I have a lot of CD's. I keep reading about how lots of people are ripping the CD to hard drives and making music servers for digital media (internet, cd's, etc). i'm not talking compressed files, but full quality audio.
I'd really like to start investigating putting together a quality system to do this, but I don't even know where to start. Have any of you made the plunge into this? If so, what have you done?
Brett
Hi, Good idea. I have done it with my entire music/video collection. I looked at a lot of different ways and decided on the easiest. I use an Apple TV 2 as the device to connect to my home theatre system. Super easy to set up and use. It is very small, 90mm x 90mm and has all the outputs you need. HDMI, Optical, USB and wired network connection. It is also wireless and I think the cost is $99 US. The server that I use is a Mac Mini running iTunes. Music CD's can be ripped in less than five minutes. The Mac Mini server is also wireless so set up is dead simple. Of course if you have another server, it will work. Apple TV come with its own remote and the on screen menu's are very easy to navigate.
There are other media systems on the market but none as easy as the system I described.
Allan.
It basically depends on your budget for such things. You can do it for a few hundreds, or for multi-thousands and up ...Originally Posted by brett_s
Using iTunes with Apple Loss Compression is one way to approach this. I have a number of files on external hard drive storage attached
to my Mac Pro computer up in the office. (I used to do it with an external drive system on a mac mini ... a much cheaper base!)
I have Apple Airport Express on one music-only system downstairs (Carver receiver with the custom L200 3ways or the Dahlquists DQ10s) ,
and I have an older Apple TV (1st gen) as a source on my main surround (music + theatre) system with HDTV & biAmped 4341 monitors.
With the Mac system as a hub, I can select the computer speakers or either of the downstairs systems to use as "remote speakers" and
play things upstairs onto either or both of the remote systems, streaming my music via wifi around the home.
With the Home theater system that had a monitor it wasn't too bad running things, but on the other system that is music only (no monitor)
it was lacking local control ... until now.
I finally got an iPhone last month and there is a free remote control app for it that lets me connect to iTunes from the phone and control the system completely from anywhere in the house - I can choose by artist, by playlist or even by tune and run the whole source audio like a remote jukebox!
I've currently got well over 2000 albums and CDs loaded into the system ... and it all plays quite nicely!
Apparently, Apple Lossless is comparable to FLAC.
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikiped...Apple_Lossless
Don't know how all this would work on the Windows version of iTunes, I've heard folks complain about the win based iTunes,
but on the mac version its all quite nice!
2ch: WiiM Pro; Topping E30 II DAC; Oppo, Acurus RL-11, Acurus A200, JBL Dynamics Project - Offline: L212-TwinStack, VonSchweikert VR-4
7: TIVO, Oppo BDP103D, B&K, 2pr UREI 809A, TF600, JBL B460
It also works very well on a PC running iTunes. The Apple TV is the key to simplicity. IMO, ripping CD's into iTunes sounds as good as playing the CD. It never used to be that good but now it seems it is.
Allan.
I too highly recommend the Mac Mini. I connect mine to a 1 Terabit Firewire external drive and rip my CDs as uncompressed AIIF files (WAV works as well). Using iTunes, you stream wirelessly as some here do to Apple TV. Or -- for better quality -- you can send music over the Mac's USB port to an outboard DAC. With the latter, and depending on the DAC interface, you can listen to files recorded up to 24bit/192kHz -- much higher than Redbook CD quality.
I am enjoying a number of albums downloaded from the web (HDTracks & others) as well as those I've ripped from DVD-A disks at 24bit/96kHz. The Computer Audiophile website has a lot of info to help you along. Good luck!
Go FLAC or go home.
I ripped everything to FLAC.
For the non-MAc crowd, Media Monkey is hard to beat. I run it on a Windows 2003 Server (yea, old school) and it works great to stream to all the network and DLNA devices. best thing about it is using it to fix all the tags, art, and keep the music organized the way *I* want it.
Additionally, Logitech Media Server (Squeezebox Server) serves the audio files managed by Media Monkey to my Touch.
Apple TV is cheap and works well if you have a display, iPad, or iTouch/iPhone... but, and for me it is a big one, it only outputs optical. In my system I can definitely hear and improved sound from AES/EBU or S/PDIF.
I have friends that use a Mac Mini... great as there is no fan noise, but it can only output via USB... most DACs don't handle USB as well as they should. There is a fairly expensive solution from Berkeley Audio that will convert USB to AES/EBU or S/PDIF and do so very well, but...
There are number of stand alone all in one server systems that range from OK to pretty darned good, but none are inexpensive. This is a rapidly evolving area. I personally went small and fairly inexpensively. I use iTunes managing Apple Lossless files that I've ripped from Redbook... (so far hi-rez is not available through iTunes) I play the files from my iPod through a Wadia Dock feeding my Bryston BDA-1 DAC... sound is top drawer, convenience is a little lacking.
