Matt Garman wrote: > So, an even more general question, are there any other sound > "purists" out there, trying to directly use "hw" for bit-perfect > audio? What hardware do you have, what has been your experience, > etc? > > Thanks, > Matt > > If by "purists" do you mean audiophiles? I currently use Linux as *the* digital source in my audiophile setup. After briefly experimenting with a Trends UD-10 USB to S/PDIF converter, my Adcom GDA-700 DAC, and an old Dell GX110 running Debian and Music Player Daemon I was convinced that Linux could be the center piece of a truly high end system. The fact that it could be put together for a mere pittance (and with free software) compared to what some "audiophile" manufactures are charging for their proprietary (Sonos, Slimd Devices, Boulder, etc.) systems was just icing on the cake. What I wanted was a *dead* silent piece of hardware running some form of Debian (for easy apt installation of software) as my USB music server. And I wanted it to cost only a couple hundred bucks. Dead silent meant no fans and no spinning hard disks in my dedicated listening room. So, after some thorough research I put together this amazing (I think) "bit-perfect" digital front end: Music Player Daemon, running on a PC Engnines Alix single board computer, with Voyage Linux, on a 512Mb compact flash. Remote controlled via a Nokia N800 web tablet and other MPD clients running in the house. FLAC files are fetched via NFS from the bedroom computer, and the play list is controlled from from the N800 or my Thinkpad x40 at the "sweet spot". Music Player Daemon: Beautiful piece of software. Run the server on one machine, and control it from a client (or multiple clients running simultaneously) on another. Latest version supports 24 bit playback, among other neat features. Many, many cleints available for all types of software and hardware, including the iPod Touch. Voyage Linux: Debain based OS that is designed to run from compact flash and entirely from RAM on small embedded x86 hardware. Has targets for PC Engines Alix boards. Originally geared more towards wireless access points and networking. After contacting the developers with my application in mind, they agreed to have modules compiled for ALSA and USB. Fits on CF as small as 128Mb of RAM. PC Engines Alix Geode based single board computers: Small, dead silent, cheap, single board computers oriented towards wireless access points and firewalls. I have used their previous offerings, the WRAP boards, as a firewall running m0n0wall with very good results. When Pascal Dornier (the PC Engines designer) started to offer his Alix boards with USB ports I knew that these little boards would probably make very good music server hardware. I'm currently using the Alix 2d2. No VGA or sound. This system has been running beautifully for the last year with nary a hiccup. The Alix feeds a Wavelength Audio Brick USB DAC. ALSA in MPD is configured as follows: ########################## AUDIO OUTPUT ######################## # # MPD supports many audio output types, as well as playing # through multiple audio outputs at the same time. You can # specify one or more here. If you don't specify any, MPD will # automatically scan for a usable audio output. # # See <http://mpd.wikia.com/wiki/Configuration#Audio_Outputs> # for examples of other audio outputs. # # An example of an ALSA output: # audio_output { type "alsa" name "USB DAC" device "hw:0,0" # optional # format "44100:16:2" # optional #} There are no mixers installed. If I do install a mixer then all sound is re-sampled to 48Khz, as confirmed by my Adcom GDA-700 which has indicator LED's for the sampling rates it is fed; 32khz, 44khz, 48khz. Sincerely, Nick ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stay on top of everything new and different, both inside and around Java (TM) technology - register by April 22, and save $200 on the JavaOne (SM) conference, June 2-5, 2009, San Francisco. 300 plus technical and hands-on sessions. Register today. Use priority code J9JMT32. http://p.sf.net/sfu/p _______________________________________________ Alsa-user mailing list Alsa-user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/alsa-user
