CharlyD

I also have an Onkyo receiver playing files from a NAS (Twonky DMS) and also see no artist or album art. The browsing trees (artist/album/etc.) work just fine though, and there are no difficulties with a large library. I've been living with these limitations for almost two years now waiting for some vendor to offer a DLNA server that runs on a NAS that's worth a damn. Asset, as Eloise has suggested, works perfectly with the Onkyo. The issue is that it runs on a Windows PC, not a NAS.

If you're hearing the noise with headphones plugged directly into the mini (and with no other system connections to the mini), the problem lies entirely within the mini. A digital connection to an external DAC will resolve the problem, or you can get your mini fixed. Is the noise line frequency hum?

MediaMonkey is apparently running in shared mode in which the audio stream is passed to the Audio Engine which must process the stream to be compatible (word length/sample rate) with any other audio stream prior to delivery to the mixer. As a part of this processing, it will convert the sample rate to the default rate defined in Control Panel. Since your DAC supports up to 96kHz/24-bit, you could set the default to that SR. In this manner, any stream that is not at the defalut SR will be coverted, and any stream at the default SR will be untouched (provided no other processing is selected). The default SR is accessed in Control Panel by selecting Sound/Manage audio devices. First verify that your DAC is set as the default Playback device. Select your DAC and click on the Properties button. On the Advanced tab, set the Default Format to have a SR of 96kHz. I'm not sure if MediaMonkey supports Exclusive Mode that would allow direct output with no conversion. JRMC does support exclusive mode.

I'm a lifelong audiophile who has previously spent significant portions of my disposable income on systems that provided some great sonic experiences. Due to many circumstances, I no longer have sufficient resources or space to assemble a dedicated two channel system in addition to a home theater system. Last year, I assembled a home theater system around an Onkyo TX-NR807 which is a UPnP player that supports a very large set of formats and includes 192kHz/24-bit DACs. The front L/R speakers are ML Mosaics whose midrange and highs are covered by ribbon drivers with the lows delivered by a metal cone woofer. I don't miss my previous monster systems in the least. This setup has all the dynamics, imaging, tonal accuracy and other sonic attributes to deliver great experiences. And, in reference to another posting in this thread, there are many operas on Blu-ray that sound (and look) just fantastic.

I was a bit surprised that Beethoven: String Quartets Opp.74 & 95 by Tokyo String Quartet offered by HDTracks wasn't included in this thread. The album is a very well recorded performance by one of the best quartets today. On checking HDTracks for this album though, I found that the hi-res version I had purchased was missing. Fearing I'd been duped again, I loaded a track into Audacity, and, sure enough, theres a hard limit of ~22.5 kHz on the frequency range. Sounds great though. The red book version is at https://www.hdtracks.com/index.php?file=catalogdetail&valbum_code=093046746063.

What is the model of the Onkyo being used here? If it's a network capable model, you might consider a network connection. I have a TX-NR807 on my home network, and its sound delights me often.

From a notice posted by Jason Blackwell of ABI Research yesterday: "The widespread availability of AirPlay could be a major game changer in home audio and especially networked audio systems. With AirPlay and the support of a growing number of hardware vendors, customers can create cost-efficient whole home audio systems with components from different vendors, and all integrating their existing mobile devices including iPod touch, iPhone, and iPad. Companies like Sonos who were innovators in the integration of Apple devices into their systems could potentially suffer from the effects of AirPlay."

I also attended the show at Definitive last night. My experience in the Medidian room was quite different, however. I agree that the music was way too loud which, to me, accentuated some of the shortfalls of the system. The bass had very little low extension and definitely did not have the sort of dynamic attacks (slam) I would expect from a $13k system. The upper midrange and treble strongly had that nasty digital glare that I thought had been resolved several years ago. I couldn't imagine spending much time with those speakers. The highlight of the show for me was the Golden Ear/Peachtree room where a system of ~$4k sounded much better. The glowing reviews that have been popping up on the Triton Two's are true - these are outstanding speakers for the money. Timbral accuracy, frequency range and imaging were all of a quality I would expect only in much more expensive speakers. The Peachtree Decco did a great job driving these speakers. As is the tradition with Definitive shows, the hosting was also outstanding and there was a very cute Ferrari Dino parked at the front door.

