Suggestion for a new 'Audio' laptop..? [Archive]

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Frankyc2003

22-05-2013, 16:30

Colin

02-06-2013, 16:13

Why use a laptop, why not a nas of some description?

Tim

02-06-2013, 16:18

Well if you want my two penneth worth, it would be don't buy a laptop if you really want the best from computer audio ;)

Stratmangler

02-06-2013, 18:24

I can't recommend getting a Zyxel NSA310 highly enough.
One of those, plus a decent size drive (2-3TB) and you're sorted.

The NSA spins down when not being accessed, and what's more Zyxel support LMS, so you're more than happy running your Squeezebox.
The NSA also consumes little power when under full load, so it's economical to drive too :)

keiths

02-06-2013, 18:37

I can't recommend getting a Zyxel NSA310 highly enough.
One of those, plus a decent size drive (2-3TB) and you're sorted.

Another vote here for the Zyxel NSA310 - i've been using one with a WD Red 2TB HDD for a few months now and it is excellent.

synsei

02-06-2013, 18:56

Is it possible to hook up an existing external HD to the Zxyel?

Stratmangler

02-06-2013, 19:05

Is it possible to hook up an existing external HD to the Zxyel?

Only to transfer data.

synsei

02-06-2013, 19:12

That's a shame...

keiths

02-06-2013, 19:29

The zyxel comes without a HDD installed, so you can simply install your existing (SATA) drive, but you will lose any data on it when it's initialised. You can also add an additional external ESATA drive and use it together with the internal drive in either RAID1 or JBOD (though Zyxel recommend that the two drives are identical, or at least the same speed)

synsei

02-06-2013, 19:35

I am aware I would need to buy a drive for the internal bay but I have an existing WD 2TB external which is pretty much full with music and vids. It's a couple of years old and it connects via USB2. I was sort of hoping I could just plug & play :eyebrows:

pjdowns

02-06-2013, 20:12

Hi everyone,

My dedicated music streaming laptop decided to go and meet its maker last night... Fortunately all my music is safely backed up on RAID drive...

Phewww!

Now, the big question is what to replace it with?
I am running a SBT into a rDac.
My previous machine had SBt server and WhiteBear server installed.
And I was pretty happy with it.

Any suggestions from you guys?

Cheers in advance
:cool:

I'm sure you'd expect this to come from me, but, if you have to have a laptop an Apple MacBook, MacBook Pro or MacBook Air are all excellent machines. If you can live without a laptop, what about an Apple Mac Mini or an iMac... Hope this help, and yes, I do love Apple computers lol

Hypnoboogie

04-06-2013, 19:29

This forum could be dangerous for impoverished me. It's got me thinking about NAS now. Never really looked into it much. I'm not even bothered about the network-attached bit. Something that could connect to my 70s equipment and allow me to play my music files, at decent quality, without having to spark up the computer every time. Dream.

Being essentially a know-nothing, I'm limited as to the amount of help I can bring but, to point in a general direction from your original request, I've read a few places that the Asus N56VM is a good all-round laptop and the marketing at least shouts about its audio fidelity.

Audio Al

04-06-2013, 19:51

http://www.mains-cables-r-us.co.uk/siteuploads/Server%20Brochure_WHITE.pdf

Is this the sort of thing you are looking for ?

Frankyc2003

04-06-2013, 20:41

Thanks everyone for your input...
Work has lent me a macbook pro, so I presto installed LMS and got going... quite happy with what Spotify sound quality has to offer...
Now, onto some serious Hires files though... Some nice 2L recordings from Norway...

I will check the Zyxel as a NAS has always been on the back of my mind...

Stratmangler

04-06-2013, 23:22

Just checked out what the Zyxel won't handle.
It looks like the Zyxel corporation are part of the Apple backlash :eyebrows:

http://i942.photobucket.com/albums/ad264/cdf_1962/LMSfiletypes_zps45f82684.png (http://s942.photobucket.com/user/cdf_1962/media/LMSfiletypes_zps45f82684.png.html)

:rfl:

Frankyc2003

05-06-2013, 10:19

Funny enough, I am experiencing drop outs on Hi res files, 96Khz or 192Khz while using the Macbook pro...

It never happened on my PC laptop...
Having said that the PC is dead in a skip now...:doh:

Andrei

07-06-2013, 03:37

Good question! however it is not one for which I have an answer. If you were to ask 'how to build a PC for audio optimization' then I could really help.
The pointers I can give come under the generic heading: The better the specs the better the sound.

Buy a Laptop with a fast processor: The PC WILL multitask (but hint below) but to have it attend to the bits and bytes as best as possible get a good CPU. I have built maybe 25 PCs and I generally go one/two steps below 'top-of-the-line'. If you are looking AMD - go Phenom 2 (yes an older architecture but about as good as the latest AMD offerings. These should be seriously cheap. If Intel, then i5 or i7 according to budget. [Before I get flamed I acknowledge there chips are not laptop dedicated - use discretion].
RAM. Minimum 4 GB. Get more if you can - not huge improvement but RAM is cheap.
RAM. Check the specs of the RAM - it can operate at different speeds. This is important; go for the faster RAM. Probably you will find that RAM speed is not specified. This is precisely the area where laptop vendors make money. They flog the cheapest ram (and motherboards) possible. [The price : quality continuum is not a 'straight line' so cheapest dies not necessarily mean bad, but it does mean 'watch out']. Ram is important in a general sense but as you will be 'playing from ram' if you follow my advice it is important.]

Inbuilt Soundcard. This is a big 'no-no' for HI-FI. Just ignore that 'feature'. Comment: I'm OK with 'Mid-Fi' for a laptop but why not push higher?

Software. This has nothing to do with the laptop but for Hi-Fi you should cut down on Windows 'processes'. [Dunno but Mac users may not be able to do this. As an aside I accept that Macs are easier to use but cant see what the price premium has to offer apart from that. Seems to me that if I did run a Mac I would be too embarrassed to admit it]. Fidelizer is a shortcut to optimising PC playback for PCs.

RAM (again). My understanding is that when the data is processed it is played from Memory. However you still minimise 'disk thrashing' if you play from memory. This is blindingly easy if you have Foobar as your player. The other two players that are popular are JRiver and Media Monkey. All great products. In Foobar that I use there is an option to play from Ramdisk. This is a modest improvement and what it does is to create an artificial disk (call a Ram Disk) in memory and you create an artificial memory disk automatically to play from Memory rather than a Hard Disk

DAC: The inbuilt 'sound' if it exists at all will be (if you are lucky) at the low end of hi-fi. [If you were running a PC I would recommend an Asus Xonar sound card. This offered real hi-fi for peanuts.] Best option is a SPDIF or USB connection to an external sound card. There is lots of info in forums on DACS. I am happy with Wyred4Sound .

Buying a laptop for audio is both easy and difficult. Easy in the sense that most laptops will do the trick and the quality cannot really be much different. Difficult if you really wish to make a difference you need to do a lot of research and (a) find the right laptop; (b) modifying laptops if much more expensive than upgrading desktop PCs.

pjdowns

07-06-2013, 10:44

Funny enough, I am experiencing drop outs on Hi res files, 96Khz or 192Khz while using the Macbook pro...

It never happened on my PC laptop...
Having said that the PC is dead in a skip now...:doh:

Sounds like user error to me :lolsign:

Gazjam

07-06-2013, 10:50

Sounds like user error to me :lolsign:

Picnic! :)

Problem In Chair Not In Computer :)

Frankyc2003

07-06-2013, 11:33

indeed, settings in the SBT server were not optimised...
Now they are and the drop outs have gone!

cheers!