Wolf Audio music servers

I’ve recently migrated to a modified Wolf Alpha 2. The A2 runs Gen 7 Kaby Lake  Quad core CPU (HT to 8 cores) on a Gigabyte board. The OS is Windows 10 Pro. There’s a customized internal silent 240W power supply, galvanically isolated USB audio, top of the line SSD (OS and media are on separate drives) and RAM components, plethora of other I/O options (HDMI, USB 3.1/C and USB 3, dual gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi, optical, multi-channel mini rca etc). All components have been extensively tested for congruence. The OS/BIOS/source software are optimized. The A2 is fanless, and completely silent. Its case is solid and thick and heavy, exactly what I needed to run off any passing thoughts of jitter etc. @lwin @genez what this adds up to is a fully functioning PC (not just a music server). Keep in mind, the Wolf Audio folks are BUSY. My somewhat informed sense is that you will be seeing Wolf servers and hearing about them more and more. Also, these machines are built to function as multimedia, full-home solutions — audio, video, multi-room, you name it. So, if you’re in the market for an awesome audio source, take a hard look. If you want an awesome audio source AND an awesome everything else, take a hard look. If there’s interest, I can take a shot at writing up how the A2 sounds; and though these things take time for a novice like myself, I’m happy to give some thoughts on how it compares to my dedicated ASUS ZenBook (w/ AudiophileOptimizer), and my micro and the ultra Rendus. Cheers! PS I’m unaffiliated to Wolf, just a fan. 

Rdrockt990 we would enjoy reading your write up on how the Alpha2 sounds and if you can compare to other servers you have had or listened to that would be excellent also. 

@lwin , I too am interested in hearing more about the Wolf servers. I have a question on a slightly different topic. I noticed you use Jriver and Roon. Do you hear any difference in sound quality between the two?

Hi Lancelock. I prefer JRiver to Roon. I think it sounds better but Roon can fool you as to sound quality.I think it plays louder than JRiver . I find navigating the JRiver library is easier. I am debating whether or not to renew Roon next month.

Please forgive me if this post becomes long but people do not seem to realise that "a computer is a computer is a computer" should be swept out with the trash as it has no relevance now in the 21st Century.There is a whole diversity in computers today and what they are suitable for . The hobbyist who wants to build his own can make a system that will sonically blow away ANY laptop or desktop off the shelf. First of all one must be prepared to use a separate Dac to go with your PC as Dacs and sound cards that are integrated in even the most high end motherboards are ridden with noise and jitter. I always advocate a separate computer for music production as then you can get rid of windows programs and apps that do nothing but slow down your pc and cause lots of jitter. Lets take as an as example of my PC which is for music 90% of the time but I also have another hard drive that I boot up for excursions on to Photoshop and the web. My PC for web when only on idle has if I look in the task manager 1630 threads on average active on idle and twice that when programs are running. On the computer I use for music the typical thread value when I am working with Magix Sequoia and rendering music files are 475. These numbers may not seem important to many of you but they are vital in the fight to keep jitter down as I have found over many years of computer music that a computer with very little jitter is a whole lot better sounding than one that has a lot in it and I'm sorry to say that most laptops fall into that category. If you would like more information on jitter reduction then there are programs available to really combat it. I have a lot of those programs on my PC but I won't discuss that at the moment in case some of you feel I am trying to win sales for a certain company. All I will say is that the information is out there if you care to look for it, and a new bespoke computer will really open your eyes and ears when you hear one for the first time.