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Questions re hardware requirements for jRiver

MickeyBoy

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I need to update my desktop & thought I would set it up for a basic system. jRiver's list of hardware requirements seem outdated and make little sense to me. I thought it would make sense to store music files in a dedicated m.2 SSD on the motherboard and play them as a bitstream via jRiver to my NAD receiver (bought before Amir's review) through a 12-15 ft hdmi cable. The desktop already has a Blu-Ray drive. I listen 90% to classical CDs and sacd's, with a few dvd's and Blu-Rays sprinkled in. I also have an Oppo 103. jRiver's library management capability is very appetizing.

Q1: Would just about any current processor-motherboard-memory combination be adequate? It seems like 6-core processors and 8GB ram are very attractively priced.
Q2: Does the version of hdmi matter?
Q3: Does it matter if the hdmi feed comes from the motherboard or from a video card?
Q4: Is this a stupid arrangement? Particularly as to future upgrades such as an NAS?

Thanks for all suggestions.
 

Patrick1958

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Any output to an external dac will sound the same. HDMI output to a dac is not supported by any dac, unless you mean I²S. I²S is a internal transport system developed by philips decades ago, now being promoted as being supperior to usb, which is not. All outputs should give the same processor load and sound the same.
 

Kal Rubinson

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Q1: Would just about any current processor-motherboard-memory combination be adequate? It seems like 6-core processors and 8GB ram are very attractively priced.
Q2: Does the version of hdmi matter?
Q3: Does it matter if the hdmi feed comes from the motherboard or from a video card?
Q4: Is this a stupid arrangement? Particularly as to future upgrades such as an NAS?
Thanks for all suggestions.
Q1: Probably.
Q2: Yes, if you are interested in DSD, you need V1.2 or newer and supporting devices.
Q3: No.
Q4: Go NAS now. SSD prices may be down but high resolution files get bulky and you will need the NAS sooner than you think.
 
OP
MickeyBoy

MickeyBoy

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Thanks, Kal, for that boost of confidence. You were a big influence in my transition to multi-channel music. 1080p video is fine for me, but well recorded multi-channel audio is my current interest. My NAD 758-v3 AVR has atmos & dts-x, as well as Dirac, which I thought was going to be adequate. But I read now that Dr Toole and Kevin Voecks prefer Auro-3d for upmixing, even for mono. I have a number of mono historic recordings, so that goal of a satisfactory and stable system keeps receding.

I just finished a little talk on Bach's Christmas Oratorio; the heart of it was a Blu-ray 2018 performance from Leipzig's St Thomas church, site of the original performances of 1734-5. The listeners benefited from the retirement facility's little multi-channel theatre. I was thrilled too.

I doubtless will get an NAS sooner rather than later.

Please keep up your good work for Stereophile & blogs like this one.
 

Hipper

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I don't know how necessary it is to store files on an SSD. When I looked into this six years ago I got the impression that a standard HD was good enough for music files and an SSD would be good for the operating system and JRiver.

I only have around 600 red book CDs worth of music with no HD files so I just have a dedicated PC (based on Computer Audiophiles CAPS suggestions from six years ago) with 120GB SSD and 1TB HD and 16GB of RAM. The processor is a quad core and if I recall, even a dual core was said to have been more then adequate. The connector is USB to a DAC. It's worked well offline with Windows 8 for these last six years.
 

Kal Rubinson

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I don't know how necessary it is to store files on an SSD. When I looked into this six years ago I got the impression that a standard HD was good enough for music files and an SSD would be good for the operating system and JRiver.
I agree but let me add that JRiver offers options to load entire files or entire albums into RAM for playback and that cancels any potential advantage there might be for SSD playback.
The processor is a quad core and if I recall, even a dual core was said to have been more then adequate.
For CD contents, yes.
 
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