DIGITAL HIGH-RES AUDIO SYSTEM -HELP PLEASE

Willie, a slight correction if I may. I think you meant to say "RAID 1 -- the ability to mirror."

Regarding wireless vs. wired, I agree with the others that wireless can be problematical in SOME circumstances, depending on the quality of the wireless devices, where they are located relative to each other, possible interference from other wireless equipment in your own or a neighbor's house, what channel is being used, etc. However, I would not necessarily rule it out.

For example, I have been using a Squeezebox Touch for about a year and a half, wirelessly connected to an EnGenius EAP350 wireless access point (which is not a router; it is just an access point, and it works in conjunction with a separate router that it is wired to). The access point and the Squeezebox are in very different parts of the house. I have not had a single dropout in that year and a half. I should add, though, that the nearest neighbors are a couple of hundred feet away. Also, if it has any relevance, I just use it for Internet radio, not for playing computer files.

Good luck as you proceed! Regards,
-- Al

Tim, I usually find it useful when ordering computer-related things to review the user comments at Newegg.com for the items under consideration, while keeping in mind that negative experiences tend to be disproportionately represented. Here are links to Newegg's listings for the two NAS devices; click on the "reviews" tab a short way down on each page, or on the ratings link just under the title at the top:

Seagate STBN4000100

Synology DS213j

I haven't taken the time to read most of the comments, but the bottom line appears to not be particularly good for the Seagate. Also, although it appears in the photos to have USB connectors, there is no mention of USB connectivity in the description or the list of system requirements, which seems disconcerting given your intended connection configuration. And based on the description at Amazon, it appears that those connectors may be just for connection of external hard drives or other peripherals TO the NAS, not for connection of the NAS to a host (the Oppo in this case). For that matter, based on a quick look I'm not sure that the same concern doesn't apply to the Synology as well.

Also, you may want to consider ordering from Newegg, as they are considered by many (including me) to be THE place to go for computer-related parts and accessories.

I agree with Willie/Steve that if the only wireless competition is 100 or so feet away you are unlikely to have a problem with it, especially if:

(a)The distance between the laptop and your wireless router or access point, and the distance between the Oppo and the wireless router or access point, is not especially great, and/or there are minimal or no walls or other obstructions in between.

(b)If necessary, you change the channel setting on the wireless router or access point to be a few numbers away from the channel used by the neighbor's wireless equipment. You would do that via its setup menus.

(c)If necessary (and I suspect that it won't be) you install a top-quality wireless access point such as the one I linked to earlier, and use it in conjunction with your existing router. In doing so, you would turn off the router's wireless function, assuming it has one, which should be doable via its setup menus.

Finally, keep in mind that a RAID 1 mirror will protect against failure of one of the two hard drives, but it will not protect against the admittedly much less likely possibility that a problem arises which can destroy or corrupt both hard drives at once. Such as the RAID controller circuitry or its programming going berserk, or the power supply going into an overvoltage condition, or some other latent design issue that may be lurking in any of the equipment that is involved. At some point you should consider adding a second means of backup.

Regards,
-- Al

What is the make and model number of the router?

Regards,
-- Al

Tim, that all sounds promising in terms of having reliable wireless connectivity. And I agree with Willie/Steve that the router won't have a problem routing between any reasonable number of devices.

If you were to ever find yourself wanting more than the four ethernet ports it provides, btw, the simplest and most inexpensive way of accomplishing that would be with an "unmanaged" network switch. Many models are available at Newegg at very low cost. All you would do is connect the cables to it; no setup or configuration would be involved.

I took a look at the literature on the two NAS devices at the manufacturer websites. One thing that strikes me is that I'm not at all sure that the Seagate NAS is capable of operating wirelessly, through a wireless dongle. There is a very confusing reference to wireless connectivity under "system requirements," but I believe that is intended to mean that for a computer to communicate with the NAS the computer itself needs to be able to connect to the router either wirelessly or wired.

The Synology NAS, as you probably realize, requires that a third party dongle be purchased separately for wireless connectivity. Their site lists a great many suitable dongles.

Regarding USB connectivity, I believe that if the NAS were designed to be able to connect to a host (the Oppo in this case, or a computer) via USB, its USB connector would be the square type, that is used on printers and other peripherals, rather than the rectangular type it has, that is used on computers. And, consistent with GZ's comment, a NAS is basically intended for use on a network, via a router.

Regarding GZ's questioning of the need for a NAS, I think he makes a point that is well worth considering. It would probably be simpler and cheaper to just get two USB external hard drives, one used for playback and the other for backup. Or better yet, get three drives and have two backups.

Regards,
-- Al

My main concern is sending audio files wirelessly to the Oppo for playback. Does the included wireless dongle on the Oppo allow this?

Yes. While I have no experience with Oppo equipment, I'm not sure that it would be as daunting as Willie is anticipating. See page 44 (pdf page 48) of the manual. Note in particular the third method that is indicated:

Accessing a SMB/CIFS [e.g., a Microsoft Windows Network] client: the player can directly access files shared through SMB/CIFS clients over the network, as if accessing an external USB hard drive. Most computers, especially those installed with Windows, already have an SMB client embedded. Please refer to respective OS instructions to set up the SMB/CIFS shared file/folder.

So if you have the music files on an external USB hard drive connected to the laptop, it seems to me that you would just have to set the properties of the folder containing them to allow them to be shared on the network.

Should I just upgrade the internal hd on my laptop to a 1TB unit?

No. For a variety of reasons it is generally considered highly preferable to have music files stored on a different drive than the one containing the operating system and program files.

Do external 1TB hds exist that are wireless or do they all connect via hardwire into the USB port?

Generally only NAS-type devices will provide wireless connectivity for hard drives. Plain old external hard drives connect via either USB (most common), or other wired interfaces such as Firewire, eSATA, and Thunderbolt. Some external drives provide more than one of these interfaces.

Ideally, I'd like to locate an added hd next to the Oppo in my rack.

Given the foregoing, you could either connect an external USB hard drive directly to the Oppo, and play the files on it via the Oppo, or you could connect the USB hard drive to the laptop and play the files on it via the network wirelessly. Or, since you would have the files stored identically on at least two drives for backup purposes, you could have one drive connected to the Oppo and one connected to the laptop, and play from either.

Using a high quality USB-to-S/PDIF converter between the laptop and the Oppo, as Steve suggested, is another alternative, that I suspect would give excellent results but at considerably greater cost. The tradeoff of cost vs. benefit between that and the other approaches would involve differences in the sonic performance of the Oppo through its various interfaces, about which I have no particular knowledge.

Regards,
-- Al

Sounds good!

Setting the folder(s) to be shared on the network is just a matter of a few clicks in Windows 7. Post back if and when you'd like me to describe that in detail.

Regards,
-- Al