Audiophile digial audio player?

cokewithvanilla

Ok, this has been something I have been looking for since....well, forever (so to speak). Basically, I want an external hard drive (500gb-1tb) that is an audio player. It should have digital and analog outs and be able to play most current lossless formats.

Has anyone heard of / seen such a product?

SEH

I think what you're describing is a typical personal computer.

Face

http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/summary.php?PID=39&Title=Azur+640H+hard+disk+music+server

http://www.mcintoshlabs.com/products/mcintosh-ms750-music-server.asp

No digital in though.

cokewithvanilla

Ahh. There they are!

Its funny, I was reading a review on the McIntosh one and found that it was $6,000. I laughed when they said they included a "mission critical" seagate hard drive. I believe I just picked up the same one, except the 1TB version for around $100 For 6,000 they should have included a SSD the size of texas O_O

Thanks for the info. It will be easier to find all of the options now that I know they are called "music servers"

Face

If you have a friend, you can get it new for $4500. They go for about $4000 on the used market though. I've read a few people have upgraded the hard drive though. Still a lot of coin IMO.

Gaara

Popcorn hour should fit the bill for $200 + the price of the HD.

Or you can go the Squeezebox route.

mmadden28

cokewithvanilla wrote: »

Ok, this has been something I have been looking for since....well, forever (so to speak). Basically, I want an external hard drive (500gb-1tb) that is an audio player. It should have digital and analog outs and be able to play most current lossless formats.

Has anyone heard of / seen such a product?

There's bound to be something cheaper out there. Way back when-possibly before the iPod outbreak, I had a Creative Labs Nomad. It was a 40 GB hard drive mp3 player, but had 2 sets of line outs, line in and an optical out. Now that was way back when so lossless wasn't an option, but there simply has to be something out there that is similar. I don't have any examples, but I thought I would mention this since it seems that it 'has been done before'. but then again, maybe there wasn't enough of a market for it and so...

What about the Archos stuff?

cokewithvanilla

its funny that you mention archos and creative, I have both a Av420 and a Nomad. I didnt realize they made a nomad with an optical out. You can play wav over the nomad, right? thats a lossless format. But I was looking for something a bit more advanced... I just can't believe that nothing has gone mainstream... like you don't see them in the stores... hell, I still see 400 disc cd changers....you would think someone would go "you know Bob, I just want all my music from my computer right there!" Western Digital could make a **** load of money (or maybe not )if they attach a LCD screen and audio outs to one of their external hard drives...

As long as apple doesnt do it >_<
I must say that iPods totally suck. I have an iPhone, and unless you download all your music from itunes (which I refuse to do), it all gets in messed up categories... I don't know why they wont let you organize your own music into the folders you want. I also don't know why they coudn't have made it a drag and drop like a flash drive... I'm sick of syncing all my music, or having to choose selected play lists. That makes me have to make a play list, add some songs, then say that I only want that playlist to be added, then let it sync in order to drop 2 specific songs on the player. isn't that a pain in the ****?

sucks2beme

http://www.sonos.com/Default.aspx?rdr=true&LangType=1033

I really like the remote function. You can see the selections from the remote
(which looks almost like a Delphi XM receiver). Us old guys can't see
the display on a Squeezebox from across the room. And it's pretty flexable.
I't a shame the neat controller and pc software require a expensive box to output.
There are some options out there to control some pc music players
from a PDA or cellphone with output to a direct connected DAC.
I've run my FOBAR player from a PDA, buts it's not very robust.

bikezappa

http://www.olive.us/p_bin/

This company has made a series of nice music servers for a few years but they cost to much mney for me. They will even down load all your cds when you buy the unit.

I have been looking for a good resonable music server for 3 years. Peaple tell me to by a mac and have at it. Not me, to lazy. I have three sony jukeboxs, 400, and two 200, and like them but they take up a lot of space but then 800 cds also take up more space.

You can have music in all your rooms and control the volume and input of a tuner, cd, tape, Ipod now for very cheap. The big problem is running the speaker wires to all the places you want the sound. Just buy the Radio Shack IR repeaters, $30 on ebay, and locate them in any room and you can remote control all your equipment to all your rooms.

mmadden28

cokewithvanilla wrote: »

its funny that you mention archos and creative, I have both a Av420 and a Nomad. I didnt realize they made a nomad with an optical out. You can play wav over the nomad, right? thats a lossless format. ...

