Do you use a Music Server? If so, which one?
Discussion
So you're looking for a network store of some description and then players to play off that?
If so QNAP TS-x09 (substitute x for the number of drives you want) and Squeezebox Duets.
Simple to install, setup and use.
Thats if you want to consume the music all over the house.
If you want it in one place then something like an iMerge would be a potentially easier solution.
If so QNAP TS-x09 (substitute x for the number of drives you want) and Squeezebox Duets.
Simple to install, setup and use.
Thats if you want to consume the music all over the house.
If you want it in one place then something like an iMerge would be a potentially easier solution.
Edited by Plotloss on Thursday 29th January 19:31
Mac Mini.
You can rip all of your CDs - 400 plus for me onto iTunes almost automated. You set it to import on the insertion of the disc and to eject when finished ripping. I did most of my ripping without even having it connected to a monitor over a few evenings whilst watching TV. It automatically imports the track names and album name and artwork from the net.
Front Row is software that is preinstalled and integrates with your iTunes library to give you a graphical representation of your collection by artist, song, album etc whilst showing you the album artwork and tracklisting. All on your TV.
Finally, you sit on your sofa with the included remote control and enjoy.
Expandability? You want your library to play in another room? Set up a PC or Mac and connect to the iTunes library over your network.
Best £400 ever spent on hifi.
You can rip all of your CDs - 400 plus for me onto iTunes almost automated. You set it to import on the insertion of the disc and to eject when finished ripping. I did most of my ripping without even having it connected to a monitor over a few evenings whilst watching TV. It automatically imports the track names and album name and artwork from the net.
Front Row is software that is preinstalled and integrates with your iTunes library to give you a graphical representation of your collection by artist, song, album etc whilst showing you the album artwork and tracklisting. All on your TV.
Finally, you sit on your sofa with the included remote control and enjoy.
Expandability? You want your library to play in another room? Set up a PC or Mac and connect to the iTunes library over your network.
Best £400 ever spent on hifi.
Plotloss said:
So you're looking for a network store of some description and then players to play off that?
If so QNAP TS-x09 (substitute x for the number of drives you want) and Squeezebox Duets.
Simple to install, setup and use.
Thats if you want to consume the music all over the house.
If you want it in one place then something like an iMerge would be a potentially easier solution.
I am using a QNAP 209 for exactly that - works very well. 2 1TB disks, mirrored for resilience, and I have over 400 CDs on there stored as WAV files. As well as a load of other stuff.If so QNAP TS-x09 (substitute x for the number of drives you want) and Squeezebox Duets.
Simple to install, setup and use.
Thats if you want to consume the music all over the house.
If you want it in one place then something like an iMerge would be a potentially easier solution.
Edited by Plotloss on Thursday 29th January 19:31
JustinP1 said:
Mac Mini.
You can rip all of your CDs - 400 plus for me onto iTunes almost automated. You set it to import on the insertion of the disc and to eject when finished ripping. I did most of my ripping without even having it connected to a monitor over a few evenings whilst watching TV. It automatically imports the track names and album name and artwork from the net.
Front Row is software that is preinstalled and integrates with your iTunes library to give you a graphical representation of your collection by artist, song, album etc whilst showing you the album artwork and tracklisting. All on your TV.
Finally, you sit on your sofa with the included remote control and enjoy.
Expandability? You want your library to play in another room? Set up a PC or Mac and connect to the iTunes library over your network.
Best £400 ever spent on hifi.
I agree and that's what i use, front row is great apart from the fact it cant run wireless. and some download songs cant be palyed though front row. but on the plus side you can rip your DVD's to it and show photos.You can rip all of your CDs - 400 plus for me onto iTunes almost automated. You set it to import on the insertion of the disc and to eject when finished ripping. I did most of my ripping without even having it connected to a monitor over a few evenings whilst watching TV. It automatically imports the track names and album name and artwork from the net.
Front Row is software that is preinstalled and integrates with your iTunes library to give you a graphical representation of your collection by artist, song, album etc whilst showing you the album artwork and tracklisting. All on your TV.
Finally, you sit on your sofa with the included remote control and enjoy.
Expandability? You want your library to play in another room? Set up a PC or Mac and connect to the iTunes library over your network.
Best £400 ever spent on hifi.
get the better spec mac and put more memory in it as it realy is worth it.
as for sound quailty i run mine through and high end Moon and Martin Logan system and it's fine.
Unless you have the money for the Sooloos system of Linn's DS
scott.s
In theory there should be bugger all differences if you are using an external DAC, any of the decent quality streaming devices, Mac, Squeezebox, Linn DS, Sonus should provide you a good sound. This does depend on the ripper being used to transfer the music as basic rippers are likely to give small errors (where a normal CD transport would re-read the data), but resampling rippers using AccurateRip should give excellent results (such as EAC)
If however you are after a decent two channel output then the Linn DS, Transporter, and the SB+ (a heavily modified Squeezebox) should be considered.
