TomCarp
Novice Member
This forum was great helping me navigate through the technical terminology when I was looking to replace an older Denon stereo receiver. Have bought a network-capable stereo receiver (the Denon DRA 800H) and now have some questions about accessing a couple music sources.
We have a very simple configuration with the receiver driving a couple indoor and a couple outdoor speakers. We only used either the tuner, or a Denon dock for an old iPod. What drove the new purchase was an apparent problem with the dock, with the idea of being able to Bluetooth connect a newer iPod. Installed the receiver, and have gotten back to where we were (i.e. tuner or BT iPod).
When consulting this forum earlier, I had some thoughts about accessing music from our NAS, and also about using the Alexa voice assistant for playback. In looking over the receiver manual, I'm not sure I understand either well enough to decide if those are worth the effort.
Starting with the NAS, my thought was to move our iTunes library, currently on a infrequently used PC, to the NAS. The iTunes library has a bunch of playlists that we used almost all the time for playback via synced iPods. If I understanding the research, an iTunes library on a NAS is not accessible in the same way as on the PC, meaning, additions to the music or new/changes to playlists cannot be done directly on the NAS. If true, that's not such a big deal; just means keep the iTunes library on the PC for changes, and then copy the library to the NAS when changed.
However, I haven't seen anything yet in the research that says existing iTunes playlists stored on a NAS can be selected from the receiver. If there is capability to select a playlist if the library were on the PC, it won't work since we rarely power on the PC.
Am I better off just staying with an iPod connected to the receiver?
Regarding the Alexa assistant: I see that there is capability to access streaming services, like Alexa. Today, the Alexa unit is used to voice-select music and create playlists. With the new receiver, is there a way to still have voice-control, via the existing Alexa device, with playback going through the receiver?
I'm very willing to do homework, so if someone is aware of a link to a simple explanation of these topics, I can do the detail work.
Thanks
Tom
We have a very simple configuration with the receiver driving a couple indoor and a couple outdoor speakers. We only used either the tuner, or a Denon dock for an old iPod. What drove the new purchase was an apparent problem with the dock, with the idea of being able to Bluetooth connect a newer iPod. Installed the receiver, and have gotten back to where we were (i.e. tuner or BT iPod).
When consulting this forum earlier, I had some thoughts about accessing music from our NAS, and also about using the Alexa voice assistant for playback. In looking over the receiver manual, I'm not sure I understand either well enough to decide if those are worth the effort.
Starting with the NAS, my thought was to move our iTunes library, currently on a infrequently used PC, to the NAS. The iTunes library has a bunch of playlists that we used almost all the time for playback via synced iPods. If I understanding the research, an iTunes library on a NAS is not accessible in the same way as on the PC, meaning, additions to the music or new/changes to playlists cannot be done directly on the NAS. If true, that's not such a big deal; just means keep the iTunes library on the PC for changes, and then copy the library to the NAS when changed.
However, I haven't seen anything yet in the research that says existing iTunes playlists stored on a NAS can be selected from the receiver. If there is capability to select a playlist if the library were on the PC, it won't work since we rarely power on the PC.
Am I better off just staying with an iPod connected to the receiver?
Regarding the Alexa assistant: I see that there is capability to access streaming services, like Alexa. Today, the Alexa unit is used to voice-select music and create playlists. With the new receiver, is there a way to still have voice-control, via the existing Alexa device, with playback going through the receiver?
I'm very willing to do homework, so if someone is aware of a link to a simple explanation of these topics, I can do the detail work.
Thanks
Tom