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Author Topic: minimum hardware specs for good hardware playback?  (Read 4357 times)

TonyTonorro

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minimum hardware specs for good hardware playback?
« on: July 10, 2016, 02:50:26 pm »

I'm thinking of installing JRiver on my laptop to drive a DAC like that of Bryston or Prism.  My laptop is pretty minimal and I'm concerned that it may not be capable for producing a reliable WASAPI stream commensurate with the quality of my other high end equipment.  I'm running Windows 10 on a 64 bit machine with an intel celeron chip clocking at only 2.16 gh with 4 gb  of memory.  Is this enough for JRiver to provide good audio playback or should I buy another laptop with a faster clock speed and more memory?
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ferday

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Re: minimum hardware specs for good hardware playback?
« Reply #1 on: July 10, 2016, 02:59:22 pm »

That should be ok for audio only, other than DSD audio isn't really taxing on any remotely modern system.  Just try it out...unless you want a new laptop of course :)
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dtc

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Re: minimum hardware specs for good hardware playback?
« Reply #2 on: July 10, 2016, 05:29:12 pm »

That should be ok for audio only, other than DSD audio isn't really taxing on any remotely modern system.  Just try it out...unless you want a new laptop of course :)

DSD playback is not taxing unless you convert it to PCM on the fly. Even that is not that taxing. Converting PCM to DSD on the fly is taxing on the CPU.
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blgentry

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Re: minimum hardware specs for good hardware playback?
« Reply #3 on: July 10, 2016, 05:38:10 pm »

Install the trial version of MC (or licensed if you have a license).  Then run the JRiver benchmark:  Help > Benchmark > Run Benchmark .

Report the benchmark here and we should be able to give you a ball park idea of what that machine can play comfortably.

Brian.
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dtc

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Re: minimum hardware specs for good hardware playback?
« Reply #4 on: July 10, 2016, 05:42:56 pm »

You should be fine as long as you are not doing any significant conversions (like PCM to DSD) or using complicated DSPs. I use a Atom based Netbook with 2 GB of member and have no trouble with 16/44 tracks. The only issue I have is high res files (24/196 e.g.) from a USB drive, but even that is manageable with a little adjustment. Playing over wireless may be an issue, but probably not, except possibly for high res. Don't run other applications and you can turn off anti virus unless you are accessing the Internet.

You can run a benchmark under Help. My Jmark is 477. Yours should be a lot higher.

Give it a try. You should be OK.
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TonyTonorro

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Re: minimum hardware specs for good hardware playback?
« Reply #5 on: July 11, 2016, 09:01:57 am »

Thanks to all.  A great help.
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TonyTonorro

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Re: minimum hardware specs for good hardware playback?
« Reply #6 on: July 18, 2016, 10:23:50 am »

Just ran the benchmark.  Got a 1345 score.  Is that ok?
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dtc

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Re: minimum hardware specs for good hardware playback?
« Reply #7 on: July 19, 2016, 01:10:55 pm »

That is a low number, but for playback of Redbook and hi-res files without any complicated processing, you should be OK. I would stick to the internal hard drive, not USB, and not try to use network files. USB drives can work, but it may take some setting changes. Since you have the software installed, the best thing to do is to try it and look at CPU usage when doing so. It should generally be less than 10%. I would also turn off anti-virus if you can and do not plan to use the laptop for other tasks at the same time. Also turn off any other programs that might be running, especially anything polling the network. Give it a try. You should be OK.
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