I’ve switched to AMD cpu and Nvidia GPU, and the combination runs fantastically in debian-based distros. I actually had huge issues with my AMD Radeon VII, but that might have been because it was too new, and it’s the main reason I switched to the Nvidia 2080, which ran perfectly.
I use PulseEffects to… well, good enough success that I’m pleased with the results, and would recommend it to anyone who wants EQ in Linux.
I will be doing a new build soon, All AMD/Radeon.
Dex is going Team Red this build. Nice!!!
I’m excited for the potential of the new graphics cards cards coming from the Green and Red teams this fall. Though prices maybe 
Oh boy @DEXCOM7 @nugget mini-16 core; 10gbe servers for all now. (figure I’ll stick this under the Linux post, cuz we all know what’s going to run on it… and it isn’t developed in Redmond)
bruh!
I want this but in asus 
I had a bad experience with their Avoton boards.
After three dead mobos due to a neglected bios bug… a year later… finally a bios update after so many complaints… To hell with that… I dumped them and opted for this:
Props to iXsystems for owning it and helping customers with their FreeNAS Mini.
I don’t know what the FreeNAS Mini E has inside, but their current gen FreeNAS Mini XL boxes are all Supermicro inside. A huge improvement, I think. The XL+ even has an IPMI management interface.
The Mini has an ASRock C2750D4I (Notorious for dying due to a bios bug)
Does include IPMI.
https://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=C2750D4I#Specifications
I am glad they got away from it and went to supermicro, superior in each every way.
Correction it had the ASrock. is all now Supermicro. I got the first gen. I bought one, right when they came out.
PulseEffects is awesome! If you’re into tube sound, try playing with the bass enhancer. It’s pretty neat.
Thanks for all the info everyone. I wanted to share some of my linux bit perfect experience because it is important for a lot of people. Normally desktop Linux can be comprised of 2 separate interfaces. One is the gui what most people are familiar with, but some of us are messing around and multiplexing through a few machines and the closest ui is the CLI.
For a gui I tend to use Strawberry music player It is a Clementine fork, with some extra stuff. What I like about is the selectable back ends.
Another pick of mine is a client ontop of MPD ncmpcpp I just enjoy the vi controls when I type it up. Another client is vimmpc pretty helpful when I am trying to save my precious keystrokes.
Lastly this wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t go back to a gui. gmpc sometimes I have the freedom to use mpd remotely when I choose to stream from another client but still want to have the same computer hooked up to dacs.
Actually my last bit of linux audio some mods to pulse audio when bit-perfect isn’t a priority and I am just using my laptop speakers or bluetooth out via ldac One thing to note about ldac is your wifi performance might be limited depending on the adapter you use. I used an internal one to mitigate the issue.
A couple of questions for the Linux gurus…
Can Linux (in any of its flavours with any player that outputs bit perfect) output to two DACs simultaneously?
Can Linux support usb C devices on a USB 2.0 port?
The explanation to the “why?” of these two questions is that I would like to connect two identical USB-C dongle DACs and output the same signal to each of them while being able to control the volume of each one independently.
Raspberry Pi can’t do this (as far as I can work out) as it can’t use two DACs simultaneously. Windows can do this (by using Voice Meeter) but Windows doesn’t recognize USB-C dongles on a USB 2.0 port (as far as I can work out) and the two spare machines I could use for this (both dual boot Windows and Linux) only have USB 2.0.
It should be possible if the “T” command ( splits a data stream ) works with audio devices, I know it’s possible to have two printers work from the same device that way.
The bigger issue is the USB-C support vs USB 2.0, that I do not know.
Mark Gosdin
You can route audio on linux to multiple devices. Though you need to give some information, how are you playing audio, what OS(headless or desktop) is it bit perfect through ALSA, or is it through PulseAudio. You can find ways to do this in PA though simultaneous output. On ALSA you will have to do some configuration of files to suit your needs. I found a good example here. Though it will require knowing a bit more of your audio devices(Its hardware address and name). and I do not believe it will properly support 1 device with the configuration they suggest.
USB-C is only a form factor, Usually usb 2.0 but usb is backwards compatible so it should work excluding Thunderbolt derivative
Not all USB-A to USB-C adapters are the same. Some of them actually have some circuitry inside and you get different functionality from them.
I found this specifically when using an adapter for charging but it wouldn’t surprise me if there were implications for data also.
Unfortunately I don’t have specific recommendations other than to say you might find that a little research or experimentation pays off.
Best display environment and why is it KDE? 
Because, YES,
I really don’t have a preference, whichever is easiest.
What I would like to achieve is to have 2x Apple DAC dongles playing simultaneously with a volume control for each. The idea is to be able to have two sets of IEMs (volume matched) playing the same thing via the same chain, allowing quick comparisons.
This wouldn’t be used for my detailed listening or similar, it would purely be for some simple, quick and dirty comparisons.
So, really, I am looking for the easiest/simplest way for a Linux noob.
After some investigation, it seems that Apple DACs have issues working on USB 2.0 ports on Windows 7. Windows 10 may not be an issue.