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Music Server To Only Play FLAC Stored On Portable HDD

Is there a music server with all the bells and whistles excluded? A music server with the single feature to connect to portable HDDs and play all music formats such as FLAC etc. which are stored on the hard disc drives.

Will this music server sound better than a laptop? Any insight appreciated.
ryder
ryder OP
1,682 posts
 
The latter, a device to output digital audio (FLAC, ALAC) to a dedicated DAC in a single audio system.
calvinandhobbes
272 posts
 
A Pro-ject Stream Box Ultra S2 is built on a RPi, but with power supplies optimized. I’ve got a 128 Gb flash memory stick attached & it is now a music server.

FWIW, it sounds pretty good. Definitely better than a PC (without an Etherregen or other USB decrapifier device attached)
nekoaudio's avatar
nekoaudio
489 posts
 
@ryder in that case I think most devices will have at least some "bells and whistles" because it presents a better value proposition to customers.

There are many products that will let you attach a portable hard disk to the USB input, and then output digital to a downstream DAC. Some models you might look at, in addition to the various Raspberry Pi-based ones:
  • Lumin U1 or U1 Mini
  • Auralic ALTAIR G1 or ARIES G1
  • Bryston BDP-3
  • BlueSound NODE 2i
  • Volumio Primo HI-FI
  • Matrix Audio element M
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