Build a dedicated Audio PC

[tony]

I did a quick look around on that as well and a few forums seem to share the same view.Whatever intel manufacture is being swallowed up by Sony/HP etc. Maybe by the time everything comes together on this supply will be easier. Hopefully there is a new chip or series of chips due from intel as this might make the stuff more realistic.

Pardon my ignorance what is the passive cooler? I thought the design of the streacom case took care of this. One other question Pearse spoke about paste which I assumes absorbs heat. That hasn't been mentioned. Is that built in to the zuma?

On Johns query on SSD. Ken reported improvements when he moved to this. I ignored it at the time. My view on the small tweaks is that often I can't detect any dramatic change. Is it just the combination of all the bits together that make the zuma work so well? The notion of wasting funds changing the laptop drives to ssd doesn't appeal to me as I reckon I will end up just trying to convince myself that it was worthwhile.

Looking back on some of the posts including my own there is a bit of a 'whathifi' type reporting about the huge improvement. I hope bystanders are not put off by that. I know I often have when reading positive effusive posts on a product. Anybody who has heard the zuma I can safely say are bowled over and nobody who has listened to it has an agenda. It would seem most of us have the opposite we would like to get that sound but at a 'dunnes stores' price please!

[Diapason]

Thanks for your last paragraph, Tony. It's sometimes hard to parse the enthusiasm, especially as each stage seems to bring an improvement from a very good starting point. Still, for the first time ever I'm beginning te think it might be time to offload the CD player...

[tony]

[quote="Fran"]Mmmmm.

So I've been looking at sorting the parts for a zuma build.

Intel DH77EB motherboard. Near impossible to get this side of the pond, but you can find them on ebay.


First check comes up with this site for the motherboard at $109.99. Haven't investigated getting it posted to ireland. Would that get under the customs and excise taxes at that price level?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813121601

and this one on amazon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007MLJ0XS/r ... B007MLJ0XS

Are they the right one?

[Fran]

Yes, that last paragraph is indeed important.


The thing is though, when you in the middle of tweaking this stuff and you do find and improvement, it is addictive. I find I am getting incredible sound here with the humble CA setup I have here - certainly the best sound I've ever had here. What makes me want to build a zuma? Well, given thte improvements I have heard already, I really do think there is more to be had! I would love to hear the zuma up against the humble audioPC here, but as with many things here, its hard to do that when there is probably only 1 zuma in the country.

The other thing is that I do believe my audioPC is barely able to cope with running windows8 - and given the way the jplay lads seem to be going, more power is needed (eg the new beta release has features my PC can't cope with).

I found most of the stuff afterwards on amazon, but its hard to get the low TDP processors. I think I may end up with active cooling and then look at a change at some point later.

Tony - the streamcom case comes with the kit for the heatpipe cooling, so yes, it is built in. newegg won't ship and yes, you will get caught for VAT. Also, USPS has jacked its prices fairly savagely lately so its not as attractive. Amazon does have them and I have some on my wishlist there.


Fran

[tony]

Amazon does have them and I have some on my wishlist there.


Fran[/quote]


You got there before me sure if you are quick you can get the last i7 in this shop on amazon!
Maybe we can share it? 6months each. £280 that is too high.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007SZ0EOW/r ... B007SZ0EOW


Fran if you want to hear it after this weekend give me a shout and we can try and arrange something next week. Certainly it will either cure you or make up your mind. I think it will be the latter. Funny feeling we will all be waiting for the january sales next year!

One other point Fran my laptop set up is i5 processor for the dac laptop and i3 for the streamer.
Zuma was streets ahead of it. When you hear John comparing the laptop streaming as brittle compared to the zuma it accurately demonstrates the difference. We have all heard the 2 laptop set ups and been very impressed it was surprising to me to see such a leap occur again so quickly.

[jkeny]

What about one of these Intel NUC platforms? http://www.bit-tech.net/blog/2013/02/25 ... evolution/

And this case http://www.legitreviews.com/article/2141/1/

or a upcoming case from Streacom http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Streac ... 21446.html

Could buy the NUC bareboard now & get the case when it's released later this year - it's only about 5" square so should be far cheaper that the Zuma case

[jkeny]

PCWorld built a HTPC using the boxed version of this http://www.pcworld.com/article/2020577/ ... s-nuc.html

Looks impressively easy but one thing to note - the fan noise is intrusive so worth getting a barebones board & waiting for the Streacom passively cooled box.

[jkeny]

Another forthcoming (hopefully) passive case for the above Intel NUC http://us.hardware.info/news/33069/pass ... -computing

[tony]

Finally pulled myself together and RTFM on these type of PC builds. Initially I just sat back and waited for Fran or Nige to produce an abc guide with links to all the relevant sites which is a bit lazy of me. Chris Connakers article explains how to build it and the heatsinks/paste bit as Pearse pointed out is a problem for beginners(me). I priced the parts required for a zuma minus the sotm usb card as accurately as I could. Some of the stuff I couldn't find in searches but allowed a realistic price for these components. I am coming in at least €1200 for a pile of parts with still the heart ache of assembly.

Johns option is interesting but when I read Chris's article on assembling the zuma it becomes clear that a lot of testing and changing of parts occurred with the design of this to get to the stage he is at.An example is where he points out that some ram modules were causing the server to reboot. The risk for John is that he is buying an unknown and unheard unit and hoping it will be a show stealer. For me I want to hear it first and be satisfied that it works and brings benefits.

I don't know whether to thank Pearse for his really decent generosity in lending out the zuma or kill him as I was blissfully happy and unaware of what the zuma would do before this. To be fair we all owe Pearse a great deal of thanks for all the investigate efforts he has made and the choices he took. They would all seem to have all been carefully thought out and have all brought SQ to a level I didn't believe existed unless you dropped shed loads of money.

The original point of this post is that Chris Connaker has done the ground work and done the testing and checking with regard to what components will work reliably. Having the option to hear the zuma confirms it does deliver in spades. The risk with other options is that they are unheard/tested by forum members.

[jkeny]

Tony,
You won't have to wait too long - I've ordered the Intel NUC from here http://www.dabs.ie/products/intel-ice-c ... -8FSB.html
Along with Intel 520 60gB SSD it comes in at €388 including VAT & delivery

This is a well tried, standard configuration so reliability of elements should not be a problem.
Only left to see if it sounds good.