It's all really down to your user interface preferences, and whether or not you can get on with iTunes!
davidy
In theory there should be bugger all differences if you are using an external DAC, any of the decent quality streaming devices, Mac, Squeezebox, Linn DS, Sonus should provide you a good sound. This does depend on the ripper being used to transfer the music as basic rippers are likely to give small errors (where a normal CD transport would re-read the data), but resampling rippers using AccurateRip should give excellent results (such as EAC)
If however you are after a decent two channel output then the Linn DS, Transporter, and the SB+ (a heavily modified Squeezebox) should be considered.
It's all really down to your user interface preferences, and whether or not you can get on with iTunes!
davidy
scott.s said:
JustinP1 said:
Mac Mini.
You can rip all of your CDs - 400 plus for me onto iTunes almost automated. You set it to import on the insertion of the disc and to eject when finished ripping. I did most of my ripping without even having it connected to a monitor over a few evenings whilst watching TV. It automatically imports the track names and album name and artwork from the net.
Front Row is software that is preinstalled and integrates with your iTunes library to give you a graphical representation of your collection by artist, song, album etc whilst showing you the album artwork and tracklisting. All on your TV.
Finally, you sit on your sofa with the included remote control and enjoy.
Expandability? You want your library to play in another room? Set up a PC or Mac and connect to the iTunes library over your network.
Best £400 ever spent on hifi.
I agree and that's what i use, front row is great apart from the fact it cant run wireless. and some download songs cant be palyed though front row. but on the plus side you can rip your DVD's to it and show photos.You can rip all of your CDs - 400 plus for me onto iTunes almost automated. You set it to import on the insertion of the disc and to eject when finished ripping. I did most of my ripping without even having it connected to a monitor over a few evenings whilst watching TV. It automatically imports the track names and album name and artwork from the net.
Front Row is software that is preinstalled and integrates with your iTunes library to give you a graphical representation of your collection by artist, song, album etc whilst showing you the album artwork and tracklisting. All on your TV.
Finally, you sit on your sofa with the included remote control and enjoy.
Expandability? You want your library to play in another room? Set up a PC or Mac and connect to the iTunes library over your network.
Best £400 ever spent on hifi.
get the better spec mac and put more memory in it as it realy is worth it.
as for sound quailty i run mine through and high end Moon and Martin Logan system and it's fine.
Unless you have the money for the Sooloos system of Linn's DS
I have mine getting songs as WAV files from a hard drive connected to my Time Capsule wirelessly. No dropouts and songs start instantly. I was quite surprised to be honest as I am sceptic about things I cannot see!
When I got it I did a lot of comparison testing between the sound quality of the Mini as a source compared to a £3000 disc player. As identical as can be as long as the output from the Mini is digital and you don't use the onboard dac.
JustinP1 said:
scott.s said:
JustinP1 said:
Mac Mini.
You can rip all of your CDs - 400 plus for me onto iTunes almost automated. You set it to import on the insertion of the disc and to eject when finished ripping. I did most of my ripping without even having it connected to a monitor over a few evenings whilst watching TV. It automatically imports the track names and album name and artwork from the net.
Front Row is software that is preinstalled and integrates with your iTunes library to give you a graphical representation of your collection by artist, song, album etc whilst showing you the album artwork and tracklisting. All on your TV.
Finally, you sit on your sofa with the included remote control and enjoy.
Expandability? You want your library to play in another room? Set up a PC or Mac and connect to the iTunes library over your network.
Best £400 ever spent on hifi.
I agree and that's what i use, front row is great apart from the fact it cant run wireless. and some download songs cant be palyed though front row. but on the plus side you can rip your DVD's to it and show photos.You can rip all of your CDs - 400 plus for me onto iTunes almost automated. You set it to import on the insertion of the disc and to eject when finished ripping. I did most of my ripping without even having it connected to a monitor over a few evenings whilst watching TV. It automatically imports the track names and album name and artwork from the net.
Front Row is software that is preinstalled and integrates with your iTunes library to give you a graphical representation of your collection by artist, song, album etc whilst showing you the album artwork and tracklisting. All on your TV.
Finally, you sit on your sofa with the included remote control and enjoy.
Expandability? You want your library to play in another room? Set up a PC or Mac and connect to the iTunes library over your network.
Best £400 ever spent on hifi.
get the better spec mac and put more memory in it as it realy is worth it.
as for sound quailty i run mine through and high end Moon and Martin Logan system and it's fine.
Unless you have the money for the Sooloos system of Linn's DS
I have mine getting songs as WAV files from a hard drive connected to my Time Capsule wirelessly. No dropouts and songs start instantly. I was quite surprised to be honest as I am sceptic about things I cannot see!
When I got it I did a lot of comparison testing between the sound quality of the Mini as a source compared to a £3000 disc player. As identical as can be as long as the output from the Mini is digital and you don't use the onboard dac.
As for out board dac then yes it will sound great and with out opening the biggest can of worms the disc can be made to sound better.
When I worked for a Hi-Fi manufacturer we spend many years saying that you cant improve the digital end it's just 1's and 0"s we made some changes to the way the mech was held and the difference was huge.
A very large slice of humble pie was eaten.
