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Post by Boomzilla on Oct 31, 2019 14:05:40 GMT -5
For $1K you can put together a very nice PC for use as a server. Would you like some parts lists? Thanks - but let me see what my friend has in his closet that he might gift me first. Even a case, power supply, and motherboard with CPU will get me started. |
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Post by brubacca on Oct 31, 2019 14:07:02 GMT -5
Rock CD Ripping straight up sucks. Just so you know.
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Post by Boomzilla on Oct 31, 2019 14:08:58 GMT -5
Well... Windows 10 PCs fall out of the CraigsList daily for chump change. So maybe this can end up being a LOT less than $1K.
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Post by brubacca on Oct 31, 2019 14:09:08 GMT -5
I agree with others, you can build a great PC for 1k unless you are using specialty cases or fancy audiophile USB cards.
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DYohn
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Post by DYohn on Oct 31, 2019 14:09:58 GMT -5
For $1K you can put together a very nice PC for use as a server. Would you like some parts lists? Thanks - but let me see what my friend has in his closet that he might gift me first. Even a case, power supply, and motherboard with CPU will get me started. Absolutely. Go here to grab a free-ware OS that can be used to convert nearly any old PC into a music server with auto-CD ripping and manual update and backup capability. I will help you install and convert to Roon if you choose. |
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Post by brubacca on Oct 31, 2019 14:43:48 GMT -5
I used to love Vortexbox. I am concerned that it doesn't seem to be well supported anymore. It uses Fedora 25 as the base I believe, which is end of life. Current Fedora Version is 31.
Personally I wasn't comfortable installing a new system with Vortexbox.
Although I'll say again I did like it when I was running it.
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stiehl11
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Post by stiehl11 on Oct 31, 2019 14:48:22 GMT -5
Good point... and one I agree with entirely. I would go further and say that, when deciding "how simple something is", you must not only consider how simple it is to use, but how much effort it takes to set up.
(It's very easy to get caught up in designing and creating an awesome system that's easy to use - and forget to count the effort involved in setting it up and maintaining it.) For example..... I do all of my music listening on one room - my living room. And at the moment I mostly listen to files I've ripped from CDs on that system. So, for simplicity, I play my music on a Raspberry Pi... running Volumio. And, since I always listen in that room, from that Raspberry Pi, I use a plain old USB hard drive, connected directly to it. And, when I have CDs to RIP, I do so on one of my other computers, using dBPowerAmp. And, yes, after I RIP a batch of CDs on that computer, I actually unplug the USB drive from the Raspberry Pi, plug it into the computer, and load that batch of music onto it. Then, after I'm finished, I carry it all the way back across the room, plug it back in, and restart the Raspberry Pi.
(And, while it's attached to my regular computer, I take the opportunity to back it up, or to update my current backup.) The output of that Raspberry Pi is connected to the USB input on my RMC-1 (which is connected to my home theater gear and my Stealth 8's). (I control the Raspberry Pi from whatever computer I happen to be using at the time.... or from an Android tablet.... or my phone.... or from anything else with a browser on it.) Volumio on the Raspberry Pi also works with Tidal and QoBuz.... so that covers streaming.
However, I'm starting to become very fond of Amazon's streaming service, and, at the moment, devices that support that are very limited. (They are limited mostly to actual computers and to Alexa-based hardware clients like the various "Amazon echo" boxes.).) So, at the moment, I'm forced to use a plain old laptop computer, and their client, for streaming from Amazon.
Yes, it's a bit of a nuisance to have to physically drag that USB drive over to my computer once every few weeks to transfer files. But, by doing it that way, I AVOID any and all issues with streaming audio over a network.... no DLNA questions; no dropouts; no bottlenecks; just push PLAY. (I could set up an FTP server on the Raspberry Pi so I could do updates over the network... and also back up the drive that way... but performance is better this way... and those don't happen all that often.)
And, incidentally, if I happen to get handed a USB stick with an album on it..... I can just plug it directly into one of the unused USB ports on the Raspberry Pi, and play it..... (Then, if I want to add that album to my permanent library, I can copy it onto my main library drive the next time I update it.)
