CuBox Project X

[darthsteph]

Yes, the most important part is the reclocker… and if you want to buy the Totaldac reclocker alone, it costs 3950 Euros vs 4990 for the D1 Server including the reclocker… So...

[stuartwoodrandom]

Hi all,

I've got and played with a CuBox running Volumio (which is actually very nice). However, I found when switching the Devialet on / off or even changing the input to and away from USB, it would crash Volumio and I'd have to restart the CuBox. Big issue for me at least so left it at that.

Now running a MacMini with Wibdows 7 and JRiver pulling music from a Synology NAS. Occasional white noise issues but other than that, super stable.

It's a shame as I really like the CuBox solution. Perhaps if there was an AIR driver for Linux, we could bypass the USB and it would be more stable.

Couldn't be to difficult to implement no?

Stuart.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Kunter]

Dear all,

Finally have my Cubox i4Pro connected to the system.

It has MuBox linux installed on a microSD, and I use the MPaD app to control it.

I put some music on a thumb drive, plugged it in one of the USB's. The other USB is connected to D800 via Furutech usb cable. Currently using the standard switcher power supply.

After some fiddling around, I managed to get sound. And the result is very promising. Very good detail, depth, frequency extremes.

This weekend I will try different routes: AIR vs Aries vs Cubox.

However, I am aware that the current solution has easy improvement opportunities.

1. Power supply... I will try to locate linear or battery supplies. Reported elsewhere to bring serious improvements.
2. eSATA disk connection. Using USB disk for music is not recommended. Will not be able to test soon, since I do not have necessary hardware. Hopefully in a couple of weeks.
3. EMI screening... The box is a funny little plastic affair. I will see if things can further be improved.
4. Realtime kernel... Better control of audio hardware.

Overall, I am enjoying what I hear. And if it finally works well, it is an admirable solution. Very cheap, virtually nonexistent physically, no noise, etc.

Cheers.

Kunter

[Confused]

@Kunter - is that it! Remarkable, or do you have really massive hands?

[Kunter]

@Kunter - is that it! Remarkable, or do you have really massive hands?

I have no family relations with Rachmaninoff

it is that small...

More pictures on
http://www.solid-run.com/product/cubox-i4pro/

Compare the size with the ethernet port in the back... funny. really. And when I plug the USB and Ethernet cables, it is so light, that the cables are carrying its weight...It's practically in the air.

Cheers.

[Confused]

I must admit to being fascinated by this one, can something this small, and indeed cheap, be any good? My natural instinct says no. But thinking about it logically, why shouldn't it be as good as any £1000 PC, maybe better as less going on? Keep us updated Kunter!

[Kunter]

Some update on the subject...

Cubox working like a bliss...

I think I even like it par with Air, and so far with the standard switcher power supply and USB thumb drive... Without any big computers around.

The only tweak I could do is to move to a real time kernel (have no idea what it means... http://mubox.voyage.hk/realtime_kernel_cuboxi ) which made a big improvement on the sound.

I also made it work with MinimServer, currently serving through my laptop, and its not easy to find faults.

MPaD is not the best management software, but it works.

Responsiveness is very good. No lags whatsoever.. If you think of it, the computing power inside this little thing is the same as Aries with 4 cores at 1 GHz.

More comments soon...

Cheers.

Kunter

[Kunter]

Hi... A little update...

Cubox is a stunning little device and even on default configuration, sounds great.

Today, I made 2 changes to the system...

1. Acoustic Revive Lan Isolator: Not a must in my opinion, but helps clear out the sound a bit. Does not seem to justify the expense yet. Will further test when I reach my final configuration.

2. Battery power supply: Purchased one external phone charger (something like this: Anker Astro E5 15000mAh Dual USB Portable Charger, but from a local brand, which has the capability to output 2.1 amps from one of its USB connections), modified a USB cable to feed the DC input of the Cubox, and I am in business... good increase in detail, depth and musicality compared to the wall wart. Soundstage more stable.

My setup will finalise once I receive the eSATA enclosure and start feeding music from an SSD. This will take a couple more weeks as I need to receive it from the US. Will report back once everything in place.

So far the bill of materials as follows:
Cubox i4PRO (129 USD plus shipping)
Mubox Voyage (free)
eSATA SSD enclosure (20 USD on Amazon)
SSD (size of your choosing)
2 External battery chargers (40 USD each)
and USB cable to connect to Devialet.

And sounds better than AIR/A+/Diamond

All in all, I am very glad to have tried this. And so far it is THE streamer in my system. MPaD is very easy to use. I can copy music from my laptop using network connection. USB loses connection when powering Devialet off and on, but a simple tap on the MPaD app to refresh audio output reconnects the system.

All I will need is to charge the battery supply (supplies, as finally I will have another charger powering the eSATA enclosure) between listening sessions... not a big deal... One charge of Anker will run the Cubox around 12 hours.

Cheers

Kunter

[Rufus McDufus]

I like the sound of this! I have to admit I'm not so keen on the battery idea, purely as I'd have to remember to actually do something... Also my nice interconnect is S/PDIF and I don't particularly want to buy a USB. I think there are other small boxes out there with coax S/PDIF?

Would you think of trying it with a separate reclocker? I haven't looked into these too much but first one that sprang to my attention was this one: Wyred4Sound Remedy Reclocker. Now that does have S/PDIF out and presumably a cheap cable could be used into it from the PC? Of course prices are starting to mount with add-ons...

[Confused]

I like it too! But it looks like we might all have different ideas with respect to configuration. For me I would want to have the music on an external hard drive, load JRiver (insert iTunes/ Foobar or whatever, as you wish) on the CuBox, connect to the Devialet via Ethernet or USB, operate via iPad. I guess you would still need to mange your music on a PC, but could periodically load onto the hard drive connected to the CuBox. Would this work? Plan B would be use a network / Nas, but I guess this misses the point of a simple / fully isolated system?