Hi,
My ancient PC that I was using to stream music finally gave up the ghost. I am looking to replace it with a low cost mini PC. I play full res using Foobar, and stream Spotify. I am looking for a drop in solution using windows and will use a small 8 inch monitor for navigation. I've seen several options on Amazon under ~ 150 bucks. Does anyone have some recommendations ?
Thanks
My ancient PC that I was using to stream music finally gave up the ghost. I am looking to replace it with a low cost mini PC. I play full res using Foobar, and stream Spotify. I am looking for a drop in solution using windows and will use a small 8 inch monitor for navigation. I've seen several options on Amazon under ~ 150 bucks. Does anyone have some recommendations ?
Thanks
I'm experimenting a RPI4 with different OS's. No dedicated DAC hat so far and it sounds well with on my Sony 5.1 amp. No buzzing, hum or crackles like reported with former boards. The RPI4 with 8GB costs 100€ with the supply. Now I'm looking for a nice case with an LCD or Oled display. Volumio is nice & stable but no Bluetooth unless You pay. Perhaps I'll be settling on picoreplayer since there are many apps for it.
Something I've experienced is the long time for indexing my 4Gb Nas collection, perhaps a PC board would speed this up.
Something I've experienced is the long time for indexing my 4Gb Nas collection, perhaps a PC board would speed this up.
I have had good luck with Zotac CI series computers. Small, reliable, and fanless. The come with integrated WiFi and everything works well.
The CI329 has the Celeron N4100, or you can look at the updated version, the CI341.
These don't quite match your price point of $150, more like $270. If you are good with computers you can get a barebones version of the CI341 for about $180 and put in some discount memory and HDD. Otherwise, go for the CI329 with Windows installed for $270 at Zotac.com:
ZBOX C Series | ZOTAC Store
The CI329 has the Celeron N4100, or you can look at the updated version, the CI341.
These don't quite match your price point of $150, more like $270. If you are good with computers you can get a barebones version of the CI341 for about $180 and put in some discount memory and HDD. Otherwise, go for the CI329 with Windows installed for $270 at Zotac.com:
ZBOX C Series | ZOTAC Store
I third the rPI suggestions - it's definitely the biggest bang for buck computer based playback system. I realize there's some things you just cant do outside of the Windows based system running Foobar - or Daphile on x86 hardware.
I think due to the pandemic, PC prices are at premium levels; seems they want $200 for almost any POS that has Windows, lights up a display and connects to the internet. Fanless (or any other "high end PC" attribute like "touch screen" kicks the value up even further) Methinks the only way to hit your price point is to troll ebay for the best micro desktop and see if you can score something used, but still worthwhile there.
I think due to the pandemic, PC prices are at premium levels; seems they want $200 for almost any POS that has Windows, lights up a display and connects to the internet. Fanless (or any other "high end PC" attribute like "touch screen" kicks the value up even further) Methinks the only way to hit your price point is to troll ebay for the best micro desktop and see if you can score something used, but still worthwhile there.
I picked one of these up for £75.00 ebay fantastic and good hq audio as well
Shuttle Global - XS35V5 SERIES
Shuttle Global - XS35V5 SERIES
Refurbished thin PC clients from a reputable reseller look flawless and will work OK for many many years.
I have very good experience with Fujitsu Futro (e.g. S720, S920) as these have isolation class II power brick causing no ground loops. HP T610/T620 are very nice machines too (but class I power brick only).
I have very good experience with Fujitsu Futro (e.g. S720, S920) as these have isolation class II power brick causing no ground loops. HP T610/T620 are very nice machines too (but class I power brick only).
I would say thin klient as well. I imagine some 15 year old that has been thrown out would be powerfull. Thus no need to spend money.
I also have another suggestion:
Buy old windows tablet with OTG usb (on the go). Then find a good usbdac on audiosciencereview.com. I never used a microsoft tablet or surface, but I imagien its what you didnt know you needed.
Cheers!
I also have another suggestion:
Buy old windows tablet with OTG usb (on the go). Then find a good usbdac on audiosciencereview.com. I never used a microsoft tablet or surface, but I imagien its what you didnt know you needed.
Cheers!
