Ron Wagstaff
Member
Hi. This is my first post after many months of browsing.
All my surround music is stored on my NAS and I'm using an old i7 Toshiba laptop with a broken screen as my music server. I have read that a dedicated music server could be built and that it would sound much better. So I am considering this.
One suggestion is to use a fan-less case and that would definitely be an improvement because the fans do fire up from time to time.
I'm told that the i7 processor is overkill but I do like the zip it gives me.
It seems most music servers use external DACs but that doesn't appear a practical possibility for surround sound. I am connecting to my aged Sony STR-DA5300ES receiver using HDMI and relying on the built in DAC. Could I do better?
Another suggestion is to use a linear power supply. My laptop is permanently connected to the supplied step-up charger but ultimately it is running from the battery (DC). Should I change this?
Other updates would include swapping Windows 10 to Windows Server, using a M.2 hard drive and using ECC grade memory. Would any of these suggestion help?
Or would I do as well just making a few incremental changes to the Toshiba?
All my surround music is stored on my NAS and I'm using an old i7 Toshiba laptop with a broken screen as my music server. I have read that a dedicated music server could be built and that it would sound much better. So I am considering this.
One suggestion is to use a fan-less case and that would definitely be an improvement because the fans do fire up from time to time.
I'm told that the i7 processor is overkill but I do like the zip it gives me.
It seems most music servers use external DACs but that doesn't appear a practical possibility for surround sound. I am connecting to my aged Sony STR-DA5300ES receiver using HDMI and relying on the built in DAC. Could I do better?
Another suggestion is to use a linear power supply. My laptop is permanently connected to the supplied step-up charger but ultimately it is running from the battery (DC). Should I change this?
Other updates would include swapping Windows 10 to Windows Server, using a M.2 hard drive and using ECC grade memory. Would any of these suggestion help?
Or would I do as well just making a few incremental changes to the Toshiba?