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Best standalone music server?
So I am considering dipping my toes into the full digital world and was wondering what people here may consider as the best standalone music server, and here I am going to be specific.
I do not want to consider a home pc or mac based type of system at all!
Looking at adding one of the standalone models like for example the Wyred4sound ms1 or cocktail audio.
High on my list is ability to rip my cds directly at the unit itself, access to internet radio and other music apps (Pandora etc). High quality built in dac would be nice but if not then high quality digital out to run to an external dac. I will not be needing to access music files stored on another pc as my home pc is pretty old but fully functional for my simple needs. The only music looking to access from it right now are ripped cds and internet available music in whatever form.
So if it worked out well, yes it may be a replacement even for a cd player completely
Thank you
I do not want to consider a home pc or mac based type of system at all!
Looking at adding one of the standalone models like for example the Wyred4sound ms1 or cocktail audio.
High on my list is ability to rip my cds directly at the unit itself, access to internet radio and other music apps (Pandora etc). High quality built in dac would be nice but if not then high quality digital out to run to an external dac. I will not be needing to access music files stored on another pc as my home pc is pretty old but fully functional for my simple needs. The only music looking to access from it right now are ripped cds and internet available music in whatever form.
So if it worked out well, yes it may be a replacement even for a cd player completely
Thank you
176 responses Add your response
There is no arguing that CD sales at retail outlets has dropped off significantly over the last 5 years. That maybe stabilizing and perhaps reversed in the future due to the the paradigm shifts occurring in the music industry. With the improvement in recording technology, artists can record quality material in their homes and acquire pressings to sell direct to the customer; cutting out the middleman and regaining lost revenue. Here is a link discussing the trend. https://www.thebalance.com/direct-to-fan-marketing-2460358 I have a headless, modified Mac Mini as music server (Amarra). If I decide to move to a standalone music server, I would look seriously at the Bluesound or Aurender. Best sound I get though is a CD in my Esoteric K-03. |
"Mine as I have stated is to have something tangible in my hands when I have paid good money for it. That's interesting Uberwaltz, is that legal in the US, it's not in the UK? Here, you are entitled to copy, rip a CD, but only if you keep the original CD in storage somewhere. I'm not sure if anyone would ever be caught, but I do keep all my ripped CDs. This is partly because I still don't trust even backed up storage. |
As I said earlier I did think the bass was a little overblown from the vault but this was using the rca outputs. I changed to the coax dig out feeding into the dig in of my esoteric and tbh I truly cannot tell them apart now. My guess is the analog outs of the vault are not up to par but going digital out is the way to go. |
@jond Of course I get your point, in fact I would have to concede the logic of it if all you want to do is browse without owning as this is exactly what the wife does with tv using Netflix and Amazon Prime for about $22 a month for the pair. And yes she watches some garbage that would never ever consider buying! However most of my music cd purchases are well researched and I do not end up selling many. Yes I now have them stored on the vault and majority of the cd,s are now boxed up and hidden. I would say "never" is a word never to use...lol So who knows maybe I will check Tidal out one day but its one step at a time for this old fart! |
uberwaltz of course you are entitled, sorry I was just objecting to the characterization of Tidal as a ripoff. I should point out that this statement: "Now just as an example, I bought some cd,s say and I decided I did not like them, well I am going to rip them to flac files anyway and then resell them. And that is a choice I get by buying cd,s, to resell or not, at least I have an option." Pretty much makes my point for me if you think about it , but I am certainly not here to argue glad you're enjoying your new vault so much! Cheers! |
@jond Everybody is entitled to their choices Mine as I have stated is to have something tangible in my hands when I have paid good money for it. Now just as an example, I bought some cd,s say and I decided I did not like them, well I am going to rip them to flac files anyway and then resell them. And that is a choice I get by buying cd,s, to resell or not, at least I have an option. I have nothing against anybody who chooses to go completely digital at all, it is just not my nature and that will NEVER change...lol. I am sure Tidal has some good stuff on it but I am also very happy with my cd collection and the physical hunt for said cd,s on flea markets and the like |
