New music computer

[Mechnutt]

The last few months I have been contemplating whether to buy a NAS/Music Server/Streamer to replace my dedicated music laptop and external WD Red 5tb HDD. I decided to go in a different direction and build a dedicated desktop with premium components and run it without a monitor. I went this route because of unlimited storage potential, flexibility and the ability to upgrade.

I finished the build Friday night. All I can say is Wow! What a nice improvement in sound quality. The background is much cleaner and blacker. There is more detail and resolution and I can pick out background instruments and vocals better.

I built it for just under $1K with all the pre-black Friday sales on computer parts from Microcenter and New Egg. It took about 3 hours to build it and get it up and running.

CPU I7 7700K
Ram Ballistix Elite DDR4 at 3000mhz
Gigabyte Z270 motherboard with upgraded caps
Corsair RMX power supply low ripple and fan noise
Samsung 850 EVO SSD for OS and music players
Used my WD Red 5 TB external HD and removed it from the external case and placed it in the computer
TP-link Archer AC1300 wireless network card
Windows 10 Pro
The computer case is a Fractal Design R5 mid tower that has great sound insulation.
Cool Master Hyper 212 CPU fan.

I can remote in with my laptop, tablet and cell phone using Splashtop personal or Windows Remote Desktop which works flawlessly. Currently I connect to my DAC via usb but in the future if I get a DAC that does Ethernet I will be able to go that route.

 

[Mike]

Nice! Pics?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Mechnutt]

Here are pic's of my computer build. The pic's for the panels show the sound insulation.

Here you can see that the side panels have some pretty thick sound insulation. The case is very quiet, especially with quiet fans installed.

 

[joeinid]

Excellent! What software do you plan on running to serve the music? I think I saw it on you previous post.

 

[Mechnutt]

I use HQ player and Bug Head. They are installed on the Samsung 850 evo SSD. Music is stored on the 5 tb Western Digital Red.

Eventually I plan on getting Roon. Currently I remote in using Windows Desktop from a laptop which works flawlessly without any lag. By running headless, when I remote in the screen resolution runs on what ever resolution my laptop is running at.

 

[joeinid]

Looks like a perfect solution. Well done!

I use HQ player and Bug Head. They are installed on the Samsung 850 evo SSD. Music is stored on the 5 tb Western Digital Red.

Eventually I plan on getting Roon. Currently I remote in using Windows Desktop from a laptop which works flawlessly without any lag. By running headless, when I remote in the screen resolution runs on what ever resolution my laptop is running at.