It was the Creative Nomad 3-it looked like a CD player.
Here are some of the specs:
- USB & Firewire
- 1/8" Mini-Plug Analog/Digital Optical Input for Recording
- Dual 1/8" Mini-Plug Line Outs
- EAX Listening Modes
- Can Record to Wav OR MP3 format
- 10-12 Hour Lithium Ion Battery - may be removable
- 20GB Drive
- 16MB Buffer
- MP3/WAV/WMA Playback

Mine started as a 20GB but I upgraded it to a 40 at some point, probably could go even higher but it was really getting outdated and slow in the menus.

I was pretty sure it had Optical out, but the specs list it as Optical in (never used it so I'm not sure). Looks like it did handle WAV-but back then I only had mp3 on it. WAV would chew up that 20/40GB in no time and I had a lot of stuff on there. I used Notmad to transfer files to and from. I used Musicmatch Jukebox to organize and tag the songs.

On the iPod-the iPod will sort it all based on the mp3 tags you put in-doesn't really have anything to do with iTunes per se. You can tag the mp3s in another application if you want to. iTunes will just read the tags-they are a standard. Its just important to properly tag the songs with the appropriate title, artist, etc. Of course yes, it is a bit of a pain to have to use iTunes just to get the songs to the iPod or top create some playlists, but its a small inconvenience.

mmadden28

Just how portable are you talking?
Would the Cambridge or Squeezebox or Sonos type of thing fit the bill?
Or are you looking for something truly portable?

heiney9

I currently have incorporated a Squeeze Box II into my system. I have a seperate 750g external hd. All hooked to a wireless network.

I'm a hardcore 2ch guy who believes in seperate components. I have the SQB running into a seperate DAC and use my own ripped FLAC files.

We'll see how it sound in the long run. I've just started this whole project and I will say the convenience is off the hook. We'll see how it compares to the original cd in a cdp running thru the same DAC.

I figure by Summer I should have my answer as far as if the sq is the same. If done right I think the difference is minimal.

EAC --> FLAC --> wireless network --> dac's off in SQB --> External dac via optical --> preamp --> amp

H9

sucks2beme

heiney9 wrote: »

I currently have incorporated a Squeeze Box II into my system. I have a seperate 750g external hd. All hooked to a wireless network.

I'm a hardcore 2ch guy who believes in seperate components. I have the SQB running into a seperate DAC and use my own ripped FLAC files.

We'll see how it sound in the long run. I've just started this whole project and I will say the convenience is off the hook. We'll see how it compares to the original cd in a cdp running thru the same DAC.

I figure by Summer I should have my answer as far as if the sq is the same. If done right I think the difference is minimal.

EAC --> FLAC --> wireless network --> dac's off in SQB --> External dac via optical --> preamp --> amp

H9

For me, I just don't like the Squeezebox interface. I've run the Slimserver software with a SB emulator, and it really was a PITA. This program
makes remote control better. I've got a couple of cheap IPAQ's from
a pawnshop that will run this.
http://www.telcanto.com/description_slimclient.htm

heiney9

sucks2beme wrote: »

For me, I just don't like the Squeezebox interface. I've run the Slimserver software with a SB emulator, and it really was a PITA. This program
makes remote control better. I've got a couple of cheap IPAQ's from
a pawnshop that will run this.
http://www.telcanto.com/description_slimclient.htm

So far no issues with the software or remote or interphase. My brother has 4 SQB's and has had them for a couple years w/o a single issue.

It's a slick little box, we'll see how "audiophile" it turns out to be. I'm pretty sure it will be a keeper (when hooked to an external DAC), but lots more evaluation is necessary.

H9

cokewithvanilla

mmadden28 wrote: »

It was the Creative Nomad 3-it looked
On the iPod-the iPod will sort it all based on the mp3 tags you put in-doesn't really have anything to do with iTunes per se. You can tag the mp3s in another application if you want to. iTunes will just read the tags-they are a standard. Its just important to properly tag the songs with the appropriate title, artist, etc. Of course yes, it is a bit of a pain to have to use iTunes just to get the songs to the iPod or top create some playlists, but its a small inconvenience.

