Alpha Snakeoil Firmware - 1.1.0 (Blind Testing)

[agent_kith]

thanks, I'll try.

Sorry for continue offtop =) . Recently I had chance to listen a file source based on odroid C2. exactly it was odroid C2 with linear PS + usb connected  HDD + volumio. I was shocked. Literally it was like I heard much more fine low-level info from same files. It was totally new area for me and it was much better that my highly modded AS Rock OS formula with external clocks and sotm board for very small fraction of price.

You'd be surprised if you try other motherboards as well. There are just some that sound better than the others. e.g. you can find odroid to be better than what you have now, but if you continue to experiment, you'd always be able to find a motherboard that will sound better than the odroid.

Some boards have better timbre (e.g. the Jetway), others have more bass and so on. The key is to find a board giving you the foundations you like, and then use all the tweaks available to push and push until you the basics are well ground in. Then start modding for the final voicing. It's all the dark arts and is very time consuming.

The baseline setup of Snakeoil is very conservative (coz if pushed too far Snakeoil wouldn't even boot on some computers)..
 

Now I understand that hardware plays an important role too =).  And it can be comparable with a LP player and was better than CD.
Hardkernel said it is possible to install ubuntu on it. how about Snakeoil os? =)
http://www.hardkernel.com/main/products/...5457216438

Hardware do play an important role. However, the most important element is always the audiophile.

The better the audiophile, the better his or her audio system will be. SnakeoilOS is the only software I'm aware of that is designed for a specific purpose - allow you to get better. That's why Snakeoil OS is not locked down like everything else on the market. Even though we are asking for donations - everything you can do from the activated version of Snakeoil, you can already do with the free edition. Activation is more an audiophile joke to see how much money people are really willing to spend on something called Snakeoil.

This freedom is a two edged sword - under the wrong hands SnakeoilOS can turn into one of the worst sounding system ever (true story). At the end of the day it all depends on the audiophile.

The first important lesson an audiophile needs to understand - bits ain't just bits. You learned hardware plays an important role, so IMO you are on the correct path.

Having said that, I do have plans for ARM editions. It will eventually be released. Snakeoil was first worked on as an ARM build, so the seeds are already there.

My goal is to give the audiophile maximum flexibility and freedom to choose what they think they sound best. If only Snakeoil can be my full time job, then software can be released a lot quicker. Right now I can only work on Snakeoil in my spare time, so the pace is not happening as quickly as I would like. But rest assured it will eventually happen .