Streamer to kill the big boys for under $250

Blizzard · Dec 8, 2015

Hi Guys,

I've been tinkering with a streamer device for a good 8 months now.

Edit: I named this unit "Superstream"

I've gone through several pieces of hardware and software so far, and have come up with an incredible budget system. Think of it like a streamer such as the Auralic Aries, but optimized to deliver even better sound. Simplicity and ease of use is another big bonus with this system. It also uses quality Intel hardware that comes with a 3 year warranty, and is also fanless. You really can't go wrong. I've set it up specifically as an NAA device for HQplayer. This is the best way possible to listen to HQplayer. It also allows taking the server out of the listening room. The bad part about HQplayer is the GUI. But that will soon be a thing of the past with the HQplayer integration with Roon. This will allow Tidal, and local files to all process through HQplayer's DSD upsampling algorithms, and control via the best mobile app GUI around. Best of all worlds. What do you need to buy? See below:

http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Thin-Ca..._UL160_SR135,160_&refRID=0T8Q57HXD0SBW0WF9V0Q

http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-PC3-1..._UL160_SR160,160_&refRID=19M2XHTV5WPMWQK34TM4

Those 2 items is all the hardware required. for even better performance, a LPS can be used to power the streamer.

Update: software is now 100% free.

So all you'll have to do for initial setup is pop the RAM chip in, power up connected into a monitor, keyboard and mouse and disable unnecessary features in the BIOS by holding in the F2 key. Once that's done, it's configured forever.

After that, pop the USB stick in the rear port, plug an Ethernet cable connected to your network in the DAC, USB cable to your DAC and 10 seconds later it's ready to connect with any server on the network running HQplayer. If your DAC happens to be of the chipless DSD variety, this system will be able to give you the best sound possible by using HQplayer to resample all PCM to DSD 256, as well as the best sounding native DSD. And if it has a chip, you will still get the best sound resampling to the highest DSD rate compatible. If your DAC is PCM only, upsample to the highest compatible PCM rate for the best sound.

That's all there is to it. If anyone is interested in this, let me know. It really is the real deal!!

amirm · Dec 8, 2015

It certainly is a budget friendly option.

I looked at this option but at the end, built my own Skylake i5 fanless PC. I am then able to run roon and resampling on the same machine. What you currently describe requires a spare PC for HQplayer, yes?

Blizzard · Dec 8, 2015

amirm said:
It certainly is a budget friendly option.

I looked at this option but at the end, built my own Skylake i5 fanless PC. I am then able to run roon and resampling on the same machine. What you currently describe requires a spare PC for HQplayer, yes?

Yes you need a server PC to run HQplayer/Roon on. But this can be located in an office. You can even use an office computer to run the Roon/HQplayer in the background. Once the Roon/HQplayer integration is ready, you will just have to do initial setup, and all you will ever need is the Ipad GUI to run everything. I7 processor for the server is best if you want to resample all PCM to DSD 256. You don't get as good of sound connecting the DAC to the server PC with HQ player, or any software for that matter. The whole NAA system was designed to isolate the DAC from the server doing the heavy lifting. It uses a FIFO buffer to buffer all audio into the RAM in the renderer, and sends a stream direct to the DAC. And also by running it on a real time optimized for audio version of command line Linux, it takes all the windows layers of extra processing out of the picture. You won't get a more direct path from a computer than this. The sound is much much better than connecting direct to a computer running Windows or OSX. Also this unit allows shutting down almost all of the unrequired peripherals in the Bios. So all that's enabled is the LAN and USB bus. The sound from this computer is much better than the higher powered NUC's I've tried. I'm thinking because it has a low noise footprint.

For example, running the HQ player NAA daemon on my mac mini on both Windows on bootcamp and OSX, the sound is nowhere near as good. Running HQplayer direct on the Mac mini is worse yet.

