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I have been using Audiolinux in a custom built DIY server and NUC endpoint. Headless AudioLinux is getting more and more user-friendly and Piero provides great support. For $100 (two copies) in software licenses, it is a considerable value. I can custom setup the BIOS and tune the OS. This project is fun if you enjoy playing at that level. About a week ago I found Euphony. It is also based on Arch Linux and appears to provide some of the same value as AudioLinux. There are more features in their OS as it has Music player software and some other flourishes. I am a Roon user, and I do not currently intend on changing that! I intend to try their player software at some point. I am going to add a small (250GB) NVMe M.2 drive to the server and dual boot between AL and Euphony because I have it and there seems to be a shortage of Optane sticks this week. One of the first items to note is that Euphony does not use ACPI boot you have to turn legacy back on if you were using AudioLinux. Euphony basic setup is relatively simple. Download the image and install it on a USB stick with Etcher on the MAC or their Windows installer. For Euphony to run you need to register it for a trial. There is an odd back and forth setup between the website and the program, but you get an email with the trial key pretty quickly. Then things get weird. Unless you purchase a license for $289.00 you cannot install the system anywhere. You have to run off of the USB stick. This is not conducive to running Roon Core. I am sitting here springing forward and sleeping on going any further. Bob

So are you afraid of ESD? Does the thought of Arctic Silver Heatsink Paste make you go cold? Are you fearful of Phillips screwdrivers? Do you still want to play with the NUC? I have found the Goldilocks computer for you. Semi-Custom Fan-less NUC using the Dawson Canyon boards, we have come to love! Orderable with Optane SSD and much more. The system is fully warranted and you can extend the warranty. You can order it with our without an OS installed. (At least get Ubuntu installed for backup and order a USB stick from them) Simply NUC has a custom build that is perfect: https://simplynuc.com. At the top of the page see the custom NUC button. Click that and scroll down to the Fanless case section and pick the i7 model. The options I have selected above are "perfect" for a NUC to run Roon Server, etc. Get Ubuntu installed so the machine has something to run when you start up. The PORCOOLPINE comes with a power supply so you can get going right away. I purchased my Dawson Canyon board from them so I am only a happy customer. I was going to have a model of these custom built for resale, but there was not enough interest and my budget would not allow speculation. You can get an upgraded power supply at some point. You can order any of the options you would like. I just did an Euphony OS setup post that you can follow or you can setup Audio Linux from my NUC build post: HAVE FUN Bob Here is an interesting review of the PORCOOLPINE from another site: https://techsterweb.com/2019/01/27/porcoolpine/

We are trying a new wiki-esque method of showing the settings in AudioLinux. October 2019 Things evolve. Over time I have found that Euphony OS is simpler to install and run and it sounds better to me. I had been running a two box solution with a sever and a couple of different endpoints. My configuration changed over the summer when a new version of Euphony was released that runs the OS in RAM. I have migrated to a single box solution that uses my Xeon Server (see my Xeon thread on that) directly connected to my Kii Three Speaker system. See my profile for the system design. The NUC described here is a Wonderfull endpoint or server if needed. Get the best power supply you can afford and this thing sings! Notes as of 6/25/19 The Dawson Canyon NUC also know as the DNHE / DNKE / DNBE / DNFE system is classified as a commercial grade NUC with a 3yr life cycle. The dnh"E" stands for Extended Life. Most Intel NUC(s) have a refresh cycle of about 18 months to two years. However, anytime Intel releases a commercial grade system to the market, the life cycle is a minimum of 3yrs. According to the roadmap, the Dawson Canyon will continue to be on the market all of 2019 and 2020. Currently, we are dealing with an Intel shortage that should come to rest by the end of July. The NUC(s) impacted are mostly i7 and i3 Dawsons (in all formats H/K/B/F. At the root of the following thread you will find the beginning: If this construction system is too much for you to do, or you want to buy rather than build. Here is one option: I have started a thread on building a music server. See below: There has been a HUGE flurry of activity on the “Massive SQ” thread onAudiophileStyle. The discovery of putting a specific Intel NUC computer into the stereo system as the network endpoint running Audiolinux (AL) in RAM with no other disks has dramatically improved the audio quality for many of us. Here is a link to where the NUC part of this thread “started:” https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/30376-a-novel-way-to-massively-improve-the-sq-of-computer-audio-streaming/?page=359&tab=comments#comment-860030 Two primary NUC models are in use. The single board computers are typically put into a fan-less case, hooked up to a high-quality