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getting rid of cds, another computer based question

HairyHaggis

HairyHaggis

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hi. following on from a similar (but sufficiently different that i didn't want to hijack it) thread, i'd like to get all my cds onto a hard drive and stream them to my hifi. i have plenty of pcs lying about, a couple of nas boxes as well as a network, including wifi. but i'm wanting something that can really just sit in my living room and look small, neat and funky, as opposed to yet another grey box. and i don't want to have to go upstairs to fire up the network and log on to a pc etc to get access to the nas boxes.

so i was thinking squeezebox, mac mini sort of thing. but i'm really unsure as to how it all hangs together. assuming i got a mac mini to hold all my cds, how would i best get that to connect to my hifi? and how could i best control it all when lying on the couch or cooking in the kitchen? is this where a squeezebox with its remote could come in?

any help would be much appreciated as well as any links to sites which focus on this sort of thing.

ta
 
HairyHaggis said:
hi. following on from a similar (but sufficiently different that i didn't want to hijack it) thread, i'd like to get all my cds onto a hard drive and stream them to my hifi. i have plenty of pcs lying about, a couple of nas boxes as well as a network, including wifi. but i'm wanting something that can really just sit in my living room and look small, neat and funky, as opposed to yet another grey box. and i don't want to have to go upstairs to fire up the network and log on to a pc etc to get access to the nas boxes.

so i was thinking squeezebox, mac mini sort of thing. but i'm really unsure as to how it all hangs together. assuming i got a mac mini to hold all my cds, how would i best get that to connect to my hifi? and how could i best control it all when lying on the couch or cooking in the kitchen? is this where a squeezebox with its remote could come in?

any help would be much appreciated as well as any links to sites which focus on this sort of thing.

ta
Click to expand...

I use an ASRock 330, most likely a newer one available now, running XBMC it can be controlled via an Android app, prolly one for Iphone as well. It also does 1080p via HDMI. It uses just over 20 Watts, its small and quiet.
 
budget and storage are not an issue. is there any advantage of ssd over hdd? at the moment, i only have a marantz pm6004 (i know, pretty budget :) ) which i'm guessing i'd use for its dac? an external, better dac is an option too.
 
To get the best out of all this I'd say you need to get a DAC first. Then have a look at it's best input, and buy the storage/streaming solution to suit.
 
I've got a mac mini - and have it plugged through the TV.

With apple's wireless keypad and wireless track/pad or mouse - it looks as chic as B&O stuff, but without the price (IMO).

I have external hard drives plugged into the mini to give me 4TB external (2 x 2tb).

I prefer external drives - I can unplug them, plug them into other computers for ripping music easily, or taking to a friends house etc.


Having had a squeezebox 3, I found the sound of it limiting. Squeezebox users say the 'touch' sounds better.

For me, if you already have a mac mini (and a tv nearby).. what do you need a squeezebox for?

Emotiva, Rega, Mdac, Young Dac, Calyx Dac - would borrow some of these according to budget for a demo when you've ripped all the music.

Of course, you'd have the option of firewire DACs also given that you'd have a mac. I don't know much about these, as I didn't have firewire when I was buying my dac.

Good luck - and it's well worth the effort.. forget sound quality it is because -

1) you will have your entire library at your fingertips from the sofa
2) you will find yourself listening to music you previously wouldn't have played - through sheer laziness of getting off your ass to change the disc.. really. When you change at a moments notice, you get more variety.
3) because you will be able to play music video's through you tube through your system, spotify library etc.


Finally, if you want to download high resolution files, you can do so onto the mini - and for example with the young dac I personally own, I can play them back at anything up to 384mhz (apologies if its 386 or whatever)
 
I went through this process a year or two ago. Sold my Naim CDP & got a Mac-Mini with a DAC. They sit in the hifi rack in the listening room, connected to the amp. I use an ipad to control it but it is also connected to the TV for the rare occasions I want a monitor.
I also bought an external HD for back-up purposes.
I find this a very easy, stable & reliable system to use, there's next to no fan-noise to worry about & the sound quality is so good I don't miss my $$$$ Naim cdp at all. I am 100% happy with it.
Its probably not the ONLY option, or maybe even the best (though I don't know what would beat it), but it certainly fulfils the brief very successfully.
Matt.
 
"Sold my Naim CDP & got a Mac-Mini with a DAC" - what dac did you get? and is this where i could replace the ipad with a squeezebox touch?

what was the spec of the mini?

thanks bottleneck - how do you find the young dac?
 
