I'm open to all ideas. I do feel like there is a lot of dust to settle with all the competing approaches, which is a bit confusing, and probably not fully sorted yet. I'd not heard about the software problems, but that is certainly the sort of thing that has kept me on the sidelines so far. So, it is search for the best storage and delivery system, maybe into something like a Berkeley Alpha DAC. Mac and Apple TV might be a first low cost approach to dabble with this, as I've been thinking of getting a MAC anyway. Computers seems to be getting more powerful for less and less, and I'm not sure the Audio industry has caught on to that approach (yet). |
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That Music Vault stuff from Sound Science looks very interesting. Thanks. |
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No. I think I am going to stay on the sidelines for a while. I've been to some audio shops to look into this, but not much expertise there other than a standard Sonos approach. I guess I'll stick with my several thousand CDs and EMM Labs gears - easy to use, and sounds pretty good. But I do know a different future is coming, but I don't feel like I am in much of a rush at this point. Now if the EMM fell off the shelf.... |
Do you need any special kind of software to do this? Perhaps my questions are so basic that I am going to have research the rudiments here. |
Even though there are obviously 1,000,000s of folks down loading music and using their iPods and MP3 players, it still seems that the music server model is still very much in the pioneering stage as far as most audiophiles. I find it a bit daunting that there seems to be little standardization yet in terms of the hardwarde, interface, and software and till that happens, it will I'm sure, I think most audiophiles are going to take a wait and see attitude before taking the plunge and getting rid of the $$$$ transport and DACs. I would love to have a Mac Air with a 500GB SS Drive that some how connects wireless to a Berkeley DAC and that it would be SOTA and even I could figure out how to make it work. I tried the MAC stores, but I don't get the sense that serving audiophiles part of their regular business. It is evolving.... |
For this to really go mainstream, it does seem it really has to be more idiot proof, more standardized, and the availability of a large library of fast and easy hi-rez downloads. I see the appeal, and perhaps the inevitability of this, but the more I see where we are at this point, the less I feel ready for this kind of change. It really has to be almost as easy as buying a CD, putting it a CD player, and hitting play. The ideal would seem to be a universal music library stored externally (the cloud) and accessible for a monthly fee via a wireless 8G connection to a device in the home that receives and streams hi-rez digital data into a DAC (or built into the DAC box) - a variation on Netflix I suppose. |
The Logitech Touch does seem like a good way to dip one'stoe in the water and internet radio is also an appealing possibility. I think there might be a very legitimate issue of how much it would cost to create hi-rez versions of all the music already available in Redbook, and I'm not sure we have much of an emerging audiophile culture to drive the demand for it by the masses accustomed to MP3 players. It is an interesting question on the prodcution side, and whether or not we need greater bandwidth [?] for providing fast downloads - like a minute for a typical album. I'm not even sure the download model makes sense over time - why take of the space, it does seem like a real time music stream, on demand is where this should be heading one day, ala Netflix. I would pay $10/month to have that kind of universal, wireless access. Though at my age, I am likely to be playing my 3000+ CDs for a long time, till the piolycarbonate starts breaking down.... |
That Logitech Squeeze Box Touch really does seem like a good first step to familiarize myself with the technology and jargon. I don't even own an iPod, so..... |
Sakahara, SBT is the Squeezebox Touch? |
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Wow. Glad for the feedback. I really like its look, but.... |
I had no idea Olive was having these types problems. They have been around for a while, and apparently have a fairly vigorous advertising budget - you would think they had their house in order. So the Airport Express is the device that wirelessly connects a MAC to the input at the DAC - simple as that? |
No, that is clear. Thank you. |
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I'm not kiddding when I ask, is there some kind of consensus
that USB, while improving, is not the likely to be the best
approach to DAC connection? Seems like it does not quite
approach the best digital. True?
It is for this, among other reasons, that I am leaning
towards a dedicated music server versus the PC/MAC approach.
Am I missing the boat? |
