2. pc-audio
  3. 1220427207

High quality music server on the cheap...sort of

I bought a cheapo HP computer with Vista Basic. Ripped all my music with Media Monkey as .wav files. I've got 40,000+ tracks that take up about 1.5 TB on a Glyph professional 2 TB drive. I have dedicated power lines running to my gear so the computer and the hard drive are on their own circuit.

itunes is not up to the task of handling a large library of .wav files and will not let you add album artwork to .wav files. Media monkey is very smooth in handling music but will only work on a PC.

Output of the HP is via USB into a Benchmark DAC then into my ARC Ref 1. I have an old NEC 17" LCD computer monitor sitting on the floor that displays the album art full screen and changes with each song. I use the new apple bluetooth keyboard as my "remote" for the system. It works nicely with my PC.

I am a vinyl guy with a VPI TNT setup and have never found a CD player that I've liked but I can't stop listening to my little "server" setup. On well recorded/mastered CD's there is real music coming out of my computer! The Benchmark has gotten great reviews and it certainly is delivering in my system. I am going to get their ADC to convert some LP's.

So for around 3k you can listen to your entire CD library (I have about 3000+ CD's) as .wav files along with a nice visual display. I did have some issues ripping in MM but managed to get all my music onto the Glyph after a month of heavy lifting.

I also have a Sonos system but prefer the "hardwired" approach in my listening room.
ntscdan

Showing 2 responses by herman

herman
2,212 posts
 
If you are so inclined, and I sometimes am, it is very nice to be able to easily go from song to song on different albums as the mood strikes.

I didn't see any mention of a backup.

You're going to have another month of heavy lifting in your future without one.

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herman
2,212 posts
 
Ntscdan I think your situation may be in the minority.

iTunes stores my music in the folder structure Artist - Album - Song so I don't see anything convoluted about that, and I have about 1.5 terabytes of files which it handles with ease. I was up to about 1.3 Terabytes when I switched from a PC to Mac and had no problems with either. If you move your files you can just reload them into a new library.
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