blackcinder
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Newbie
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MacMini Music Server? NAS? USB Direct? Too many options...
blackcinder replied to blackcinder's topic in Music Servers
The upgrade intent is driven by sound quality first, and then ease of use. I'm not married to the Onkyo as the DAC. I definitely intend to get an outboard DAC. I was focusing on the Peachtree or the Cambridge DM+ until I saw the Cambridge Stream Server 6 at CES, which seemed like an ideal solution (and superior to the Squeezebox Touch). I want to move the media from the Win PC to a network device for all of the typical reasons, not having to have the PC on to play music, backup issues, etc. I personally have never liked iTunes (in theory or in practice) and that's why I used Winamp. For all of my Mac hardware, I've only just came back in Dec 2011 to a Mac as my work laptop (I was Mac addict from 1984 to 1993 then switched to PCs for work purposes). At this point, it seems that NAS with a USB connection would work--USB to whatever DAC I end up with, and NAS over ethernet for loading media. Any huge downside? -
I'm looking to upgrade my current digital front end. My current setup is as follows: For ripping, I have a Win 7 PC, using Winamp to FLAC. For playback, I run Slim Server>Wifi>router>ethernet>Squeezbox. I dont have an external DAC at this point. Instead, I use my Onkyo SC5508 (192kHz/32bit Burr-Brown DAC). The rest of the system is B&K 200.7 amp, BG Radia 520 fronts. (I'll skip the vinyl side for now). The Onkyo supports DLNA, as well as as a direct USB. And there's an app to control it. Now, what to do? I've read a lot of the posts on this forum, as well as the product reviews. There's any number of different ways to go, and if I was starting from scratch, it would be a lot easier. However, I'm not starting from scratch. Instead, I have a lot of Mac stuff: (1) MacBook Air 1.8/i7/4Gb (work device mainly) (2) iPads (Gen 1 and Gen 2) (2) MacBook Pro (2.3 i5/4Gb) (one is my wife's but I can steal it and get her an Air). (not to mention Andriod devices). I could certainly build a CAPS2, but that would not seem to take best advantage of the current Mac inventory. I'm willing to migrate the content from the Win PC to whatever new device I utilize. I could get a MacMini as well, do the SSD thing, and back it up to a NAS. Or I press either the Air or one of the Pros into service as a server--but those seem to have downsides. Or I could get something like a Synology USB Station 2, and go directly USB to the Onkyo or a USB DAC--it seems that USB to a DAC is preferred. And then there's the upcoming Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6, which puts the DacMagic Plus into a player with everything to go. In terms of goals, I'm willing to trade off some (but not a lot) a audio performance for ease of use: I've only got so many hours available for audio and I have a vinyl setup that needs lots of attention. In other words, my tweaking time budget is allocated 80% vinyl, 20% digital. In terms of control interfaces, I would like to use either the iPad or Air. Your guidance would be appreciated.