power supply, booted off of a USB stick into RAM. What I hope to accomplish here is to have a “recipe” for success. Just like baking a cake you need to have your tools and ingredients ready before you start. Remember this is first and foremost a DIY project and t is also a “Work In Progress”. For me, it is also a rousing success. From 0 to NUC/AL/RAM in 2 hours *Not including Prep* To bake our NUC cake, we need the following components and tools. Setup Tools USB Keyboard and Mouse HDMI Monitor and HDMI cable Power supply for the NUC. **** discussion on this later *** Small Phillips screwdriver Anti-static work strap. A well-lit place to work A Windows PC or Mac to download AL and set up the USB stick Internet connection Just the right amount of coffee What needs to be in your Stereo system Ethernet connection A USB cable to the DAC Power supply for the NUC/AL Roon system (my choice, there are others) What you need to buy Two NUC models have been popular in this project. From all reports, they both sound great. According to some the i7 model sounds better and costs more! Take the time to read the relevant parts of the “massive” thread. I chose to get the Core i7 model. Note that the prices are estimates for the USA and do not include tax, shipping, etc. The Celeron Model comes from Intel as a complete system in a box. You need to extract the computer from the box and mount it in the fan-less case. Intel NUC7i7DBNE single board computer. $575 Akasa NUC Plato X7D case $170 OR Intel NUC7CJYH. $130 Akasa Newton JC Fan-less. $100. https://amzn.to/2Wvd7fg Here is the rest of what you need to order: RAM Ballistix Sport LT 8GB Single DDR4 2400. $60. https://amzn.to/2WsAPZr USB Stick. SanDisk Ultra Flair 32GB USB 3. $10 Audio-Linux headless. $49. (license and one year support) Once you order up the parts and get everything in place, let us get Audiolinux setup installed on the USB stick. You can do this from Windows PC or a Mac. I have done both following the instructions on the audio-linux.com website and if you have a PC do it there for speed. The Mac method took 75min to build the same USB stick. *** Etcher does run on MacOS. You should be able to build the USB stick there. *** In your favorite Windows PC web browser download your Linux image and a copy of Etcher. http://audio-linux.com https://www.balena.io/etcher/ Put the USB stick in your machine. Install and run Etcher. Etcher prompts you for the location of the image file you want to flash to your USB stick. Etcher should show the target as your USB drive! MAKE Sure because it ERASES the target! It takes 10-15 minutes to complete flashing the USB stick. While the USB stick is flashing, we can build the NUC board into the case. For the rest of this setup, you need a nice clean workspace and your anti-static strap. Oh and go slow on the Coffee! First, unbox the case remove the top cover to inspect the inside and inventory all of the materials. The top case cover has four small Phillips head screws to remove. Here are three views inside the case. The above views are the inside front with the board holding the power switch, the LEDs and the two USB 3 ports. The small board is the two front USB 2 ports. Below is the inside rearview where the computer board is mounted and the shielded cutouts for the ports. Flip the case over and put the feet on so that to protect the bottom from scratches. There are four feet with screws to attach. Be sure to put them in the correct screw holes. You can now carefully set aside the case as we have to do a “fan-ectomy” on the NUC Board. You are dealing a bare computer motherboard; please observe standard anti-static protection procedures. An anti-static wrist strap and the anti-static bag that the board comes in are your friends. Here are pictures of both sides of the board. On the top side, you have the RAM and M.2 slots and some of the other connections for drives. The second picture shows the included fan and heatsink that we have to remove. First, you need to unplug the fan power cable. The connector is small so be careful pulling it off. Remove two small screws holding the fan down to the heatsink. The heatsink is attached to the motherboard with three screws. In the above picture, you can see them on the silver bar and in the recessed hole in the black part of the heatsink. Carefully remove the screws, and you can pull the heatsink away from the board. Note that the heatsink “grease” sticks them together a bit. Below you can see the separated heatsink and the board with the compound on the CPU (black part). Now you need to clean up the old heatsink compound from the CPU. Use cotton swabs and some alcohol to clean it off. The picture below shows the CPU module after cleanup. Next put the new heatsink grease on the CPU and the heatsink pad on the smaller black rectangle. The pad is a bit fussy to get stuck down. There are some pictures in the install page from Akasa that may help. In my case, they have an addendum showing how they now include the heatsink grease. From the picture below I used too much thermal paste! Thanks, @Dutch for pointing that out. A couple of dots would have been enough Here is a video of better ways. