kingswindsor

Or, as it's a library, maybe some wireless bookshelf speakers like http://www.whathifi.com/dynaudio/xeo-2/review Can't vouch for this models sound quality but it's larger siblings are excellent. Sent from my SM-N9005 using Computer Audiophile mobile app

I've been impressed by the Monitor Audio Airstream S200 my son bought 2 years ago. It does airplay as well as bluetooth. I think there is now a cheaper version which has dropped the airplay. . The only slightly peculiar point to mention is that the volume control (other than the one on your iPhone) are physical buttons, no software remote control. Sent from my SM-N9005 using Computer Audiophile mobile app

In keeping with ethos of this site, what do you think of this Moulton Double Pylon? I got an AM7 version in the 1980s and think they are great. Used it for touring in Scotland, the Alps and Pyrenees. Read the specs carefully. It is not a folder or shopper and comes from the pre-carbon era. Akin to valve amps today perhaps. MOULTON Bicycle Company

Sorry this is so late. You have probably built it by now! I know you are aiming for Win8.1 for the media server but I have been very pleased with one I built using Vortexbox software. Hardware is built into the Nofan CS-70 case Search Results with passive cooling. 2xHDD for data + SSD for OS. There is a hot swap bay on that case for doing backups conveniently if you have a disk big enough. Only moving parts are the the HDD and the optical drive when ripping something. If you are actually after a backup arrangement rather than a media storage system, a NAS sounds easiest or see my recent post on the General Forum What's Your Back-up Strategy? for some (probably overkill) DIY ideas but based on linux.

I had a backup problem a while ago - at that time due to storing the output from my HD video camera. Then the issue became more pressing when I digitised my music and photos and bought a new DSLR and the children had laptops of their own with their own valuable data on them. Online storage was not an option, NAS boxes did not appeal and to avoid an ongoing maintenance issue, I took a different approach. It has evolved over the last few years but what it consists of now is as folows. After quite a lot of setting up admittedly, it has proved reliable and relatively cheap, has given me peace of mind and no regular maintenance workload. I have used it in anger a couple of times to recover data without hassle (when used in conjunction with a system image recovery for the OS). Hardware. Runs headless in the loft connected via CAT6 gigabit ethernet. - An old PC with a low power/low consumption AMD processor. - Two old small disks in RAID1 configuration for the operating system. - 5x3Tb WD red disks in RAID6 configuration for the data. i.e. 9Tb usable space with redundancy for 2 disks to fail. - I needed to top up the number of SATA ports as the motherboard didn't have enough but ebay had cheap PCI cards with extra ports. Original power supply is fine. A UPS would be good practice but I manage without. Software - Ubuntu (recommend latest LTS version) - mdadm for RAID6 array - Backuppc - BackupPC Information Set to autostart after each reboot. - ssh, vnc, web & e-mail servers so you can see what is going on. - set up various monitors to check for overtemp and disk health and cronjobs to report by e-mail periodically. Then run rsyncd on your music server - a Vortexbox (Fedora) based system in my case - and configure Backuppc for full and incremental backups. Then just forget about it. Any new files will be transferred over in the background. Existing files are indexed but not duplicated on the backup so it is an efficient transfer & storage algorithm. It can also be set up to backup Windows and Apple machines. Haven't done Apple ones myself but I have found the easiest way for Windows is to use Deltacopy Server DeltaCopy - Rsync for Windows Currently it is set to back up the data on 8 Windows boxes and 2 Linux boxes over the home network. If different machines have the same files, these are indexed but not duplicated on the backup, which keeps down the overall size of the backup. Then, if you really want to go to town, it is possible to set up VPNs so that incremental backups can carry on when away from home. And I even have my Android phone backing itself up when on the home network or on VPN.

I have been trying out these I2S DACs on the Raspberry Pi. Not the Wolfson board but the HiFiBerry, HiFiBerry Digi and IQaudio. I currently have 4 around the house now plugged into the audio inputs on my old amps or the toslink input on the Dynaudio Xeo 3s I have in the kitchen. HiFiBerry - High quality Raspberry Pi Audio | Audiophile 24/96, 24/192 sound cards (Audio DAC and SPDIF out) for the Raspberry Pi, audio out, audio cards, audio projects IQaudIO | Smart acoustic solutions They are all running PiCorePlayer https://sites.google.com/site/picoreplayer/home and fed from my Vortexbox running Logitech Media Server (LMS) over WiFi. They can be controlled from the Logitech Squeezebox Controller apps that exist for iPad/iPhone/android or via a browser. LMS has plug ins for BBC iPlayer, Spotify etc as well so covers my needs. From a usability point of view they are great - stable and easy to use for the whole family. Each one sounds different - the HiFiBerry digi is the brightest (hardest? - Maybe I need to try a linear power supply?) and might need care in matching with some systems but they are all very good. In fact I have put my old streamer away and not missing it at all. I have tried out Volumio and Runeaudio but didn't hear an advantage and I preferred the interface & configuration for LMS and PiCorePlayer just seems to work. Not properly tried out RaspBMC but that and other applications now also apparently support the RPi with the I2S DACs.

Not intending to confuse by throwing even more options in but, I agree, this digital audio is a journey rather than a destination and this is where I have got to.... It suits me quite well at the moment and is a decent compromise between quality, usability & cost but I am sure I will evolve it soon. I have tended to prioritise simplicity of the system to use so that the family can live with it, and it allows me lots of scope for tinkering when they are not looking. It has ended up being fairly minimalist. I am using Vortexbox software on my media server and have been very pleased with it. Good performance, well documented, versatile as its based on Fedora. I'm using Logitech Media Server (LMS) primarily but Minimserver, Mediatomb or iTunes servers can also be added (or just map to the folder on iTunes). LMS allows you to add BBC iPlayer, Spotify and other apps so it covers all the services I need. I happen to have installed Vortexbox on a low power silent/passive PC based on a Xeon E3 1220L v2 processor that I have shoved under the stairs but as others have said, other hardware will do just as well. [Vortexbox also allows me to run rsync which automagically backs the music up daily to a RAID6 ubuntu machine in the loft running Backuppc, but that is beyond the scope of this thread]. Vortexbox will also rip DVDs and BluRays and and serve the videos to XBMC/other clients if you want to do that. dBpoweramp I have found indispensable to rip all my CDs and reformat all my music files into ALAC which seems to be most suitable as it accommodates the iPod users to. Network is a mix of direct ethernet, wireless and HomePlugs. This is probably the most troublesome part of the whole setup. I have tried other streamers and currently have settled on Raspeberry Pi + I2S DACs so no USB DACs needed. I am running the HiFiBerry, HiFiBerry Digi and the IQaudio boards and all good. The PiCorePlayer software is solid on all of these and just works well with LMS and the Logitech SqueezeBox controllers that you can get for iPod/iPad/android or via a browser. I'll post something about this to this other thread which is more relevant:- http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f10-music-servers/raspberry-pi-add-dacs-20067/ These are plugged in variously to Dynaudio Xeo 3 active speakers or to the analogue inputs on my old hifi amps and have allowed me to ditch all of the old sources - except for the turntable of course (am I allowed to mention turntables on this forum?!) - so I have I nice clean setup. Not as high end as some of the options here but horses for courses.