nottlv

I considered getting a Drobo a few years ago when it first came out, as the ability to increase the array size without having to replace all the drives was very attractive (I had a Thecus 5200Pro and got sick to having to upgrade all 5 drives whenever I ran out of space). After reading some of the horror stories online about total data loss and poor customer service from Drobo, I started looking for something else and stumbled upon <A HREF="http://www.lime-technology.com/">unRAID</A>. It's got one of the main features of Drobo (the ability to expand the array without upgrading all the disks) with one major advantage--the data isn't striped, so total data loss is next to impossible (for the RAID savvy, unRAID is a customized version of the Linux distro Slackware using RAID3 without striping). With unRAID, if you lose more than one disk at the same time, you'll only lose the data on the affected disks, not the whole array. I'm not a big fan of consumer level RAID solutions that utilize striping, as total data loss is much more likely when doing so. Plus the unRAID server I bought was about half the cost of an equivalent Drobo when it came to the number of array slots. Now unRAID is much more of a geeky product than Drobo for sure, though the beta 5 version will supposedly incorporate a much nicer GUI and support for pre-compiled plugins. The unRAID forums are active with some extremely experienced sysadmins and storage engineers, and I've never had an issue getting quick answers to questions, including installing several media server applications like Squeezecenter, Twonky, Plex, etc. So if you're comfortable behind the command line, like the ability to use commodity hardware of your choice (you can also buy a pre-configured server from the developer of unRAID), want to save some money and have IMO more robust data integrity, I'd strongly consider unRAID as an alternative.

Chris,<br /> <br /> How long have you been using this? Based on the Air forum thread, I'm not sure this is really a viable solution, at least for some. A few people have complained about the Bonjour/Air combo hosing their DNS after anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, and Spoon (the developer) has said development of Air likely isn't going to continue. See pages 3 & 4 in the thread linked in the original post. Has anyone noticed similar errors messages in their Event Viewer logs?

Thecus has a packaging format (which they call a "module") that you can easily install through the web interface. Squeezecenter Server is one of them available.<br /> <br /> http://naswebsite.com/wiki/Thecus_N5200_Module:_SQUEEZEBOXSERVER<br /> <br /> From what I understand, the 7700 can use many of the 5200 modules, so you might try it to see if that works.<br /> <br /> Chris, you might want to check out the iPeng iPod/iPhone app for controlling your Squeezebox; it's pretty slick and much nicer than trying to use the web interface on the same device.<br /> <br /> http://penguinlovesmusic.de/

I know it's tough to make an apples to oranges comparison, but anyone have any comparisons on how the Fantasy/Prestige/Verve jazz titles sound compared to their SACD or K2 equivalents? All of these (plus plenty more) have been on SACD for quite awhile, so at first I figured they were just derived from the DSD remasters but it sounds like these are new versions? I personally didn't think the SACDs were jaw droppingly better than the K2s, especially the Japanese cardboard sleeve remasters from JVC.

Chris,<br /> <br /> Did you get a chance to check out the Blue Smoke system that was discussed in another post here? Stereophile's CES coverage had a blurb about it.<br /> <br /> http://blog.stereophile.com/ces2010/blue_smoke_black_box_music_server/

You can also Wadia to your list; both the 500 and 700 series have models that also feature a variety of digital input options.

There were some very positive reports about the Blue Smoke server during last year's trade shows, but when I checked it out, it seemed to me to just be a rebadged and tweaked $2000 Hush PC with a SSD running Windows Vista Media Center selling for $8000. Maybe I was missing something.<br /> <br /> The SACD thing sounds interesting. I'm guessing they mean playback of DSD files (of which there are a handful available--the selection is way worse than say hi res PCM, which itself has an extremely limited number of titles); I would think ripping a SACD would violate the DCMA. There are a few companies in Europe that developed mods to universal players that would tap into the unencrypted DSD datastream and convert that to hi res PCM, but that happens before the encryption occurs and perhaps skirts the DMCA because of that. There is a free DSD-to-PCM plugin for Windows Media Player; I'd assume this is what they are using on DSD files.