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYwHB2P6GmM It is time to install the board in the case. Carefully set the motherboard on the static bag aside and bring the case back to your workplace. Put the rear of the case closest to you and move the cables out of the way. Observe the part of the case where the CPU seats on the upraised heatsink and the four standoffs for mounting the board. There are four screws and fiber washers to hold the case in place. Carefully set the board CPU side down onto the case aligning it to the standoffs. Being careful not to strip the screws install them all but do not tighten. Once all four screws are in carefully tighten them down. I do them: upper left, lower right, lower left, upper right. Just my method! Next, it is time to connect the cables. The two USB 2 connectors are on the upper left, and the black thin flat ribbon cables plug into them. The two big USB 3 cables plug into the USB connectors on the top. Finally, the multi-color cable plugs into the header. The connector is keyed and goes on the leftmost pins. There is a hole blocked on the connector and a clipped pin on the board. With the connections completed installing the RAM in the bottom slot is next. The bottom slot is slot #2, but folks think it is the right place. The little RAM board goes in at an angle into the connector and is then pressed down to hook into the spring latches on the side. Dress the cables so that you can screw the top plate back on to the case! The “hardware” part complete. Now for the “smoke test.” You need to connect the keyboard, display, mouse, network. Finally, plug in the power cable and press the power switch to turn on the computer. ** do not plug the USB stick in yet ** Making the initial changes to the BIOS If the NUC passed the smoke test, the computer boots up to the BIOS where you have to make some settings changes. Note that on the first screen the UFEI Boot selection is ticked on. Note the temperatures of the CPU. Keep an eye on them as we go forward to make sure you did a good job on the heatsink grease! Mine here is under 30C which is GREAT. Set the BIOS clock on this screen if it is not right. Select the “Advanced” menu selection shown on the above screen to go to the next settings pages. Select the SATA tab and turn off SATA and the activity light. On the Boot Configuration page, I have mine set to boot USB first, Network last and the USB, and Optical are checked on. (may be able to uncheck the Optical). I may be doing a network boot, so I left it alone. On the Secure Boot tab, uncheck the Secure Boot item to disable it. Audioliniux does not use Secure Boot. On the performance tab under Processor, uncheck Hyper-Threading and Turbo Boost. The only other change I have made is to set the Primary Power setting to Balanced Enabled. I think others have set to Low Power. ** Note that this is all still a bit of an experiment and these settings may change. ** Insert your Audiolinux USB stick into one of the USB 3 connectors. You can now use the F10 key to save and exit the BIOS. Audiolinux Setup We are now on the final leg of the setup. With great thanks to Piero Olmeda, the author of Audiolinux distribution this part this part is pretty simple! When the machine boots up, some text goes by and if all is well the computer displays the Audiolinux menu screen. You may see a few differences in this screen depending upon what version of the system menu you have installed. Piero updates the different parts of the OS on a regular basis. Before we start with the configuration, you should update the system. This menu is driven merely by the cursor keys, and the enter key. So cursor down to the update menu and press enter. Since you are not getting ahead of me yet, you are booting and running off of the USB stick, so no RAM mode issues need to be addressed. Note that I am running this NUC as a Roon endpoint so I have not explored other audio packages. During the install steps, you need the default passwords for Audiolinux. I assume that they might change so, please refer to the Audio-Linux.com website to find them. (scroll down and look or search on the page for the correct passwords. Cursor down and select the update menu item. You need to run the first four updates if you are following along with me. I did them in order. (I do not know if that order is “correct”). You will need your passwords during this. After you have completed the last update of the Audiolinux menu go back to the first page and select option 8 Console Mode. That takes you to the command line. DON’T PANIC! Just type in the command: menuand press enter. You have restarted the Audiolinux menu, so the new version runs. You are now going to configure the system to be a Roon endpoint, run in RAM and extreme mode. From the first screen select the configuration menu item. The above screen appears. Select the Roonbridge men item to set-up endpoint. After that completes set number 14 (scroll down) Set real-time priority to “extreme." Finally, select 15 enable ramroot. Select Cancel to return to the main menu screen and select Reboot. The computer reboots and automatically loads the OS into RAM. As the machine boots up and pauses for a few seconds displaying this screen. It will automatically start-up in RAM after that delay. After the boot to RAM is complete, the Audiolinux menu appears. From the Audiolinux menu check the CPU temperature found on the “Status” page. Also check the Audio Status from the “Configuration” Page. HURRAY! Pat yourself on the back. Toast yourself! Your Audiolinux Roon endpoint should be fully