I come from the Windows world and couldn’t find any recommendations for mini PCs in my search. Which mini PC did you choose and why? AMD or Intel?
Quiet in operation.
Price range 400 - 600 € or in $ 450 - 700 or cheaper
Rüdiger
I have had good luck with ASUS products… 2 laptops and a custom build desk side… I went with Intel as windoz seems to be more stable with Intel CPU/GFX… My desk side is a custom de-lid, over clocked i7 to 5GHz and water-cooled has been stable now for ~5 years now… One of my AUSU laptops is a ASUS ROG with an Intel i9 CPU and Nvidia GFX… Solid performance for 9 months now…
You might look into ASUS NUCs as some seem to be in your price range…
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Thanks for the tip to look into Asus. You’re happy with an Asus desktop and laptop. I assume you also use the desktop for gaming.
What I’m going to build are pure audio PCs, which will be open plan in the kitchen-diner and living room to complement my hi-fi system. I also have an older Samsung Tab A7 (SM-T505) tablet running Android 11, which AA will operate.
My Lenovo laptop with an i5 CPU and 32GB RAM running Windows 11 is reserved for everything else.
In my apartment, there are two rooms with their own hi-fi systems. In the living room, there’s an active dipole speaker – a DIY version of the Linkwitz LX521 – with a Windows PC for ASIO and Acourate for crossover and room equalization. I can’t afford the finished version of the Linkwitz LX521, and it will also involve some manual work. For the Linkwitz’s 10 channels, I use a MOTU UltraLite mk5 audio interface, which works with ASIO.
The music will be ripped from CD then upsampled to 88.2 kHz using SOX, saved in PCM. Whlie playing converted to DSD64 or DSD128. That’s my plan.
With a 2.5 GB LAN connection I can keep the music up to date on my 2 PCs and back it up.
Back to the second listening room a combination of kitchen and living room – with a leather armchair in the listening corner – a pair of active Acoustic Energy AE1 speakers along with a Gustard A20H DAC, which also supports DSD. (The Gustard is only available used.)
AA is going to get a mini PC in the kitchen-living room, for which I initially chose a Zotac ZBOX CI649 nano, which is purely passively cooled and features an Intel Core i5-1335U, 2C+8c/12T, 1.30-4.60 GHz. This CPU comes from the notebook world, so it only has 2 performance cores and 8 efficiency cores. Additionally, I need to purchase an M.2 2230 2TB SSD, 32 GB RAM, and a Windows 11 license. That brings me to €700 including VAT.
Is a Core i5-1335U sufficient for this in terms of performance?
Here in the forum, CPUs with higher performance are used, such as 6-core CPUs or 14 cores in an Apple M4 Max.
That’s why I configured a second mini PC that looks good and offers options for more powerful components.
The base is an ITX board in a fairly small ITX case. Here’s my list:
Jonsbo C6 ITX black case, more photos from the manufacturer
ASRock A620I Lightning WiFi ITX AM 5 board
AMD Ryzen 7 7700, 8C/16T, 3.80–5.30 GHz, tray
Alternatively: AMD Ryzen 5 8600G, 6C/12T, 4.30–5.00 GHz, boxed (€35 surcharge for 8-core AMD Ryzen 7 7700)
Noctua NH-L12S top-blow CPU cooler, 450–1850 RPM, very quiet
2x Arctic BioniX P120 PWM PST red, 120mm, installed at the top and bottom of the case, very quiet, 200–2100 RPM
Kingston FURY Beast black UDIMM 32GB kit DDR5-5200, CL40-40-40
Samsung SSD 990 PRO 2 TB, M.2 2280 / M-Key / PCIe 4.0 x4
Corsair RMe Series 2025 RM650e 650W ATX 3.1, fan 120mm, semi-passive, noise level 12.58dB(A) @ 350 rpm
That brings my total to €1,000. That’s €300 extra on the Noctua PC, but I think it would be worth it. My goal is a very quiet PC, virtually inaudible, with enough power for AA operation, and a lifespan of a five years or longer.
For ripping my CD collection, I use a Hitachi-LG Data Storage BP55EB40 SlimLine black, USB 2.0.
What are your comments? I haven’t purchased the parts yet and am open to changes.
Gigabyte used to have well layed out and good isolated main boards. I’ve used it to configure a Linux based mini PC for Audirvana Core testing. I don’t know about current models.
The low power chips (like the N100) can often operate without a fan.
What impresses me about the ASRock A620I Lightning WiFi are the positive user feedbacks, one of which:
"A cheap but great budget motherboard
If you can do without PCIe 5.x, you’ll get another solid board here. I used it and was very satisfied. The fan control is top-notch (Gigabyte could take a look at that), and it doesn’t require an M.2 fan!
The BIOS is quite stripped down, but the essentials are included, so it’s not overloaded. Only the sound chip could have been a bit better, but that’s not what you’d expect from a budget motherboard.
I was very satisfied.
P.S. If you want the better sound chip and PCIe 5.x without active M.2 fans, I recommend the ASRock Phantom Gaming B850I Lightning WiFi."
The ASRock motherboard also comes with a reserve for an additional M.2/M-Key (PCIe 3.0 x4, 2280) as second storage space, which the GIGABYTE B650I AX doesn’t. Both boards are priced at the same level at €140.
I’m not a PC Builder nor interested, but you asked for recommendations.
I think you will find more qualified discussion on the forum of Computer Audiophile, which as the name suggests, is a community around computer based audio.