Another bonus is, you can have as many of these renderers as you want, 1 for each room, but only 1 server required to run it all. I'm setting up a system like this for a guy. He's gonna have 4 rooms. His I7 Imac in his office will be the server for the whole house. He's even going with fibre optical isolation, so this should take it up another notch.

MadFloyd · Dec 8, 2015

Can you use Roon AND HQPlayer together?

Blizzard · Dec 8, 2015

MadFloyd said:
Can you use Roon AND HQPlayer together?

Very soon. they are in the final stages of the integration. You can follow the progress here:

https://community.roonlabs.com/t/hq-player-integration/1656/124

Here's a sneak peek!

amirm · Dec 8, 2015

How much does HQPlayer cost Mike?

Blizzard · Dec 8, 2015

amirm said:
How much does HQPlayer cost Mike?

$140. But the NAA daemon would be included in the free pre-configured USB stick install. If your a Linux guru, you can configure your own setup as well save the free assistance. But years of work has gone into this version of Linux to make it sound this good. The preconfigured stick is for those who just want to plug a stick in, push the power button, and it just works. Just like a black box device. It will populate as a sound device on the Roon signal chain, as long as it's turned on, and connected to the same network as the server.

amirm · Dec 8, 2015

Thanks. Are you able to change the HQP parameters (dither, filter, sampling rate) on the fly as music is playing?

Blizzard · Dec 8, 2015

amirm said:
Thanks. Are you able to change the HQP parameters (dither, filter, sampling rate) on the fly as music is playing?

No. But you won't need to, to realize how much better it sounds than Roon on it's own. Roon know's it too, which is why they are doing the integration. You can spend $10000 plus on a stand alone renderer, and not get sound this good. It's compact, fanless, Intel quality, and $250 including OS and software. How can you go wrong?

If you want to run it through the paces, buy the hardware, and I'll send you the image to burn on a stick. Download the HQplayer free 30 day trial.

Just grab this stick. Perfect for the install.

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Ultra-Transfer-Speeds-s-SDCZ48-016G-UAM46/dp/B00KZIXSP6

$165.49 is all you need to spend for the NUC, RAM and USB stick.

amirm · Dec 8, 2015

How can I go wrong? I could be spending $140 on music than HQP

. Actually I was not asking about Roon. I am asking while in HQP can you change its algorithms on the fly to say, compare different dither. Does it force you stop playback?

Blizzard · Dec 8, 2015

amirm said:
How can I go wrong? I could be spending $140 on music than HQP . Actually I was not asking about Roon. I am asking while in HQP can you change its algorithms on the fly to say, compare different dither. Does it force you stop playback?

Well you can also spend $10000 plus on a stand alone renderer just to get worse sound. Many people take that route.

That's what I was talking about. HQplayer on it's own. You must stop the song to change parameters. But you don't need to change them all the time. Find the one that's best with your DAC and leave it.

The great thing about the 30 day trial is you can decide if it's worth the $140 before buying.

amirm · Dec 8, 2015

When I get home I will download the trial and give it a run. For comparisons, I like to make fast switching and stopping/starting the music doesn't work that way.

As to spending $10K on a streamer, you are talking to the wrong guy

. I built my fanless PC for probably $1,200 to $1,500. As an ex-Microsoft employee I got a copy of Windows at company store prices so that was good bit of saving.

Blizzard · Dec 8, 2015

amirm said:
When I get home I will download the trial and give it a run. For comparisons, I like to make fast switching and stopping/starting the music doesn't work that way.

As to spending $10K on a streamer, you are talking to the wrong guy . I built my fanless PC for probably $1,200 to $1,500. As an ex-Microsoft employee I got a copy of Windows at company store prices so that was good bit of saving.

Okay, but keep in mind, without using it with a low noise NAA running on Linux, you won't be getting sound as good out of it. What's the DAC you will be testing it with?

amirm · Dec 8, 2015

Blizzard said:
Okay, but keep in mind, without using it with a low noise NAA running on Linux, you won't be getting sound as good out of it.

