N

Nestor

Senior Audioholic
Several years ago, I began ripping my cd's to mp3 format for my mp3 player. I laboriously ripped about 2/3 of my collection but couldn't get used to the lossy (lousy?) sound of mp3 compression on my home and car stereo. In ancient times (about 4 yrs ago) 20gigs was the upper end of hard drive size, so a large collection of wav files wasn't feasible for most. Eventually, I lost interest.

Media servers have been around for a few years, but only recently have they begun to offer the capacity and performance that many audiophiles desire.

There are some intriguing choices out there, but each seem to have limiting factors that are making the decision that much more difficult.

Servers like the Yamaha MCX2000 have great reviews due to ease of use when ripping, access to cddb, and ability to access other hd's on the network. Limiting (for me) is the 160gig drive, and the lack of access to the Yammy's drive from a remote pc.

Sonos, on the other hand, does away with storage entirely, leaving that and ripping totally up to the user. I like that idea. I can upgrade my storage when needed. The Sonos really shines in a dirt simple setup and ipod-like remote control. If only the Sonos had a 24bit o/p iinstead of a 16bit.

Both have internet radio access (not hi-fi, I know, but there are some stations I would really like to hear), and the ability to add your own stations to the preset collection provided.

My receiver has limited abilities in network and internet streaming, but they are too limited, and accessing is clunky and slow.

I've also thought of putting together my own media server pc. Creative labs has a Soundblaster card that uses 24bit a/d and d/a. Certainly an area to explore.

Slimdevices, maker of the well-received Squeezebox has recently released the Transporter, which appears to be audiophile-grade in sound, but I have no knowledge of what it's like to use.

Multimedia (audio and video) servers are making an appearance, but I don't find myself archiving to many movies. I have the obligatory LOR extended box set, and a few others, but that's about it, so it hasn't been a priority for me.

My personal nirvana would be an audiophile-grade server system with flexibility, expandibility, and ease of use. Not having to be stuck near my cd player constantly dj'ing when I have guests over would be pure bliss.

What are your thoughts everybody? Have you gone down the media server road? Are you going down this road?
 
stratman

stratman

Audioholic Ninja
Hey Nestor,

I'm torn between a Sonos or a Vida product, not sure yet. I have tons of music right now stored in a Buffalo Linkstation (400Gigs)in WAV format but I'm using my PC as a player, which I really hate, but in the next few weeks I'll decide.
 
BMXTRIX

BMXTRIX

Audioholic Warlord
I actually have two different media servers in my home. One is a four year old Imerge product which I believe uses similar software to the Yamaha product (Xivanet?).

While media servers may be new to some people, others know that Escient has been in the game for many years and started by using CD changers to handle music serving. They switched to the Fireball series several years ago. Companies like AudioRequest have been in the game about five years or so and they make a phenomenal product with a very iPod like interface. Almost wonder how they aren't the ones with the patent on the structure used to organize files.

Anyway - that is my other music server which I am working on loading up. An AudioRequest F2.250. Dual zones and up to 250 uncompressed CDs to be stored. Ripping and cover art and now iTunes/iPod integration is also possible.

Pretty nifty stuff.
 
A

auujay

Audioholic Intern
Re: Creative Cards

Nestor said:
I've also thought of putting together my own media server pc. Creative labs has a Soundblaster card that uses 24bit a/d and d/a. Certainly an area to explore.
I would avoid Creative Labs' cards in a new PC. I don't think their card really does 24bit throughout. Basically it will take in a lower bit rate and upsample it to 24 bit, do some processing and then downsample it on the output.

If you look you should be able to find better audio cards on the market. I would lean towards cards based on the VIA Envy24PT or Envy24HT chipsets.

