Sik_Lescinovid]

I highly doubt that this sounds like anything special. Considering that Lubuntu ships with ALSA by default (which means no accidental processing of the audio) and is less than half the size of Audiophile Linux and more lightweight (LXDE is definitely more lightweight than XFCE) it definitely seems like the better choice. To be honest, this looks like a fairly weak attempt of some computer expert wannabe as well as audiophile wannabe at making themselves feel important. I know this sounds harsh, but give me a break, the ISO is 1.5 GB in size! How on earth is that supposed to be "optimized"?! If you need a desktop distro that's great for audio use Lubuntu, if you need a distro that performs well on minimal/embedded hardware use Voyage MPD or Vortexbox. Audio wise they probably all perform the same anyway.

 

p.s.: I just noticed, it's not so much an attempt at making themselves feel important as it is an attempt at making a few quick bucks with ads (hadn't noticed them before).

[Jud]

I'd be interested to know just what other Linux distros you've used and with what player software and how you've configured them. Have you, for example, used any of the following, none of which come with “pulseaudio”installed and all of which have tweaked kernels?

 

Xubuntu

Lubuntu

Siduction Linux ( XFCE or LXDE)

PC-LinuxOS

 

Curious, Chris (or anyone) - What kernel tweaks does Lubuntu have?

[Krisbee]

Curious, Chris (or anyone) - What kernel tweaks does Lubuntu have?

 

Lubuntu offers a so-called "low-latency" kernel which is compiled with more aggresive settings of scheduler preemption; interrupt timer frequency and high resolution timer than the standard lubuntu kernels. Do a

 

egrep -i "PREEMPT|HZ|HIGH_RES" on the kernel's /boot/config-xxxx file and compare this to a standard Lubunut kernel.

 

Some of the patches first applied to early RT kernels are have been part of many distros' mainstream kernels for some time now, allowing you to use things like the threadirq boot option and rtirq-init. Not, that these are necessary for audio playback.

[Jud]

Chris, thanks, I was aware of the other kernel options. I was just confused by the wording "have tweaked kernels" - I thought this meant the default kernels had changes done, rather than what you were actually saying, which is that these distros have tweaked kernels available​.

[mlerota]

I highly doubt that this sounds like anything special. Considering that Lubuntu ships with ALSA by default (which means no accidental processing of the audio) and is less than half the size of Audiophile Linux and more lightweight (LXDE is definitely more lightweight than XFCE) it definitely seems like the better choice. To be honest, this looks like a fairly weak attempt of some computer expert wannabe as well as audiophile wannabe at making themselves feel important. I know this sounds harsh, but give me a break, the ISO is 1.5 GB in size! How on earth is that supposed to be "optimized"?! If you need a desktop distro that's great for audio use Lubuntu, if you need a distro that performs well on minimal/embedded hardware use Voyage MPD or Vortexbox. Audio wise they probably all perform the same anyway.

 

p.s.: I just noticed, it's not so much an attempt at making themselves feel important as it is an attempt at making a few quick bucks with ads (hadn't noticed them before).

 

Hello. I am the author of AP-Linux. Let me reply to you.

 

1. About lightweight

 

You can have 4.3GB of iso file and distribution can still be lightweight. The speed and the "lightweight" depends on what window manager or desktop environment you use. You can have Gnome and KDE installed and use WindowMaker window manager and still be "lighter" than LXDE. If you read About page, you will see that we don't use XFCE. We use Fluxbox that is much smoother than any other desktop environment including LXDE. XFCE is only there for users that are not Linux gurus. And 99% of audiophiles are not. In XFCE they can change something when they don't listen to music.

 

2. weak attempt of some computer expert wannabe as well as audiophile wannabe at making themselves feel important

 

I am not a computer expert wannabe. I am a *BSD/Linux system administrator for more than 13 years. And I think that I know about Linux/Unix more than you all here. :-) And how do you define "real" audiophile :-)

 

3. much an attempt at making themselves feel important as it is an attempt at making a few quick bucks with ads

 

Where did you see ads on the web page? There aren't any. And if they are, what's wrong with earning money?