I’ve done comparisons with Audirvana Core and what matters for sound. The key take aways:
- Power supply, power supply and then power supply. It’s about 75% of what defines the sound quality.
- Stripped down versions of Lunix with a minimal amount of processes running do sound better than general purpose OS-es with a lot of processes running.
- Depending on how you connect to the DAC: if you use USB, the electrical isolation of the USB interface and the ethernet interface makes an audible difference.
And furthermore: WiF transmitters (or Bluetooth transmitters) mounted on the mainboard are a horrible source of noise and uglies that you want to avoid. If you can deconnect or disable them, do so and use a wired interface.
Good luck!
Right, once I know how much power is needed in practice, I’ll look for a better power supply. This will probably end up being a linear power supply.
That’s true, but Linux is a special world that I’m not familiar with.
Also correct. I’ll look for a good USB cable.
Therefore, I will disable this in the BIOS or Windows once the PC setup is complete.
I’ll also check out Computer Audiophile. But I think there are also users there with good PC know-how, so I’ll continue the discussion here.
Where to start… I do not use any of my PCs for gaming… My desk side is for prototyping signals and image processing tasks as well as time series analysis… It is also duel boot for windows and MacOS… I have also run Audirvana on it from time to time to test various things… It also has two ASUS Nvidia cards used for the above tasks…
As for you questions regarding is the i5 processor good enough for your focus I would say yes… I have an old MacBook Pro that I use to run Audirvana with the HangLoose Convolver and some Old Skool EQs as VSTs… The processor is a 2.7 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 with 8 GB 1867 MHz DDR3… So I think your processor choice is fine for now…
I think you will have to do your own math to figure out your power supply requirements… Then add 20%…
You might also look into a fanless case, and a liner power supply…
There are also on line configurators to help with your choices at places like Newegg…
And BTY there are some megaTaps mods to SOX available if you are capable of building your own version…
The Zotac ZBOX CI649 is a fanless case with passive cooling, so fans don’t interfere.
The Newegg PSU calculator and other online calculators only consider desktop PCs because they want to sell power supplies.
The Intel Core i5-1335U installed in the Zotac is a current mid-range notebook CPU.
The CPU test for the i5-1335U shows 9.7W idle power consumption @ 150cd/1 min. The maximum value measured is 56 to 66W for Cinebench R15 as multi-power consumption with an external monitor.
I estimate the power consumption of the Zotac ZBOX CI649 to be 40W. The external power supply delivers up to 65W. More information will only be available after a practical test with Audirvana.
After measuring the power consumption, I’ll be able to say whether 65W is sufficient or whether a 100W LPSU should be used. A 20% reserve is set.
For the LPSU, I’m considering Zero Zone, which has a good reputation here in the German-language forum “aktives-hoeren.de” and has its own thread.
So, I’ll go with a Zotac ZBOX CI649 and report back later.
For RAM, I’m getting a 32GB kit with DDR5-4800.
Question: Is the DSD conversion done all at once when playing a album, or track by track?
the Zotac Box CI649 looks like a reasonable choice… The the i5-1335U has a vector architecture and speed stepping tech… 
I would probably go with the 100W LPSU… You will need to consider any peripherals that might pull more watts thru usb etc… Like jump sticks, backup disk drives… They don’t pull much and the extra grunt from the 100W power supply is nice…
I don’t use DSD so I can’t answer that question… My best guess is that conversions are done on the fly song by song and/or possibly more via the the buffersize parameter…
More System RAM is always better… this in context, and in concert, with the memory bus speed/bandwidth 
Note these are minimum requirements…
Track by track… the CPU/memory overhead of doing a whole album first, would introduce unacceptable latency…
*Relative power requirements are intrinsically tied to amperage stability.
Hi @RC23
I have an 8th Gen Intel i7 NUC, double height. It has 32Gb RAM (the max you could put in an 8th Gen), coupled with a 1Tb SSD (Win 11 and installed apps including AS).
It also has a second 2Tb NVME which contains my music library only.
Housed in an Akasa Turing case, so totally silent in use.
Only really use it when working from home, and listening via headphones.
Works pretty much flawlessly, so would recommend the NUC route.
You’ll probably get more bang for your buck if you can source a slightly older processor.
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Hi @RC23, I’ve built/configured a slew of mini PCs and my #1 rule is “stick with a well known name brand” … for reasons of quality AND ongoing support with firmware updates, etcetera.
Zotac is a great brand and the CI649 is a solid choice! The i5 processor is plenty powerful, especially with dual-channel DDR5.
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If I remember correctly, a bit of a hybrid, and depends on settings. My recollection is it’s mostly track by track, but if the CPU is capable and you have enough RAM, Audirvana “looks ahead” and converts part or all of the next track while the current one is playing.
Edit: Try at least DSD128, maybe higher if you don’t get fan noise. Measured distortion and noise response is better at higher rates. Of course that’s meaningless if you’ve got fan noise. So see what works for you.
I’ve since had a phone call with the ZOTAC technician, who proved to be quite knowledgeable and easy to reach.
My concerns stemmed from the well-known Intel issues with the 13th and 14th generation, with failures that even lead to blue screens. I was assured that these don’t occur with ZOTAC, as ZOTAC develops its own technology and firmware. After registering ZOTAC PCs, customers in Europe receive a 5-year warranty, which is reassuring. Two years is standard in Europe. It remains to be seen how the warranty works in other countries.
There is a list of tested RAM. Based on his personal experience, the technician advises against Crucial RAM and recommends Samsung and Kingston.
I’ve always had flawless–and long term reilable–results with Kingston RAM.