I built this computer specifically to listen to music, with occasional gaming as well.

• Intel Q9550 @ 3.2ghz, 1.14v
• Asus P5Q-E motherboard
• Intel 80GB X25-M G2 SSD
• Seagate Momentus 320GB, enclosed in Scythe SilentDrive, then soft
  mounted with mCubed Silent Brackets (notebook hdd * silent^2 )
• Radeon 4870 1GB
• Enermax Modu82+ 525W

Cooling Setup:

• Scythe S-Flex case (back) fan @ 800rpm
• Scythe SlipStream CPU fan @ 800rpm
• Noctua NH-U12P Heatsink
• Thermalright T-RAD GPU Heatsink
• Enermax PSU fan replaced with Noctua P12, thermally controlled by a
  T-Balancer miniNG
• Thermalright 92mm fans on GPU, also controlled by the miniNG.
  The miniNG does a really good job of keeping the GPU fan noise
  down to a minimum. The entire system is inaudible from 1 meter away.

As you can see, the top of the case has been cut to make room for 2x120mm fans.
There is actually no need to put fans here, as convection + the GPU fans is
more than enough to exhaust the hot air from the case.

Pictures (excuse the dust The case is over a year old now... )






-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The audio setup:

• Tetra 120u Monitors
• North Star m192 DAC
• MSB Power DAC Gold
• Grado HP2 and HF2 headphones (not shown)
• Abraxas Custom Built Integrated Amp (not shown)

Very clean! Excellent, I love it.

Great build! *THUMBS UP*

cool! nice!

Just like you I enjoy music...

However I do not use my PC to listen to music, I have a dedicated HTPC for that, I use DacMagic, Rotel Processor with Rotel amps (RB-1080 and RB-991) and B&W Speakers (700 series).

My Dream is to be able to buy a Benchmark Dac, and a nice transport for CDs & SACDs.

Congratulations on your build, its very very nice!

Thanks for the comments

I'd love a dedicated HTPC, but I only have 1 room for everything
Would also like to hear better speakers, but most of them will look
really awkward on my desk.



Have you considered getting using a Firewire or
USB digital interface with your PC, instead of a
dedicated transport? Or a DAC with properly
implemented USB input, such as the Ayre QB-9?

I wouldn't recommend buying the Benchmark DAC
unless you audition it first. It was my first
dedicated DAC, about 5 years ago, and I believe
many others have surpassed it, even at its price
point. I'd consider getting a Stello DA100 instead
of the DAC1, it is both cheaper and better (imho).
Since you already have the DacMagic, it may even
make sense to skip the 1K DACs and go straight
to skip 1K DACs altogether

edit: double post

Hi!

Well I have a Rotel CD Player, its not THEEE BEST Cd player, but I kinda like it. I also have a Denon 2930, which is a DVD player with PCM1791 dac, which is decent but also not the best.

With the HTPC + dacmagic the sound for lossless audio is great, not even sure if I would be able to "listen" the difference if I used a better DAC.

The benchmark for me would bem the top DAC I would even buy.

The DAC Magic is connected to the PC using USB, for the denon and rotel I do not use the external DAC, as they sound pretty good alone.

I found that most sound cards, is aweful, maybe one exception is the Asus Xonar, apparently they use BurrBrown dacs and the sound is better than the regular SB cards...

You know, sound quality for me is very important, I play violion as a hobby and I love cello and violin sound, so I do appreciate sound quality!

One day I will be fortunate enough to have those nice 802D or 801D B&W speakers!!

Glad to see another music-phile here I used to
play the cello, but now nothing I listen to
mostly Beethoven String Quartets and now
Wagner. One of these days, I'd like to hear
Wagner through top end horn speakers like the
Acapella or Avantgarde

Imho, computers can better than even the best
dedicated silver disk transports. For example,
something like a computer with Weiss INT202,
RME Fireface, Logitech Transporter, or perhaps the
new Wavelength Wavelink would make an
excellent digital front end for any DAC you get

An example setup would be:
HTPC -> Wavelength Wavelink -> Your DAC

Get the convenience of having all your music
stored on hard drive, without any compromise in
sound quality.

hi!

String Quartets is always nice, I REALLY appreciate the cello and violin sound, I always liked, since I was very young.

Never heard of those speakers, the best I got the chance to hear was Wilson Audio and Gryphon, do not remember the models, as it was pretty much irrelevant for me... i.e. I would never be able to buy it.

Logitech Transport? You mean like squeeze box? Never heard of Wavelength Wavelink.

I spent a painful ammount of money buying my current setup, I got a Rotel RSP-1570, RB-1080, RB-991, B&W 703, B&W 705 and HTM7, and a Velodyne DLS-4000r. As for players I have the Rotel CD Player, a Denon 2930CI, and a sony Bluray. And for lossless music, I got a very simple HTPC with DacMagic.

I am a big fan of english speakers, I like the Kef sound, and B&W sound. While people describe the 700 B&W line as harsh, I think it sound amazingly for violin and cello.

I am trying to save money to buy an RC-1070 and RB-1070 and a set of 705 speakers and start a simple dedicated audio player in my bedroom.

Well yes, not many girls like this things, but for me music is very important, I grew up listening and playing violin, I used to dream of playing in a quartet...

Once again, in music... nothing beats the sound of good Cello and a good Violin.

I don't get what exactly the DAC is...and the benchmark brand at 1295 dollars. A computer transforms all of it..if we are listening to it. Bizarre quest if you ask me. looks nice.

A sound card is basically a DAC (most sound cards
have an ADC section as well). DAC stands for
digital to analog converter. Basically, your
computer only "transforms" music files (mp3, flac,
whatever) into a digital stream, which needs to
be converted into an analog stream to be played
on your speakers.

Nice build. I'm jealous of your HP2s. Simply outstanding headphones.

Could've sworn the case looked familiar... *looks at username*

I swear, I have seen your rig at Head-Fi...in the post your computer rig thread...

Astute!