[DavidS]

Is it possible to take an old XP computer and optimize it somewhat to serve as a dedicated music server.  Imagine there are threads on people who have done this - just not finding them.  Have seen lots of new builds but just hate recycling computers that are only 8 years old and seems to have lots of capacity (such as two hard drives).

[WGH]

It can easily be done but you will get better sound quality using Windows 7 or 8. In my setup WASAPI sounds much clearer than any ASIO driver I tried including the versions I paid for.

How are you planning to get the music out of the PC? USB? SPDIF?

Wayne

[Mag]

Nothin' wrong using an old computer, and XP should be fast enough for music.

Might be a good idea to upgrade to a better soundcard. Even with a good sound card what a lot of us are doing is sending the signal by usb port to an outboard DAC.

Set your computer to optimal sound in the sound menu. You also need to adjust the wav volume around 70% don't go too high in the volume as that distorts the output signal which may cause speaker damage.

You can get a pretty high caliber of source with a good DAC  the noise from using a computer is minimal, you should be able to live with it.

The Media player is also important for sound. I get good sound using VLC but there are other good media players. I would disable the Windows media player.

[DavidS]

I am doing a bit of this.

I am running JRiver 18.
I am running it into a usb dac - Burson Conductor

just the sound is not that great (certainly much better with my laptop running windows 7 which I use for other purposes). 

Was more wondering if there are some tweaks I can make to my old PC that would move the quality of information it provides up the music server food chain.  I have read some of the threads on CAP servers - would love to go that route but cost is pretty up there and I have this old Dell XP PC.

[srb]

To get your XP setup closer to the sound quality of your Win7 setup (which is probably using WASAPI or Kernel Streaming output modes) you will need to use an ASIO driver to bypass the Windows Mixer.  Or perhaps you already are?

Steve

[jeffh]

Is it possible to take an old XP computer and optimize it somewhat to serve as a dedicated music server.  Imagine there are threads on people who have done this - just not finding them.  Have seen lots of new builds but just hate recycling computers that are only 8 years old and seems to have lots of capacity (such as two hard drives).

VortexBox is exactly what you need.  Works great on old hardware, it's free and it does exactly what you want. I have been using it for a couple of years.

[WGH]

The best use for the Dell is to use it for storage. Build a fanless CAPS server for the listening room and put the noisy Dell in another room, connect the two with an ethernet cable.

But here are some options if a CAPS isn't in the budget yet:

Do a clean install of XP, security updates will take days. After updating you can disable some services but I wonder it will make any sound differences. http://www.blackviper.com/

I doubt Windows 7 or 8 would even run on an 8 year old Dell, probably no driver support but you could check the Dell site. The reason I mention Windows is you will eventually need it for your CAPS server. If it does work then you will be one step closer to getting better sound.

The next step is a cleaner USB port. Check out the Paul Pang AUDIO GRADE USB 3.0 PCIE card:http://ppaproduct.blogspot.tw/2013/07/audio-grade-usb-30-pcie-card.html along with an Acopian Linear Regulated Power Supply 5EB100, 5EB150, 5EB200, or 5EB250 on eBay. Does your old Dell even have a PCI/PCIe slot? The card can be used in the CAPS server too so no money is wasted.

ASIO4ALL will work with XP, maybe it's sound quality has improved by now: http://www.asio4all.com/

You can compare the free ASIO4ALL to a trial version of USB-Audio, back years ago I preferred the sound of USB-Audio: http://www.usb-audio.com/


Wayne

[mcgsxr]

I ran a Dell from 2003 until this year as my dedicated music PC.  It ran XP Pro and used Logitech Media Server.  I use networked music players, so the big loud hot box could live far away from the listening area.

What do you use to play music?  Is it networked?

If not, the invesment in a fanless server may indeed please you.  Or buy a recent Mac Mini, I used one of those briefly too.

Once the motherboard on the old Dell died, I scooped up a netbook, dropped in 2GB of RAM, hung my 2TB drive off it, and now that is my dedicated music server in the media closet.

[raysracing]

Yea, took the unit out of the box after years, wouldn't boot up, fixed the problems then struggled with installing asio in Winamp till I found instructions on an Asian website...but it works. Thanks. I can't afford any other software right now. This was just a test anyways since this one only has 128gb HD. Sounds good enough for now.

[jmc207]

Ray, which Dell Optiplex model is that in your picture?  Thanks, John

Yea, took the unit out of the box after years, wouldn't boot up, fixed the problems then struggled with installing asio in Winamp till I found instructions on an Asian website...but it works. Thanks. I can't afford any other software right now. This was just a test anyways since this one only has 128gb HD. Sounds good enough for now.

[raysracing]

Gx620 with pentium 4, 2GB RAM, and win XP. And man is it hard to get used to Winamp again. So powerful, so unintuitive to use. Ok off to bed. Got a Thanksgiving 10k to race and a bunch of multisport guys to beat (I'm a road bicycle racer).

