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I have always been impulsive!

Sometimes this brings me a lot of pleasure...
Sometimes it gets me into trouble...
Sometimes it gives me post wallet-emptying stress!

I am sort-of at the latter point now, wondering if I have wasted money and time trying to make sense of this new hobby and achieve the best I can afford.

So, looking for help here!

You guys already know by other posts I have made, that my system is made up of:

Dev 400 (upgraded from D200)
Triangle Deltas (much better now after run-in than I originally expected)
Old Dell XPS 12 laptop running W10 + JRiver Core (tried Roon but didn't like it functionally), connected to Dev via:
USB cable nothing special + ReGen
NAS for serving files (QNAP TS-453 mini) via ethernet home network
Sony Android JRiver App for controlling Dell MS via wifi
Dell XPS PC desktop with JRiver Client for occasional use for ripping & setting up Playlists etc.

This has work 'OK' for me, but I kept thinking I could do better in respect to SQ, so like a rabbit with a death-wish choosing a hole to bolt down, I glanced over the many of the Audiophile sites including this one, and picked a route that looked enticing and leapt down it!

So, as the Xmas period advanced I tossed caution to the wind, and acquired the following with a kind of manic enthusiasm that you only see from a 4 year old placed in front of a xmas tree full of presents:

HD-Plex H5 fanless chassis & internal PSU - HD-Plex external Linear PS
Gigabyte Z97 Mobo - Xeon CPU - JCat USB Card - JCAT Twin USB cable - Samsung 250mb SSD - PPA SATA black (didn't work, so sending me SATA III Red) - Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials - Audiophile Optimizer.

My idea was to build a better Music server than the old XPS laptop, and probably ditch the Regen if not needed, run JRIVER core server on this, and use my work beast PC to fiddle around with ripping and setting up playlists etc using JRiver as a client. Then use my Sony Tablet app as a controller.

Reading all the stuff in the AO documentation there is mention of a 1 or 2PC setup, and a lot about JPlay etc so am I missing a trick?

In addition, it mentions running two separate networks, essentially isolating the home one form the music one. I note that the QNAP NAS has two ethernet ports so could support bridging I think. Soemeone also mentiond Fibre ethernet!!!!! - Oh my head hurts!

It does seems to make sense to me that the NAS has a dedicate Ethernet port to serve the files to the MServer? Right or wrong?

Should I be looking at JPlay etc?

All very confusing for an old man like me...

So, looking at all the equipment I have strewn about the house now, I am just looking for the optimal configuration to get the best of what I can play with, before doing the final setup on the MServer (or not!)

Have I wasted my meagre pennies? Go on, be brutal!

Thoughts would be appreciated.... I will go and lie down now....

Keith
Hi Keith,

FWIW I think you have built a great music server using a lot of parts I myself have used/would have used as well. Smile

The dual PC setup is related to JPlay. It's a mode the JPlay software can run in and in which you have a 'control PC' that controls music playback, runs the GUI software, performs conversions/upsampling if necessary etc. and the 'music PC' which is run in 'hibernate mode' which is a mode in which all and everything is shut down except the things needed to playback the stream sent to it from the control PC. Since networking services on the music PC are also shut down for the most part it's advised to use a separate and direct network link from the control PC to the music PC. Since the control PC needs to remain a part of the network for things like NAS access/remote control etc. they advise a second network interface in the control PC used only for the connection to the music PC. So this dual PC setup is not meant for a single PC+NAS setup but two PC's both running JPlay. Although one could of course also use a NAS in addition to those two PC's.

To provide the highest level of (electrical) isolation some people use fiber optic based networking here. It's not mandatory of course but effective in keeping RFI/EMI interference from the network cables out and preventing another possible ground loop. (I myself have also employed fiber optic networking for additional isolation of the music server which is connected to my D250 using USB).

