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Mini Mac, Sonos and NAS HELP

I was reading some of post here about using a Mini mac amd boy do I need some assistance! I currently have most of my CD's ripped into itunes in AIFF about 400mb (i have about another 300 Cd's to go and probably another 100 albums to digitize as well........I'm listening to then using a Sonos connect and ipad/ipone remotes with the Sonos app.
So far so good, but I can only play CD quality... I want to be able to play 24/96; I just bought a Wired 4 Sound Dac-1 it sounds great but I'm pulling the tracks from a PC w/vista using itunes....I'm out of hard drive space so considering adding a Mini Mac to store all my music and high rez files. This allows me to plug th Mini Mac directly into the Wired 4 sound dac with USB.
My other thought is to add a NAS so Sonos can pull the songs directly without my conmputer being on...I should of mentioned that i will have 2 set-ups the sonos for ambient whole house use and simplicity and the mac for my dedicated listening room...
Here's my current set-up:
Prima Luna Dialouge 2 intergrated
Wyred 4 Sound Dac-1
Golden Ear Triton Threes
Oppo 93
Sonos Connect/90
Any insight or advise would be appreciated!
Thanks
Robert
theb2826
saeyedoc
103 posts
 
Sbleam, what in your opinion makes the Sonos system better than Squeezebox? Seems like they are very similar, but the SB can do higher resolution at a lower price point.
sbleam
35 posts
 
I agree that Sonos is mot cheap, and the logitech sb is comparable for a single application. Also if I was simply looking at the best tool to present my music library to my main audio room -- I would have looked harder at the Log sb or just a direct USB to dac from my computer. However, the benefit was the easy user interface for all family members to play music anywhere -- other rooms, my digital library or other online music sources. Yes, is not there on the hi res side yet, but I have never had a drop of service, whether my library or online service through Sonos. While being from the IT field I am far from the Apple zealot -- but to make the comparison Sonos really makes it easy, flexible and reliable with a great UI - not cheap but very good.
jhold
116 posts
 
Sbleam, you've arrived at where I'm heading. Just purchased a Sonos Bridge and Connect -- easy setup, great UI (even on Android phone app), and excellent sound when run thru external DAC. Now I need to get my iTunes library (Apple Lossless files) onto a NAS. Is there any trick to getting Sonos to recognize and access your music on the NAS? Can you please tell me what NAS you're using? I'm looking to get NAS with RAID capability.

Side note: I also use Sonos to access the MOG music service. It is a great resource with remarkably good sound (320 kb/s stream), and, for someone into classical and jazz, a great place to rediscover old favorites and explore new music as well.
johnss
564 posts
 
Rlwainwright is correct. stop ripping using a lossy format.


And, HD space is cheap now, so buy a 2TB NAS and be done with it. The NAS works well with the Sonos systems. Wtih 2 TB of HD space, might as well rip as a WAV file to get all the data, and forget using compression formats.
sbleam
35 posts
 
Jhold,

Regarding NAS - I simply moved all my music files (Apple Lossless) to the NAS. Restablished iTunes library (more for finding artwork not playback or ripping). From Sonos could simply point too music library share on NAS.

The beauty is that the Sonos setup took me all of 15 minutes - no pc in my living room/listening area, and the sound through the DAC rivals my Ayre CDP. Yes more expensive then just connecting PC via USB, but more flexible for the family and other listening areas (living room, kitchen and master bedroom). Have never had any latency - and the online services are used heavily by everyone for casual listening (from Car Talk on Stitcher to love concerts on Wolfgangs Vault)
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