Sorry but you guys are wrong about Tidal its the total opposite of a rip off. Think of it this way how much do you spend a month on cds? In my heyday of buying cds I would easily spend $100 a month. Now for $20 I have essentially 250,000 or however many titles are on Tidal, probably more for the price of two $10 cds. I see that as a bargain as do most who've tried it and its cd quality and now some hi-rez stuff as well. |
@jond All cd,s have been ripped as flac, that is the default setting for the vault although you can change it in the menu of the bluos app if you wanted too. existing music i downloaded to it had been ripped as wma files on my pc. the beauty of the vault to me is it DOES NOT CARE what file format, flac, wma, mp3 etc. it takes them all and plays them all with zero errors. And DAVID12, agreed that I am never going to pay for an overpriced subscription, the only online stuff i use now and again is spotify and pandora and all the internet radio stations. I buy most of my cd,s on ebay or amazon at around $3.29 to $3.99 free shipping or scour the flea markets when in the mood at $1 to $2 a pop. Not ready to embrace the idea of "buying" music that I cannot actually hold in my hands just yet....... |
I agree about the non demise of CDs. They have to be the cheapest way to get new music. Second hand CDs in charity shops or on Amazon, can be had for almost nothing. I don't agree that Tidal or Q bus subscriptions are cheap either, particularly when they are 20, pounds, euros or dollars. That makes a UK sub about 20 percent higher than a UK one, rip off. |
Well had this vault2 for about 4 days now and have 3500 songs loaded and out of those just 15 got dumped into unknown due to bad metadata, and nearly all of those were really old obscure tracks so a great job as far as i am concerned. Quickly fixed with mp3tag on the pc manualy entering the id3 tags. Sound quality? Soundstage and vocals are excellent, bass is a little overblown tbh compared to the same track played on the esoteric but not something that makes me want to run screaming from the room! All in all I would say I got exactly what i paid for and wanted! |
I fail to see how cds will be eliminated anytime soon, sure they said that about vinyl too.... However regardless of that i am just old fashioned When I have stumped up $10 or $15 or $20 for an album, well I WANT an album physically not some download, I am the same with movies. That aspect of my mentality will never change I am afraid. As I said already have my solution right along the lines I envisaged and for now I could not be more happy. My toe into the digital world but no way will I be selling the Esoteric any time soon...... |
uberwaltz, I recognize it's your decision but CDs will be eliminated as a medium very soon so I wouldn't place too much importance on finding a unit that can rip CDs. Many of us use TIDAL HiFi to listen to over 35 million songs in RedBook CD quality for $20/month. I haven't purchased a CD in over a year and don't plan to. Have you tried to purchase a new car with a CD changer or even a CD player in it? The auto manufacturers know we won't be using CDs much longer. TIDAL recently introduced MQA tracks to their collection and once they expand their MQA titles, game over for CDs. Make sure whichever music server you select integrates with TIDAL in a seamless manner. If you don't want to fuss with a computer to rip your CDs, you can use a service such as MusicShifter to rip your CDs for .69 cents per CD. MusicShifter returns your original CDs along with your music ripped in FLAC (lossless) format on DVDs, about 7 CDs per DVD. Their rips sound as good if not better than rips I make using DBPoweramp. You'll also have your CDs archived to DVDs so you can sell your CDs while they still have some value. You will need a computer to copy the songs from the MusicShifter DVDs to your music server hard drive or a NAS. This is a trivial copy operation assuming you have a computer with a DVD drive on the same network as your music server. Many A'gon members have suggested an Aurender music server. It's a great music server with terrific TIDAL integration but you'll still need a DAC. With MQA at our doorstep you owe it to yourself to audition MQA Studio tracks with a good MQA DAC to see whether you'll want an MQA DAC. |
So here we are now and a very happy owner of the bluesound vault2 which fills my want list at every step! so easy to use even my wife can handle it, i am controlling it via the bluos app in android and no issues at all, it found my network and home computer in seconds, i did not have to do a single thing! busy ripping cds to it AND adding already ripped music to its library. sound quality? played same cd three diff ways, from my already ripped music files on the home pc, from a ripped file direct to the vault and the original cd through my esoteric. tbh........possibly the esoteric had a little more warmth and feel but that may also be as it is running through cardas balanced connects whereas the vault only has rca although i am using a pair of mit terminator 2 connects on it. all in all SO FAR.....very satisfied indeed! |
