Gary's latest music server

mep

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
9,481
17
0
With the exception of the SSD, I built a music server in accordance with Gary's very detailed instructions. I bought the Toshiba laptop yesterday and started the set up process today. Just making the image disks and downloading all of the windows updates took quite awhile. The real fun started when trying to load in all of the application files into Foobar. It took awhile to get the hang of how to download each file into Foobar.

There is one application I couldn't load without causing Foobar to crash every time it started up, and that is the touch remote application that lets a IPhone or IPad operate Foobar. I really want that app since I just bought an I4s phone yesterday.

The Tobshiba is now downstairs in my he-man rig playing music. By the way, I purchased the C655 laptop which has an Intel processor, 4 gigs of DDR 3 ram, and a 320 G hard drive for $349.00 at Best Buy.
 

Ki Choi

Member Sponsor
May 13, 2010
764
29
1,590
Seattle WA area
Acutally, I was very impressed with what I heard briefly from the Genesis room at the CES. Since I never pulled the trigger with his earlier desktop verison server, I'll surely try the laptop version when I get hom.

BTW, Gary room was right up their with other good sounding room. My intension was to return for more music but never got to do so...

Dose the Toshiba has a fan? It's the fan noise that always pushed me away from trying one.
 

mep

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
9,481
17
0
I don't think it has a fan. The Tobsiba is very quiet. If it has a fan, I wouldn't know where it is exhausting from.
 

garylkoh

WBF Technical Expert (Speakers & Audio Equipment)
Sep 6, 2010
5,599
225
1,190
Seattle, WA
www.genesisloudspeakers.com

Ki Choi

Member Sponsor
May 13, 2010
764
29
1,590
Seattle WA area
Hi Gary:

It seems the C655 model Mark is using comes in different CUPs including AMD and Intel. Tried to find Toshiba with B950 CPU found both C655 and L755. I would guess both should work but which model are you actually using?
 

garylkoh

WBF Technical Expert (Speakers & Audio Equipment)
Sep 6, 2010
5,599
225
1,190
Seattle, WA
www.genesisloudspeakers.com

mep

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
9,481
17
0
I want to give a quick update on my preliminary thoughts of the new server. Later today I will try the touch remote application again and see if I can make it work this time. First of all, I want to thank Gary for sharing his secrets/tips/tricks with all of us for free. Second of all, if any of you have a modest digital server for your music (and by modest I mean you don’t have tons of dough invested in your digital playback), run don’t walk to your nearest electronics store and scarf up one of these Toshiba laptops before they are gone.

What Gary has done here is nothing short of giving you the equivalent of a multi-thousand dollar upgrade for $349.00 if you stick with the stock hard drive as I have done for now. SSDs are very expensive right now, the reliability of them is not super from what I have read, and the storage capacity is low. A year or two from now, SSDs will cost half as much and the storage space will have doubled. It’s just the nature of the digital beast.

Trust me when I tell you that I have spent way more money on various “upgrades” to my system over the years and never heard anything approaching the upgrade that this server brought to digital sound. Now I have to be candid here and tell you that my new server is sitting next to one of my gear racks instead of being in the other room which means I eliminated a cheap set of 35’ ICs that went from my D/A converter into my preamp. Some of you that have trillions invested in your ICs will say, “aha” no wonder it sounds better ya big dummy. For those of you that think all ICs are more or less created equal, prepare to be shocked if you buy the laptop and embark on the journey that Gary will set you upon. Even if you have trillions invested in your ICs, you may still be shocked.

You basically have a laptop that Gary has you hotrod to optimize it for playing back music. There are a zillion things that run in the background of your computer even when you are performing simple tasks and Gary has you turn as many of them off as possible. To my ears, this results in a greater purity of sound. There is a greater sense of ease for lack of a better term. For me, it has taken digital sound to a new and higher level. And keep in mind that I’m using a cheap D/A converter, the Creative Labs E-MU 0404 USB which I happen to think sounds very good. Please tell me if you know of a DAC that will playback files up to 24 bit/192 kHz that sounds better than the 0404 for anywhere near the price.

In summary, this is simply the biggest bang for the buck upgrade I have ever bought. I could listen to this level of sound quality for hours (and I did last night). There is no doubt that digital sound quality has come a long way over the years, and this set up will give you more than a glimpse of how good it can be. Thanks again Gary.
 

mep

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
9,481
17
0
Vincent-I have the ASIO driver loaded into Foobar. What do you have to do in order to "try" it?
 

Vincent Kars

WBF Technical Expert: Computer Audio
Jul 1, 2010
860
1
0
The only thing you have to do (but probably done already) is choosing ASIO in Output Device
 

mep

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
9,481
17
0
Also, do I have to download an app to my Iphone in order for it to work with Foobar? I'm fuzzy on how this going to work.
 

mep

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
9,481
17
0
Gary-I have gone to the link you gave me and I have downloaded the file. After you unzip it, you can see the four .dll files. When you open Foobar and try and install the files, foobar only sees the touchremote.dll file and not the other 3. It also won't let me manually drag the files onto the installed components. I can drag or upload the foo_touchremote.dll, but it always crashes Foobar. With the other 3 files, I get an error message that says "could not load component"touchremote.interfaces.dll. Unsupported format or corrupted file." It will give the same message for touchremote.core.dll, touchremote.bonjour.dll, and touchremote.interfaces.dll.
 

mep

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
9,481
17
0
By Joe, I think I have it! I loaded the four files onto my desktop, right clicked each one and clicked "unhide," and then pasted each one into the Foobar componenets file using Windows Explorer. After I did that, I started Foobar and instead of crashing it opened right up. I checked the components folder and now see "TouchRemote DACP server for Foobar 2000," version 0.2.8.2. It is also grayed out like the other components that Foobar originally installed. So, I hope I have that piece of the puzzle fixed. Now I just have to figure out how to get my Iphone to talk to Foobar.
 

mep

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
9,481
17
0
I still need help getting my Iphone and foobar connected. I'm clueless.
 

bblue

Well-Known Member
Apr 26, 2011
360
3
388
San Diego, CA
Please forgive a possibly dumb question, but why are you making a music server out of a portable? And on any platform why have all the files and general storage on the same machine where you are trying to optimize audio? It makes no sense to me.

Wouldn't it be a whole lot easier to have a NAS or standalone W7 machine as a server for all the files, then use a low cost 'playback' computer with all the services you want shutdown, optimized audio, RF/EMI protection, etc? Connect them via ethernet and be done with it?

With a networked server you'd have the best of both worlds and could have multiple playback stations, each optimized as necessary for top performance.

--Bill
 

About us

  • What’s Best Forum is THE forum for high end audio, product reviews, advice and sharing experiences on the best of everything else. This is THE place where audiophiles and audio companies discuss vintage, contemporary and new audio products, music servers, music streamers, computer audio, digital-to-analog converters, turntables, phono stages, cartridges, reel-to-reel tape machines, speakers, headphones and tube and solid-state amplification. Founded in 2010 What’s Best Forum invites intelligent and courteous people of all interests and backgrounds to describe and discuss the best of everything. From beginners to life-long hobbyists to industry professionals, we enjoy learning about new things and meeting new people, and participating in spirited debates.

Quick Navigation

User Menu

Steve Williams
Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator
Ron Resnick
Site Co-Owner | Administrator
Julian (The Fixer)
Website Build | Marketing Managersing