This is my new primary source for listening to music. It has replaced my modified Sony SCD-777ES, which I still have as a second source, mainly for the few dozens SACDs.
I really enjoy this setup. Maybe this post contains an idea or suggestion, which might be useful for someone else ...

Purpose
=======
Highest possible audio quality at a still reasonable price.
As silent as possible but also avoid high hardware temperature.
Provide "Jukebox convenience", i.e. remotely select any track from about 1500 albums, by choosing from one/several playlists.

Hardware
========
Laptop:
IBM Thinkpad T41p, 1GB RAM, 2x external USB2 harddisks: Maxtor 7000 OneTouch (300GB, 5400), RME CardBus PCMCIA card with RME Digiface

Handheld:
HP iPAQ 4150

D/A Converter:
Lavry Blue

Connections
USB2: External HDs --> external USB hub --> Laptop
Firewire with RME proprietary bus protocol: Laptop (CardBus) --> external I/O box (RME Digiface). Length: 5m
SPDIF unbalanced, 75Ohm: external I/O box --> Neutrik adapter
SPDIF balanced, 110Ohm: Neutrik adapter --> Lavry Blue D/A converter
Bluetooth: Handheld (remote control) <--> Laptop

Software
========
Audio file format: flac

Laptop:
Windows XP, not connected to a LAN, no Internet connection
foobar2000 v0.83 with flac plug-in and with Asio plug-in, album replaygain used
Winamp v5.05 with flac plug-in and with Asio plug-in, album replaygain used
Smashcasi RemoteAmp v2.0

Handheld:
Windows Mobile 2003
Smashcasi RemoteAmp v2.0. This is a remote Winamp control, which lets you select any playlist and includes also search functions.

Additional remarks
==================
The Lavry Blue is connected to the balanced input of a Spectral DMC-20 Ser.2 preamp.
The Laptop is only used to play the tracks. I use another PC to grab my CDs (Plextor drives, EAC, FLAC frontend).
Two additional external USB2 harddisks (again: Maxtor 7000 OneTouch (300GB, 5400)) are used as a backup.

 Re: Example for the Configuration of an Audio PC - Lynn 19:51:49 10/24/04 (11)
 Re: Example for the Configuration of an Audio PC - Urs 01:10:41 10/25/04 (10)
 Re: Example for the Configuration of an Audio PC - ThomasPf 09:15:05 10/25/04 (2)

...

Show full thread outline!

 Re: Example for the Configuration of an Audio PC - Lynn 19:51:49 10/24/04 (11)
 Re: Example for the Configuration of an Audio PC - Urs 01:10:41 10/25/04 (10)
 Re: Example for the Configuration of an Audio PC - ThomasPf 09:15:05 10/25/04 (2)
 Re: Example for the Configuration of an Audio PC - Urs 02:13:31 10/26/04 (1)
 Re: Example for the Configuration of an Audio PC - ThomasPf 09:22:02 10/26/04 (0)
 Re: Example for the Configuration of an Audio PC - Lynn 07:51:55 10/25/04 (0)
 Re: Example for the Configuration of an Audio PC - Nino Gore 06:25:30 10/25/04 (5)
 Re: Example for the Configuration of an Audio PC - Lynn 08:01:00 10/25/04 (4)
 Re: Example for the Configuration of an Audio PC - ThomasPf 13:26:05 10/26/04 (0)
 Re: Example for the Configuration of an Audio PC - Nino Gore 23:06:17 10/25/04 (2)
 Re: Example for the Configuration of an Audio PC - Urs 02:33:25 10/26/04 (1)
 Re: Example for the Configuration of an Audio PC - Nino Gore 06:08:37 10/26/04 (0)

If you don't mind, I have a few of questions.

Are there any sonic drawbacks to the long cable between the RME card and digiface?

What CPU speed is the T41? What % usage during playback, and is the laptop dedicated to music while listening?

Why Flac vs APE? Also, have you looked at other jukebox software (JRiver Mediacenter, or Mediamonkey for example), why Foobar over others?

Thanks for your insights, and enjoy the music! You have a very nice setup.

Lynn

1. No there are absolutely no drawbacks caused by the length of the firewire cable. RME has tested cable length up to 10m. Basically this can be considered as a network connection.