May I suggest an alternative paradigm: External NAS <$200 Raspberry Pi touchscreen media server apx $200 Assumptions: Computer with optical drive Home network Rip/acquire music from source and save to NAS using network Play music files (w/meta data) from Raspberry Pi touchscreen Simple, cost effective, SFF/Footprint. When you back up, do you use a ghosting program or just copy files? Do you recommend a ghosting program? |
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KeithL
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Post by KeithL on Oct 31, 2019 15:07:07 GMT -5
As far as I know Roon itself has no special hardware requirements...
However, as with most software, it will deliver its best performance with certain settings and configuration options. ROCK is simply "a complete set of operating system and Roon software - all pre-configured the way it should be". In fact, from their description, it is configured in such as way as to prevent you from meddling with the settings or installing other software.
Linux itself is very reliable and quite efficient... but it is also very flexible... and has a lot of options you can change. Linux also contains a lot of extra features and functions that, while they may be useful to some folks, aren't necessary or may actually interfere with Roon. Linux is also very complicated for beginners to set up and configure. (It's relatively simple to install some Linux distributions... and they may just plain work... but figuring out what's wrong when a problem occurs can be a real nightmare.)
What they've done is to create a custom version, with all the necessary parts set correctly, and all the unnecessary parts removed entirely. (This is what's known as "a turn-key solution"... and really is an excellent choice if you wish to avoid "tinkering with the nuts and bolts of the system".)
Note that some of their claims may or may not benefit a given situation. For example, by eliminating unnecessary software services, they may be able to reduce the load on the processor. And, if the processor is doing less work, and your PC has a thermally-controlled fan, it may run more quietly more of the time. (But this may or may not be true depending on the hardware you're installing it on.)
Note that there are a whole slew of restrictions and recommendations..... (They are promising that their custom software will work well on their hardware, and on certain specific other alternatives, but may not work as well on other hardware.)
If you're thinking about this route..... then absolutely READ ALL THE DETAILS. They list specific reasons why it may NOT run on certain hardware that doesn't meet certain important requirements. If you're not comfortable fiddling with computer configurations then you would be well advised to choose one from their list of recommended hardware. (Think of it as the equivalent of a kit.)
Amen to that DYohn - $1K will buy one heck of a PC. And, Boom - I run everything on my Roon Server PC. dbPoweramp, Turbo Tax, NFL Sunday Ticket, MS Office, etc... And I seriously doubt you'd hear ANY difference between a ROCK and a Windows 10 PC. Heck - one of the big shots at Roon Labs told me that himself. |
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Post by Boomzilla on Oct 31, 2019 15:10:30 GMT -5
When you back up, do you use a ghosting program or just copy files? Do you recommend a ghosting program? Chronosync |
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Post by wilburthegoose on Oct 31, 2019 15:34:14 GMT -5
@keithl : Correct - Roon can run perfectly on a Windows 10 PC. That's how I use it.
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Post by brubacca on Oct 31, 2019 15:46:48 GMT -5
I believe that roon recommends a Core i3 or higher AND a SSD for the database. Something about the extra internal cache memory in the i3 for responsiveness when your database grows...
it will run on less but may affect responsiveness.
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Post by foggy1956 on Oct 31, 2019 16:05:09 GMT -5
How much do you want to spend and does it have to use Windows? Hi David - My goal was to be less than $1k. I'd like for it to have Windows capability, but If I can get a seamlessly-operating streamer software with iPad remote control running on it, I don't really care what OS it uses. The only reason I think I want Windows, is because it seems the best-supported OS by all the streamer-software companies. But, as usual, I could be wrong... Boom, Do you use the gizmo app with jriver? |
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Post by dad311 on Oct 31, 2019 17:13:28 GMT -5
Checkout Unraid. Unraid supports VMs, dockers disk arrays, etc. Swiss Army knife of home servers. With a 1K budget, possibles are endless.