Personally, I plan to get an Apple AirportExpress to use the AirTunes feature. That way I plug the AirportExpress downstairs next to my reciever and stream sound files from the PC upstairs (running iTunes). I can control the whole thing with my old iBook which sits downstairs, effectively giving me a remote control with a 12" screen and full keyboard :D
 
M

MDS

Audioholic Spartan
auujay said:
I would avoid Creative Labs' cards in a new PC. I don't think their card really does 24bit throughout. Basically it will take in a lower bit rate and upsample it to 24 bit, do some processing and then downsample it on the output.
Unless you are playing a 24 bit source, every card that uses 24 bit internal processing will change the bit depth to 24. The sample will simply be zero extended to make it 24 bits (ie. the value of the sample does not change before processing). That is not upsampling.

What I suspect you are getting at is the fact that Creative and any other card that is based on the AC97 spec will upsample to 48 kHz, do the processing, and then downsample back to the original sampling rate.
 
A

auujay

Audioholic Intern
MDS said:
Unless you are playing a 24 bit source, every card that uses 24 bit internal processing will change the bit depth to 24. The sample will simply be zero extended to make it 24 bits (ie. the value of the sample does not change before processing). That is not upsampling.

What I suspect you are getting at is the fact that Creative and any other card that is based on the AC97 spec will upsample to 48 kHz, do the processing, and then downsample back to the original sampling rate.
Yeah, thats what I was trying to get at. I just remember people getting the Audigys thinking they would be outputing at a high frequency and then being disappointed once they realized what it was doing.

The other thing I recall is that if you are using the digital connections with say a CD player, you won't be getting the exact same bitstream out of the card as is coming from the CD since it is doing this upsampling internally. Obviously this would only make any difference if you are using the digital output of the card as well as the digital input (if it is being converted to analog anyway I doubt it matters if it is being upsampled to 24bit first). I don't know if anyone can tell the difference though. For me the main thing for a computer sound card is the noise floor. I HATE hearing anything besides my music during the quiet passages and that is a common problem with most cheap sound cards.

Anyway, the main reason I bring it up is that in my mind the only reason to buy a Creative card is for gaming (they own the 3D sound market for PC games). If you are using this in a system that is mostly for audio/video I would look at some of the other major brands like m-audio, terratec, or echo.
 
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abboudc

Audioholic Chief
I use my iMac and Powerbook as music "servers" with a pair of Airport Express. In iTunes, you can share libraries, so both the laptop and desktop can see each other's libraries. The iMac houses most of the music, with the laptop acting as a "remote".

There are downsides to this system though.
1. It's push, not pull. You need to be in range of the iMac (it comes with a nice remote) or have the Powerbook in hand to control it.
2. Airport Express isn't as robust an option as the Squeezebox.
3. I'm pretty much locked to iTunes.
4. Airport Express reliability. Many reports on the web about them dying between 15-18 months due to an alleged faulty capacitor. Both of mine are still alive after about a year.

The upside is it's a pretty cheap system, since i already had the Powerbook.
I can stream the same song to three different rooms in the house simultaneously which is great for parties. Build a playlist, select where to send the sound and you're done.
 
B

brikelly

Enthusiast
Nestor said:
If only the Sonos had a 24bit o/p iinstead of a 16bit.
While the onboard DAC within the Sonos ZonePlayer only supports 16-bit word length, it will happily pass on hi-res digital formats like 24-bit WAVs, DTS, AC3 etc through its digital output. If you have an external DAC which is capable of decoding these formats, you're home free.

Here's a Sonos forum link that may help:
http://forums.sonos.com/showthread.php?t=4141

I've had Sonos for a month and could not be happier. It's easily one of the best consumer products I've ever purchased, and I've purchased a lot :)
 
sholling

sholling

Audioholic Ninja
I've been experimenting with an old spare home-built PC running WinAmp with the FLAC plugin. The sound card is an oldie but goodie Turtle Beach Santa Cruz outputing to my receiver via fiber. I've ripped about 50 of my CDs to the lossless FLAC format and so far I'm pleased with the sound quality, but not the noise level of the PC itself. When I get some spare time I'll build another quieter box.
 

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