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RME User Forum → ADI-2 & 2/4 Pro series, ADI-2 DAC series → lean, "highendish", music listening chain based around the ADI-2 Pro F
Hi, i am looking for a lean, "highendish", music listening chain based around the ADI-2 Pro Fs connected to active Genelec studiomonitors. Mainly i want to listen to flac or DSD files without the need to turn on my audioworkstaion with noisy fans etc. Can someone suggest a kind of (offline) mediaserver or any other clever solution for that purpose?
thank you!
Only to mention it .. It's also possible to silence a PC which is also very beneficial for work on the computer.
I took the challenge motivated by a german computer magazine to build this 0.1 zone PC.
Looking back it's very easy to achieve this even when using a Supermicro server mainboard, where the blower control is more designed for a server room, but even that was possible to be solved entirely.
Major components:
Predampened Fractal Design Computer Case which has a brilliant 5/9/12V switch which enables to run the 4 silent fans at even lower speed making them extremely silent.
In summer you can run them with 9V if required, still silent.
Special BeQuiet fans that are very silent and still deliver good throughput (I use 4 in my case) that are able to start and run with only 5V.
Noctua or other Tower CPU Cooler with many heatpipes and a special low noise cooler that works good in combination with the blower control of your mainboard for CPU.
Power Supply with hybrid mode switch that allows to turn down the blower of the PSU if the load is not high (in fact I never saw this fan moving).
Graphic card with zero fan mode. In case of good luck the fan is even not moving when enabling VSYNC in games which do not push the GPU hard and if it stays under 60°C.
Components see here:
http://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/inde … mponenten/
Then you can use a 15 (maybe up to 20m) long toslink cable to connect RME recording interface via optical SPDIF or adat to the ADI-2 Pro/DAC in front of your HiFi.
If you use ie MusicBee then you can control the player ie via an android app MusicBee Remote.
Just a thought, that's what I currently do.
thank you for your fast and detailed answer. I already own a relative silent DAW but it's also a kind of psychological thing ;-) i just sometimes want to finish my job, turn off my PC go to the living room, switch on a "little somthing" and enjoy pure music without the need of runnig a "beast" with a 1000W powersupply in the office nextdoor ;-)
Ok np. I am sure somebody can recommend to you the one ore other streaming solution for lossless audio.
Do you expect a pure streaming solution as HW solution - optionally combined with a hires audio subscription - or do you require also something, which is also able to rip your CD collection and store it on disk ?
Yes, it's the first mentioned option - a pure hardwarebased streaming solution or Hi-res Audio Player.
Raspberry Pi with music stored on external usb hard disk and Volumio or similar software?
Interesting, but i think i would like a little bit more "ready to go" and ergonomic solution with an integrated (touch?) display.
Yes, it's the first mentioned option - a pure hardwarebased streaming solution or Hi-res Audio Player.
So you have the content already and do not want / need a subscription for roon etc ?
Other idea to save costs: what about using an android smartphone or tablet that you might own already? Neutron as player. Connect it via USB to ADI-2 DAC. Supports lossless and DSD.
BTW what's your max budget for such a solution ?
Yes, you've got me right, i have a big collection of flac files that i want to listen to. Roon or other online sources are maybe a future - or a nice to have option. My main goal is QUALITY - i want to feed the ADI-2 Pro with the best possible = 'most native' signalquality. I'm no expert to this - every flac bit should be transfered without any modifikation. Budget is second prority to that. Sounds like a good plan to use my android phone or tablet - i didn't know that there are RME drivers for android. I'm looking forward to giving it a try tomorrow.
If I got it right there must be a possibility to connect smartphone via USB2 cable to a DAC.
I think / hooe there are no further driver's required on android side.
I also found a streamer for €280 at Amazon, where you could connect an USB disk / ssd / stick but it was missing an optical output towards ADI-2 DAC ...
There will surely be such a device available, also with further options for Tidal, this&that but I found no proper search portal with my smartphone where you could narrow the search according to certain criterion.
Maybe smth like Geizhals.de, you need to look.
Remember, you need no audiophile vodoo.
The ADI-2 DAC can be clock master and client.
Even a digital audio stream with jitter will be refreshed internally and the D/A conversion will finally happen by using the internal exact FS clock.
One of the reasons why I always had superb audio quality when using an inexpensive Bluray Player for watching Videos. Trick is to connect it for audio via optical SPDIF.
I propose you get also something like a Toslink switcher with remote control, then you can use up to 4 digital sources in front of the ADI-2 DAC.
You can use this device as 4 to 1 toslink switcher, it's the only good looking I found.
But it supports only up to 96 kHz, the rest is a lie.
Oehlbach Optosel 4:1
http://www.oehlbach.com/de/detail/index/sArticle/45
I connected
- PC (UFX+)
- Panasonic Plasma TV
- Oppo Bluray Player
and have 1 reserve input ...
The remote control works good.
With a push encoder on the device you can cycle through the channels 1 2 3 4 1 ...
Lots of useful information - thank you. Inspired by your tips i found this page for android hi-res playback apps:
https://appuals.com/the-best-android-au … s-edition/
You were right, maybe there's no special driver nessesary. Next to the mentioned neutron player the 'USB Audio Player Pro' sounds good to me: '...built specifically for USB DAC output'
I will do some tests with both apps on my devices later on. I will report my conclusions.
Dont forget to write replay hain tags to the flac files.
And once you have the flac files on you smartphone then you will discover other use cases:
use a good stereo Bluetooth headset from ie plantronics and listen to music if the noise level is too high in the office or if it motivates you writing documents.
Use it together with a Bluetooth speaker ie in vacation to listen to music in good quality while reading your eBook
I found out that the JBL Charge 2 plus sound quite neutral not too much emphasis on bass like with one from Bose.
Upgrade your workstation or just it's fans? 
And then get Roon.
Here in short his requirements:
1. He didn't want to run his big workstation after work has finished.
2. It was also required to listen to his own music (FLAC files).
3. A subscription for HiRes / lossless music was not wanted in the 1st step, but not excluded for maybe a later step.
Such a setup might be interesting also for me.
Could you pls describe a roon based solution which meets these requiremens ?
From my perspective this needs to be device with either USB or SPDIF connection to the ADI-2 DAC. LAN / Wifi / USB port to connect own storage or to access music from internet.
Operateable via Remote control / windows or Android app.
Optionally with the possibility to connect more satellite boxes in other rooms via network so that content can stay at one place. Those satellite boxes would perform streaming of your FLAC files or payed content via Network (WiFi/Lan) usIng eventually through central box as kind of proxy so that you could place it into a DMZ.
The Satellite boxes need also usb and spdif outputs to connect further ADI-2 DAC/amps/active boxes in other rooms.
Can this be done with roon ?
RME User Forum → ADI-2 & 2/4 Pro series, ADI-2 DAC series → lean, "highendish", music listening chain based around the ADI-2 Pro F
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