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Post by Boomzilla on Oct 31, 2019 23:06:46 GMT -5
Boom, Do you use the gizmo app with jriver? I don't. What's that? |
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klinemj
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Post by klinemj on Nov 1, 2019 5:37:55 GMT -5
Well... Windows 10 PCs fall out of the CraigsList daily for chump change. So maybe this can end up being a LOT less than $1K. This is why I keep referring you to MicroCenter's refurbished PC selection. You'll get one that's factory refurbished that meets all your needs for <$300. The only thing you likely would not get is having both an internal SSD and large regular drive. Most I see have 1 or the other. But, if you get one with a SSD, that will have the OS on it. Buy a large internal drive and add it, and you are done. Total will be <$300. Mark |
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Post by foggy1956 on Nov 1, 2019 6:04:19 GMT -5
Boom, Do you use the gizmo app with jriver? I don't. What's that? An app designed by jriver to enable headless use from a phone or tablet |
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Post by Boomzilla on Nov 1, 2019 6:31:22 GMT -5
An app designed by jriver to enable headless use from a phone or tablet I don't see how that could help me. I still need a server & media drive. If I've got those, then jRemote serves as a control. I don't care about having music on my tablet or phone, so... But thanks for the suggestion. Boom |
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Post by wilburthegoose on Nov 1, 2019 7:19:09 GMT -5
Well... Windows 10 PCs fall out of the CraigsList daily for chump change. So maybe this can end up being a LOT less than $1K. This is why I keep referring you to MicroCenter's refurbished PC selection. You'll get one that's factory refurbished that meets all your needs for <$300. The only thing you likely would not get is having both an internal SSD and large regular drive. Most I see have 1 or the other. But, if you get one with a SSD, that will have the OS on it. Buy a large internal drive and add it, and you are done. Total will be <$300. Mark This! |
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klinemj
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Post by klinemj on Nov 1, 2019 8:36:41 GMT -5
An app designed by jriver to enable headless use from a phone or tablet I don't see how that could help me. I still need a server & media drive. If I've got those, then jRemote serves as a control. I don't care about having music on my tablet or phone, so... But thanks for the suggestion. Boom Gizmo is a just remote control app - not something to play tunes on your tablet or phone. If you use Windows Remote Desktop (built into W10 Pro), JRemote, or Roon Remote - you don't need Gizmo. As for remote options, I've used Windows Remote Desktop and Roon Remote and find them both fine, but prefer Roon Remote. I've not used jRemote, so I can't comment on that. I did once try Gizmo and had some issues so gave up on it. Others seem to like it. Mark |
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Post by indyscammer on Nov 1, 2019 9:18:01 GMT -5
I don't see how that could help me. I still need a server & media drive. If I've got those, then jRemote serves as a control. I don't care about having music on my tablet or phone, so... But thanks for the suggestion. Boom Gizmo is a just remote control app - not something to play tunes on your tablet or phone. If you use Windows Remote Desktop (built into W10 Pro), JRemote, or Roon Remote - you don't need Gizmo. As for remote options, I've used Windows Remote Desktop and Roon Remote and find them both fine, but prefer Roon Remote. I've not used jRemote, so I can't comment on that. I did once try Gizmo and had some issues so gave up on it. Others seem to like it. Mark I run Gizmo on my Android phone and tablet and it works well. It is both a remote and an endpoint so depending on your setup that adds flexibility. I use it to pick and play tunes from my server while streaming to the patio stereo setup AND sometimes when I am lazy, stream direct to the device and connect the device via bluetooth to a portable speaker. If you configure JRiver to stream onto the internet, then Gizmo will play your files from wherever you happen be. Nice but I've only used it once early on in my JRiver experience. Might be better now but I found lag and buffering to be problems in my setup (I spent no time trying to optimize). My patio stereo setup is currently connected to JRiver with RPi3 running JRiver ID. I went this route for ease of setup....it does leave some to be desired. Haven't tried Roon yet. I'm running a fairly old Win 8 machine so trying Roon probably won't happen until I upgrade. I've built the last 3 PCs I've ran....if I can do it I think anyone can. |
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