Guest Halfdutch Posted July 11, 2011 Posted July 11, 2011 Hi All, I'm hoping someone can give me their thoughts about a basic digital setup I'm thinking of. I want to get my digital audio off the computer and play music through my amp/receiver. I thought I could get a basic ESB hard drive connected to a cheap and cheerful tablet PC with hdmi output and then feed that into my Onkyo amp/receiver. Most of my music is in compressed file formats but I want to get across to lossless files as and when I can. Does this sound feasible or flawed? I'm not aiming to achieve high end audio, just a decent reproduction with the equipment I've got. Thoughts would be appreciated.
wolster Posted July 11, 2011 Posted July 11, 2011 Welcome to the forum, 1/2dutch. Many of us here use a Logitech Squeezebox to do as you describe. The latest model is the Touch. Plenty of info in the digital section, inluding a thread on where to buy at the cheapest price. You will get excellent playback and management of your music files plus internet radio - worldwide. Cheers wolster
Teej Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 Another possibility is using a DAC, there are plenty of "USB only" DACs on the market that should fit the bill for sub-$200.. unfortunately I can't recommend one as I haven't personally used one as I too use a SqueezeBox Touch!
el toro Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 + 1 for a Squeezebox. I've got an old Slimdevices version (before Logitech took them over) with a mods to improve sound performance. It's sounds great, easy to use and best of all - no more CD cases all over the floor! However - you do need to be running your computer the whole time as the server. Your Tablet Pc idea would mean a 'one box' solution (two boxes with the HDD, I guess) - which you might find a bit more convenient. But bear in mind the SB has a remote - would you need to 'de-couch' to use the tablet? Personally, I avoid standing as much as possible.... If you've already got you Audio files on a PC, a SB (connected wirelessly or via ethernet) and connected to your receiver via co-axial or toslink input might be the simplest (and cheapest) option.
bob.cob Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 (edited) As others have suggested, the SB Touch is a good little unit. For something a little more cheap'n'cheerful, you might like to checkout the Western Digital TV Live (WDTV) that can be had for as little as $90 brand new. It does rely on on a TV/Monitor however to function, but it does have the benefit of handling your digital movie files as well, and it can stream internet radio stations. You can connect a USB hard drive directly to this little box so you don;t have to have a PC/Server running at the same time. Well worth a look. Edit: the WDTV can play flac files too - flac files are similar in concept to MP3 in the sense they are compressed, however flacs can be uncompressed on the fly to the equivalent quality as the original source, therefore maintaining sound quality if that is important to you. Edited July 13, 2011 by bob.saccamanno
Dr X Posted July 14, 2011 Posted July 14, 2011 Unfortunately WDTV players do not support gapless playback between tracks. They add 1-2 seconds of delay which really ruins albums like Pink Floyd's DSOTM and The Wall.
emesbee Posted July 15, 2011 Posted July 15, 2011 Unfortunately WDTV players do not support gapless playback between tracks. They add 1-2 seconds of delay which really ruins albums like Pink Floyd's DSOTM and The Wall. True. The WDTV Live is ok as an all round media player, as it handles quite a wide range of formats. It is probably more video than audio oriented though.
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