Thanks everyone for your responses... Has anyone used the Escient FireBall MX-111 ? How good is the DAC on that? Does it actually decode FLAC natively?
Native FLAC Player
Are there any receivers that can play FLAC natively? I feel that its a shame that the logitech Squeezebox Transporter is the only native (at least form what I can find) Flac player.
Am I too far ahead of the curve or does anyone else feel let down by Onkyo, Yamaha, Denon etc with the fact that none of their receivers can play FLAC naively?
Some of them will use uPNP to connect to "media servers" but the media server has to stream the FLAC so it down-converts as it transcodes (translates digital info to music) over the network for the receiver to play.
Even the highest high end Onkyo TX-NR906 does not support FLAC through its USB ports. This is particularly confusing because certain reviewers claim that it can play FLAC - well yes it "can" via the "media server" as described above.
Why haven't all the high end audio device makers not seized this opportunity? Is it because the true connoisseurs still listen to loss-less music on analog media (LP) ? What about the rest of us (ok ME) that can't afford the great analog equipment ?
Or... am I completely missing the boat on this? Are there good quality receivers in $2000 range that can play native FLAC?
Am I too far ahead of the curve or does anyone else feel let down by Onkyo, Yamaha, Denon etc with the fact that none of their receivers can play FLAC naively?
Some of them will use uPNP to connect to "media servers" but the media server has to stream the FLAC so it down-converts as it transcodes (translates digital info to music) over the network for the receiver to play.
Even the highest high end Onkyo TX-NR906 does not support FLAC through its USB ports. This is particularly confusing because certain reviewers claim that it can play FLAC - well yes it "can" via the "media server" as described above.
Why haven't all the high end audio device makers not seized this opportunity? Is it because the true connoisseurs still listen to loss-less music on analog media (LP) ? What about the rest of us (ok ME) that can't afford the great analog equipment ?
Or... am I completely missing the boat on this? Are there good quality receivers in $2000 range that can play native FLAC?