Bruce,<br /> <br /> First of all, let me say that I appreciate your work and have purchased some of the HDTracks files you've worked on, oftentimes of SACDs I already own just so I can listen to something higher res on my computer audio setup. I guess I just have a different perception of DSD as someone on the consumer side of things.<br /> <br /> I'm aware of the products you mention (which I sort of eluded to in my post but didn't directly name, and I've heard the Meitner and dCS stack), but as I see it there's no momentum at all in the audiophile marketplace towards supporting DSD, either in the traditional standalone digital market or especially the computer audiophile market. EMM and dCS are companies that have been doing this for 5+ years; there hasn't been any new entrants offering DSD input/output since then (Playback Designs was started by a designer who defected from EMM Labs, so to me that really doesn't entirely count as a new company supporting it; I thought they only had a one box player anyways but you'd know better than I). SACD/DSD has been around for 10 years at this point, and I think by any measure it's on it's downslope. Output of DSD is pretty much the same handful of companies that made a heavy investment in SACD at the beginning, and by companies that also were heavily involved on the pro side with DSD--where are all the other high end digital companies like Ayre, Boulder, Goldmund, Linn, MBL, Spectral, Wadia (though I believe they stated they are developing one with their flagship 9 series but it's been heavily delayed), Weiss, etc.? And there's no interoperability...what if I prefer the EMM Labs transport to the dCS transport, but want to use the Scarlatti DAC? I'm out of luck because each company's approach is proprietary and only works with their counterpart product. HDMI seems to be a viable solution for this, as evidenced by mainstream companies like Denon, Pioneer, Onkyo, etc. using it to pass DSD, but apparently the HDMI licensing costs are just too high for the low volume audiophile market. And that's just the dismal situation on the DAC/transport side of the equation; it's even worse on the computer side. There's a DSD-to-PCM WMP plugin, but I doubt very many serious computer audiophiles are using WMP as their audio player of choice.<br /> <br /> While I'm glad you're doing DSD downloads for another label, that makes a grand total of 2 labels. I guess what I'm wondering is if DSD files will ever be something you can download and actually have a decent chance of playing across various computer or digital audio platforms. As you said, there is a decent library of SACDs that presumably have DSD or DXD master files, or it appears you have a mechanism to rip from a SACD as well. But if a DSD download is something that I have to buy a DSD recorder like the Korg or Tascam to burn discs to play on a SACD player, I might as well just buy the SACD. That kinda defeats one of the main reasons why people have music servers in the first place--they're trying to avoid having to mess around with physical media for every listening session. While I'd love to have SACD/DSD have some sort of role in the future regarding that, it doesn't appear it will.

Bruce,<br /> <br /> I guess my point is that SACD/DSD has been essentially unusable in the context of consumer computer audio, and from what I recall (I was a very early adopter of SACD with a SCD-1--still have it and use it, and have several hundred SACDs) was marketed to the record labels in the beginning of it's introduction as such as a way to combat Internet piracy (you can't rip it if you can't read it). I'm sure playing DXD master files from a professional workstation sounds wonderful, but that's not really a consumer level option either. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this accurately states the current situation with regards to SACD/DSD (note that I'm referring to the DSD layer; obviously with the Redbook layer of a hybrid you can essentially treat it that the same as a regular CD).<br /> <br /> 1. There are no computer drives that play the DSD layer of a SACD, and apparently Sony has previously stated there never will be.<br /> <br /> 2. There are no DSD downloads except for a smattering of files from an obscure Norwegian label with even more obscure artists, and very limited options to play these on a computer (some WMP plugin the converts to PCM, which makes DSD purists gasp and leaves Mac users--though I'm mostly a PC/Linux guy--out in the cold, plus I think some very specific Sony VAIO desktops).<br /> <br /> 3 Aside from very few--and generally proprietary--options, there are virtually no audiophile transports that output, and no audiophile DACs that accept, DSD. It seems like this could potentially be solved with HDMI, as that is being used in mass market multidisc players and receivers to transmit DSD in some cases, but from what I hear the HDMI licensing costs are simply too high for most audiophile companies, hence I don't believe there are any audiophile DACs that support HDMI at this time (excepting PS Audio's proprietary I2S connection, which doesn't use any of the HDMI encryption licenses and therefore doesn't have the stiff licensing payments).<br /> <br /> So I guess my question to Mr. Skinas would be, given the above (and again, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong), what future role will SACD and/or DSD play in the context of an audiophile computer audio system? Unless something dramatically changes, I don't really see if playing any role unfortunately.

Chris,<br /> <br /> The Matan music server sounds very interesting. Which device (or devices) is it in the event photos? Is this being planned as an actual commercial product or just a proof of concept or labor of love?

Chris,<br /> <br /> I hope someone asks Mr. Skinas about what he envisions as the future of SACD and DSD in an increasingly "computer audiophile" world of music servers and high res downloads, which are pretty much entirely PCM. As far as I can tell, SACD and DSD unfortunately have no role in a computer based audio system.