• Welcome to ASR. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Absolute Silence - Server Build & Turemetal UP10 Case Review

It has been longer than I planned, but I have been dealing with an unexpectedly leaking (flat) roof, and all the decisions you then suddenly have to make like what roofing material, how much additional insulation is possible etc. However, yesterday I thought of a little experiment to more precisely locate the problem with stuttering audio from the NUC: try the internal DAC instead of the external ODAC. The result is that I no longer have any stuttering of the sound. I had hoped that the internal DAC would be good enough, and it is for video conferencing etc, but I think it is quite clearly sonically inferior to the ODAC for music. Anyway, I now know it has something to do with the driver used by Windows for the the ODAC. My next step will be to try a Behringer UCA 202 USB DAC that I still have lying around.
 
@Willem Have you tried switching to different USB ports on the MB? Also a possibility (depending on external storage needs) of disabling USB 3.0 entirely (driver uninstall) and just running on the USB 2.0 ports? Tried using an ASIO driver instead of the default Windows audio driver?

Since it's a NUC, your options for USB are already limited - however, depending on NUC model, there are usually both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 interfaces (and if it's a newer model, then there might also be TB/USB 3.2). Although the throughput is meaningless in this case, the latency should be greatly reduced as those interfaces have a more direct path to the CPU usually. Again depending on model there are often also USB 2.0 headers on the board itself... although making use of them will either require leaving the NUC partially dissasembled or moving to a different case like the HDPlex with NUC adapter (which is an expensive solution). One of my 7th-gen NUCs is in this case - and it's nice to have the extra IO slot - the full passive setup is just a nice side benefit.
 
catbb67 said:
Very Nice! I have been looking into building based on this dp2 case with Ryzen CPU. Can you list the seller and the parts list you built with (min board, power supply, et.) ? Much appreciated.
Click to expand...

I’m running Roon Rock on a M.2 drive, while my library is on a 2.5’ SSD.

Some of the stuff is discontinued or sellers do not have them in stock. You can search to find other sellers or similar replacements, shouldn’t be an issue.
I will put the seller link if still available.

1. Turemetal DP2 Fanless Case
Bought from AliExpress Turemetal Globsl store for $260 usd. Comes with both metal and transparent glass top. The seller shows to be on vacation on AliExpress.

2. ASUS ROG STRIX B360-I GAMING LGA1151 (300 Series) DDR4 DP HDMI M.2 mini-ITX Motherboard.
https://rog.asus.com/us/motherboards/rog-strix/rog-strix-b360-i-gaming-model/

3. Intel Core I3-8100. You do not want anything above 65 watts.
https://www.newegg.com/core-i3-8th-...C-New-Order-Confirmation-USA-_-9SIA12KAGC0759

4. Corsair Vengeance LPX 16gb (2x 8gb) DDR4 ram kit.
https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Memory/VENGEANCE®-LPX-16GB-(2-x-8GB)-DDR4-DRAM-2400MHz-C14-Memory-Kit---Red/p/CMK16GX4M2A2400C14R?utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=shopping&utm_term="keyword"&utm_content=corsair&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-siOgIT48AIVXz2tBh14vQjiEAQYASABEgIt_vD_BwE

5. RGEEEK 1106 DC to DC ATX psu 12V 300w. Has really nice LED lights.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071P3HMN...abc_9VEEM5TXV2KWYP2TVENF?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

6. M.2 SSD. Any m.2 ssd drive 64gb or higher will do. These do get hot, so I use small heat sinks right on top of the m.2 drive.

7. Crucial mx500 250gb 3D NAND SATA for the library. $49 on Amazon
Crucial MX500 250GB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 Inch Internal SSD, up to 560MB/s - CT250MX500SSD1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0781VSXB...abc_6PWT8QRBCX6P35G762M7?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
 
My workstation is a M1 Mac mini and the fan never comes on with 2TB of external storage on Thunderbolt. It beats the snot out of most Windows machines now that you can run VMs on it. Roon Core and Adobe Creative Suite and 20+ tabs in Chrome + assorted other apps are about 15% CPU load. It's insane. And silent.