I use JPlay in a single PC setup but as you seem to like JRiver it's important to know that JRiver has (IMO unethically) sabotaged JRiver to prevent JPlay working with it. JRiver deliberately filters out the JPlay ASIO driver from the list of ASIO drivers you can select in JRiver. There are workarounds available to circumvent this idiotic measure but they require one to use a patched JRiver version and registry hacks that rename the JPlay ASIO driver. You can read all about it on the JPlay forum. Since Jriver did this I detest the company and I'm hoping Roon and other competitors will soon wipe their buggy and obsolete 20th century software from the face of the earth. Big Grin Since they've failed to integrate any and all streaming services I'm quite sure less and less people will keep using the product. The best thing of JRiver for me always was JRemote on an iPad for remote control. It's sound quality is nothing but average.

Seeing and understanding your confusion I think it may help to focus on one thing at a time. Start with a stable basis (single PC with the software and remote control you like) and build/expand from there (like dual PC or HQPlayer NAA, optical networking, USB optimization etc. etc.). It's anything but a 'turn key solution' and there's a steep learning curve but you're infinitely flexible in creating and changing to the exact solution you want/need. It also allows you to stay current in a field that's changing so quickly. This is all impossible/limited using the expensive turn-key solutions companies like Aurender offer.
excellent explanation Pim, very interesting, specially with the fiber Ethernet
Thanks Guys,

Certainly a bit of a dilemma.
I started out using JRiver, then tried Roon, but for some reasons I could not get on with the Roon interface. I found JRiver far more flexible, and... call me a philistine but I did like the equaliser options (being a 70's twenty-something), and Jriver just sort of 'Jelled' with me. However, now this new Music server is making me re-evaluate the options I have. It seems for many that JPlay is somewhat better from a playback POV, but:

1. what about the Interface options (Remote?) for JPlay. I like to create playback lists to suite my mood rather than picking individual tracks (Ok - sometimes I do) - remember I do have two Dell laptops floating araound that I spose I could employ as either a remote or control?

If I went the Jplay route (single server), what is the best config and how best to connect the library on the NAS? The QNAP has two ethernet ports as mentioned. At the moment I have the NAS in a different room, but probably better local to the new music server directly connected rather than through a switch.

Rushing to go watch Beowulf on'telly... back shortly.... (Oh I am such a KID!) Wink
(08-Jan-2016, 22:13)tyefighter Wrote: [ -> ]excellent explanation Pim, very interesting, specially with the fiber Ethernet

Uhh, you're welcome??? I think we'll just have to give the credit to Antoine though  Smile
(11-Jan-2016, 06:11)Pim van Vliet Wrote: [ -> ]
(08-Jan-2016, 22:13)tyefighter Wrote: [ -> ]excellent explanation Pim, very interesting, specially with the fiber Ethernet

Uhh, you're welcome??? I think we'll just have to give the credit to Antoine though  Smile

LOL I don't have a clue what I was thinking there ...Yes thank you Antoine Big Grin
Hi there,

may I jump in with a question. I've just recently experienced a BIG improvement in SQ with Jplay and Fidelizer by installing/listening to Jplay first and then Fidelizer as an "adon".
Now I've come across Audiophile Optimizer. Thinking that AO ist the most complex/best(?) of the three, doesn't it make the other obsolete?
What is your experience with first having a WS2012-System with AO and then adding Jplay and perhaps Fidelizer?
How is SQ further improving with each step of adding the other programs?

gui
Just get roon and tidal .. use roon to send to any device (bit perfect) that appears as a player in your system ..it is an amazing ui .. 14 day free trial ..try it

An old laptop , closed , can run the roon server .. and all you need is a decent tablet to control it all
@Rodney Gold
Thanx for the advice, but I think we are on totally different listening paths. For me closest-to-real-hearing-music comes first. I've worked half my life with highend components and I know from most customers that convenience comes first for them, but not for me. My thrill is to come as close as possible to the true sound and friends call me nuts because of that. To get me right I sure appreciate comfort when listening and surfing my (yet big) musiclibrary. I know of the problems one has to manage such a big musiclibrary but that has to come second.
I think I have to open a new thread to ask my question again. Thanx anyway.

gui