operational. Grab a USB cable and DAC and hook them up. Fire up the Roon application to add the new device to your audio system. There are some more steps to perform, but for testing purposes, you can run the system right now to see how it works. I mentioned at the start of this article that a good power supply is beneficial for NUC to produce the best sound. The NUC runs from 12v to 19v DC. There are reports that running at 19V may sound better. Some of the users have the UpTone Audio LPS 1.2 running their Celeron NUCs. Others are using Paul Haynes supplies, and I am sure there are many others. I have an UpTone Audio JS-2 in my system, and it runs my NUC and my ISORegen. Before you put the NUC into production, there are some other settings that you need to do. I am a huge fan of having the clocks running correctly in my computers and setting up Audiolinux to use network time server to keep the clocks on the beat is essential. Some other items can be adjusted as needed. @austinpop has an excellent post describing how to do some of them. https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/54933-audiolinux-and-nuc-troubleshooting-and-tuning/?tab=comments#comment-901393 This little bit of cleanup work requires you to edit a couple of files and run a few commands on the command line in Linux. Now is also the time where you can do some of the fine-tuning and changes that may influence audio quality. I am not going to show the final tweaks of Audiolinux in this article. I want you to play, listen, and read some more. There is another thread on tuning and troubleshooting. https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/54933-audiolinux-and-nuc-troubleshooting-and-tuning/?tab=comments#comment-901393 **** IF you are going to have more than one AudioLinux device running Roon on your network you will most likely run into a problem where Roon gets confused about devices. You will have to apply the fix in this post: https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/54933-audiolinux-and-nuc-troubleshooting-and-tuning/?page=31&tab=comments#comment-918823 I am planning to post a summary of my settings over the next couple of weeks, and I have the time/date setup and fine-tuning in that. *** I am close on this one please stand by**** This article is a summary of my NUC build and a record for my own memory. I hope that others find value in it. There is so much work that has been done by others I cannot thank them all. I have to shout out to the following folks for all their work. @austinpop @lmitche @romaz @greenleo @hifi25nl @rickca I know that there are so many others I cannot remember them All! Thanks Bob Fairbairn ---------------------------------------------------------------- Adding WiFi to the build I have been thinking about adding a WiFi card to the build so I dug around and found the card and antennas on Amazon. So here is ONE WAY to add WiFi to the NUC Parts needed M.2 card for your NUC. In my case the Intel AC-8265. https://amzn.to/2Wt9mH2 Antennas and cables for the card. https://amzn.to/2Bcm5Vx Tools needed Phillips screwdrivers as before Needle nose pliers. 5/16 in socket wrench Small round file You might want to skip the coffee before you do this. Do not forget your anti-static protection ! This is the point where I have to play the robot on "Lost in Space". DANGER WILL ROBINSON The connectors on this card are tiny, fragile, and fussy. In my build, the Akasa case is anodized black and I could not insert the SMA connectors into the case without filing the holes out a bit. NOTE metal filings are conductive and can short out the CPU board. I HIGHLY INSIST that you remove the board and then file the case. HIGHLY INSIST! Here we go This is where the board will go and you can see the rubber grommet for one of the antenna leads. Note that the M.2 board mounting screw has a post below it that has to be removed to put the lower board in. Remove the screw and the post. Here is a view of the socket and the post with the board not installed. The second picture shows the board installed. I had to remove the board to install the antennas leads. *** DO NOT INSTALL THE BOARD BEFORE CONNECTING THE ANTENNA LEADS AND PUTTING THE SMA CONNECTORS ON THE CASE *** Here is the board with the antenna leads connected. It is really close quarters in there. Those connectors are fussy. This shows one of the antenna SMA connectors mounted in the case. I used a 5/16in nut driver to snug up the SMA to the case. The antenna is threaded on and you do not want a loose connector/cable. Finally, the case buttoned up antennas installed. I set up on the bench with keyboard, mouse, and monitor. I can then attach my Chord Mojo for quick test final test and initial audio quality review. Software and BIOS Setup for WiFi There is one BIOS change needed to enable the M.2 card in the machine. Look at the PCI page in Advanced Settings. The WiFi setup is now in the Audio Linux menu! And of course in operation. Foot notes after a few weeks in operation. 1. I have now re-connected the WiFi card as my new home network allows me to create multiple networks. I created a 5GHZ only network SSID for the endpoint. I have that running. I will report further. 2. I am having a very hard time determining if I can hear the difference of the USB stick in or out. I have made some other changes in the network since then and I will go back and re-test.

