Media Server up-and-running for about $100

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StantonZ
StantonZ Posts: 439
edited March 2014 in Going Digital
It's mostly a "music" server (since the hardware is so old it can't render DVD's), but it works and sounds great (my ears can't distinguish between the CD and the FLAC file)! I recently decided to take the FLAC plunge, ripping everything I own for archiving on an external HDD; when I discovered that I could actually use my (over 15 year) old laptop to play the FLACs, I investigated how I could interface with my (over 15 year) old Yamaha Integrated Amp. Here's what I came up with:

1) Compaq Presario 1681 laptop
2) Digigram VXpocket PCMCIA sound card
3) WD 1 Tb Passport external HDD

I (obviously) already had the laptop, connected the digital (SPDIF) out of the VXpocket card to the digital (coax) in on my amp, and voila: 16-bit 44.1kHz sound! I only had to make one adjustment to accommodate the old laptop: manually raise the priority of of WMP (in task manager) to "high" to prevent skipping. The USB 1.1 ports handled the external HDD transfer rate (at least for audio), and with the addition of a wireless mouse and and external VGA out to my HDTV, I don't even have to open the laptop to manage playlists. Limitations of my current setup are:

1) No video (DVD) support
2) Sound card can't handle anything beyond CD quality (no "high-rez" FLACs yet)

Needless to say, I'm thrilled to have added a music server to my home theater setup for ~$100 additional cost!
Yamaha RX-A2050 AVR (5.0.2); LG OLED77C2 4K TV
(4) Polk Monitor 10B's w/SoniCaps, Mills, and RDO-194 tweets (R/L F/R)
(2) Polk RC80i (Top Middle)
Polk CS300 center channel
Analog: B&O TX2 Turntable, Nakamichi Cassette Deck 1
Digital: Pioneer CLD-99 Elite LD, Panasonic DMP-UB900 UHD Blu-Ray
Bedroom: Arylic Up2Stream AMPv3 driving Polk Monitor 4's w/peerless tweets
Post edited by StantonZ on
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  • On3s&Z3r0s
    On3s&Z3r0s Posts: 1,013
    edited March 2014
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    Nice. I do love repurposing/recycling old hardware. I recently tried the same with a Dell Latitude that was about 7 years old. Unfortunately, I made a critical mistake. I tried converting a bunch of music from one format to another on the laptop. I guess maybe whatever they had for heat dissipation in the thing couldn't keep up and after about 20 minutes, the thing shut down and wouldn't start back up. Glad you found a solution that works, esp. the PCMCIA sound card. I didn't even know they made those.
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  • StantonZ
    StantonZ Posts: 439
    edited March 2014
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    On3s&Z3r0s wrote: »
    Glad you found a solution that works, esp. the PCMCIA sound card. I didn't even know they made those.

    Neither did I until I did some research; there's plenty of USB solutions out there, but this was a "professional grade" solution (the cards were >$500 new!).

    I've found that old laptops don't do well with a lot of reading/writing from BOTH CD/DVD-ROM drives as well as some internal hard-drives (as you discovered). Yet another reason to use an external HDD for media storage in my setup (the internal drive was only 6 Gb--quite large back in the day)!
    Yamaha RX-A2050 AVR (5.0.2); LG OLED77C2 4K TV
    (4) Polk Monitor 10B's w/SoniCaps, Mills, and RDO-194 tweets (R/L F/R)
    (2) Polk RC80i (Top Middle)
    Polk CS300 center channel
    Analog: B&O TX2 Turntable, Nakamichi Cassette Deck 1
    Digital: Pioneer CLD-99 Elite LD, Panasonic DMP-UB900 UHD Blu-Ray
    Bedroom: Arylic Up2Stream AMPv3 driving Polk Monitor 4's w/peerless tweets
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  • VCoak
    VCoak Posts: 200
    edited March 2014
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    Very nice. I just did the same with an old HP laptop M# DV6T-1200. Wiped and re-installed Windows. Disabled/deleted any unnecessary software. Pulled RG-6 and disabled wireless. Next will be an ext. HD and DAC. As it stands sound is ok at best. Added an app to my phone to control basic play, pause, etc.

    It is nice to recycle old hardware and see it work again.
    W4S SX-1000, Adcom gfp-750, Polk 1.2tl, W4S DAC 2 DSDse, 2012 mac mini (mod), JRivers ver. 19, WD Cloud NAS 2 t.b., Monster Cable AVS-2000 signature, Doug's Alpha I/C & Doug's biwire 6' speaker cables
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  • recoveryone
    recoveryone Posts: 885
    edited March 2014
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    Smart move, I been telling ppl for years to keep their eyes open for old computers that are still capable of streaming music. Its easy to find system from school districts, churchs and other businesses that routinely swap out systems every few years.
    Family Room HT 7.2/i]:Vizio Oled55h1 Pioneer Elite SC-LX502 Pioneer Elite BDP 85FD Eversolo DMP A6 Panamax M5300-EXSpeakers Fronts Fluance XF8L Center Polk Audio S35 Side Surrounds Optimus LS30's Rear Surrounds Optimus LS30's Subs SVS PB4000 x2 Living room 2ch: Crown Xli 1500 amp Teac EQ MKII FX Audio X6 Mk II DAC Squeezebox Touch Fluance Signature Tower Speakers Panamax M5100-EXOffice media room:Vizio M50Q6 50" Pioneer Elite VSX LX103 Squeezebox Touch Polkaudio R50 Towers Polkaudio CS 10 Panamax M4300 Monoprice 12" subMaster bedroom:Vizio M55Q7 Pioneer Elite VSX LX302 Pioneer Elite BDP 85FD Squeezebox Touch Polk audio RTi 6 fronts, Rears Dayton B652 Polk Audio CS10 center Monoprice 12" sub Panamax M5300-EX
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  • erniejade
    erniejade Posts: 6,315
    edited March 2014
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    I DJ on the side and I use a pcmcia Indigo echo DJ sound card. Well I should say one has a pcmcia and my other laptop has a express slot but both are the Indigo echo brand. Looks like amazon still has them for 200 or 100 used.
    Klipsch The Nines, Audioquest Thunderbird Interconnect, Innuos Zen MK3 W4S recovery, Revolution Audio Labs USB & Ethernet, Border Patrol SE-I, Audioquest Niagara 5000 & Thunder, Cullen Crossover II PC's.
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  • erniejade
    erniejade Posts: 6,315
    edited March 2014
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    I forgot to say Supports true 24 bit, 96 kHz audio
    Klipsch The Nines, Audioquest Thunderbird Interconnect, Innuos Zen MK3 W4S recovery, Revolution Audio Labs USB & Ethernet, Border Patrol SE-I, Audioquest Niagara 5000 & Thunder, Cullen Crossover II PC's.
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