Replacing an old laptop as media server, I purchased a refurbished "like new" M700 off ebay. When received, I was surprised to find the PC to be brand new except the box looks like it's got some mileage on it. When booting up, I experienced my first bug, it's in French and it's not Win7 as described but is Win10Pro.
Decided to see how far I could get with it. Installed the English language pack. So, 95% of Windows is now English. And, installed the audio programs, Jplay 6.2 and VB Audio Cable. Player is Foobar. And, the sound is very listenable. No hardness, no fatigue. My conclusion is the M700 makes for a great economical and diminutive media server.
However, I was not liking to read French whenever I had to deal with Windows updates and licensing agreements and such. So, I ordered the exact same computer off woot.com. Exact same configuration and everything: Win10, I36100, 4gb ram, 500gb HDD.
So, received the new M700 a few days ago. Installed it in place of the French M700. And, immediately, I notice an audible difference. There is a hardness to the sound. A glare in the edges within the music. It was instantly ear fatiguing.
Today, I swapped the French M700 back. Instantly, the sound is smooth and doesn't make itself noticeable. The French M700 has a black background and makes itself a very transparent link in the chain.
Anyways, that's the tale of two seemingly identical PCs. Again, the only differences are language and OS version, French is Win10pro and US is Win10Home.
They might use different brand of ram and HDD but I am not curious enough to open them up.
Needless to say, the US M700 is going back to woot.