 

To reply to you all:

 

I created this distribution with my audiophile friend because I saw how you all struggle with Linux. I had spare time so I said what the heck. The majority of audiophiles are ordinary people like doctors, lawyers and such...They don't know how to compile kernel and they don't want to learn it either. Compiling the kernel for them is like brain surgery for you. And you are not all brain surgeons. Most of them just want to plug their DACs and play music. That's it. They don't wan't to learn how to configure ALSA or such things. This distribution is made for them. And before you say that something sounds awful, try to play it first. Please...

 

Marko Lerota

[juliocat]

Hello. I am the author of AP-Linux. Let me reply to you.

And before you say that something sounds awful, try to play it first. Please...

 

Marko Lerota

 

This is the point, and this is exactly what i have done, yesterday i install vortexvox and AP Linux is much better, i have a mac and a pc too, i have tried everything, check my sign i don't have esotheric equipment but is good.

 

Audirvana+

Pure Music

Amarra

 

Jplay

Jriver

XXHighEnd

Foobar

 

Vortexvox

 

I'm no OS or program fanatic i just use my ears.

[Krisbee]

Jud,,

 

The default kernels of aptosid and siduction linux, which I use, certainly have patched pre-emptive kernels.

[Krisbee]

This is the point, and this is exactly what i have done, yesterday i install vortexvox and AP Linux is much better, i have a mac and a pc too, i have tried everything, check my sign i don't have esotheric equipment but is good.

 

Audirvana+

Pure Music

Amarra

 

Jplay

Jriver

XXHighEnd

Foobar

 

Vortexvox

 

I'm no OS or program fanatic i just use my ears.

 

I'm sorry, but you have NOT tried "everything". Your only comparison in the Linux world is vortexbox, which we have no idea if you've congifured it correctly for bit-perfect playback etc. versus AP-Linux. I'm sorry, but that dosen't count in my book. The only thing I'm glad to hear about is that Linux beats Windows to your ears.

[juliocat]

Juliocat, I'm glad you've found your audio nirvana, but that's quite a claim. I'd be interested to know just what other Linux distros you've used and with what player software and how you've configured them. Have you, for example, used any of the following, none of which come with “pulseaudio”installed and all of which have tweaked kernels?

 

Xubuntu

Lubuntu

Siduction Linux ( XFCE or LXDE)

PC-LinuxOS

 

Hello Krisbee

 

I disable Pulse audio in AP Linux so is not there.

 

As i already say i'm no OS or program fanatic i just follow my ears and read all i can so, thanks for the info about more Linux distros, i'll check it.

 

This is for fun, we all have girlfriends, wives and bosses for fight.

[juliocat]

I'm sorry, but you have NOT tried "everything". Your only comparison in the Linux world is vortexbox, which we have no idea if you've congifured it correctly for bit-perfect playback etc. versus AP-Linux. I'm sorry, but that dosen't count in my book. The only thing I'm glad to hear about is that Linux beats Windows to your ears.

 

I check vortexvox for bitperfect with a HDCD encoded disc, so i think is OK

[Krisbee]

Hi Marko,

 

I am not a computer expert wannabe. I am a *BSD/Linux system administrator for more than 13 years. And I think that I know about Linux/Unix more than you all here. :-) And how do you define "real" audiophile :-)

 

This statement, apart from sounding very arrogant, is making yourself a hostage to fortune as you have no idea what the collective Linux experience is of people on this forum.

 

I created this distribution with my audiophile friend because I saw how you all struggle with Linux. I had spare time so I said what the heck. The majority of audiophiles are ordinary people like doctors, lawyers and such...They don't know how to compile kernel and they don't want to learn it either. Compiling the kernel for them is like brain surgery for you. And you are not all brain surgeons. Most of them just want to plug their DACs and play music. That's it. They don't wan't to learn how to configure ALSA or such things. This distribution is made for them. And before you say that something sounds awful, try to play it first. Please...

 

Marko Lerota

 

I'm no Linux guru, but let me ask you a few questions directly. Can you really call AP-Linux a distribution, or is it simply a "remastersys" re-spin of Linux Mint? Do you have your own repositories (URLs please)? Will you be offering long term support of any software you have created, patched or compiled etc.? Will you be offering any necessary security updates of your RT kernel? Will you offer kernels for 3.7 amd 3.8 etc? Why choose Linux Mint as a base, when you need to get rid of "pulse audio".

