Making a streamer with Intel Nuc/how

[somebodyelse]

You think a 2.5" HDD will be noisier than the blower fan in the NUC?

The fan in my Acer Revo is a little noisy up close, but is inaudible at listening distance.

I have an old Atom330/Ion based machine doing PVR and squeezelite duties. I replaced the original small, noisy fan with a quiet 60mm one on a reduced speed. The fan and 2.5" HDD are quiet, and what noise they make is broadband, so I can't pick out a noise source when it's running. However when it powers on or off the change in background noise level is clearly audible. It's not enough to make me do anything about it for now, but its eventual replacement will definitely be fanless and SSD. If I sat further away from it, or it lived in a cupboard, things might be different.

My experience with blowers like that one, particularly if they're temperature controlled, is that they aren't a broadband noise so they're more readily identifiable, and the change in noise as the fan speed ramps up and down is particularly irritating. The same applies to axial fans spinning at higher speeds.

 

[Puska]

Guys, he is already confused so adding noice to the coments will get him more confused.

 

[Bliman]

I hadn't expected it to be this troublesome. I thought there would be some consensus here. But it seems not to be the case.
I also find it weird that there is so little information on the internet and here to just create an audio streamer.
So now I must search for a fanless micro pc I think. Or have some solution with a Nas.
With so many conflicting things here, I am pretty confused. Of course, I don't want any noise when listening to music.
Searching continues.

 

[Apesbrain]

You were absolutely on a workable track with your previous post. Get a fanless NUC and put a 2TB laptop drive in it. Install Daphile. You need a monitor, mouse, and keyboard only for the initial setup. Once set up, move the NUC to a location where it can be connected to your DAC. You'll be able to copy your existing library of music files - and future CD rips - to the NUC over your network. Use a phone or tablet or PC browser to control.

If this is too complicated, get a Bluesound Vault.

 

[Zek]

I must search for a fanless micro pc

https://quietpc.co.uk/sys-ultranuc-pro-8-fanless?product=5867

 

[Apesbrain]

Even easier, the fanless NUC below comes pre-installed with Win 10 Pro. Just install Logitech Media Server and Squeezelite-X (both easily available and free) and you'll have the same functionality and remote control capability as Daphile:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07W5LH4PX

 

[Zek]

@Bliman You can look for a used Mini Mac Late 2012, where you can upgrade memory or hard drive.

 

[Puska]

@Bliman You can look for a used Mini Mac Late 2012, where you can upgrade memory or hard drive.

Noice

 

[Bliman]

I can find a fanless Micro pc.
These are the specs
Onboard - Intel Core i3-7100U (2x 2.40 GHz)
Kingston HyperX Impact 8GB DDR4 SO-DIMM CL15
2TB SATA3 2.5" HDD
Price 590€
or
Onboard - Intel Celeron 4205U (2x 1.80 GHz)
Kingston HyperX Impact 8GB DDR4 SO-DIMM CL15
2TB SATA3 2.5" HDD
Price 391€
The biggest problem I see is the SATA HDD that spins at 5400 rpm. I have no clue if they are loud or silent.
I could go for SSD but that increases the price 300-400€ and that is pretty steep.
What are the thoughts about that?

 

[Zek]

Noice

No noise, everything is quiet at 50cm distance (with standard 500GB HDD).

 

[Bliman]

I sit around 2m-3m from my equipment.

 

[WesParker]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TYLRPNP/ref=psdc_13896591011_t5_B07W5LH4PX?th=1

Fanless and you can add a SSD or SD card only $129.

Not sure how much music you are planning on storing. You are right, the price will start going up considerably if you want access to 100s of GBs of files.

 

[Daverz]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TYLRPNP/ref=psdc_13896591011_t5_B07W5LH4PX?th=1

Fanless and you can add a SSD or SD card only $129.

Not sure how much music you are planning on storing. You are right, the price will start going up considerably if you want access to 100s of GBs of files.

What I like about my solution of using a server machine tucked away in my loft is that 4 TB SATA HDDs are $80. I've got two 4TB drives in there now, along with the stock 1 TB drive, with space for 1 more.

 

[Bliman]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TYLRPNP/ref=psdc_13896591011_t5_B07W5LH4PX?th=1

Fanless and you can add a SSD or SD card only $129.

Not sure how much music you are planning on storing. You are right, the price will start going up considerably if you want access to 100s of GBs of files.

I would like to store all my music on it and buying digital going forward. I find less and less cd's in my genre (I listen to everything but also obscure stuff from boomkat and such), I would also maybe buy Tidal afterwards.
I would like an opinion of my options above?
And also if you would hear a 5400rpm HDD? The most afraid I am is that I would have to little storage with 2TB. And that I cannot make it larger. Maybe with an external hdd. It seems like streaming and storing music on hdd is not very popular here. And there is not a really popular way to do it.
This surprises me a bit.