I don't subscribe to that

. Noise is not enemy of fidelity. There is plenty of noise in your system, your room, etc. The enemy is correlated distortion. Reduction of system activity may very well push you toward this. Millions of things happening in your system by definition become random. Not so when all you have happening are system clock interrupts, packet traffic, etc. These are all deterministic events in audio spectrum.

What's the DAC you will be testing it with?

It is a Mark Levinson DAC being driven by a Berkeley Alpha USB.

Blizzard · Dec 8, 2015

amirm said:
I don't subscribe to that . Noise is not enemy of fidelity. There is plenty of noise in your system, your room, etc. The enemy is correlated distortion. Reduction of system activity may very well push you toward this. Millions of things happening in your system by definition become random. Not so when all you have happening are system clock interrupts, packet traffic, etc. These are all deterministic events in audio spectrum.

It is a Mark Levinson DAC being driven by a Berkeley Alpha USB.

It's not just the noise, it's the way it uses the FIFO buffer, and the fact it's running on a purpose built OS running nothing but the bare essentials to make the audio system work. It's not a subtle difference.

So your sending it to the MK via SPDIF or AES/EBU? This means you only have 24/192 PCM capability. You likely won't hear a big benefit with HQplayer then. It's the SDM/SRC to resample PCM to DSD that really shines with it. Also the SDMdirect mode with native DSD files. It may sound better than Roon, but won't be much of a difference.

adyc · Dec 8, 2015

Does Linux support DSD 256 output? I thought only Window support DSD256 through ASIO.

amirm · Dec 8, 2015

Blizzard said:
It's not just the noise, it's the way it uses the FIFO buffer, and the fact it's running on a purpose built OS running nothing but the bare essentials to make the audio system work. It's not a subtle difference.

Linux is not purpose built. It is a general purpose OS. You may have configured it to do less but as I explained, you may be doing harm than good. BTW, I spent a good part of my career in operating system kernel development including the father of Linux (Unix: http://www.amazon.com/Optimizing-UN...TF8&qid=1449639748&sr=8-4&keywords=majidimehr). The OS is doing a heck of a lot more than being a FIFO. The networking stack for example runs asynchronously and has a ton of activity for every packet received. No way can you control that.

So your sending it to the MK via SPDIF or AES/EBU? This means you only have 24/192 PCM capability. You likely won't hear a big benefit with HQplayer then. It's the SDM/SRC to resample PCM to DSD that really shines with it. Also the SDMdirect mode with native DSD files. It may sound better than Roon, but won't be much of a difference.

My interest was to use its convolution filter to perform room correction. And compare its DSD conversion to PCM to Roon.

I do have a second DAC (ifi) that plays DSD and PCM but have not yet put it to use.

Blizzard · Dec 9, 2015

amirm said:
Linux is not purpose built. It is a general purpose OS. You may have configured it to do less but as I explained, you may be doing harm than good. BTW, I spent a good part of my career in operating system kernel development including the father of Linux (Unix: http://www.amazon.com/Optimizing-UN...TF8&qid=1449639748&sr=8-4&keywords=majidimehr). The OS is doing a heck of a lot more than being a FIFO. The networking stack for example runs asynchronously and has a ton of activity for every packet received. No way can you control that.

Free version now available

Blizzard · Dec 9, 2015

adyc said:
Does Linux support DSD 256 output? I thought only Window support DSD256 through ASIO.

It does with the XMOS chips U series or newer. As well as some Marantz and Denon USB interfaces.

https://github.com/lintweaker/xmos-native-dsd

adyc · Dec 9, 2015

Blizzard said:
It does with the XMOS chips U series or newer. As well as some Marantz and Denon USB interfaces.

https://github.com/lintweaker/xmos-native-dsd

Since GG is using Amanero USB, only Window NAA is able to output DSD256?

At the moment, I'm only able to output DSD128 through LINUX based NAA.

Streamer to kill the big boys for under $250

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