Music Server Gapless Playback, Shielding & LPSU

Continuing A Dedicated Music Server Journey (Part 6)

My next items to address with the server are getting around to shielding the internal cables, and preparing for adding in a linear power supply to replace the existing one. However first, following on from my previous post, Vortexbox have now upgraded the install package to include an option to auto-install Squeezeplay (and disable Vortexplayer) via Yum – which is fantastic. Vortexplayer is reportedly gapless now also, however I believe that is determined more by the hardware implementation of the DAC manufacturer, and so may not be truly gapless 100% of the time. Regarding Vortexplayer being gapless, in the case of the Bel Canto series devices for example, they are very forgiving and have a longish delay when the signal drops before they react and need to relock the sample rate, etc.

Continuing A Dedicated Music Server Journey (Part 5)

Since my last post there has been a bit of progress, I now have my server running fan less. This just took a little bit more minor tidying inside the case and the removal of a large heat source from directly beneath the server – my Perreaux 350P Power Amp! In fact this has been part of a major revamp of my entire system (as discussed in my The Joys Of Discovering Focal Pro SM9s post), which basically is seeing my entire audio system (apart from my Subwoofer) replaced around the Music Server & my Oppo Blu-ray Player which will be the only components remaining. One benefit of this big change is a lot more space in my rack, eliminating the heat issue alluded to above – the presence of the Perreaux 350P causing a passive build-up of warm air around the server without the presence of the fan. Now that’s gone the unit is happily running fan less.