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[TedM37395]

I currently run the Windows version of MC 21 (in audio mode) on an Asus Cloudbook 11 laptop with 32-bit Windows 10. I use Gizmo as the remote control. Output is to a USB Centrance DACPort using ASIO. The DACPort is an obsolete DAC released in 2010. Its manufacturer claims it is "class-compliant" and compatible with "[a]ny computer running Mac, PC, Linux, or iOS."

I'm using the fanless laptop as a dedicated music player, with FLAC files on a USB3 external hard drive. MC automatically starts up after Windows boots, and that's the only application I run. The overhead of Windows 10 seems to be overkill for this use, and I resent Microsoft's continual intrusion as it pushes updates and monitors everything I do to help Microsoft "improve the Windows 10 experience."

I'm considering switching to Linux. What distribution would be a good choice for a dedicated MC audio player? And in particular, how would I get the bit-perfect equivalent of ASIO or WASAPI?

Thanks in advance for whatever advice or recommendations this community can provide.

[Awesome Donkey]

I'm considering switching to Linux. What distribution would be a good choice for a dedicated MC audio player?

Debian, Ubuntu or Linux Mint. Personally, if you've never used Linux before I'd suggest Linux Mint.

[sekrit]

I currently run the Windows version of MC 21 (in audio mode) on an Asus Cloudbook 11 laptop with 32-bit Windows 10. I use Gizmo as the remote control. Output is to a USB Centrance DACPort using ASIO. The DACPort is an obsolete DAC released in 2010. Its manufacturer claims it is "class-compliant" and compatible with "[a]ny computer running Mac, PC, Linux, or iOS."

I'm using the fanless laptop as a dedicated music player, with FLAC files on a USB3 external hard drive. MC automatically starts up after Windows boots, and that's the only application I run. The overhead of Windows 10 seems to be overkill for this use, and I resent Microsoft's continual intrusion as it pushes updates and monitors everything I do to help Microsoft "improve the Windows 10 experience."

I'm considering switching to Linux. What distribution would be a good choice for a dedicated MC audio player? And in particular, how would I get the bit-perfect equivalent of ASIO or WASAPI?

Thanks in advance for whatever advice or recommendations this community can provide.

I recently switched from Windows 10 to Ubuntu.  Media Center 21 is not stable on Linux as much as it is on Windows.   But it is worth trying for better sound quality.  I understand you have a USB connection to DAC, just like my setup.   

The best thing about using linux is that there is no need for a driver.  USB Audio 2.0 is already integrated to all linux kernels including Mac OSX.   No worries about ASIO, WASAPI or such.   

Which distro depends on which one works more stable.  Debian didn't stay stable for more than couple of hours, so I installed Ubuntu 16.04.  Ubuntu is better and runs stable unless I turn on the "Auto-import" setting.  It causes crash and some segmentation fault bug.  JRiver needs to pay more attention to linux users.

 

[Awesome Donkey]

The current MC22 build (which has a segfault fix) is pretty darn stable and fast, IMO. Since MC 21 development has ended, I have doubts a crash fix will be back-ported to MC 21. You'd have to ask Bob.

But yeah, sometimes there's files (doesn't matter if it's Windows, Mac or Linux) that *can* crash auto-import. If you encounter these enable logging then view the logs to find which file(s) is causing said crash and upload the file(s) and share them to the developers to help fix it.

[astromo]

I empathise with the intrusive nature of the big end of town - M$. I run Win10 but as a standalone and have sanitised as much as I can the datamining that it comes with.

Going to Linux MC, I'd just caution that you're aware of what it doesn't do when comparing with Windows MC. A notable point of difference currently is television. If that's not a bother, cool. Not sure what else? Can't speak for high end video. I still rely on my Windows machine for that kind of work.

[sekrit]

I empathise with the intrusive nature of the big end of town - M$. I run Win10 but as a standalone and have sanitised as much as I can the datamining that it comes with.

Going to Linux MC, I'd just caution that you're aware of what it doesn't do when comparing with Windows MC. A notable point of difference currently is television. If that's not a bother, cool. Not sure what else? Can't speak for high end video. I still rely on my Windows machine for that kind of work.

Windows vs Linux won't make any difference if you are listening to compressed music.  But If you are using JRiver for listening uncompressed music, try listening on a Linux machine using the same hardware setup.  You will "hear" the difference.  Sound needs to be processed in a real-time kernel OS like Linux.  Quality suffers from DPC latency and driver issues in Windows.