Playing music from external HD

[antonio66]

At the moment I can play music from an external HD using my Lenovo ThinkPad using a Topping D30.
My question, is there a better way or device that would give me better sound quality than using the Lenovo for a budget of £200.

[Fretless]

Look at what Slinger is doing with a fanless Lenovo mini PC.

A dedicated PC running Volumio OS and then with a USB regen unit like the Oehlbach Masterclock.

The old Acer desktop I have converted to Volumio is a really surprising step up in SQ from anything I have tried up to now.

[antonio66]

There is no way I could do what you and Mr Slinger do with computers. I just need something very simple, of course I do have the re-clocker which I use at present.

[Fretless]

Then look at the Asus Tinkerboard S. Simple to set up, superb sound and you can attach a USB drive to it.

[antonio66]

I'll have to look into the Tinkerboard, just out curiosity can these be controlled with a tablet?

[antonio66]

Yes. Runs Volumio just like a Pi. Output is USB only.

If you prefer SPDIF coax output then look at the Allo DigiOne. Pi-based streamer.

[antonio66]

On the other hand ....

You could just try tweaking the signal path from the current Lenovo with the following.

1) use a good media player like Foobar200 or (my favourite) Apollo 37zz.

2) Plug an AudioQuest Jitterbug into the output socket of the PC and run your USB connection through that.
This filters out extraneous noise and dampens the interference in the USB port.

3) Use a good quality USB lead.

4) Check USB regenerators like: Ifi Ipurifier, Schiit Wyrd, Oehlbach Masterclock.
They make a BIG difference.

5) Try to rip CD's to WAV files.
Uses more disk-space as it is an uncompressed format but I hear a difference with WAV over FLAC (lossless but processed). WAV files are to me richer, fuller and have more 'life'.

The advantage to a separate streaming player is that it is independent from the PC and can be left permanently on. Music reproduction isn't affected by whatever else the PC happens to be doing (like shutting down to update Windows).

The Allo DigiOne happens to look really cool too:



Everyone will ask what the hell it is.




Edit : points 2-5 above will also apply to the Tinkerboard. Which will need a power supply as well.

[antonio66]

I use Foobar 2000 on my laptop at present, this outputs to a Oelhbach re-clocker then to Topping D30, I lent the jitterbug to someone so hopefully will be able to get back. My usb leads are ok, one is a Transparent, the other is a long Maplins lead. All the files are either WAV or Flac (you've got better hearing than me if you can tell the difference , and that's going through my brothers dCS) I've just been offered an Allo USB Bridge with Volumino, but with this and your above recommendations I don't know how they are controlled. Do you use a small monitor and mouse? Sorry to be a pain.

[antonio66]

Allo USBridge is excellent

On Volumio.org you can find the info about the system.

It's easy to use and runs from the internet browser of any device like a PC, tablet or smartphone.



If you have any hitches when getting started just post for help - there are enough folks here who can assist.

Should be fun.

[savvypaul]

While we are waiting for Tomasz to return, we are doing more planning for our set up at shows. In your experience, guys, if we want to play hi-res FLAC files from an external hard drive, and assuming no access to reliable wi-fi, what set up would you ideally put together?