Tog

Very exciting and to my eyes it looks great. It seems Devialet are aiming the product at the Linn, Naim, Cyrus end of the market rather than Bose and Co. If the sound quality lives up to the hype expect retail turbulence and a frenzied change of R&D direction from the competition. Me - I think I want 2 Tog

:-)

Amazing to see all this discussion and argument over a product that hasn't shipped yet. Tog

I have now lived with Vortexbox on multiple servers for over 18 months and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that it has exceeded all my expectations. I stream to Naim gear which can be quite fussy about music servers over UPnP but VB has always worked flawlessly, is constantly updated by Andrew and the guys and can be administered with any device that can handle a web browser. The ready made appliances have a good reputation but building your own or retasking an old PC is more fun. I started by using an old MacBook Pro before moving on to building dedicated servers with more power. You can stream to Squeesebox (LMS), Sonos (Sonos Net), UPnP (miniDLNA) or iTunes (forked-daapd) and using the optional Bliss software (£30) will take all the hassle out of managing artwork, file paths or basic tagging. You can also install a stripped down version of the superb Plex for streaming video files that the VB will also rip from DVD or Blu-ray using makemkv. Oh and it's free..... Fabulous Tog

The beauty of a Mac is down to aesthetics, design ergonomics and software. Without the software it would be an upmarket windows PC desperately looking for market share. If I want a simple music server, which just works, has great sound and doesn't have to be hidden in a cupboard, the Mac Mini is perfect. However, to build a better server for the same money you must either go UPnP with a hidden ethernet Vortexbox based unit - or spend far more and build a bespoke Vortexbox from scratch which as I know to my cost - can be quite a bit more expensive if you want it anywhere near your hifi. Yours, building from scratch, Tog

Vortexbox is designed to use Ethernet although the latest version based on Fedora 16 may have better comparability with wirelesss cards than previously. Either way it is far better to have your UPnP server hardwired to your network. Your renderer will work fine over wireless but I now prefer to use a switch to wire and isolate both my VB server and Uniti from the rest of my network. Yours, wired, Tog

As far as I know Vortexbox supports flac and mp3 via miniDLNA - flac/alac via forked-daapd (iTunes server) as a streaming server. I think Jesus over at Sonore has managed to get it to serve up wav/aiff directly but he would be the best one to ask about that ... On the subject of complexity there is a bit of messing around if you keep building different servers but my main server has needed very little attention and is easily managed using the web GUI and my iPad/iPhone. Backup is ludicrously simple via USB drive and installing updates is so simple a four year old could manage it. Fantastic software Tog

Vortexbox is indeed very simple to install - simply download the software - burn to disk - buy, build or requisition an intel based PC ( I started with an old MacBook Pro) and install. Occasionally you may need to tweak but there are so many helpful people out there only too happy to help. I'm on my fourth VB based server - not because the others didn't work - they worked so well I started custom building high capacity servers that will do the software justice. You can even rip DVDs and run Plex from them now if you want to - brilliant. Yours, enthusiastically, Tog

Silly question I'm afraid - you might as well ask diesel or petrol engine - which is better? The dac chip matters far less than the implementation and how will you be able to glean anything meaningful from people talking about a Sabre chip in one dac compared to a Wolfston chip in a completely different product? It is hard enough comparing different approaches to dac inputs or reclocking or DSP! Both are good chips - audition some dacs and buy the one you like the sound of. Yours, Tog

If Chris prefers a Dac with a Pre into a power amp the Naim Uniti might be worth a review. It sounds wonderful, can be used with power amp (Nap 200), works as an ipod digital dock and in my case a sublime flacrenderer using my Vortexbox server as source. For the more cash rich adding an NDX to the mix would up the stakes considerably.<br /> <br /> How about it Chris - Naim Uniti review to compare to the Linn DS-I review of a few months back?<br /> <br /> yours, fitfully, Tog

Another way of using it would be as a streaming server - just install Vortexbox and attach to your network - choose your choce of streamer/dac. I've used a Sony Vaio netbook and with lid closed - screen off it works like a charm. You still have the screen if you need the command line but most of the time I use Safari on my iPad to perform administration tasks and updates. Ripping in this case is via xld on a mac with drag and drop file management and tagging/cover art using Bliss. In my case the control point is n-stream but since vortexbox streams to iTunes very well your options are open to use Remote as well. Yours, back in the 'hood, Tog

@ loving I'm assuming this is spam because judging by your grasp of the language it looks like this service is just for you.... yours, tog

Hi guys Chris - loved the review of the Synology Nas - now that the software has matured could you review one of the Vortexbox appliances - perhaps their 6TB ripping NAS. I have now built several UPnP servers around VB - not always plain sailing but always fun - I know you liked the implementation in Jesus' Sonore Servers, Yours, hopefully Tog

Seriously guys - you still arguing about USB cables - I mean still? You gotta get out more often! Yours, asynchronously, Tog

You guys still going with this thread....... what really? No!! Really? Tog