Yeah, I know it just reads the tags, but most music isn't properly tagged. So having to add album name, artist name, etc is a pain. If you just drag and drop, you could put all the songs in the folders that you want, regardless of the tags


Portable? I didn't mention it... well, it has to be about as portable as my amp... and thats 90 pounds

sucks2beme

cokewithvanilla wrote: »

Yeah, I know it just reads the tags, but most music isn't properly tagged. So having to add album name, artist name, etc is a pain. If you just drag and drop, you could put all the songs in the folders that you want, regardless of the tags


Portable? I didn't mention it... well, it has to be about as portable as my amp... and thats 90 pounds

ExactAudioCopy will pull almost anything off a database and fill in the
data for you when you rip them to your favorite lossless format.
Unless you too have that elusive copy of "A.M. Ramblers".:D

cokewithvanilla

Currently I use dbpoweramp, and it does the same thing. However, if it was done years ago, then I am stuck adding all the tags...unless there is a program I am unaware of -.-

mmadden28

cokewithvanilla wrote: »

..

Portable? I didn't mention it... well, it has to be about as portable as my amp... and thats 90 pounds

Doh! -for some reason I thought you said portable. I eve thought I reread it first to be sure. Might have been the Ext HD thing that caused some crazy flag to go off in my head. Or maybe I had another post on my screen and got it mixed up.
So a fixed install kinda thing-looks like you have some options then.
I know I've seen, but haven't played with too much, a whole lotta 'media extenders' out there. I think Dlink and Netgear make them. Some of the higher end recievers ahve network music streaming capabilities built in.

The Xbox will function as one as well if you don't mind streaming. I've played with it with Vista as the Media Center server, as well as TVersity. Not sure on the SQ though as I don't think it will do FLAC.

I have a Roku WiFi radio, streams FLAC. But unlike its brother, it doesn't have audio outputs, but the model that does has some good reviews out there. I don't care for the navigation interface though, but it does stream Internet radio as well. Using Firefly to serve the music from the PC.

I have a Squeezebox Duet hooked up to my 2 channel system. So far its sounds good. Also streams internet radio. Like H9 though, I have yet to compare it with and without and external DAC. But it will be remain a staple in the two channel system from all the songs that I don't have a CD or SACD for or if I just want some random mix.

mmadden28

cokewithvanilla wrote: »

Currently I use dbpoweramp, and it does the same thing. However, if it was done years ago, then I am stuck adding all the tags...unless there is a program I am unaware of -.-

When I was using Musicmatch jukebox a few years ago. It had some way to pull tags in from the net. I don't recall what service it was using, but you could select from several choices-almost as if some of the content was user submitted. If it wasn't automatically matched up you could so some more specific searches. I haven't seen anything like it since-not that I have been trying very hard.

Worst case scenario, you're just going to have to clean your library up manually. Don't you at least set the Genre of a song to your own choosing? I recategorize everything into my own Genres. Something that will make sense to me.

heiney9

cokewithvanilla wrote: »

Currently I use dbpoweramp, and it does the same thing. However, if it was done years ago, then I am stuck adding all the tags...unless there is a program I am unaware of -.-

Have you tried Media Monkey, I swear by it and it's a very powerful program

http://www.mediamonkey.com/

The free version is only missing a couple extra features the pay version has. I highly recommend anyone using/creating/managing a digital music database/server to give this a try.

adam2434

If you don't mind storing the music on a PC (or external HD connected to a PC), I think the most cost effective solutions are

1) a Squeezebox with an external DAC

or

2) you could even buy a small, inexpensive, quiet notebook (for example the Acer Aspire One for $380) and use a USB DAC or a USB-SPDIF converter to a DAC.

twanto

Gaara wrote: »

Popcorn hour should fit the bill for $200 + the price of the HD.

Or you can go the Squeezebox route.

xbox 360 will play lossless .wma files apparently...another option... but I stream from my computer even though you can put the files on the xbox hdd.