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Simple Digital Music Server - Opinions Please

Six months ago, I added an Audio Mirror DAC to my system and use my Marantz SA14 SACD player as a redbook transport. I’ve thought about replacing my Marantz and getting a stand alone transport. While doing some research, I’ve stumbled on some very interesting information on hard drive based digital playback systems. I’m thinking about giving one a try. I read numerous posts here on Audiogon, and I think for a modest sum of money, one can achieve superior results with a hard drive playback system.

I’ve stumbled onto a product that will bridge the music from a PC to your DAC. It’s manufactured by a company called Roku and they have a few variations that will do what I’m looking for. The line of product is called the SoundBridge Network Music Player. http://www.rokulabs.com

Here is what I’m thinking of doing and I would like to get some feedback for those who have heard music from hard drive based play back system.

Using my existing PC in another room (having the PC in a different room eliminates PC fan noise); I plan to add a 400GB external USB hard drive. (600-650 music CD’s) I plan to rip all my CD’s into wave or Apple Lossless files. Apple Lossless with give one double capacity without any sound quality loss. Please give me some feedback here if you have experienced differently. I will run an Ethernet cable from the PC to the Roku device in my sound room. The Roku will then connect to my external DAC via coax cable and DAC to my preamp.

Here is what I’m hoping to achieve with my project:

• Superior redbook playback compared to my current setup.
• The convenience of have all CD’s accessed from my listening chair via the Roku remote.
• Added bonus of digital internet radio
• File sharing possibilities with others
• Selling my SACD player and having a few hundred dollars left over for added music after funding my project

I’m estimating that my total investment will be:

• Roku Soundbridge $499
• Ethernet Cable $50
• 400GB external hard drive $300

• Total investment $850
islandflyfisher
rlwainwright
1,904 posts
 
Allow me to offer an alternative - the LinkSys Wireless MusicBridge, sells for approx. $89 at CompUSA and other computer stores. Jack this into your pre/pro and have a laptop provide the source material.

This will allow you to have "remote" control, streaming audio from the Internet, you can use *any* file format (FLAC, WAV, OGG, MP3, WMA, whatever) and you can daisy chain as many drives as you like via USB.

What's not to like?
edesilva
768 posts
 
Only issue with Linksys is its wireless nature... wireless xmission of 16/44.1 requires some decent throughput, and depending upon walls/other devices in the area, you may have issues. If you can run an ethernet cable, I would.

I looked at both the soundbridges and the squeezebox 3s, and went SB3. The SB3 supports Apple Lossless, which is the format I've decided to use for storage.

One note--I highly recommend ripping with EAC. Find a little script called iTunesEncode and have EAC call iTunesEncode as a commandline compressor; EAC will pass the CDDB data tags to iTunes, which will register them in the library and write the tags into the files. If you run with SB3s, you can then tell slimserver to use the iTunes library, so when you update iTunes it will automatically update slimserver...

Good luck, have fun, and seriously consider backing up your data somehow...
islandflyfisher OP
94 posts
 
Thank you for all of those who responded. I've decided and purchased the Roku M2000 and it does support Apple Lossless. I must say that I'm quite impressed with the build quality of Roku. All of that brushed aluminum for $500. It fits right in with the rest of my high end gear. Looking at the Squeezebox, it does seem like a heck of a value as it includes its own DAC. I plan on using my current DAC with the Roku.

I've ripped CD's in the past for my iPod and read that there is a way to rip CD's without any kind of a gap between songs on a CD. The gaps I wish to eliminate are for concert CD's and CD's where run songs together like DSOTM, American Idiot, Abbey Road, etc. Can someone explain to me where to find the option in iTunes to do this? I will only rip entire CD's and want exact copies of the CD.

BTW, the M2000 comes with the optional wireless card which I will try before I run cable. In the past, I've always been partial to Western Digital HD's and was going to order one. They are a little more expensive but I've found their reliability to be second to none. Since I have not really kept up in the computer industry, does anyone have a different opinion on hard drives or are they all pretty much the same.

As soon as I get things up and running, I report my finding on this project.
edesilva
768 posts
 
Unless you want to do a funky workaround with the groups tag, you have to join the tracks together when you rip. iTunes has a "join tracks together" function that allows this when you rip in iTunes. I think you can do this in EAC if you "rip by range" or something. Haven't done it myself, and am frustrated by Apple lack of a "join together" function in the library... You should be able to select two songs "Intro by X..." and "Song by X..." and establish some kind of link to get them permanently pasted together. But you can't.
edesilva
768 posts
 
I was thinking about this some more and found this an AppleScript called "Join Together v3.2.1." If you are running iTunes for Windows, this won't work, but if you have a Mac available, this script purports to bridge between iTunes and Quicktime Pro to combine tracks... Here's the link:

http://www.dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/scripts07.php?page=1
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