2. The T41p has a P4 1.7GHz Mobile CPU

3. During playback with Winamp the CPU usage is around 5-6%. It's even less with foobar (3%)

4. Arguments for FLAC:
An APE file is a few percent smaller than the corresponding FLAC file (which is its only advantage). On the other side it really uses more CPU ressources during playback (about twice as much, if I remember correctly).
You cannot apply "replay gain" to an APE file. That's a big disadvantage in my oppinion.

5. Why foobar2000 and Winamp over any other Jukebox software:
These are my requirements (which are not met by other Jukebox software):
- encode/decode FLAC
- apply replay gain
- use ASIO output
- easily convert to any compressed file format (mp3 for iPod). You can do this with foobars diskwriter plug-in (which then calls lame.exe)
- remote usage of the Jukebox software from a handheld.

Urs

Thanks for answering my questions. I will have to look into the RME setup.

Since Mediamonkey supports Winamp plugins, it might be a foobar alternative. The only drawback I have seen with Foobar is it's library management. Are there plugins that improve on it's ability to organize and display the libary so you can easily select songs on the fly to play?

Lynn

APE and FLAC are both lossless formats and will sound the same since they reproduce a bit perfect of the orginal file. Given the same input file they will always create the same compressed file. Uncompress the file, compare it to the original, and it will be exactly the same.

WMA claims to be lossless as well. However, I have heard that tests of compressing the same file using WMA shows small differences in the compressed files. To some people, this has caused them to question if WMA is truly lossless. Microsoft apparently responded to this issue saying the differences in the files are inconsequental, but some would disagree.

However, if we assume WMA is lossless, it will sound exactly the same as other lossless formats like APE or FLAC.

You can use WMA (or any input file format) with a DAC , since the DAC only cares about the output stream from your sound card, not the input format.

Lynn

http://www.monsterfang.com/MCinFLAC/

I only have experience with WMA lossless and APE but the above should fit your needs.

To my knowledge Media Center let's you apply replaygain to all supported formats since it stores a copy of the calculated in the media library. There are a couple of solutions available for remote control of media center. Personally I use a laptop with a remote terminal to ge the full fidelity UI but there are also a few plugins available that work with a PocketPC.

I am not associated with the company just a happy customer.

Cheers

Thomas

I am quite happy with my carefully configured foobar2000 (after hours of reading and searching the foobar forum at hydrogenaudio ...) I am using the "Columns UI" plug-in and got a nice configuration for it (plisk_0.1.5.fcs) which I slightly modified.
I prefer to have the replaygain values in the appropriate file header instead of storing them in a database.
But I would be really interested in this one:
" ... Personally I use a laptop with a remote terminal to ge the full fidelity UI ..."
Can you tell me more about it? Is this some kind of touch screen? How is it connected to your laptop? A link to a manufacturer would be fine.

Thanks and regards
Urs

That's my DAC:
Lavry Blue. You can find it here (and also order it directly from the manufacturer):
http://www.lavryengineering.com/index_html.html

I have the chassis with one D/A module. It's about $1400. I like it very, very much. For me, the sound is beyond any discussions. But you don't have a big selection of inputs and outputs ... it's quite puristic:
Digital Input: AES/EBU 110Ohm
Analogue Output: Balanced or Unbalanced (changed by internal jumper settings). Connectors: XLR

Urs

NG

Media Center stores a copy of the computed replaygain in the library and also in the actual file where that is applicable. A standard wav file has not enough meta data to hold replaygain.

I played with the columns UI but even that combination does not quite compare. I like the idea of browsing my archived CD collection by cover art, integrated instant search, support for my media players with automatic transcoding, being able to get to my music and library from any station in the house, etc. etc.

My remote is nothing as complex. I just use a standard laptop and a remote dektop session to the audio PC. I am using an 802.11a equipped laptop and this work quite nicely even when cover browsing.

Cheers

Thomas

I have converted audio tracks forth and back from WMA lossless to APE and these two formats are equivalently lossless. You can makes changes to the tag sections which might cause differences but this does not apply to the audio samples.

I recommend you test it yourself with something like DB poweramp music converter.

Cheers

Thomas