08-Jan-2016, 11:12
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
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
Fairford UK area - Devialet 440, Aurender Streamer- Linked to QNAP NAS 453mini - Triangle Signature Deltas, Van Damme Professional Blue Series Studio Grade 2 x 4.0 mm cables, Moon Neo 260D DC Transport, Dell notebook Client linked both ethernet & wifi.