10 years ago the main rig was a Windows 7 HTPC in a water cooled Silverstone case that looked like a huge class AB amp with a CD tray that popped out of it's beautiful ¼" aluminum front with 32GB of RAM and 6TB of glorious internal spinning HDs that ruined the silence of it all from 4 feet away lol.

Your build is extra beautiful though and serves the purpose above and beyond considering the climate and cat! My needs are considerably less.
 
DWPress said:
My workstation is a M1 Mac mini and the fan never comes on with 2TB of external storage on Thunderbolt. It beats the snot out of most Windows machines now that you can run VMs on it. Roon Core and Adobe Creative Suite and 20+ tabs in Chrome + assorted other apps are about 15% CPU load. It's insane. And silent.

10 years ago the main rig was a Windows 7 HTPC in a water cooled Silverstone case that looked like a huge class AB amp with a CD tray that popped out of it's beautiful ¼" aluminum front with 32GB of RAM and 6TB of glorious internal spinning HDs that ruined the silence of it all from 4 feet away lol.

Your build is extra beautiful though and serves the purpose above and beyond considering the climate and cat! My needs are considerably less.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Yeah that M1 is truly amazing... I admit to being extremely skeptical when they first announced it. I've been so regularly disappointed by them in almost every way (for 40ish years actually) - so something that hits above it's "pay grade" is truly unexpected. I can't wait to see what the upcoming 20 & 40-core chips can do. :)
 
gags11 said:
I’m running Roon Rock on a M.2 drive, while my library is on a 2.5’ SSD.

Some of the stuff is discontinued or sellers do not have them in stock. You can search to find other sellers or similar replacements, shouldn’t be an issue.
I will put the seller link if still available.

1. Turemetal DP2 Fanless Case
Bought from AliExpress Turemetal Globsl store for $260 usd. Comes with both metal and transparent glass top. The seller shows to be on vacation on AliExpress.

2. ASUS ROG STRIX B360-I GAMING LGA1151 (300 Series) DDR4 DP HDMI M.2 mini-ITX Motherboard.
https://rog.asus.com/us/motherboards/rog-strix/rog-strix-b360-i-gaming-model/

3. Intel Core I3-8100. You do not want anything above 65 watts.
https://www.newegg.com/core-i3-8th-...C-New-Order-Confirmation-USA-_-9SIA12KAGC0759

4. Corsair Vengeance LPX 16gb (2x 8gb) DDR4 ram kit.
https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Memory/VENGEANCE®-LPX-16GB-(2-x-8GB)-DDR4-DRAM-2400MHz-C14-Memory-Kit---Red/p/CMK16GX4M2A2400C14R?utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=shopping&utm_term="keyword"&utm_content=corsair&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-siOgIT48AIVXz2tBh14vQjiEAQYASABEgIt_vD_BwE

5. RGEEEK 1106 DC to DC ATX psu 12V 300w. Has really nice LED lights.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071P3HMN...abc_9VEEM5TXV2KWYP2TVENF?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

6. M.2 SSD. Any m.2 ssd drive 64gb or higher will do. These do get hot, so I use small heat sinks right on top of the m.2 drive.

7. Crucial mx500 250gb 3D NAND SATA for the library. $49 on Amazon
Crucial MX500 250GB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 Inch Internal SSD, up to 560MB/s - CT250MX500SSD1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0781VSXB...abc_6PWT8QRBCX6P35G762M7?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
Click to expand...