Hi 'Haggis,

I use a MACmini (a couple of years old), with iTunes. I play the files with something like Audirvana+ or Decibel (which are really cheap but excellent software players).

My iTunes library is stored on my QNAP NAS, which is sometimes on the network (handy when ripping CDs on another computer) but mostly hangs off the back of the MAC by ethernet.

I connect to a Young DAC by USB and the results are truly excellent. The Young is super on all inputs (though the MAC optical seems lousy), but handles some epic bitrates & sample rates over USB. Not really useful as yet IME, but maybe in the future. Most of my music is ripped CDs and the Young is excellent with them.

I use my TV as a monitor, control the MAC with bluetooth keyboard & mouse, sometimes I just use an iTouch to control iTunes without turning the TV on at all.
 
I'm using a Squeezebox Touch with external, affordable dac. (Metrum Acoustics quad dac)
Sounds very good to me. (on a par with my previous CD-player, the Naim CD5i-2, at 50% less)

I have an external HD attached to my PC, to store my music, and another one as backup. Works fine.

The Squeezebox Touch sounds (much) better than the SB3/Classic, either through its analog or digital output.

To be honest,...I often do miss my CD's/-player though... having something tangible to hold, and the comfort of using (in my case) only one (normal!) remote for both source and amp.

I tried controlling it with an Ipod but didn't like it very much, as the battery of these things run empty way too fast (5 hours max), when using it as a remote. (wifi uses very much energy)
Also as you have to look at it while navigating I noticed I was paying more attention to fiddling around with the Ipod than listening to the music.
(I could control my CD-player blind, by using the buttons on the remote without the need to look at the darn thing)
 
manicatel said:
I went through this process a year or two ago. Sold my Naim CDP & got a Mac-Mini with a DAC. They sit in the hifi rack in the listening room, connected to the amp. I use an ipad to control it but it is also connected to the TV for the rare occasions I want a monitor.
I also bought an external HD for back-up purposes.
I find this a very easy, stable & reliable system to use, there's next to no fan-noise to worry about & the sound quality is so good I don't miss my $$$$ Naim cdp at all. I am 100% happy with it.
Its probably not the ONLY option, or maybe even the best (though I don't know what would beat it), but it certainly fulfils the brief very successfully.
Matt.
Click to expand...

Much the same for me. The mac mini is perfect for the job.

And, plugged into a telly for occasional use or controlled by an ipad/pod/phone, it makes the simplest method of getting fine computer music.

Lob in a decent dac (usb for me) and off you go. I use an Mdac which is quite excellent, but there are loads about now.

Simple as that.
 
Are any of your NAS's made by Netgear? It's easy to install the software that drives a Squeezebox onto their ReadyNas range..

http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.php/SqueezeCenter_on_ReadyNAS

No mucking around with PC's then.
It must be the simplest/low power solution I have seen. I have a ReadyNas Pro 2 with 2 x 2Tb drives and it only uses 30watts.

And if you want the fancy screen interface to navigate, get a cheap wifi tablet for that.

This music server game is really coming together the last year or so.
 
that sounds pretty neat. mine are qnap but i'll look see if something similar could be done.
 
Mine is an ancient pre-dinosaur power/pc mini and I must say it is slow at internet work.

But as I just use it as a music player/dac feeder it works very well and no problems that I can tell. Passed the bitperfect Mdac test too. Wouldn't use it as a main computer as well though.
 
HairyHaggis said:
"Sold my Naim CDP & got a Mac-Mini with a DAC" - what dac did you get? and is this where i could replace the ipad with a squeezebox touch?

what was the spec of the mini?
Click to expand...
Hi, I bought a mini with the intel processor & 4bg memory, a 2010 model.
I guess a 2nd hand one of that spec would be £350-400? There is a newer version now.
I used a Lavry DAC10, [which coincidentally is now for sale in the classified here for a bargain price ;-)) ], easy to use, set-up & understand. I'm no computer whizz-kid, thats for sure!
ATB
Matt.
 
HairyHaggis said:
that sounds pretty neat. mine are qnap but i'll look see if something similar could be done.
Click to expand...

Qnap can do it as well:

http://www.qnap.com/pro_application.asp?ap_id=71

After recently doing this with a ReadyNas, I don't see why a PC needs to be part of a music server system at all?

It sounds like you are 80% there already so just buy one of these and have a play around. The internal DAC is fine and just run straight into your amp. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Slim-Devices-Logitech-Squeezebox-3-Black-/140652205262?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item20bf8654ce
 
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