Knickelfarz said : Hush already started to produce systems with Nehemiah M10000 CPU. All EPIA-M ITX-Boards have a digital audio output (Koax), there are planed boards with optical output, too. Anyhow, you can expand the system with a soundcard...
I am planning on doing that. The on board audio is probably not up to the level that I would like it to be.
Ah, the answer to my question... "read the fine print"
http://www.hushtechnologies.net/news_detail2.cfm?ID=33I can't tell whether or not the price for the M10000 system (i.e. regular system + 30) is correct, hopefully someone will get back to me with that.
I've read through that review. It looks like that Nehemiah might have enough power to handle my needs. {I wish that they would have included some regular PC scores, just so that one could get a ballpark figure for the system's speed.}
Thanks ShockValue for your input. That's very helpful. How sluggish is the interface? i.e. I'm hoping to use this as my main listening device, and if the interface is really sluggish it could become very frustrating.
cjdshaw said: It annoys me that my Toshiba laptop has the same spec, and only turns on its fan for the the most strenuous activities. Why has no-one made a mini-desktop which is basically a laptop but without the added expense of a screen?
dittto, makes me want to get a cheap laptop and just rip it's guts out. Too bad I can't use PCI cards in it.
I've used the shuttle xpcs before and while they are very quiet, I would have to agree with the comment that the fan makes enough noise to cause an annoyance when listening to classical music.
Since this is only going to be for audio (my stereo is in a different room than my TV and entertainment system), if the new Nehemiah M10000 system is quick enough to handle the GUI and keep it from being too sluggish, while playing the APE files without problems, then it will probably meet my needs.
Eventually, I'll create a system for my home theater, in which case, I'll probably go with something like the Shuttle XPC. When I do that, I'll have to find out whether the Shuttle's digital has a pass through option. Many consumer level sound cards seem to resample music before sending it out.
Looked at the chillblast site, and they seem to be regular PCs.
I have found some "quiet" PCs:
Carillon Audio PC
http://www.carillonusa.com/ArmSystems Stealth PC
http://reseller.armsystems.com/reseller/ezconfig2/index.cfmHowever, these all have fans.
Boris, how much memory do you have in your system?