Darren72

jabbr - thanks for the help. Is faster speed the only benefit of replacing the Powerline adapter with an ethernet cable? I have a 125 Mbps internet connection coming to the house. The Powerline connection is at about 40 Mbps, which seems plenty fast. I should have said that my $500 price point is a goal, not a hard constraint. I enjoy this stuff and am happy to add on as I go. So, as a few of you have said, it makes sense start by using my existing computer (or hard drive attached to the router) as a server. I love the idea of building my own small, PC-based server. I'll probably do this, even if I also buy a turnkey product like the Node. But what's the best way to use services like Pandora from a PC-based server? An app like Remoteless? I suppose I could also use a USB version of Roku or Chrome, and control it from an app on my phone.

Thanks!

I have two questions about the Oppo: Can you control Pandora (or other music streaming services) via the app (or from your phone) without having to turn on the TV? Second, does the ethernet connection handle 24/192?

DaQi - thanks again. This step-by-step upgrade approach is exactly what I had in mind. I'm leaning towards getting the Bluesound just to have something workable right away, but also buy a Raspberry Pi or something inexpensive as a hobby/learning experience. You said that JRiver can stream to the Sonos. Does this mean that you can "push" music from a PC/NAS running JRiver to the Sonos, or use the Sonos to "pull" the same music from the PC/NAS? If so, that's really cool. I assume you have to do something on the PC that has JRiver installed to tell it that it can send music there. Can you tell me how you set this up?

I like the DIY approach. But I also have a wife who just wants stuff to work. So I'm a little torn. So I have a few follow-up questions: 1. What kind of hardware would I use for a Linux set up? Is that where the Intel NUC comes in? 2. I'm leaning towards the four-step approach you outlined. But I'm curious why you and another poster above recommended Sonos, as opposed to the Bluesound Node. Sonos doesn't support hi-res music.

Thanks for the replies. Regarding the Sonos, instead I was also considering the Bluesound Vault. It does hi-res audio and has a few streaming services and a DAC built-in (and a digital out to bypass the DAC). The main reason is that, apparently, to use the iTunes remote app, my phone needs to be on the wifi network broadcast from my router. But this signal doesn't cover my whole house and so I run a secondary wifi from my powerline adapter in the living room. When I'm on this network, the iTunes remote app won't connect to the PC in my office. Apple's troubleshooting page has this line: "In addition, make sure that all your devices are connected to the same router, if you have multiple routers. Using multiple routers may prevent discovery between these devices." See Remote app for iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch can't connect to iTunes or Apple TV Thanks again for these and the other suggestions! I'm learning a lot - though not necessarily converging on a solution yet.

Yeah, my ASUS RT-AC66U router is supposed to be able to do this also, in theory. I attached an external hard drive to it via USB and the router seemed to acknowledge that it was plugged in, but it didn't mount the drive. Hence it was inaccessible. I wasn't able to solve this problem.

Hi everyone, I've appreciate a little advice about setting up a system to stream audio. I'd like to start with a system that will cost (ideally) less than $500. I expect to upgrade the system over time, though, so being able to re-purpose pieces in a better system is a plus for me. I have a computer in a second-floor office that currently has a large music library (mainly ripped from CDs). My stereo is on the first floor. I'd like to play my music files (and also stream via Spotify, etc.) on this first floor system. Traditionally I just used a first-generation Airport Express to do this. But for a variety of reasons, I'd like to try something different, such as get a $200 or so DAC, use JRiver, etc. I have a powerline adapter and so I have a wired ethernet connection throughout the house. So here are some options I'm considering: 1. Connect a mini-PC to a DAC attached to the first floor stereo. Connect this PC to the network and have it access the music files stored on the upstairs PC. Use JRiver on the mini-PC, controlled by JRemote. The main disadvantage of this is that I'd have to have the upstairs PC on anytime I want to play music downstairs. I presume I can figure out how to set up a wake-on-LAN do to this. 2. Set up a NAS in the living room that contains all of the music and use the software on the NAS as a renderer. Connect the NAS to a DAC. This by-passes the upstairs computer completely. I liked the look of the QNAP HS-210. 3. I suppose a third option is to have both a mini-computer and a NAS in the living room, but since I'm trying to minimize my upfront cost, I'm not sure this is the way to go. Any thoughts or additional models are appreciated. I guess one last thought is that I use pandora, spotify, etc. a lot too and really value being able to use my iphone to stream these to my stereo. Any thoughts on the best way to add this to the system (i.e. Apple TV, etc.)

Nevermind - thread already exists: http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f22-networking-networked-audio-and-streaming/lan-input-dacs-21722/

The Airport Express can sit on your network and also function as a DAC. So you can have your audio files and renderer in one room (for example, on a desktop computer upstairs) and easily stream to a hifi system downstairs. Can you tell me about inexpensive alternatives to the Airport Express? i.e. DACs that can connect to your network (especially with a wired ethernet connection)? I'm especially interested to know about products that cost a few hundred dollars. I know there are many great solutions for more money. One alternative is to get a $100 Apple TV and then any DAC you want. I'm interested in knowing about alternatives to Apple. I know about Arcam's $700 airDAC.

I thought the Bluesound already killed it? In all seriousness, any sense of how the HK and the Bluesound systems differ?

Yes, it's that sample. I just purchased the TP-LINK TL-WPA4220KIT , which I like very much. The difference between this and a standard powerline set up is that "Powerline #2", to use bplexico's terminology, is both a powerline adapter and a range extender. As bplexico said, you can also extend the network with your Airport Express.