Any receiver which can be upgraded to support Airplay is already UPnP capable. If you're looking to stream music from your iMac, just install a UPnP server on that machine. If you've got network connectivity between your receiver and iMac, you're good to go. I'm not fluent in the UPnP server offerings for Mac, but Twonky Server will run on that OS. Asset UPnP will run in the Crossover environment on a Mac. If both the renderer (your receiver) and server support the content format, the streaming will be bit-perfect. The only thing AirPlay would buy you is the ability to stream from an iOS device to your receiver.

The DMS is a service running on your network that allows browsing of available content and streaming of the selected content to the target renderer. The browsing is supported by Content Directory Services (CDS) which extracts the metadata contained in the content files to a database. In order to extract these data, the CDS needs the ability to read the content format (e.g. FLAC). The DMS can run on the same machine with the mass storage (e.g. your Win7 box) or on another machine on the network. JRiver Media Center includes a UPnP DMS with CDS. WM Connect DMS is a part of Windows Media Player 12 running on your Win7 machine and is of very little value (won't read FLAC). Asset UPnP is a very good audio-only DMS. The DMS chosen needs to support the file formats you own or intend to acquire. If the file format is natively supported by the DMP (your receiver), the DMS will stream the untouched file. If the DMP does not support the file format, the DMS should be able to transcode the file to a required format (e.g. PCM).

Try the ethernet connection to a networked AVR first. I think you'll be very pleasantly surprised at the quality of audio you'll get from a 96/24 FLAC file streamed to an Onkyo or Yamaha receiver. I should also mention that these AVRs are DMPs in that they have an integral control point. The UI is through the connected monitor. The interface you'll get through PlugPlayer on an iPad, though, will be far better.

A seven channel A/V receiver with multi-zone and pre-outputs should suit your needs well. I assumed that you wish for the Win7 PC to be in a closet. JRiver offers control point and Digital Media Server (DMS) functionality and runs on a PC. The Asset UPnP I previously suggested is only a DMS and only audio. JRiver or Twonky would allow serving of video or image content in addition to audio to networked renderers (e.g. an a/v receiver or TV). The PlugPlayer control point runs on iOS devices and will support browsing and playback of video, image or audio content to connected renderers. PlugPlayer should work fine with JRiver or Twonky DMSs as well as Onkyo or Yamaha DMPs. The Yamaha site mentions an upcoming Control Point for iOS. I don't quite understand your option B. Apple TV will allow streaming from iTunes but will not support hi-res content.

UPnP Server: Asset UPnP running on your Win 7 machine. Twonky Server would be another option. Control Point: PlugPlayer running on an iOS device. See list of available iOS control points at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UPnP_AV_media_servers_and_clients Digital Media Player(DMP): If you're considering an standalone amp e.g. Emotiva, the Onkyo SC-5508 Processor would be great choice. The Onkyo network and Yamaha Aventage receivers support playback of FLAC files at up to 96/24. The UPnP streaming with any of these receivers will be bit perfect. Several DMPs may be operated simulataneously on your network. Playback of the same content at the same time would not be supported.

Since you list "stream from my MBP > receiver via GB Ethernet (no need for wireless)" as one of the solutions, I'm guessing your Onkyo supports UPnP/DLNA streaming. That's hands down the best solution to deliver content from your MBP to the Onkyo. Although the DACs in the Onkyo are 192/24 capable, the only means of getting content with that sample rate to the DACs is via HDMI. The network connection will get you 96/24 on a variety of formats and sound great. As long as the UPnP server software running at your MBP supports all the content formats you wish to play at the Onkyo, you're good to go.

The reason playback is not in the proper track sequence is that the track number is stored as metadata in the file, and the WAV file contains no metadata. This is also why you're not seeing album art. Try creating playlists of the WAV files. At least you should get the proper sequence. As I mentioned in a previous post, Onkyo network receivers support FLAC and WMA Lossless formats at up to 24-bit/96kHz. The new Yamaha receivers also have this capability. The Twonky media server won't resolve your problems. The issue is the limited format support in the Marantz. Thanks for posting your experience with the Marantz. It was an interesting exercise to help resolve your difficulties.