Jplay

[Antoine]

The thing is many of us on here simply don't have the knowledge and/or confidence to build our own PCs. That's why we outsource to someone like Vincent Brient at totaldac!

I completely respect this Guillaume. Apologies to anyone who feels I come across as a pushing DIY fanatic! This is not my intention, all I like to do is share knowledge and personal experiences. What anyone does with that is fine with me. Sometimes I forget I grew up with computers from a young age and had an interest in them as well and this of course isn't the case for everybody.

What is attractive about the totaldac solution is the combination of streamer and reclocker and also the attention to detail in the way that it's built. For example he has removed the LED on the ethernet port! Even his ethernet cable is so good it's replaced my AQ Diamond at the streamer end. This guy really knows what he's doing.

I have no doubt your computer sounds fantastic by the way! It might even be better that the d1 server, who knows?

Guillaume

PS I read on some of the other forums that the totaldac USB cable pretty much beats a lot of the competition. It has a network box that filters the cable of noise.

I'm quite sure Vincent Brient knows what he's doing. Funny BTW, I read about more designs that disable the ethernet LED's, of course all that blinking causes some noise. I already looked into disabling them as well but they are hardwired in to the hardware so no software driven way to switch them off. And I'd rather not hack and saw into my mainboard.

I have read nothing but rave reviews/experiences about the TotalDac USB cable, it's price is certainly reasonable as well. Since I learned a few days ago I don't really need a dual head USB cable I'd like to try it myself as well and will probably do soon too.

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From there it's set and forget,

Well, that is where my experience differs. My Jriver installation tends to crash. I've had this with 18, 19 and now 20. I updated W2012 R2 drivers this summer and that reduced crashing by maybe 75%, but I still get crashes. With JPlay it is even worse.
I don't mind working with computers, but I am more on Gillaume's side when it comes to usability and stability. I could maybe tolerate a few crashes a month for my self, but if a crash happens when my wife plays music and I am at work it's trouble!

Sorry to hear that, and again I respect everyone's opinion.

I have been using JRiver since late v18, then v19, and now version 20 and I am completely honest when I say it has never crashed here, not once. The same goes for JPlay, but I have only recently started using that.

So it can be stable but of course it's important to use good, high quality computer parts. Also I have disabled any- and everything in JRiver that I don't need for music playback.