Widget
Th Apple TV has optical and HDMI so you can go either way. The new MacMini's also have HDMI. You can just use the MacMini without Apple TV ans control the whole thing that way. Personally, I run the remote app on my iPhone and iPad and control the whole lot from either device. You can also install "ServeToMe" on the iPhone or iPad and stream the MacMini Server to either device anywhere in the house or, via 3G, anywhere in the world. The Apple on screen interface is a doddle.
Most people will admit that digital files are not as good as the real thing but lets face it, they are light years ahead of where they were a few years back and for playing music or videos on a home system, it is about as good as it gets. We should also remember that most people listen to music with some sort of pocket device with earphones. Go figure.
Allan.
From the non-Apple and non-plug-and-run side of the question, I'll offer this. Windows Home Server 2011 at the moment is five steps forward and one step back from the old version but it's a very well-spent $50. You'l need to dedicate a low-power 64-bit machine with a 160gb or larger boot drive and 2tb storage drive, probably a $400 investment at the moment, $300 when drive prices come back to normal. Another $50 (after the free trial) buys J River Media Center to run on the server to store, catalog, and stream your music and video. I'm about positive J River allows your initial license to also run on your PC to access and play your music. I will admit that I'm still learning the how-to's of J River as it's a very deep well of possibilities. To me the most impressive thing is the 10-ft interface of Theater View. I am also only on the verge of installing the server version as it's very existence is only barely documented and I only want to install stuff on the server once I'm sure I want to make the commitment.
I've been chasing the Media PC for almost ten years and the best I've tried has been pretty good at best. All I want is a single media server to handle multiple cablecard TV tuners to send live and recorded TV as well as stored music and video to any PC in the home. Windows Media Center 7 is pretty darn good and it works well with various add-ons but it can be really clunky and it's barely customizable. Beyond TV was great but it's now a dead product. I'll check out Media Monkey, as for some reason I've never heard of it, but it doesn't seem to be geared to video.
I've been using iTunes and the free remote app on either my iPhone or iPad. I went this way cause it was easy and I already had everything.
I think your approach is probably a very good one, but it is fraught with hiccups, no big deal if messing about isn't a bother for you, but I'd rather hit the power switch and have the music happen.
Do you mean digital audio vs. analog, or do you mean server based vs. playing CDs?
On the HDMI front, are there any top drawer DACs that accept HDMI? By top drawer DACs I mean Berkeley Audio Alpha, the gear from Meitner, Weiss, dCS etc... of course these are all mega buck, but the next tier down including the Bryston that I have and a few others also do not accept HDMI... about the only products that I can think of that will accept HDMI are the AV receivers and processors. I suppose if that is what you are going to use then HDMI is fine, but if you want to hear the best that digital audio can offer... dedicated two channel is still leaps and bounds above these devices.
Widget
I've been using Sonos ZP90's (3 of them) to create whole house audio. Very nice for wireless distribution of audio to my different JBL systems. Ripped the CD collection to a Western Digital MyBookLive. Able also to group zones and play perfectly synchronized music all over the house.
Don't have to have a computer running to use the system. Able to control everything from iphone and ipad.
The Sonos system makes it really easy to stream from internet music services. I'm using Pandora and Spotify at the moment and really like both (I get tired of my music library and it's good for finding new stuff).
Control 25AV on the deck - L1 - L20t & L80t in piano black - 4312A - 4430
For those with an irrational dislike of Apple, Sonos offers a similarly well thought out, easy to use, excellent build quality product that is certainly worth considering. We install tons of them and people love their ease of use and flexibility... I've even brought one home to play with. The wireless iPod dock will stream the digital signal from your iPod... sonically Sonos is pretty good, not top drawer but very listenable and you can even control it with Android devices keeping your home free of Apple.
Widget
I have some serious research to do......
Keep the info coming, it is quiet helpful.
I will be quite honest and show my ignorance here....I'm not adverse to apple products, I have just never used any. I know that has to be impossible these days, but it's the truth. I've never heard of a apple tv, mac mini. I will for sure look into it. I have to figure out exactly what it is and how to use it. Realistically, I'm probably the last 35 year in the US that doesn't have an apple product.
As for the other items, I will start my research right now!
Thanks,
Brett
One thing to do first is to figure out exactly what you want to do and what gear you want to have at the playback area. Regular computers can be kind of noisy in your listening area with fans and such - Media center PCs (and mac Mini computers) don't have fans and are less disturbing of your music listening.
Another solution to the noise factor is to put the media server in a closet or in another room and just send the music via network (wifi or wired) to your listening space.
Again, many ways to approach it, the question you need to figure is how perfect does the music need to be, and what kind of a budget are you planning.
For some the operative thing is the convenience of having everything available at a touch - and may not be the audio-fanatic others are.
Generally, turnkey solutions cost more ... but are more spouse friendly ...
2ch: WiiM Pro; Topping E30 II DAC; Oppo, Acurus RL-11, Acurus A200, JBL Dynamics Project - Offline: L212-TwinStack, VonSchweikert VR-4
7: TIVO, Oppo BDP103D, B&K, 2pr UREI 809A, TF600, JBL B460
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