Recommendation for mini ITX mother board for audio system

[rickd]

Hello - I am wanting to build a small fanless system using a mini ITX motherboard to use as a music server.

The requirements are it must have
Wi-Fi,
a high quality spdif output (could be from add on card),
and on-board video for initial setup.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

RD

[HFat]

What I'd do is to get an Intel Atom board with a mini-PCI(e) wifi card (if you really want it onboard: I'd simply use a USB wifi dongle) and a quality external soundcard. That's easy to run fanless with a suitable case.
If you really want everything integrated, look at Zotac's fanless Zacate board but that's more expensive, will probably run hotter and the quality of the sound card may not be up to your standards.

[ces]

Intel motherboards are optimized for low power utilization. In every review I have ever seen, they have always been the winner in this one attribute.... often by a substantial degree. The other motherboard manufacturers could probably compete with Intel on this one attribute... but they focus on other types of performance factors instead.

Consider getting an intel 1155 motherboard and an Intel Sandy Bridge chip. Don't bother spending extra on the low power SB CPUs. All of the SBs from the smallest to the 4 cores all idle around 4 watts and there isn't that much difference between them with respect to the amount of work done per watt.

[vitaminc]

Use USB WiFi instead of Mini PCI-E WiFi to save you a bit of hassle.

[capoeira]

a high quality spdif output (could be from add on card),

It's a digital output, so as long as there are no shity contacts, there will be no quality difference from the spdif out of a cheap motherboard and a high priced soundcard.

[rickd]

from what I have read on other sites there can be a significant difference on the optical output due to jitter.