[WGH]

Next year around this time plan a trip to Tucson for the El Tour de Tucson, a 107 mile loop around the city. First-place finish was in 4 hours 14 minutes 3.74 seconds

First time it 31 years it rained.

http://azstarnet.com/sports/el-tour-de-tucson-magallanes-wins-rainy-chaotic-ride/article_24fe804a-acd9-572a-a63b-cc970ade9f85.html

[jarcher]

Agree it's a shame to toss serviceable hardware. Seems people are pretty focused on the windows software. Couldn't theoretically you run an audio optimized version of Linux on it as well? And then use a Linux version of media player software.  I vaguely recall there was such an audio optimized version of Linux out there for free. I'm talking somewhat out of my knowledge level, but if someone wants to jump in here.....I think it would be useful info for all those who'd like to recycle old pcs for themselves or others as music servers - and it seems Linux would be lighter resource-wise than windows and may offer other advantages as well - even if the user interface may not be as easy / familiar.

[jmc207]

Agree it's a shame to toss serviceable hardware. Seems people are pretty focused on the windows software. Couldn't theoretically you run an audio optimized version of Linux on it as well? And then use a Linux version of media player software.

Those are my thoughts as well. Either the Vortexbox that jeffh mentions above or some lightweight Linux distro. All free, and if used for a dedicated music computer things are much less likely to get screwed up. Something I need to try as well.

[mcgsxr]

When the motherboard on my Dell Optiplex died, I donated the balance of the gear locally.

I had run Vortexbox in the past, and it sings on older, lower spec gear.  I was new to Linux though, and could not get a grasp on how to add an external HD once the OS was up and running.

[Chromisdesigns]

Is it possible to take an old XP computer and optimize it somewhat to serve as a dedicated music server.  Imagine there are threads on people who have done this - just not finding them.  Have seen lots of new builds but just hate recycling computers that are only 8 years old and seems to have lots of capacity (such as two hard drives).

Sure, but be aware that support for Windows XP from MS will be discontinued in April 2014, meaning no future security updates, etc -- nada.  This is not good for any machine connected to the internet, for obvious reasons.

I'm finally going to have to replace my venerable old Dell XP machine, too.

[raysracing]

Excuse my inexperience, but I looked into Vortexbox, but have not tried it because i am not sure if I can run it without a Squeezebox or some other unit up front? Does it have a GUI?  I don't own anything I can hook the PC up to except the DAC or the Pre.


TIA,
Ray

[viggen]

I have an thinkpad xp and a toshiba ultrabook win7.  I prefer the sound coming out of the thinkpad, smoother/warmer/more musical.  kmixer is bypassed with asio4all via foobar.  It was a bit disappointing to me as I thought the ultrabook with ssd and better OS should wipe the floor of the old XP machine.  I wonder whether the processor has anything to do with it.  The Ultrabook is running a (noisy) i7 and Thinkpad is running an Ultra Low Voltage DC processor.

[raysracing]

I suppose this will be a not big surprise, but I worked on my XP Dell again, but this time with Foobar and even though their instructions say Asio won't help, it sounded clearer with better separation, dynamics, detail than using the stock driver as recommended. This was with the stock USB to my DacMagic. I tried two different USB's on what I assume might be different io boards, but I didn't hear a difference. I also tried to set it for 24bit, but I swear it muddied up the works bad and 16bit jsounded better.

But as I listened to the same files I had listened to last night (Naim British sampler) I realized it was not as good as my 09 MB Pro with Audirvana out of the Toslink to the same DAC. There was the feeling I could hear what effect they mixed the vocals with, with Audirvana. I could hear the reverb clear as day and hear it decay between words. It was awesome.

Should I just abandon this XP for the MBPro or would an audio card do wonders or possibly a different software (free) package?

The reason is I can just leave the MB pro upstairs all of the time (we all share it) and leave this XP machine downstairs permanently which is nice. If i don't purchase Audirvana after the trial I suppose I could spend a little on the XP.

Thanks in advance and please help,
Ray

Edit: I just downloaded jRiverMC trial and I couldn't be happier. Big improvement over Foobar200 even with Asio driver in both. So much more blackness I guess between instruments, quieter, but more music if that makes sense.

  I could be happy with this old XP no mods for a long time with JRiverMC. I just need to get another external HDD and format this one for PC and copy my iTunes library to it. I am sure at this point the gap between Jriver/XP and Macbook/Audirvana is too close to worry about for my system and ears.

[bluehshoe]

Had an old Sony XP laptop running as a music server that i hated to part with. But it became cost-prohibitive as the replacement parts did not warrant the extra expense of keeping it. Bought a newer Windows 7 replacement for about 280.00, plus a couple of of micro Intel Atom streaming boxes running XBMC. There is just so much new stuff there to play with!