Another Mac Mini user here, I got mine for £400 with a 1tb HD for £125 each, all my music ripped to it and itunes sorts everything out. Just sit on the sofa and pick my tunes, couldnt be easier. I can even control it all off my iPhone too, when leaving the car i can put some music on for when i get in the house.
When i bought it the woman asked if it was for a media server as thats what she sells most of them for.
When i bought it the woman asked if it was for a media server as thats what she sells most of them for.
Edited by LeeThePeople on Sunday 1st February 10:49
I use apple tv cost £200
Works in the same way as the guys using the mini macs but cannot be used as a computer. It comes with a 40gb hard drive and I think it streams all the music from I tunes on my I-mac if connected to a wireless network.
It can also be connected to the net to download films from I tunes.
Works in the same way as the guys using the mini macs but cannot be used as a computer. It comes with a 40gb hard drive and I think it streams all the music from I tunes on my I-mac if connected to a wireless network.
It can also be connected to the net to download films from I tunes.
HP EX-470 running SqueezeCenter [sic]. Music ripped to FLAC using EAC (Exact Audio Copy)
SqueezeBox Duet (s/pdif)-> Linn Kinos -> Linn Klimax/Chakra Twin -> B&W 802D -> Ears
In all honesty I think this whole area is in flux at the moment. You have established computer/electronics companies like Logitech/Squeeze & Sonos and now a few of the HiFi companies are moving in too. I wouldn't recommend spending a great deal on hardware right now. It's better to wait and see how the market pans out.
What I do recommend is to chose your format well and rip with care. You don't want to have to rip hundreds of CDs more than once. For me, that means using something like EAC to rip to an open, lossless format - FLAC.
SqueezeBox Duet (s/pdif)-> Linn Kinos -> Linn Klimax/Chakra Twin -> B&W 802D -> Ears
In all honesty I think this whole area is in flux at the moment. You have established computer/electronics companies like Logitech/Squeeze & Sonos and now a few of the HiFi companies are moving in too. I wouldn't recommend spending a great deal on hardware right now. It's better to wait and see how the market pans out.
What I do recommend is to chose your format well and rip with care. You don't want to have to rip hundreds of CDs more than once. For me, that means using something like EAC to rip to an open, lossless format - FLAC.
andye30m3 said:
I use apple tv cost £200
Works in the same way as the guys using the mini macs but cannot be used as a computer. It comes with a 40gb hard drive and I think it streams all the music from I tunes on my I-mac if connected to a wireless network.
It can also be connected to the net to download films from I tunes.
Same, but got the 160GB version. You can also upgrade the hard-drive if you want but it voids the warranty. in any case it streams my library from another Mac perfectly, no dropouts when playing HD video etc. If you like the iTunes store, I have a US account, it's even better.Works in the same way as the guys using the mini macs but cannot be used as a computer. It comes with a 40gb hard drive and I think it streams all the music from I tunes on my I-mac if connected to a wireless network.
It can also be connected to the net to download films from I tunes.
rampz said:
orignal xbox with XBMC, media on a couple of NAS drives, remote control via psp on wireless network.
xbmc = still the most versitile media player out there and will be for a long time
And you can now run it on an Apple TV very easily. Apple TV + XBMC, Windows Home Server (for the wife's 300 GB of music plus all our movie content) and my macbook for my music.xbmc = still the most versitile media player out there and will be for a long time
SteveO...]HP EX-470 running SqueezeCenter [sic said:
. Music ripped to FLAC using EAC (Exact Audio Copy)
SqueezeBox Duet (s/pdif)-> Linn Kinos -> Linn Klimax/Chakra Twin -> B&W 802D -> Ears
In all honesty I think this whole area is in flux at the moment. You have established computer/electronics companies like Logitech/Squeeze & Sonos and now a few of the HiFi companies are moving in too. I wouldn't recommend spending a great deal on hardware right now. It's better to wait and see how the market pans out.
What I do recommend is to chose your format well and rip with care. You don't want to have to rip hundreds of CDs more than once. For me, that means using something like EAC to rip to an open, lossless format - FLAC.
I would agree with that. If in doubt, I would say to rip as as standard Wave (WAV) file. As long as CDs are around, that will be too.SqueezeBox Duet (s/pdif)-> Linn Kinos -> Linn Klimax/Chakra Twin -> B&W 802D -> Ears
In all honesty I think this whole area is in flux at the moment. You have established computer/electronics companies like Logitech/Squeeze & Sonos and now a few of the HiFi companies are moving in too. I wouldn't recommend spending a great deal on hardware right now. It's better to wait and see how the market pans out.
What I do recommend is to chose your format well and rip with care. You don't want to have to rip hundreds of CDs more than once. For me, that means using something like EAC to rip to an open, lossless format - FLAC.
Spending a silly amount on a server at the moment does not make sense. Chord for example have done an insanely expensive one, but when you are running into high four figures, it must have some tangible benefit for the cost and be future proof - and I don't believe it is.
If you like stereo, then as long as your device has an optical out and is of a reasonable standard then you would be hard pressed to make out a difference in audio quality between sources, and it really comes down to ease of use and what you prefer using.
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