Many many thanks for the detail listing! The case has not been sold at AliEpress for some time. I have been monitoring. The only place that sells it now is TaoBao. Did your case come with the A/C adapter and the power supply? I looked at Fanlesspro.com and looks like the A/C adapter and the power supply come separately. I also looked at fullysilentpc.com. They sell the complete system at a steep premium.
I like the dp2 case better than the Akasa Turing since the it can handle update to 65W. If I go the Akasa rout, I prefer the Akasa Turing A50 with Asus PN50 running Ryzen. I don't plan to run Rock, just Roon server as I have other functions for the PC also, so I don't have to get NUC to ensure long term compatibility of Rock.
 
catbb67 said:
Many many thanks for the detail listing! The case has not been sold at AliEpress for some time. I have been monitoring. The only place that sells it now is TaoBao. Did your case come with the A/C adapter and the power supply? I looked at Fanlesspro.com and looks like the A/C adapter and the power supply come separately. I also looked at fullysilentpc.com. They sell the complete system at a steep premium.
I like the dp2 case better than the Akasa Turing since the it can handle update to 65W. If I go the Akasa rout, I prefer the Akasa Turing A50 with Asus PN50 running Ryzen. I don't plan to run Rock, just Roon server as I have other functions for the PC also, so I don't have to get NUC to ensure long term compatibility of Rock.
Click to expand...

My Turdmetal DP2 case did not come with the AC adapter. I got this 96watt power supply on Amazon

SHNITPWR 12V DC Power Supply 8A 96W AC to DC Converter Adapter Transformer LED https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RNW831...abc_EWDPYT42FTXTGAFAJ1X4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Of note, I have run Roon Rock on various non-Nuc DIY built PCs for the last 4 years. Never had any compatibility or reliability issues. “You have to run NUC to ensure reliability and compatibility” is a myth, imho.
 
gags11 said:
My Turdmetal DP2 case did not come with the AC adapter. I got this 96watt power supply on Amazon

SHNITPWR 12V DC Power Supply 8A 96W AC to DC Converter Adapter Transformer LED https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RNW831...abc_EWDPYT42FTXTGAFAJ1X4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Of note, I have run Roon Rock on various non-Nuc DIY built PCs for the last 4 years. Never had any compatibility or reliability issues. “You have to run NUC to ensure reliability and compatibility” is a myth, imho.
Click to expand...
Thanks again! Hopefully the case will be available again at AliExpress soon. I have some good experience with Ali sellers. I don't know much about TaoBao.
For now, the 12-year-old Mini is still chugging along OK with both Roon and Audrivana running on it.
 
Willem said:
Anyway, I now know it has something to do with the driver used by Windows for the the ODAC. My next step will be to try a Behringer UCA 202 USB DAC that I still have lying around.
Click to expand...
In the end I opted for the lazy solution, and used the NUC's internal DAC. That worked fine until the NUC motherboard died, and the replacement's motherboard audio provided no analogue signal (there are reports that it does not have an internal DAC due to chip shortages). Anyway, I therefore connected the Behringer UCA202 external DAC, without any issues. I wondered if the ODAC had been faulty, so I connected it to my wife's older computer, and it worked just fine. So somehow, somewhere, there is an issue with the ODAC driver on my modern Windows machine. Of course, I could just continue to use the Behringer DAC, but even though there are no obvious sonic issues, it does not measure very well, and the rest of this system probably deserves something better (Quad 405-2 amplifier and Harbeth P3ESR speakers).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

kemmler3D
Easy underclock / fan RPM switcher for Windows 11?
Replies
12
Views
839
popej
popej
michihito
DIY GPU DSP/DDC Box - Looking for opinions
Replies
19
Views
2K
michihito
michihito
FrenchFan
GEMINI AI: Practical Case Study of Generating an "Octave" GUI
Replies
3
Views
361
FrenchFan
FrenchFan
S
Onkyo RZ50 doesn't see my media server drive
Replies
0
Views
228
Sounderista
S
aamwgm
Building a home music server: looking for feedback
2
Replies
21
Views
2K
Moises
Moises
Back
Top Bottom