radiomir

I wasn't sure whether to post this in the networking or music server section, as it involves both, but I am looking for a solution to allow me to: Store music files on a network, to be managed by an iMac that will not be in the audio chain. Media management preference is iTunes+Audirvana or JRiver for mac I would like to keep multiple libraries (one for me, one for my wife, maybe one that includes holiday songs) [*]If management is by JRiver, I want libraries to sync between JRiver and iTunes, so I can still add music to iDevices using iTunes [*]Storage can be by NAS or PC server + external attached storage [*]Files must be able to be accessed by at least one main room media renderer of some sort (either a custom PC, Mac Mini, or audio company built network streamer) - perhaps more rooms later. I do not want to have to turn on the media management computer. [*] Files also need to be accessed over network by an iphone to pass along to portable DAC/headphone amp(s). in hi res formats [*]Control of playback should be easy through iPhone and/or iPad. Any advice? Soundwise, I am unsure of whether to money is better invested in a network streamer with built-in DAC, or a cheaper network streamer (or perhaps a Mac Mini) and a higher end DAC. Setup wise, I am lost. Thanks! Edit: To aid in any device recommendations, I am using a Prima Luna Dialogue Two integrated AMP and will likely be upgrading my NHT Classic Three speakers to Sonus Faber Venere 2.5, PSB Imagine T2, GoldenEar Triton Two, or Nola Contenders pending demos next weekend. For my digital source, I am currently using a Wadia 170i iDevice Transport and Cambridge DacMagic DAC, which doesn't sound that good and is not convenient - hence this thread!

Would both the media management computer and the PC have libraries mapped to the same files on the NAS, then? Which one is acting as the server? Also, I am not sure what you mean by "use iTunes to Jriver" to serve the library. Was that supposed to be an "or"? At any rate, I don't want to have to go turn on my media management computer (an iMac in a separate room) every time I want to listen in the main room or use the iphone and headphone amp/dac combo mentioned above. I'm not sure the setup I originally imagined (which you quoted in your recent response) is what I really want. Probably my last response was too long to read through all the way. Sorry! If you can get through it, though, I'd love some recommendations!

Ok, this what I wanted to confirm, that a renderer is unnecessary if you have the Topanga (or other PC) connected to a DAC. The setup I was imagining was a NAS set up as a DLNA/UPnp server connected to an Airport Extreme in one room; then in a different room having a CAPS or Mac Mini in my listening room connected to another Airport Extreme and acting as a streamer, which would then output to a dac, and then on to amplification. I realize now that this is essentially your system 2, except I am using two wireless routers instead of direct ethernet connection and I would be using a PC instead of an renderer like the Linn (which is just an audio specific pc built by an audio company anyway). Also, the PC in my proposed setup would not acting as a server (the NAS would). And so the downside of this, assuming I cannot run JRiver on a NAS, is that without a PC media server, I would be limited to inferior media server software - hence, most of your systems have both a server pc and a renderer. As far as DACs are concerned, if I went with a renderer, the renderer would have a quality built-in DAC or if not, I could bypass that duty to an external DAC. If I didn't use a renderer, I would need an external DAC because a Mac Mini or Topanga's DAC capabilities are not adequate for this application. So, assuming I have this straight, I guess I'm left with these questions: 1. Are there any sonic benefits to using a renderer instead of a Mac Mini or custom built PC connected to a DAC? Obviously this depends highly on the quality of the components, but is there a general consensus that one method is better all other things being equal? 2. How are the built-in DAC capabilites of renderers in general? Is it more cost effective to spend money on a a renderer, or get a cheaper renderer and a good DAC. 3. Based on my original post, which outlined what I want to do with my system, are there any recommendations on how to setup my system? To recap, I want this solution to allow me to: Store music files on a network, to be managed by a computer that will not be in the audio chain Management will be done by iTunes or JRiver for mac on multiple libraries (one for me, one for my wife, maybe one that includes holiday songs) If management is by JRiver, I want libraries to sync between JRiver and iTunes, so I can still add music to iDevices Storage can be by NAS or PC server + external attached storage [*]Files can be accessed by at least one main room media renderer of some sort (whether a custom PC, Mac Mini, or audio company built renderer like Linn Majik or Bryston BDP) - perhaps more rooms later. [*]HD Files can be accessed over network by an iphone to pass along to portable DAC/headphone amp(s). [*]Control of playback is easy through iPhone and/or iPad Hopefully this is all possible. I am eager to get this figured out so I can just listen and stop thinking about it. Again thanks for the help.

Hello and thanks for the response. I guess I am confused because all of the systems outlined in this article show a media server (either NAS with server software or CAPS Topanga) physically connected to a media renderer (Linn picture). I understand why you would need a media renderer in System 2 because there must be something to process the signal from media storage and I'm guessing the NAS lacks enough processing power to handle server and rendering capabilities (and also probably most NAS is not set up with physically pass a decent signal directly to a DAC (Is this correct?). However, I don't quite understand why, if there is a CAPS Topanga (or a Mac Mini, or any other such computer), there also needs to be a separate media renderer like the Linn (giving you two computers, the Topanga and the Linn). What purpose does the media renderer serve in this case?

I'm new to this, and am struggling to understand why you would need a separate media renderer (as shown above) if you were using a media server connected to a DAC. My ideal system would allow me to manage my library from my iMac using either iTunes+ Audirvana or JRiver for mac, but play the music in a different room, hence the need for a server setup. JRiver would be great if I could confirm that I could get JRiver for mac to sync with iTunes so I could in turn use iTunes to sync with my iDevices (I know there is MCiS for PC version of JRiver, but don't know of anything for Mac). JRiver is appealing to me because I would also like use my iPhone to pull bitperfect music from the media server to listen through various DAC/headphone amps that I would use throughout my home when I wansn't in my main listening room. I think JRiver offers this for iphone capability for PC but I am not sure about mac. Perhaps I could use iTunes home sharing for this function, but I don't know if this is limited in sample rate. Another consideration is that I would like to manage two separate audio libraries (one for me and one for my wife), but have it be easy at listening end to pull from either library. I have a budget of around $3500 for any combination of NAS, Server, Streamer, and/or DAC (my current Wadia 170 ipod transport plus Cambridge DacMagic DAC will be replaced). At first I was thinking of setting up a NAS and buying either a Mac Mini or something like a Linn Majik DSM to stream to my DAC. I then started thinking of building my own music server using CAPS Zuma as a starting point (I've built a gaming PC before), but based on the setups listed in this article, it appears I would still need a renderer (like a Linn Majik DSM or Naim streamer). Why is this? I would gladly pay for a renderer/network streamer if it had a quality built in DAC, but otherwise I thought I could get better sound buying a quality DAC and using Mac Mini or building a CAPS-like audio only pc/server. Any thoughts? Also, sorry for the long post. I've been reading this and other sites for a while now and figured I could ask small questions all over or give the big picture in one place. By the way, my amp is the integrated PrimaLuna Dialogue Two and I will soon be replacing my NHT Classic Three speakers with Sonus Faber Venere 2.5, GoldenEar Triton Two, PSB Imagine T2, Revel Performa3 F206, or Nola Contenders - as soon as I can decide.