Expensive SSDs are not required for CMP2. It plays from RAM. Applications like XXHE shutdown the HDD during playback. I implemented all this on my Linux setup three years back. (See my Linux Audio thread over here)
However , as a matter of fact it is true that the SSDs means a lower load (physical and logical) to the system and do cause sound improvements over HDDs on a normal system. The problem is that you can not put your entire collection on that SSD.
You'd need to stick to an external powered HDD in any case.
Of course it is very convenient to work with a SSD in a normal working environment. I'll never work from a HDD again.
Trying to get the PC under control is a never ending story though. I am doing this for more then 3 years now. It never gets finished. I think doing stuff like CMP2 is a waste of time and money.
You can run a FPGA solution with a 3.3V battery. It is completely nonsense to try to strip down a full blown PC to get exactly there. You'll never manage.
With a little tweaking you can make a Squeezebox receiver (I2S out) outperfom any PC source. And you'll save tons of money and time by doing so.
( I won't start a SD-card player discussion over here
Because that's a complete different story)
I think the benefit of a PC is the easy way to use! Who is able to program FPGAs or µC? With an amount of 300 $ you can get a nice sounding system with a big display. You can rip your CD directly from this device and you can change software with ease.
I have just tried cmp+cplay on an (8 yrs) old Dell notebook and the sound is very promising. No crackles and drop outs with this software! But the GUI is hell. There could be done a lot to get a perfect audio system. The sound is almost very good, hopefully cics will improve the GUI.
I have just tried cmp+cplay on an (8 yrs) old Dell notebook and the sound is very promising. No crackles and drop outs with this software! But the GUI is hell. There could be done a lot to get a perfect audio system. The sound is almost very good, hopefully cics will improve the GUI.
Thomas.
I am not saying that a PC is the absolutely wrong thing to go for. There are many applications where a PC can be used as a very good audio transport.
And a lot of the things Cics figured out on the HW side are valid. ( This actually only shows how bad a basic PC really performs as audio source)
Though on the SW side I get much better results on my Linux setup. ( That's been tested and verified)
My earlier made statement refers to my serious quest for best sound from a PC since more the 3.5 years and the conclusion I took from this.
I am saying that I could tweak a PC (HW and SW) to death and spent 100h and 500$ on tweaking a device that will never achieve the level of a slightly tweaked ( PS and clock)
Squeezebox (FPGA) which on top supplies the DIY option for I2S out.
If you go for I2S out you just need to supply the box 1.2V/3.3V from a battery.
Beside that I control that box by a very advanced control ( iPeng for Ipod/iPhone)
and enjoy an extremely fast database and Internet radio.
On the Squeezeboxserver I can do almost any signal processing to keep these tasks away from the transport.
My entire family can use this easily. Cmp will for sure be exclusive to you.
However, I think the majority of people just now discovers the PC as rather serious source.
(I consider myself 3.5 years ahead of them ... and I went very deep down in the OS during that time)
Consider my statements as advise. Before you start buying weired PC parts, expensive soundcards ( incl. external devices at any price level) - which all need to be tweaked as well - think about all that.
(Meanwhile a couple of friends of mine are having an electronic CMP junkyard and tweaked idle sitting Juli's etc. at a home.
)Good luck
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just loaded up Cplay today
I just loaded up cPlay on my desktop computer, playing via a RME Hammerfall card into a modified Behringer DEQ and alternately via a RME ADI8DS DAC section.
The modified Behringer DEQ (SPDIF) sounds better than the RME (ADAT)
Without having made any measurements etc, can verify that cPlay sounds better than both Foobar and Media Monkey in my system. I can live with a poor GUI in exchange for the improvements I have just realized.
Next step is to build a dedicated playback box...
I just loaded up cPlay on my desktop computer, playing via a RME Hammerfall card into a modified Behringer DEQ and alternately via a RME ADI8DS DAC section.
The modified Behringer DEQ (SPDIF) sounds better than the RME (ADAT)
Without having made any measurements etc, can verify that cPlay sounds better than both Foobar and Media Monkey in my system. I can live with a poor GUI in exchange for the improvements I have just realized.
Next step is to build a dedicated playback box...
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