[coolsax]

Is anyone running these type of PCs as their player/streamer for a 2channel system?

 i'm still trying to decide if I want to use a audio streamer like sonos or squeezebox, or If I should just pick up a new PC for not much more in price.  What attracts me to the PC route is the Visual aid of the monitor for two reasons, one.. its a bigger screen to see whats going on with whatever media player I decide to use and two if i'm not doing any critical listening I would be able to multitask as well surfing the net while listening to music.  and as a bonus I could probably hook up a blu ray player as well so that I could listen to concert blurays w/o having to turn on the HT which is in a different room.

so If anyone is running a system this way.. how loud are the fans, are they loud enough to really affect the listening experience?  I'd like run a system with the energy efficient dual core Atom processors.  I know I would need to get a dac, probably one with USB for this to work, and I've been considering a peachtree Nova as a possibility.  regardless of what route i go. 

Also which ever route i go all media will be stored on a separate HDD that is either an NAS or is attached to the router via USB to work as an NAS, the streamer/player in question will be hardwired to the router.

[dvenardos]

A great resource for building silent pcs is SilentPC Review.
http://www.silentpcreview.com

I have always been happy just following their recommended components for an inaudible pc.

[doctorcilantro]

IMO the PC will give you the most flexibility, well maybe that's a fact? You've got Media Monkey, Winamp, Foobar, and J. River (my fav).

I'm running a few 8dbfs fans in mine and the air coming out of the vents from the air handler is louder. These are tiny fans though 60mm? Can't remember.

I built a system around a Zotac 330 ATOM; it runs pretty lukewarm with a passive cpu heatsink. Can't beat J.River cover view on a 47" screen for browsing albums, and it does 1080P .mkv over LAN w/o hitch.

[wilbert-vanbakel]

Last week I assembled this ECS MS110 nettop, paid $125 for the barebone (just needed to add memory and a 5400 rpm harddisk)I don't hear the fan, I use a remote control app on my iPod Touch, but any PC can control the system in a web interface.The system is running vortexbox.
The firmware supports many web streaming services, like Pandora, etc.

[firedog]

I'm running a dual core ATOM fanless desktop with a Squeezebox Touch. Very happy, including streaming hi-res.

You can see configurations like it at http://tranquilpc.co.uk ; They also have some newer i3 and i5 based systems.

Try also http://endpcnoise.com. They have some configurations that would be right up your alley, but maybe more powerful/expensive than what you want. In any case, the site is good for finding out about quiet/silent components. They will also answer email/phone questions.

You don't have to get a USB DAC. You can also use something like one of the quality USB converters from M2Tech or Empirical Audio. Also note that on some DACs (even good ones), the USB implementation is either not very good sounding, or limited to lower resolutions, or both. Check before you buy.

The Nova is a very good solution if you don't need a high powered amp (or just use it as pre/DAC).

Fanless/SILENT is good, but adds cost. If you want just a quiet PC, usually upgrading to a quiet motherboard fan and quiet case/Power supply fans (under 25db) will do most of what you need so that it isn't bothersome. Outfitting an inexpensive PC this way would only add $100-$150 to the cost, yet make it much quieter than a typical configuration, even for a fairly powerful PC. Note also that some of the nettop or small standard PCs are fairly quiet out of the box, as all their components are on board (fewer fans) and they have external PS.

If you use an NAS box to stream, just make sure it is powerful enough to run any software you want and stream successfully. Some NAS's are mainly for storage, and don't stream so well. Lots of info at various forums about which NAS boxes are good streamers. Also, if you run both USB storage and USB DAC there can be some SQ issues, as the USB demands are too great for top quality audio results.

Also, most MacMini users report that the Mini is quiet enough that it doesn't bother them, for instance.

[coolsax]

Thanks guys.. yeah the reason I'm looking at the all in one and the nettop pcs is also a aesthetic and space issue. as I really don't want a big box in the space area and I really don't want to stick it in a closet either and run the cords coming out of the closet..  Good to know that the nettops at least run fairly quiet.  I could deal with a little noise as my house is never totally quiet, i just didn't want them to be too loud.  If I get a PC I plan on using it as the main player as i'm not going to waste that kind of computing power, but then using a sonos or squeezebox to be my player. 

Yeah i know there are quite a few poorly integrated dacs with regards to usb.. I would likely be looking at the Cambridge DacMagic or if i get the nova, using its dac which is supposed to be pretty good for USB. 

any other suggestions would be great, but I appreciate what's already been stated

[wilbert-vanbakel]

You could even research fanless solutions: http://www.cappuccinopc.com/solutions/fanless.asp

[Alexdad54]

FWIW, I'm running an Acer netbook W7 64-bit which has been optimized as much as possible. It's feeding via USB to an Audio-GD Digital Interface (which replaced my M2Tech Hi-Face) and then via coax to a Havana NOS DAC. Sounds wonderful and there is no fan noise.
Next upgrade is to move to a headless Linux server ( I bought a used nORH mini-pc) with an Alix board to feed the Havana as soon as I can bring in my Linux-wise friend to put it together for me (and not to forget the great support from Nick!). I use a 1TB external HDD and Foobar but will be moving to using MPD via mPOD and a used  iTouch.