 

If people don't want to learn a few basics in order get the best sound out their standard Linux distro then that's a shame. For example, exactly what ALSA configuration does the typical Linux distro need which is so difficult? To suggest you need a fully pre-emptive real time kernel and jackd to get the "best" sound out of Linux is grossly misleading and is hardly likely to win any converts to the use of Linux for audio. May be you should have a chat with Linux developer "phofman" who will convince you that this stuff about RT kernels etc. is unneceassry for audio playback.

[juliocat]

Hello. I am the author of AP-Linux. Let me reply to you.

 

 

Welcome!!!!!!!!!

 

I'm glad to meet you, thanks for you effort and work to produce AP Linux for free, as i already say is the best sounding software i have found (i'm not telling is the best in the world) is my personal opinion but counts, i hope someone else can tried and tell us what do they think.

[Krisbee]

I check vortexvox for bitperfect with a HDCD encoded disc, so i think is OK

 

Good, but really, do me a favour, just install something like Lubuntu. Update it with the "low-latency" kernel and install something like deadbeef and configure it for bit-perfect playback as shown here:

 

Bit Perfect Audio from Linux

[juliocat]

Good, but really, do me a favour, just install something like Lubuntu. Update it with the "low-latency" kernel and install something like deadbeef and configure it for bit-perfect playback as shown here:

 

Bit Perfect Audio from Linux

 

Downloading from lubuntu | simplify your computer

 

 

Can you please tell how to Update lubuntu with a Low-latency kernel please

[Jud]

Hello. I am the author of AP-Linux. Let me reply to you.

 

1. About lightweight

 

You can have 4.3GB of iso file and distribution can still be lightweight. The speed and the "lightweight" depends on what window manager or desktop environment you use. You can have Gnome and KDE installed and use WindowMaker window manager and still be "lighter" than LXDE. If you read About page, you will see that we don't use XFCE. We use Fluxbox that is much smoother than any other desktop environment including LXDE. XFCE is only there for users that are not Linux gurus. And 99% of audiophiles are not. In XFCE they can change something when they don't listen to music.

 

2. weak attempt of some computer expert wannabe as well as audiophile wannabe at making themselves feel important

 

I am not a computer expert wannabe. I am a *BSD/Linux system administrator for more than 13 years. And I think that I know about Linux/Unix more than you all here. :-) And how do you define "real" audiophile :-)

 

3. much an attempt at making themselves feel important as it is an attempt at making a few quick bucks with ads

 

Where did you see ads on the web page? There aren't any. And if they are, what's wrong with earning money?

 

To reply to you all:

 

I created this distribution with my audiophile friend because I saw how you all struggle with Linux. I had spare time so I said what the heck. The majority of audiophiles are ordinary people like doctors, lawyers and such...They don't know how to compile kernel and they don't want to learn it either. Compiling the kernel for them is like brain surgery for you. And you are not all brain surgeons. Most of them just want to plug their DACs and play music. That's it. They don't wan't to learn how to configure ALSA or such things. This distribution is made for them. And before you say that something sounds awful, try to play it first. Please...

 

Marko Lerota

 

Hello. Nice to see people trying to make Linux admin easier for people who may not have a taste for that sort of thing (pace, Chris, I know this stuff isn't hard, but some people's eyes just glaze over when they hear the word "Linux," and it's nice that they have places to go in the Linux world where everything's pretty well done for them), and seeing what they can do to tweak a distro for audio performance. A couple of questions I'm curious about:

 

You can have Gnome and KDE installed and use WindowMaker window manager and still be "lighter" than LXDE.

 

Could you please explain what "lighter" means as you're using the word. Lighter in terms of overall resource use, use of audio-related resources, system response speed...?

 

We use Fluxbox that is much smoother than any other desktop environment including LXDE.

 

Do I recall correctly that LXDE uses the Openbox window manager? Both it and Fluxbox are derived from Blackbox. I've used all three as well as XFCE. Are you saying you consider Fluxbox to offer a better experience or lighter resource use than the closely related Openbox, or is it some other aspect of LXDE that makes a difference between using it and just having Fluxbox as a window manager?