Music PC Build

Not sure if anyone will find this interesting or relevant to Dynaco and there are probably better way to do it, but here it is.


Lian Li Thin Mini ITX case with the IPhone that is used as remote control for JRivers Media Center on Win8.


Rear view. Pretty sparse with just USB3 for music except for on board audio outs.


Inside shot. SSD 120gig drive for OS and programs on the left and a wireless with Bluetooth on the right.


CPU is an Intel I3 3225 with a low profile heat sink. Music is stored on a 1 TB laptop drive.


USB feeds a SOTM dx-usb-hd. It can be run from an external battery source or usb power. If you are using USB power it filters it.


Rear shot of the SOTM connections to the DAC.

Like a laptop the PC is powered by a power brick and runs cool and silent. It has 8 Gig of DDR3 1600 memory. JRivers has a feature where the song is loaded from the hard drive to the memory before it is played. Output to the SOTM ASIO 2.2. Win8 needs a driver for the converter. I don't think one is required for MAC. Mother board is Intel DQ77KB.

I like that PC case... very nice unit.  Giving me some ideas on my music server needs.  What did that PC bundle run you in cost (excluding DAC/ Software)? Thanks!

I recycled my old HTPC case ... getting a bit long in the tooth at what ... three years old?



Had not realized an ITX board will bolt right into an ATX full size case. 

Case was too nice to just toss, and fits right iin with all my old skool classic type equipment boxes ...



Anyway ... one advantage of the big box is there's plenty of room for the components to breathe. Old build would get hotter than blazes mid August with four fans running full blast - this one just barely gets warm with the cpu and power supply fans just barely ticking over. All the original case fans are disconnected as they're no longer needed. Also used an SSD for the OS and software, and WD media drives for storage. Dead silent in operation.

Last winter I built a brand new PC with almost top of the line components. I iused an SSD drive for the OS and software and a 2 and 3 TB SATA HDDs for data. I used a nice Corsair case and Thermaltake PS and a really nice and reasonably priced CoolerMaster CPU cooler. I am quite happy with how quiet it is. I used to think a cheap case and PS were OK since they really weren't the important pars of the system and I now think that was the weak link that caused my HDDs to die and also create problems.

That being said I think a nice FLAC music server would e a good idea. I tried using my ipad as a FLAC server and the music sounder pretty good even without a DAC. My Dell laptop on the other hand was a nightmare. The sound was horrible. I think if there was a way to build a low profile music server to incorporate into my system would be the perfect sound source. The FLAC files Bob has posted really gave me a chance to sample high quality computer files. That's changed my idea about needing or wanting a turntable. If albums beame available in high quality FLAC files as opposed to MP3 files I'd give up on CDs altogether.

I think as I said a low profile server that I can perhaps connect to my smartphone or ipad to create playlists would be nice.

I'm impressed with your build. Thank you.

Laptop sound is usually pretty sad ... good news is there's an easy fix ...



The Behringer UCA 202 is plug and play on WindoHs and works well above it's average $30 sale price. It's also a full USB DAC and ADC, so it works both ways. I've since upgraded to a Maverick DAC, but still use the ADC side of the Behringer to rip vinyl. 

And ya ... the quality of an HTPC case is a big thing. The Bach Media dry weight is around 15 pounds. No vibration, and lots of sound deadening. Something else to look for is isolation mounts for the hard drives. Those also cut noise considerably.

It cost a lot more than it needed to. 

I would say around $400.00 for a base pc.  In the Thin Mini ITX form factor there aren't too many options.  The case, mother board, and low profile heat sink are designed for each the other.  The heat sink bolts to the case and the cases helps dissipate heat.  You could run fanless.  It can hold 2 laptop driver for a total of 2 TB of music.  The drive mounts are rubber and isolates the drive from the chassis and comes with the case hardware. You could also build it diskless if you had an external hard drive or NAS.  I have found JRemote IOS works flawlessly with almost no lag loading all the cover art.  The negative side of the Thin Mini ITX is you can not add any cards internally and the new DQ77QB is a mainly designed for business with no digital out, so USB is the only way to fed your DAC unless you go to a converter. 
     After I photographed everything I tripped over the dog and dropped my converter.  I picked it up and there was rattling inside.  I opened it up and both clock modules were out of the sockets.  I was able to reinsert them but the music sounded funny and faster.  When I put the clock modules I had reversed them by mistake.  Anyway.........

sKiZo, do you notice much of a difference with your USB on battery power?

Picture of the remote in action.  Looks like this is from the DVD and up sampled to 192/24.  I have noticed there are a lot new DVD's out with Hi Res 2 channel tracks.  I was thinking about picking one up and pulling the 2 channel section off.  Compared the Hi Res to the redbook cd and they really did a nice job with the remaster.  This is from HDtrack.com, so it is an official release but would be cheaper to pull it from the DVD audio.

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I use an Asus xonar stx sound card in my htpc. Has a good headphone amp for night listening, and RCA stereo outs to go to my power amps and bookshelf speakers.