Best Windows OS for music server?
Posted by: DF50 on 09 January 2014
Hi anyone,
i have a Mac Mini - going to install Boot Camp, need to know in your experience what Windows OS is best or sound quality? I have a NAS for my files streaming to ND5 XS. Is Windows Server better or Workstation OS, and also best version?
Thanks,
Dave.
Hey Tog,
The only problem with Minim Server is it does not support AIFF, I would have to convert my library to FLAC or something similar!
Dave.
Dave
but it does according to their guide : http://minimserver.com/ug-library.html
cheers
aleg
So it does - what was I looking at then!!!... Anyway, thanks Aleg!
I'm using a mac mini as well and compared OSX with Windows and prefer windows in bootcamp. OSX for me has something a little dull in the sound that you start to hear after a while. I used initially Windows 7 but now use Windows Server 2012 R2 and it's by far the best OS i've used for computer audio. Windows server handles real time processes much better as it has much less processes running in the background. Bass sounds tighter and deeper and i find especially the music flows better, more detail etc. Going from Windows 7 to Windows Server i found to be a similar improvement like putting a power supply to your source. It's not complicated to install Windows Server if you are familiar with installing windows 7. After everything is installed it's possible to remove all the visual aspects of windows and run the OS in core mode which is a very minimalistic windows version that only runs your music player and this gives another nice improvement. My setup is JRiver with Jplay which runs perfect under Windows server and for me it's the best setup i've heard. If you want more info there are several post about Windows server on the computeraudiophile and jplay forums.
Arjan
Thanks Arjan - i don't suppose Apple have the drivers needed for Windows 2012 in Boot Camp, do you know? If not, was it pretty smooth install and all network, keyboard etc working ok when installed or did you have to do some finagling?
Dave
Hi Jude,
I agree it costs a bit more then Windows 7 but compared to my total Naim system's costs i guess it's not too bad. You can download a trial version from Microsoft which lasts 180 days so plenty of time to give it a try and see if it's worth it. If you're interested in trying it, there is an optimisation script available (have a look on computeraudiophile forum, i'm not sure i'm allowed on here to post the link) that fully explains the Windows Server install and also makes it very easy to switch between visual interface or core mode.
Arjan
And hou can rearm (reset the counter) the Windows Server trial several times, so you can span a couple of years, but at some point you'll have bite the bullet. (Or change to another OS with a trial period).
cheers
Aleg
I'm using a mac mini as well and compared OSX with Windows and prefer windows in bootcamp. OSX for me has something a little dull in the sound that you start to hear after a while. I used initially Windows 7 but now use Windows Server 2012 R2 and it's by far the best OS i've used for computer audio. Windows server handles real time processes much better as it has much less processes running in the background. Bass sounds tighter and deeper and i find especially the music flows better, more detail etc. Going from Windows 7 to Windows Server i found to be a similar improvement like putting a power supply to your source. It's not complicated to install Windows Server if you are familiar with installing windows 7. After everything is installed it's possible to remove all the visual aspects of windows and run the OS in core mode which is a very minimalistic windows version that only runs your music player and this gives another nice improvement. My setup is JRiver with Jplay which runs perfect under Windows server and for me it's the best setup i've heard. If you want more info there are several post about Windows server on the computeraudiophile and jplay forums.
Arjan
Thanks Arjan - i don't suppose Apple have the drivers needed for Windows 2012 in Boot Camp, do you know? If not, was it pretty smooth install and all network, keyboard etc working ok when installed or did you have to do some finagling?
Dave
You can use Windows 8 drivers for Server 2012 (and Windows 8.1 drivers for Server 2012 R2).
So if bootcamp supports Windows 8.x you're OK for Server 2012.
cheers
Aleg
I'm using a mac mini as well and compared OSX with Windows and prefer windows in bootcamp. OSX for me has something a little dull in the sound that you start to hear after a while. I used initially Windows 7 but now use Windows Server 2012 R2 and it's by far the best OS i've used for computer audio. Windows server handles real time processes much better as it has much less processes running in the background. Bass sounds tighter and deeper and i find especially the music flows better, more detail etc. Going from Windows 7 to Windows Server i found to be a similar improvement like putting a power supply to your source. It's not complicated to install Windows Server if you are familiar with installing windows 7. After everything is installed it's possible to remove all the visual aspects of windows and run the OS in core mode which is a very minimalistic windows version that only runs your music player and this gives another nice improvement. My setup is JRiver with Jplay which runs perfect under Windows server and for me it's the best setup i've heard. If you want more info there are several post about Windows server on the computeraudiophile and jplay forums.
Arjan
Thanks Arjan - i don't suppose Apple have the drivers needed for Windows 2012 in Boot Camp, do you know? If not, was it pretty smooth install and all network, keyboard etc working ok when installed or did you have to do some finagling?
Dave
Hi Dave,
Yes the bootcamp drivers work for windows server. After the install i've got two devices that sat they don't have the driver loaded which is the Bluetooth interface and the Wifi but i don't use these anyway as my Macmini is connected via Ethernet so i haven't tried fixing these devices but as Aleg mentioned probably a Win8 driver could fix this. The rest works all fine. There are two ways to make an install USB stick. First download the Windows server ISO. Then run the Bootcamp assistent to have the bootcamp partition made on your Macmini. This assistent can then also make your USB install stick with the ISO and Bootcamp drivers on it, but when i did it i just changed to OSX Mavericks and there seemed to be bug in there right now so the USB install stick didn't work properly. But maybe this has been fixed by Apple by now. I used instead the Windows7 USB install tool on a PC which works for all windows versions, just select the ISO you want to use. After that i downloaded the Bootcamp drivers from Apple and put them on the root of the USB stick. Now start the Macmini from the USB stick and the install should work. hope this helps, you can always PM me if you have some questions about the install.
Arjan