Planet__
Established Member
I've put this post here 'cause I don't really no where else to put it!
Here's what I'm trying to acheive: I want to store my CD collection digitally and access them on demand, either on or off screen. The onus on this is playback quality - near as technically possible to CD quality, while adding in some 'warmth' to tame my Pioneer AX5i AV AMP. Plus it's got to be intuitive and easy of use quickly day in day out. Not asking for much !
Since looking into this in other threads in other sections, I'm kinda spoiled for choice and my head starts to pound! First things first, is the extrernal DAC. This is to take the digital signal from what ever I decide is delivering it, and feed it to the amp analogue, which I believe should give better sound quality. Better than the amps own DAC is debatable and hard to find out without trying it. I've looked briefly into DACs and they can be either expensive or really expensive. Some Musical Fidelity's are available on ebay from time to time, but quite clueless on what I should go for, so some advice there please!
Next up is the delivery system. Here's briefly what I've found out so far:
PC (Hush and simillar)
Roku HD1000
Roku M1000 & M2000
Phillips SL300i & SL400i
Xbox (modded with Media Player)
Netgear MP101
Squeezebox
Linksys Wireless-B Media Adaptor
More being released in the future..
All of the above with the exception of the Xbox, need a PC to store the music. The PC can be remote with help of a hard or wireless network connection. The Xbox can take take advantage of this too. The PC has to be in another room due to it's noise and looks. The Hush PC is premium kit, but what it does can be done cheaper and better.
A lot of the options above are still very new and some unreleased as yet, making it difficult again to decide.
Last but not least, is copying the CD's in the quality I want. Some research into the options and my head wants to reboot. What do you folk use and recommend? Some folk say 160Kbps is sufficient, some go as high as 400Kbps. Then there is Variable Bit Rate and the format to choose, Ogg Vorbis - lossy, FLAC - lossless. It's a minefield for a newbie like me! Take it that I want a lossless method, but what hardware above will play it I'm still finding out..
Any recommendations, resources and tips will be welcomed with open arms! Cheers.
Here's what I'm trying to acheive: I want to store my CD collection digitally and access them on demand, either on or off screen. The onus on this is playback quality - near as technically possible to CD quality, while adding in some 'warmth' to tame my Pioneer AX5i AV AMP. Plus it's got to be intuitive and easy of use quickly day in day out. Not asking for much !
Since looking into this in other threads in other sections, I'm kinda spoiled for choice and my head starts to pound! First things first, is the extrernal DAC. This is to take the digital signal from what ever I decide is delivering it, and feed it to the amp analogue, which I believe should give better sound quality. Better than the amps own DAC is debatable and hard to find out without trying it. I've looked briefly into DACs and they can be either expensive or really expensive. Some Musical Fidelity's are available on ebay from time to time, but quite clueless on what I should go for, so some advice there please!
Next up is the delivery system. Here's briefly what I've found out so far:
PC (Hush and simillar)
Roku HD1000
Roku M1000 & M2000
Phillips SL300i & SL400i
Xbox (modded with Media Player)
Netgear MP101
Squeezebox
Linksys Wireless-B Media Adaptor
More being released in the future..
All of the above with the exception of the Xbox, need a PC to store the music. The PC can be remote with help of a hard or wireless network connection. The Xbox can take take advantage of this too. The PC has to be in another room due to it's noise and looks. The Hush PC is premium kit, but what it does can be done cheaper and better.
A lot of the options above are still very new and some unreleased as yet, making it difficult again to decide.
Last but not least, is copying the CD's in the quality I want. Some research into the options and my head wants to reboot. What do you folk use and recommend? Some folk say 160Kbps is sufficient, some go as high as 400Kbps. Then there is Variable Bit Rate and the format to choose, Ogg Vorbis - lossy, FLAC - lossless. It's a minefield for a newbie like me! Take it that I want a lossless method, but what hardware above will play it I'm still finding out..
Any recommendations, resources and tips will be welcomed with open arms! Cheers.