Wolf Audio music servers

A computer is a computer is a computer. Audio streaming does not require much processing power, so even a basic Raspberry Pi will do. There are two qualifications to be made, however. The first is that the more powerful ones necessarily have fans, and that fan noise completely wrecks your noise floor. So get a fanless one, or a very quiet one if you need that very same more powerful computer for other purposes as well.
The second qualification is discussed more often, and it is that internal soundcards rarely are any good, particularly in laptops. Even a very modest Behringer UCA 202 usb DAC will beat just about any inbuilt sound card. So get a decent usb DAC. My personal favourite for affordable basic high quality usb conversion is the ODAC. In your case the Oppo does all this work, and cannot be meaningfully improved upon.

@lwin  Definitely share your experience and impressions of the Wolf Audio server. Looking forward to your write-up.

I am glad to see there is some interest in this unit. I should begin with a disclaimer. I have no affiliation with Wolf Audio. I am just a customer.
For the last 5 years I have been using a custom Asus laptop as my music server. It has Windows 8, I TB solid state drive , I7 chip, 32 GB of ram. It also has J River, Tidal and Roon. The server I purchased from Wolf Audio has a 2TB solid state drive, I7 chip, 32GB ram with I believe Windows 10. I aslo have J River , Roon and Tidal on it so from a spec standpoint both units are very similar.
Before I purchased the server I had a good converstaion with Joe Parvey the owner. He wanted to know about my playback system, internet connection and what I was looking for in capability. Joseph then personally builds your server. I purchased the Alpha 2 which is in the middle of their product line.
Once your server arrives Joseph connects via the internet to download your music and walk you through the operation of your server.Joseph is very patient and persistent. He wants to make sure your server is working right and that you know how to operate it.
When I first tried playing some music the highs were shill and the bass was flabby. I let it play for a day and it was much improved sounding very close in performance to my laptop. One of the nice things about breaking in a server is you don't need to run amps, speakers etc. I ran it for a week 24/7.Since that time I have had several extended listening sessions.
The Alpha 2 is a real thoroughbred. If a disk is poorly recorded it shows no mercy. If a recording is well done it will surprise you with the playback quality.I don't think my laptop is more forgiving, I just think the the Alpha 2 plays at a higher performance level which emphasizes the contrast between good and bad recordings.
The Alpha 2 gets me much closer to to the recording venue. Bass is tighter and more accurate. Instruments and voices are more detailed in the sound stage. Cymbals and pianos have a verisimilitude that is uncanny.On recordings I know very well I am hearing details I never heard before usually it is background information that was present but I wasn't hearing it.
I have no idea why the Alpha 2 sounds better than my laptop of similar specs but I am delighted. My playback system is Cary 845 AE amps,an upgraded Cary SLP 05 preamp, PS Audio DSD dac, Martin Logan Summit speakers as well as Synergistic Research CTS and Atmosphere level 4 cables.

Irwin, hope you don't mind but I have a side question... Did you integrate Tidal with your JRiver ? I ask because I'm not sure how Tidal will work in my setup since my computer does none of the decoding. thx

Hi oem-wheels. My Tidal currently is integrated with Roon but I would like to also be able to run it through J River as well. If I can't figure out how to do this, I am sure Joseph will show me. Before I had Roon , Tidal played through J River on my laptop so it should do the same on yours. Tidal has a free trial so give it a shot. Larry W.