Daphile - Audiophile Music Server & Player OS

Simple answer: like turntables before Linn sondek sounded "the same" i can tell that every Linux based music server sound "the same". ;)

Jokes apart i can't find differences between voyage and daphile sound quality wise.

My only other experience (same hardware) is voyage mpd: the biggest difference isn't in sound quality but in user friendlyness. Voyage mpd install and configure 2days (hey I'm a Linux noob! ), daphile install and configure 20 minutes... Some WiFi problem with my dongle but I had problems with mpd too.
 
After reading the Daphile threads on diyaudio, computer audiophile and hydrogenaudio I have not seen one single user comment about sound quality. Could someone who has used Daphile please comment on this?

Peter
I'm perhaps disqualified to comment but here is my view to the subject:
Daphile is “only” software. If a software solution is capable of giving the bitperfect and gapless playback stream (without disruptions) to hardware i.e. DAC then I would say that software is completely neutral in respect to audio playback quality. This neutrality has been the target for Daphile (bitperfect playback is verified with Audiophilleo1 USB-SPDIF converter that has such a functionality).

So the sound quality is dependent on your hardware as didiet78 already mentioned. If you use a high end asynchronous USB DAC with galvanic isolation between USB receiver and the actual DAC/analog parts then your computer/music server should not effect on audio quality at all.

Recommended reading:
Archimago's Musings: MEASUREMENTS: Part I: Bit-Perfect Audiophile Music Players (Windows).
Archimago's Musings: MEASUREMENTS: Part II: Bit-Perfect Audiophile Music Players - JPLAY (Windows).
 
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Hi Kipeta, Thanks for your quick reply and for your software off course!!

Still I think that software as well as PC hardware, including its power supply, have a big influence on SQ. The PC power supply for example will not have any influence on measured performance of the whole system, but will have a big influence on SQ.

I think that many audio systems don’t have enough resolution to let you clearly hear the differences that actually are there. And often people are so convinced that there can be no difference that they ignore the difference beforehand.

Sometimes for fun I do AB listening comparisons with completely untrained persons who are not interested in audio at all. Most of the time they hear exactly what I hear, only have difficulty to find the right words to describe it.

Peter
 
I may raise it too often in your view but I have never gotten the answer I am looking for - a proper blind test confirms that different bit-perfect playback chains on the same hardware produce a distinguishable sound. It always ends up the same - no result gets published. I am afraid the same will be here now.
 
Hi Kipeta,

This weekend I tried Daphile on an old Dell PC, booted from USB stick. I use it in combination with WaveIO and TP Buffalo 3. Install was really plug and play. WaveIO was detected without any problem and wired connection to router was also installed automatically. I installed the Squeeze Commander on my android phone and was ready to go!

I want to make you a big compliment for your software, because it looks great and it works great! This is really a great piece of work! I am very happy with it and want to thank you very much!

SQ with WaveIO and TP Buffalo 3 is outstanding! In my system, without any doubt, the best I have heard so far. It is also the first time I used WaveIO. I have been skipping through my music library and went from surprise to surprise.

Thanks again.

Peter
 
Nice to hear! Thanks for feedback.

Hi Kipeta,

This weekend I tried Daphile on an old Dell PC, booted from USB stick. I use it in combination with WaveIO and TP Buffalo 3. Install was really plug and play. WaveIO was detected without any problem and wired connection to router was also installed automatically. I installed the Squeeze Commander on my android phone and was ready to go!

I want to make you a big compliment for your software, because it looks great and it works great! This is really a great piece of work! I am very happy with it and want to thank you very much!

SQ with WaveIO and TP Buffalo 3 is outstanding! In my system, without any doubt, the best I have heard so far. It is also the first time I used WaveIO. I have been skipping through my music library and went from surprise to surprise.

Thanks again.

Peter
 
What I miss is a good explanation of how to configure the system (Daphile Wiki?).

First, when I ripped a CD, it was (default) written to the USB boot-drive. Now I have configured it to rip to the internal HD and it seems during ripping that it is doing so. But after the rip is done the internal HD shows no folders or files. Only “blank disk”.

I have not found a possibility to copy files to the Daphile internal HD. Not from an attached USB HD and also not from the network.

Perhaps I need more information about squeezebox software first to understand how things work.

Peter
 
Intel D2500CCE Dual Core Atom D2500 Mini-ITX Motherboard | Cedarview

I am considering this motherboard for a dedicated Daphile computer. Should be powerful enough for Daphile. It is a fanless motherboard with a 24 pin ATX power connector. The advantage is that I can use multiple linear power supplies to power the board, thus avoiding switching power supplies. Single 12V powered boards generate onboard the required additional voltages (3.3V and 5V).
Any recommendations or other options to consider?

Peter
 
I just wanted to note that using a linear PSU on any x86 motherboard by no means avoids the switching PSUs. The CPU is powered by under 2 volts with many amps, no reasonable linear PSU can handle that, hence the integrated onboard SMSPs.

Even most low-power routers/embedded boards have a built-in SMPS. Perhaps this ancient guy Výsledky obrázk? Google pro http://www.ixbt.com/comm/wireless/asus-wl-500b/inside.jpg does not have any.