www.ditl.org

So I've been researching self hosted applications lately and I came across this gem:

https://www.sonerezh.bzh/


Basically its your self-hosted Spotify.


I also realized I wanted to be able to access music other audio files even if my main PC was off.

So I googled "audio server."

Of course Google returned mainly production level audio equipment and stupidly expensive "audiophile grade" solutions.


Fortunately my needs are simpler than that. Basically its an HTPC but only for audio.

I'd like to be able to use my tablet/phone as a remote.

It just needs to be able to drive decent speakers, I haven't looked into speakers a whole lot tho, admittedly I know nothing about audio except that I'm extremely skeptical of "audiophile" stuff. I feel it's the gaming marketing of the audio world.

So I'm wondering what might be the best way to go about this; is a motherboards integrated audio card plenty? Or should I have a sound card? Should I go with a DAC?

Maybe I'm altogether overthinking this?


Anyway I was thinking of an AM1 system with ubuntu server+sonerezh:

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/LaughingCh ... ved/WjpLrH


Thanks

LC

I'll try to answer, though I haven't tried something like this. As to audio quality, I've invested a little to achieve good sound though I'm still a bit skeptical of huge investments in the name of super high-end "audiophile" audio. That is to say, I have a pair of Sennheiser headphones I got for about a hundred dollars IIRC, another smaller pair in that price range with bluetooth or wired ability for the road, and use external speakers in lieu of my TV"s built in speakers (actually it's a 2.1 desktop PC set I had). Newer motherboards generally have pretty good sound. If you're looking for parts, a board with Realtek's ALC1150 chip should offer the best quality (it's their newest audio chip and is regarded as their best). Beyond that, I'd suggest try the onboard sound before going to a sound card if you're not entirely satisfied (though a decent sound card doesn't need to cost a huge amount either: there are good sounding Asus Xonar cards for a reasonable price for example).

Thanks for the suggestion!

I guess I should give some backstory; I'd like to build a home server/nas and asrock has a great atom board, but I wasn't sure of the audio capabilities [if any] of that board. Ergo a separate regular pc.


EDIT: Yeah, doesn't look like it has any audio ability. And I doubt sound cards would be compatible with it.