Getting back to the original posters request, a Server which includes ripping, a possibility I haven't seen suggested is Innuos. This UK/Portuguese collaboration has had a very good review on HiFi Plus and comes in a variety of forms to suit most budgets. It is now available in the US I believe. Not sure what pricing is like over there, in the UK it is quite a bit cheaper than Aurender and Melco. It also includes SSD and HDD drive options, up to 4 TB's. I use a traditional Mac Mini into a DAC, in my case, an Ayre QB9 and am wondering what a HiFi component has to offer, in terms of sound quality. I am going to a UK show soon, where Innuos promises to have the three parts of the upgrade path, Zen Mini, Zen and Zenith, available to compare. I will report back on the results. There seems to be an unresolved dispute, shown in this thread. On the one side, all you need is a computer/NAS, on the other, a Server, streamer will always be better. What would be great, is blind comparison between say a Mac Mini and, Innuos, Melco or Aurender, Server. I can not remember seeing one. If there has been one, please direct me to it. |
So I thought I would at least give exact audio copy a try out on my pc, but after the results I am going to assume it is very dependant on age/speed of pc and drive etc as results were very poor tbh. The very first cd i loaded ( polyester zeal by red sun rising) it did not find the metadata, however it was easy to edit and add myself. Then it took 17 minutes to rip as wav files. I did a compare with windows media player which not only found the metadata right away but ripped to same wav format in 7 minutes. Files were ripped to the pc,s own internal hard drive, is it possible to get these fast EAC rip speeds it would need to be ripped to an external drive or is because my cranky old hp all in one is just too old and slow? I listed to both versions through my tv which feeds via toslink into my esoteric into my arc into my bat and could not tell any difference. Obviously this is less than state of the art but all I had to experiment with right now. |
I've used an Oppo BD-103 with an external Western Digital hard drive tucked behind it. When I need to update new music, I attach the drive to my laptop for downloaded or ripped files. It doesn't eliminate the computer completely, but it is capable of network streaming so you could have a NAS drive in another room. As far as the equipment rack goes, the Oppo fits in nicely. It allows CD/DVD/Bluray playback, but could be used nicely in a music only system. It has great DACs already, which I use and feed via analogue RCAs into the back of my Denon 3802 receiver. It is used for both music and home theater and allows 7.1 decoding. However, for a music only system, and depending on budget, the Oppo 105 has better audio capabilities (and video if you want it). The Oppo can work as the media server, preamp, DAC and CD drive. One minor annoyance is that for gapless playback, you have to hit a menu button and select gapless for ripped files. If it would default to it, I would think this would be an ideal setup for minimizing various "boxes" in my audio rack. Just the Oppo and an amp would get the capability to play any audio disc and ripped files. I am looking to upgrade to Oppo's new UHD player in the near future, but from what I understand it does not offer Pandora, Tidal or other services built in, so the 103/105 would be better since they do have them. I've tried computer based with XBMC/Kodi, Plex and others and all were a PITA to set up correctly. Plex worked the best at the time, but it has been a while since I've tried any of them. I'm sure they've improved since then. |
Since you already have the cabling, you could get a Denon Heos link for $350 and run an ethernet cable from the router to Heos and then either analog or digital to you pre or DAC. Then get a Tidal subscription for $20/mo. Done. If you search Tidal you may find most of your CDS are there. Heos has all the subscriptions, including Tidal, Tunein, Spotify, etc. Bluesound Node does too. |
The Sony Haps are great units, but only stream Spotify as far as I know. Future services maybe in the works. You might look into the Auralic Altair. It's a DAC streamer and if you add an internal HDD or SDD it becomes a very versatile server. You can also use it as a preamp connected directly to a power amp. It sells for under $2K so would fit in your budget. Good luck with your search. |
I ripped my cd's on my laptop using dbpoweramp it was super quick and easy, 800 cds but I did it in spurts over time. All not on a 4TB Synology NAS. I hear what you are saying uberwaltz but trust me and others, do it right and do it once. You may end up ripping all your stuff on some box and having to rip it all again. Its not hard at all and its very intuitive and 500 cds are not really that many to rip. Happy owner of an Auralic Aries Mini here. |
