Hi all,
I'm turning to the collective wisdom of those here for hardware and operating system recommendations for a PC server hosting Roon.
Requirements are:
- Maximum audio quality given the other constraints below
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- Self contained. O/S and audio file storage in the one box. I'm thinking an SSD for the O/S and a TB or so HDD for audio files.
- As this server will sit in the listening room with the rest of my audio gear I would like it to be quiet (fanless?), compact & with an aesthetically appealing case. Much like the Sooloos MC200 I use now.
- I'm unsure of how much computing power I require. I want to avoid on-the-fly transcoding and will send FLAC files natively to a DirectStream DAC. I may dabble with DSD files in the future. I think it is generally considered a good thing to keep the CPU grunt to the minimum required but am unsure of how much Roon needs to give a snappy user experience.
- Roon will be used as a server only. I will control via their iPad app. This is a headless build. I will use RDP from another PC if it is necessary to work on the Roon server.
- Don't know about power supply. I don't want to go OTT but I gather a linear PSU would be a better option? Happy to go external - size and casework permitting
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- I've built all my PCs for many years so am happy to build from parts. Happy to look at any off-the-shelf solutions as well.
- As far as O/S goes - Windows Server 2012 optimized for audio seems to get a good rap over at Computeraudiophile.com though all that optimization might be primarily for the benefit of USB? USB is not applicable for this network server. I will use a GISO isolator for galvanic isolation of the network connection between switch and DAC.
But unsure how much impact the O/S will have on sound in this scenario?
Many thanks in advance!
Mark