Over the years, I may have been chasing rainbows or dreaming. What I think I have been doing is trying to find is: That Goldilocks Moment! -- The Porridge, the Chair, the Bed. All perfect! I feel there are many of these moments in my audio system journey. At one point, it was an Akai Reel to Reel tape deck and some Koss Pro4AA headphones! Simpler times? Then it was a Phillips GA212 turntable, and Sony integrated amp and B&O speakers. How many times did I spin The Dark Side of the Moon? Today, things are changing faster than ever. But I have found some exciting moments again. The Schiit Yggdrasil DAC was one of them. The Schiit Lyr3 Headphone amp is another. While they are exciting moments, they are not centered well, they sit on the edges of things. At the core of digital music, playback are some fascinating components. Like many others here on AS, there has been much focus on playback software, operating systems, and the associated hardware. I am on the backside of my review of the Allo USBridge Sig hardware. This little box is the beginning of a new Goldilocks moment that is still dropping into place for me. When I got the hardware in place, I knew I had found something special. What I did not know is the journey it is still taking me on. The very first part of that journey was making the music play to see what it did. What a learning experience, JUST WOW! What I am finding is how much care goes into all of this software we are using. Most of my focus has been on X86 hardware, macOS, Windows, AudioLinux, and finally, Euphony. On the X86 platforms, I am sold that the Euphony Stylus software system is a Goldilocks moment. That combination of a fan-less X86 box with Optane storage and a Linear Power supply is Magic! As I have been looking around the computer audio world, there is much focus on small low power computing systems that can sound great. I have had a bunch of them in my systems over time as incremental improvements — the various models of rendu devices or the SMS-200 devices, to name a few. In my systems, time has proven them to be great at improving the sound of my stereo! It was not till the arrival of the Allo USBridge Sig that I am at another Goldilocks Moment. There is more to the story. First, there is software. Oh my is there so much software do deal with, learn, test, listen to, and manage. Out of all of the work, I think I have found a center point to pivot around. First, it is the Linux Music Player Daemon. MPD is the best sounding software I have heard in this space. What is exciting is the MoOdeAudio has an excellent little system built around MPD that helps to create this moment. I have circled the wagons multiple times, and MoOde stands out. I have been using their player software and as either a UPnP endpoint or a Squeezelite endpoint. For local music playback from say a NAS or other local drive, the MoOde player in a web browser works very nicely. It has the bonus of a nice Internet Radio setup. You can also use other software to play to it for streaming services. You can set it up for Airplay or Spotify Connect. The real key here is the renderer software. You can use LMS or Roon to the Squeezelite software or stick with UPnP and use Audirvana+. I cannot wait to try Euphony Stylus to UPnP! Over the last week I have been using Audirvana on a MacMini as the hub of this system for the user interface. I have their A+ app on the devices in the house that play music on the stereo. In the listening, I have done the combination of MoOde Software with the Allo USBridge Sig has become my latest Goldilocks Moment!

Yello - so Archimago has a interesting post http://archimago.blogspot.com/2019/02/musings-computer-audio-mythos-comment.html I have always wondered on the advantages of a high end streamer - something like the Sony HAP-Z1ES - I mean there is no denying that they are beautiful machines - but cannot help but wonder how they are better than a well configured computer based system - doubt the internal software would do more then JRiver and cheaper - or even Roon, expensive as it is... But this is too much like a regular NUC - fancy clock notwithstanding <--- and this is Archimago's point - that prbly doesn't matter. Been thinking of moving away from the laptop I use to a NUC, but as a JRiver user, need to research how to configure headless - but maybe Audiolinux is worth a try... Wonder if the DS-1 is worth the extra dough, not for the fancy clock, but just get a fully configure box that just works... v

Hey folks, I've done some reading here on AS and have seen the monumental audiophile PC builds. Sleek fanless chassis with solely solid state storage, LPSUs, and dedicated clocks/USB output cards. It's quite impressive. In my case, I am looking to build a LAN-enabled beast which will not be hosting any local USB audio equipment in the foreseeable future. If it does ever require direct USB output, I will add something like a PPA USB card with a dedicated OCXO clock and an external LPSU just for the USB output. For now, the system will solely and exclusively be serving audio over wired LAN to my SOtM SMS-200 Neo w/ battery power supply. Now, for the actual server, I'm hoping to set up an 8-bay chassis with an i7 7700k cpu and 16 gigs of ram. I will most likely need a SATA expansion card to support the increased number of storage bays, but that shouldn't be too bad to source. Would an OS like AudioLinux be okay to host this sort of storage setup while it runs roon server and hqplayer for me? Or will I have too much redundant re-set-up to perform every time AL is updated? As of right now, the only component I would need to purchase to make this happen is a chassis (like the Silverstone CS381B). I have tried AudioLinux and like it so far for its simplicity when serving music off of my SSD (haven't delved into RAMRoot or any other specific latency settings just yet). Will using AudioLinux on a roon/hqplayer server PC still make an audible difference? Will using AudioLinux on a non-hardware-optimized PC (No custom clocks, fna-enabled cooling, spinning hard disks, etc.) still make an audible difference over the network? Thanks for your time, Nelly