Starting to think about stowing my wall of CD's . . .

[PaulyT]

Except you don't need a passport to go to Delaware.

 

[Botch]

Pauly, your new avatar couldn't be more perfect! :laughing-rolling: :handgestures-thumbup: :eusa-clap: :text-bravo:

 

[PaulyT]

Thanks - mentioned in another thread that MattB found it. I couldn't resist.

 

[Barney]

If you head upto Baltimore, why not just make a weekend of it and hop in the car with Pauly and hit up the Batcave too....it's only another hr away, just sayin'

Heck! Pick up Bats and keep driving for only 8 more hours north and you're in Ottawa! My door's always open to Forum members.

Heck, since Pauly is driving, head SW for about 30 hrs to Central Texas.....on the way stop ......oh, never mind.

 

[BrianZ]

Been a few years now since I started this thread, and my wife & I are beyond sick of the wall of CD's. We're ready for the local digital music storage/streaming solution. "Local" means in the living room, in a media cabinet with all the other AV equipment.

So what's the state of the art? What units should I be looking into?

I'm open to either of the two main types of systems:
- Full standalone unit, including storage, DAC, & analog outs
- NAS with a separate streamer unit
I'll be cabling directly from this new system to my receiver, via either analog or digital transmission (depending on where the better DAC ends up being)

Wish list:
- Decent DAC (my ear is used to and perfectly fine with the sound of mid-level, mass market CD players)
- Streamer unit remote control with display, ideally one that can be used from adjacent room
(I realize this probably means it has to be an app on a phone or tablet, but I'm holding out hope that is doesn't have to be.)
- WMAL compatible? [lol] Would be really nice, but I am mostly resigned to having to convert it all to flac.
- Budget: $1000? If really that much we'd have to wait a little while, so less would be great.

Here's my current setup, just to give you an idea of where I fit into the spectrum:
(I play almost exclusively digital source already)
Source: FiiO X3 portable player (DAC is built around the Wolfson WM8740 chip), Line Out jack to . . .
Amp: Marantz SR6009, Aux input
Speakers (2.1): PSB Synchrony One B bookshelves, with Dayton Audio 10" Titanic DIY sub kit

 

[Haywood]

This little NAS runs Plex Media Server: https://www.amazon.com/QNAP-TS-251-...UTF8&qid=1507517601&sr=8-2&keywords=qnap+plex

The trick is that not all clients support all codecs and the server will simply transcode into a codec your client supports. I am pretty sure lossless codecs end up getting transcoded to PCM for playback on your local network, but my information may be old. If you build a dedicated client running Plex Media Player or OpenPHT you should be okay. Mine will direct play almost anything. It costs around $100.
https://wetek.com/us/en/shop/wetek-hub

That solution will run you about $300 + hard drives.

 

[Haywood]

You don't need Plex, by the way. You could just as easily use a Kodi front end pointed at wherever you store your data. You could also use Emby or one of the other media servers out there.

 

[Bote]

Been a few years now since I started this thread, and my wife & I are beyond sick of the wall of CD's. We're ready for the local digital music storage/streaming solution. "Local" means in the living room, in a media cabinet with all the other AV equipment.

So what's the state of the art? What units should I be looking into?

I'm open to either of the two main types of systems:
- Full standalone unit, including storage, DAC, & analog outs
- NAS with a separate streamer unit
I'll be cabling directly from this new system to my receiver, via either analog or digital transmission (depending on where the better DAC ends up being)

Wish list:
- Decent DAC (my ear is used to and perfectly fine with the sound of mid-level, mass market CD players)
- Streamer unit remote control with display, ideally one that can be used from adjacent room
(I realize this probably means it has to be an app on a phone or tablet, but I'm holding out hope that is doesn't have to be.)
- WMAL compatible? [lol] Would be really nice, but I am mostly resigned to having to convert it all to flac.
- Budget: $1000? If really that much we'd have to wait a little while, so less would be great.

Here's my current setup, just to give you an idea of where I fit into the spectrum:
(I play almost exclusively digital source already)
Source: FiiO X3 portable player (DAC is built around the Wolfson WM8740 chip), Line Out jack to . . .
Amp: Marantz SR6009, Aux input
Speakers (2.1): PSB Synchrony One B bookshelves, with Dayton Audio 10" Titanic DIY sub kit

May i suggest buying a long cable so that you can use your fiio x3 and sit in your listening spot and use it even without a remote. That is what i do.

 

[BrianZ]

You don't need Plex, by the way. You could just as easily use a Kodi front end pointed at wherever you store your data. You could also use Emby or one of the other media servers out there.

Not familiar with these solutions. So you're talking simply an app that runs on the NAS, is that right? That seems quite simple and elegant. This approach utilizes the DAC in my receiver right? So NAS drives typically have HDMI or other digital out then? And does it require the TV to be on? That would be a deal-breaker for me I'm afraid. Unless of course an app can go on a mobile device to control it. I'm already running Plex off my Amazon FireTV box for movies so I'm pretty familiar (video library is on the desktop PC upstairs).

Thanks for the out of the box idea, man.

 

[BrianZ]

May i suggest buying a long cable so that you can use your fiio x3 and sit in your listening spot and use it even without a remote. That is what i do.

Ha, that's EXACTLY what I've been doing for a few years now. I use a 25 footer and it easily reaches all the way to my seat at the dining room table! Works rather well, I must say. But I was hoping to "cut the cord" as a part of this effort. Plus keeping the FiiO charged is a mild hassle I'd like to eliminate.



Say, is anyone familiar with the Cambridge CXN? It has almost everything I'm looking for, including WMA support! Except: would it have killed them to put a 1 TB hd in the thing?? It's DAC is built around dual Wolfson chips -- so not bad, right? (extra points to anyone who explains to me why it's two DAC chips is better than the one in my FiiO X3).