 

[captain paranoia]

I hadn't expected it to be this troublesome. I thought there would be some consensus here

There's no consensus because there are literally dozens of ways of doing what you are asking.

My approach:

A desktop PC for ripping.

A NAS for centralised storage (your router may provide this function with a USB HDD).

Multiple devices accessing the NAS as both file server and media server (MediaMonkey and MusicBee on PCs, accessing the NAS file server, BubbleUPnP on Android, accessing the NAS DLNA media server), playing to local devices (internal sound card, SPDIF, or USB) and remote DLNA renderers. MediaMonkey and MusicBee both run happily on Atom processors. Both will provide a DLNA media server. Both will access local storage or network storage.

Numerous renderer devices, able to receive a DLNA stream (including BubbleUPnP on Android media boxes, outputting to USB DACs or SPDIF).

Volumio (free) on RPi (cheap, small, silent), accessing the NAS file server, and providing a web page user interface to control its own playback renderer, or act as a DLNA renderer. Volumio will also access a locally-connected USB HDD, but you would need to transfer files from the ripping pc to that HDD.

 

[somebodyelse]

Can anyone who's using daphile confirm my vague memory that there's an option to cache the playlist to RAM and spin down the HDD? If that's the case then the HDD becomes a non-issue because it won't be running while you're listening.

 

[Daverz]

I would like to store all my music on it and buying digital going forward. I find less and less cd's in my genre (I listen to everything but also obscure stuff from boomkat and such), I would also maybe buy Tidal afterwards.
I would like an opinion of my options above?
And also if you would hear a 5400rpm HDD?

This is only an issue if the storage will be in the listening room. There's no reason storage needs to be in the listening room. You could add storage to the PC you already have, or hook a NAS to your router. You can use whatever is most cost effective (right now SSDs are not as cost-effective as HDDs).

If you add the storage to the PC, the PC needs to be turned on before listening, on all the time, or set up for Wake-On-LAN. A NAS would usually be left on all the time.

If you want something cheap and easy to start out with, I'd still recommend a Pi4. Start out with running something like Volumio on the Pi4. Set up the Pi4/Volumio to run wirelessly, hook it up with USB to your DAC, and point Volumio at the music folder on your PC. Once you get things working, adding more storage on the network is easy.

https://volumio.org/

 

[Bliman]

Thanks again for helping all.
So if I take any of the two fanless solutions of mine (above). Take the cheapest. And I would get rid of 2 TB HDD and switch it for a 120 GB SSD. And then a NAS like this onehttps://www.amazon.de/dp/B01BIGSSHQ...B+WD+My+Cloud+EX2+Ultra&qid=1581986443&sr=8-3 connected to my router downstairs and then I am good to go?
Would I have maximum audio quality if the audio is sent wirelessly upstairs? Don't I lose quality in regard to a cd player? Because it would be my main source then.

 

[Daverz]

Thanks again for helping all.
So if I take any of the two fanless solutions of mine (above). Take the cheapest. And I would get rid of 2 TB HDD and switch it for a 120 GB SSD. And then a NAS like this onehttps://www.amazon.de/dp/B01BIGSSHQ/ref=sr_1_3?__mk_nl_NL=ÅMÅŽÕÑ&keywords=4TB+WD+My+Cloud+EX2+Ultra&qid=1581986443&sr=8-3 connected to my router downstairs and then I am good to go?
Would I have maximum audio quality if the audio is sent wirelessly upstairs? Don't I lose quality in regard to a cd player? Because it would be my main source then.

I've streamed 352.8 kHz stereo files over my wireless network without problems. 5 channel hi-res might be an issue.

No, you do not lose quality over a CD player.

 

[somebodyelse]

If you're going the NAS route check which media servers you can run on them. The WD you linked runs the Twonkymedia UPnP/DLNA server, but you can't easily install others on it. Synology and some others will let you install other media servers easily (point and click), including Logitech Media Server (LMS). Depending on your taste in music the slight gaps between tracks that most UPnP/DLNA systems end up with may or may not bother you. We're probably heading back to 'too many options' again - sorry.

You can then save some cash by using a Pi instead of the PC. Installation of PiCoreplayer and Volumio are quite well documented, Moode less so, and I don't know about Rune. There are others. My choice would be LMS and PiCorePlayer, but with this hardware choice if you don't like the software you can easily switch to an alternative without having to spend extra. You could even set them up on different SD cards and swap between them.

I've also streamed 352.8 kHz stereo files over my wireless network without problems.