So I ended up putting a system together and I couldn't be happier. Got a fanless mini forum mini computer on sale for 90 bucks on Amazon, built in WiFi and bluetooth, got a bluetooth keyboard, wireless mouse, and a 12" portable, monitor. Total cost about 220 bucks. Booted right up with windows 10 pro preinstalled. Plenty of room left to install some server software and streaming services after I removed the bloatware from memory, still had close to 35gb free space. Pretty impressed, it's faster than the aged pc it replaced and sounds excellent, noticably better than the old one. Nice small and quiet. I definitely would throw another together for another room.
FYI this is a great deal on a mini PC. I own a couple of these and they work well:
https://www.amazon.com/Gemini-Celeron-Processor-2-4GHz-Renewed/dp/B08CXJY7KB/ref=sr_1_32
There is space in the bottom of the unit for a SATA 2.5" laptop drive, which are cheap, if you want to expand storage beyond the 64GB eMMC drive.
https://www.amazon.com/Gemini-Celeron-Processor-2-4GHz-Renewed/dp/B08CXJY7KB/ref=sr_1_32
There is space in the bottom of the unit for a SATA 2.5" laptop drive, which are cheap, if you want to expand storage beyond the 64GB eMMC drive.
I've been using a small 2tb external usb drive with it and Foobar, and music bee for my full res music files, cheap and works great. I got a bunch as backups in case one or more crap out. When ssd gets cheaper I'll try them. Haven't finished evaluating music bee yet, but have been pleased with Foobar for many years.
I have a couple referb'd i5 machines from Microcenter. The most noise they make are the TB mechanical drives that I added, which shut down most of the time, but that is where I put my music, photos and videos. I could have just used a USB stick, ~ 128G. I have one in the car.
Note that they are low profile horizontal boxes which do not support a full size video card. I added ~cheap video cards and later discovered that the integrated video was just as fast (@ Passmark).
I did have some issues with worn USB jacks but fortunately that is one of 4 or 6 ports. Considering that you get a copy of W10 included, you can't beat the price ~$250. Look up the CPU on Passmark. Check the DVD drive is not just a ROM /reader.
One thing about W10 is that it keeps defaulting to crappy Microsoft bloatware. I shut down that MS cloud service "onedrive". You could probably dual boot to Ubuntu and just use W10 when you have to. Gmail doesn't like my old outlook 2007 security, so I have switched to Thunderbird and Office Libre.
I also play music on my phone from a 128G uSD card, but even VLC player on Android is kinda hosed. Anyone know where I can get a music App that works like my old Zune? The main problem seems to be that they assume people do not organise and tag their files, which means the App tries to re-organise your music.
Note that they are low profile horizontal boxes which do not support a full size video card. I added ~cheap video cards and later discovered that the integrated video was just as fast (@ Passmark).
I did have some issues with worn USB jacks but fortunately that is one of 4 or 6 ports. Considering that you get a copy of W10 included, you can't beat the price ~$250. Look up the CPU on Passmark. Check the DVD drive is not just a ROM /reader.
One thing about W10 is that it keeps defaulting to crappy Microsoft bloatware. I shut down that MS cloud service "onedrive". You could probably dual boot to Ubuntu and just use W10 when you have to. Gmail doesn't like my old outlook 2007 security, so I have switched to Thunderbird and Office Libre.
I also play music on my phone from a 128G uSD card, but even VLC player on Android is kinda hosed. Anyone know where I can get a music App that works like my old Zune? The main problem seems to be that they assume people do not organise and tag their files, which means the App tries to re-organise your music.
A late add to this thread: I was a happy user of a Pipo X9 for about five years before it died. PIPO are a China-based manufacturer of cheaper Windows, Android and Linux PCs. I had an X8. They are inexpensive, but also very buggy. The first I bought (c. 2015) I had to return -- all the USB ports did not work. The 2nd one was ok, and survived for those five years. Alas, in 2021 my luck is poor. I bought an X9S and the touch screen was bad. Returned it. I've got a 2nd specimen, this one has (likely) buggy USB ports. Technically it works, but I'm probably going to return it. Here's my thread from April, 2021:
Recommend cheap(er) Win media box?
Recommend cheap(er) Win media box?
Cheap, used HP thin clients are usually available on ebay. Most of the time they are lightly used from business installs.
I have a t610 running Linux Mint and a t630 running ChromeOS.
Lots of information available from Repurposing Thin Clients
I have a t610 running Linux Mint and a t630 running ChromeOS.
Lots of information available from Repurposing Thin Clients