[mhconley]

I am exploring building a 2-channel PC to possibly replace my Parasound Halo D 3 universal disc player and give me the capability of playing high bitrate / high bandwidth lossless audio files.  This topic is brand new to me but computers are not - I have a BS in Computer Science & Engineering, work in the software field, and have built several PCs from base components.

My desire is for a system that meets or exceeds the sound and capability of my current Parasound player.  I.e., high quality sound, XLR analog out, capabilty of playing redbook CD, HDCD, XRCD, SACD, DVD-A, etc., and losslessly encoded high bitrate / high bandwidth files from CD's, DVD's, hard disk and ethernet.

I am considering using the Lynx L22 audio card and at least a terabyte of storage.  I am just wondering what the motherboard / CPU demands are for such a system.  Can I get by with lesser CPU / mobo combos?  What about memory requirements?

Also anything else to consider?  Any and all thoughts and suggestions for a one-box, high-end, HTPC-type 2-channel system are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Martin

[BradJudy]

To my knowledge, there is no way to playback or rip SACD on a computer, so you'll have to scratch that one off your list. 

[craig223]

Check out http://www.endpcnoise.com/ for quiet case options.  I can't see how you would need a really fast/hot running CPU or graphic card in a music server.  You could also explore putting your library of tunes on a server or network storage device in another room.  A solid state drive in your music room computer would cut noise and heat.  So many options...
Craig

[mhconley]

To my knowledge, there is no way to playback or rip SACD on a computer, so you'll have to scratch that one off your list. 

Scratched.

Check out http://www.endpcnoise.com/ for quiet case options.  I can't see how you would need a really fast/hot running CPU or graphic card in a music server.  You could also explore putting your library of tunes on a server or network storage device in another room.  A solid state drive in your music room computer would cut noise and heat.  So many options...
Craig

A solid state drive is a good idea - my current PC's spinning hard-drives are louder than the fans.  A little pricey at around $550 for 256GB but not too bad.

Martin

[wilsynet]

The Benchmark DAC isn't for everyone, but for many it's all they'll ever need.  If you're looking for high-end, I think the Benchmark qualifies and has everything you want.

You can press almost any old PC or Mac into service, connect using USB and away you go.

Benchmark DAC 1 USB
Balanced and single ended analog outputs
USB (24/96), Coaxial, TOSLink and AES digital inputs (24/192)

[Jon L]

If I were to do this today, I would look seriously at the new PS Audio PerfectWave DAC, with optional Network Bridge.  One could store all the music on a separate NAS, then access them remotely from PerfectWave DAC.

http://www.psaudio.com/ps/products/description/perfectwave-dac?cat=audio

[lcrim]

I had not been aware of the PS Audio PerfectWave DAC. Thanks Jon L for pointing this out.  I was an early adopter of PC based audio and moved away from USB connections and sound cards as soon as the SqueezeBox was introduced.  The mechanical and  internal electrical based noise of a PC being isolated elsewhere made immediate sense to me. 
The network module won't be out until summer and the $3000 price is daunting but the concept and feature set appear to be very thoughtfully worked out.  I am very impressed. The support of deeper resolutions is very cool.

A sidenote- I squared S has apparently been simplified to I2S

[jb]

I am exploring building a 2-channel PC to possibly replace my Parasound Halo D 3 universal disc player and give me the capability of playing high bitrate / high bandwidth lossless audio files.  This topic is brand new to me but computers are not - I have a BS in Computer Science & Engineering, work in the software field, and have built several PCs from base components.

My desire is for a system that meets or exceeds the sound and capability of my current Parasound player.  I.e., high quality sound, XLR analog out, capabilty of playing redbook CD, HDCD, XRCD, SACD, DVD-A, etc., and losslessly encoded high bitrate / high bandwidth files from CD's, DVD's, hard disk and ethernet.

I am considering using the Lynx L22 audio card and at least a terabyte of storage.  I am just wondering what the motherboard / CPU demands are for such a system.  Can I get by with lesser CPU / mobo combos?  What about memory requirements?

Also anything else to consider?  Any and all thoughts and suggestions for a one-box, high-end, HTPC-type 2-channel system are greatly appreciated.

I just started putting together a PC music server based on a hFX silent PC with SSD, PQ5-EM, E8400, 4 GB RAM, and RME HDSP 9632 sound card clock-synced to the DAC. Music files are stored on a 1 TB NAS. The player software in the PC offers a choice of none, 2x, or 4x interpolation while the custom DAC offers a choice of none, 4x, or 8x digital interpolation and none, 2x, or 4x analog interpolation yielding 24 combinations from none to 64x oversampling. I am also working on a heuristic interpolator for the PC that continously evaluates the texture of the music and adjusts the operating parameters accordingly.

BTW, the L22 only goes to 96K. That’s why I chose the RME, which goes to 192K.

[mhconley]

Good feedback.  I was looking at DAC's but I'd like to stay with a single box solution.

The PS Audio PerfectWave DAC is exactly what I had in mind.  (I love PS Audio products.)  Just trying to obtain the same or similar capabilities less expensively and within a single box PC based solution.

Thanks for pointing out 192KHz sound cards.

Anyone know anything about the Asus Xonar Essence STX, HT|Omega Clara Halo or the M-Audio Audiophile 192?

Martin

[BradJudy]

You can find lots of posts about the Xonar and Clara on the HeadFi computer audio section: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f46/

The Xonar is popular over there, largely because of the built-in headphone amp.  The Audiophile is discussed too, but much less so.