"Rip directly to the Sony Hap-Z1ES ??? Umm.... i don't see a CD drive on that thing. I'd likely buy one if it functioned as a CD player too." If you want one with a CD player, look at the new Resolution Audio. I'm probably going to get one myself. The only issue is that the CD drive can only be used for playback, and not ripping. And you really don't want to rip using an internal drive on a piece like that. High quality rips are very hard on the optical drive, and wear out quite often. Its best to just use external drives. |
I have the Sony Hap-z1es. Great build and sound quality and control app. You can rip direct to the unit or to a computer and sync to the unit. They list for $2k and you can usually find them cheaper. Once its it's loaded up with music it's easy for everyone in the house to use. You can find reviews from various magazines if you search. |
I am intrigued by the Musical Fidelity Encore Connect which does what you are looking for. I have had good luck with Musical Fidelity components in the past and suspect that the sound would be a step up from the Vault 2, although with a $3000 price point. Like you, I want a single box I can plug into my existing rack, connect to a router, and be done. Maintaining marital bliss by getting all of the cd's out of our family room and back into my man cave would be a life saver.The challenge is finding a Musical Fidelity dealer in the South. |
@uberwaltz, With ethernet already wired into your room and already having an existing network, you are well on the way to a network based player solution. It's no big deal to connect a NAS(network attached storage) drive to your router. It's no big deal to connect a network player like the mentioned Aurelic Aries, Sonore microRendu, Bluesound, etc. to the ethernet cable and your DAC. The difference between a standalone music server and one that lets you store the music on a NAS is just the additional choice you get in terms of storage capacity and expandability. Either way, you rip discs to a hard drive, one with "their" software which is probably OEM licensed, & supporting a small user base or the other with free software of your choice, EAC & XLD which have thousands of happy users and proven support. Either way, metadata will need to be edited by typing edits using a piece of software chosen by you or "the box guy". When playing music you will use a remote control with some and an app with others. Your should try out or look for youtube vids by real purchasers to see the interface before you buy. The Olive example is a good warning. Proprietary stuff leads to many dead ends. Have you looked at any system pages here of rigs with network based solutions? IMHO most are pretty clean looking and the network aspect makes it almost invisible. For example, mine is here... https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/133 Just food for thought...good luck. Cheers, Spencer |
"Not saying my ideas are the best but it is what I was considering." Your ideas are perfectly reasonable. its just that these new all in one boxes are not always as easy as they look. They can be a real PITA. To be honest, even though I have a computer setup myself, most of the time I just use my CD player. |
I already have home network and ethernet cable down to my "man cave,lol" for streaming netflix , Pandora etc through the Samsung tv whose sound is fed through my stereo rig so would be no big deal to connect said cable to an all in one box for metadata etc. My music collection at this point runs to maybe 500cds as my music tastes are pretty narrow and a 2tb built in hard drive would be more than ample for storage. Most of the all in ones I have looked at can be controlled via an android app from my phone. So as my initial post, was more looking for comments from people who have gone the same route as I was thinking rather than being trying to persuade me I should go a route I am not comfortable with right now. Not saying my ideas are the best but it is what I was considering. |
Even if you buy a dedicated music server, it is usually NOT a simple one-box solution and you will still need to hook it up to the internet to get downloads of metadata on the albums and tracks you download onto the server. That means a switch and router, plus most will require a controller (can be your phone or iPad with suitable apps), perhaps a separate NAS, perhaps something to rip CDs and it is usually handy to have a PC or laptop (to configure the system, troubleshoot, edit metadata, etc). But, once you are set up, the convenience and accessibility of your music collection makes a server well worthwhile to have. This becomes more and more important as your collection grows in size. I am just guessing, but, I think I would not want to be without a server if I had 1500 CDs or more (I have ripped more than 4,500). |