just an idea

to me the squeezebox touch comes across as being a bit of a gadgit for the mass market and would never really interest me as an upgrade. The moon Mind looks good... what other plain renderers are there to be recommended?

The computer I have is perfectly quiet... because the pcu is in a different room... but is there anything I can do it improve the signal... for example is it worth upgrading the power supply etc?

unfortunatley I've already spent that 500 dollars on a junk pc, which is my reason for not wanting to do a straight change and have to spend out again. but are there things i should be looking to change within my excisting computer that wont add up to 500d?

ok, interesting. I'm kind of glad about this. So at the moment i have a very standard desktop pc thats in another room, just with a long cable to monitor running over the ceiling and a usb ethernet extender connecting it to my dac. what upgrades should I be looking at to improve my computers performance as a music source?... I don't want to move over to apple.

I thinked something may of just clicked for me (as it often does after a couple of beers), The thing that I've really been unable to work out is why anybody would buy a network player over just either a quiet computer or a usb connection made really long using ethernet converters. I think i've just worked it out.... (can someone confirm for me)... If the computer is acting as the source supplying the dac then there is all the associated problems with computer audio... jitter etc. If you use a network player then the computer is just where the music is stored (like a cd) but the network player is what reads and plays it (like a cd player) therefore the quality should be much better... of course assuming a basic computer and good network player are being compared... Am I right? If the quality really is better then I think I could put up with having to use the basic track selection on the network players as opposed to Jriver on my PC.

Computer-HiFi or streaming is easier than you might think of now once you had the experience. If you ask some computer nerd to setup and balance a turntable, mount the cartridge and do all necessary adjustments ... What do you think he would say? I guess it will take him hours if not days to set it up what you as an analog audiophile (pls. Forgive me for this expression) would probably do in less than half an hour ... Ok good point, and I'm amused for the apologie on using the term "analog audiophile"... atcually if ever asked I would always deny being an audiophile and say "i just like good music'.... but it all boils down to the same thing. So a DLNA renderer...??? is that something all netwrok players will do? Can I check, does this mean if i select a song on my computer it will play straight to the network player without me having to use the players built in track selection? or even if I play a movie or turn on general computer noises will it play all that? Thankyou for your responses.

I think I'll stick with my computer using an extended usb to ethernet converter and running the cable over the ceiling. I can't cope with working out all the compatabilities and features (or things not featured)... I thought the whole point of these things is convienience... to me setting up a turntable, and selecting a record, cleaning then gebtly placing the needle is a whole lot more convienient than working all this netwroking stuff out only to be disapointed that your very expensive network music player can't even play darkside of the moon because it doesn't cope with gapless playback. Things are going wrong.

I've done a lot of reading and looking around but I still can't descover a few key bits of info. I think I want to get a music network player such as the cambridge audio NP30... but it might be the wrong thing all together. I have my computer in a different room, with a long cable running over the ceiling for my monitor which is sat amoungst the rest of my HiFi. I use JRiver on my computer and am very happy with it and want to continue to use it to play and organise my music... so my biggest concern is that I will be forced to use the music menu built into the device to scroll throuh my music. Even in the best players this seems no more advanced than a good portable player menu. Will I be able to do this... all the reading I've done suggests that the device will locate all your music and create its own list. If I'm using it for general computer sounds to play through my Hifi or watch a movie does all this still work? I don't have an ipad to use as a remote and i don't intend on getting one, lots of places say this is the best way to control the devices so will I struggle without? Finally and probably most importantly... I must have gapless playback... are there any players I should avoid? What can you guy's recommend? I'm sure this is one the forums a lot but I just want to be clear and not try to interprit the answers to other questions. As a side note, my hifi is made up of the unusual, or not always the obvious choices or bigger brands and I quite like it that way. As this is fairly new are there only a few of te brands making these or are there any lesser know ones that I could check out. Kind Regards

what do people think about using ethernet extenders? would this still power my dac? Is there an audiophile quality product available?

ok, so that option is out. I sensed it would be. What am I left with?

I'm struggling to find a good solution to connecting my computer to my dac then amp. I have my music room set up with my Hifi spread over one wall inclunding my computer monitor, then my pc in a cuboard behind everything so that I cann't hear the fans and to hide it from view. The monitor is connected by a 15m cable that runs over the ceiling.... I now just need to think of the best way to connect my pc to dac. I know there are some smart music network players about, but they seem to all do more than I need. Really all I'm considering is should I get a 15m standard quality usb cable or is there a cheap way of making a wireless connection. The DAC is aHRT music streamer II+ and is powered by the USB. I previously used a decent usb cable to connect but that obviously is way to short now. I don't want to spend much money on this but I also don't want to loose quality. My interest lies with vinyl and thats where my money goes but every now and then I fall back on the convienience of a computer as my source.