Innisfree

Is segmenting the universe of methods of accessing source music files into following categories accurate? • Playing/accessing a file from a flash drive or other storage device other than a regular computer (Bryston BDA-1) • Playing a file from across a home network like PS Audio PWD or Linn • Playing a file using a pre-built ready-to-go music server like a Soolos • Playing a file using a DAC connected directly to a regular home computer If so, are there any emerging technologies that might create a new category in future? Also, are there any other products on the market that fall in first two categories?

I like it that this forum is open to discussing receivers and processors. It is not only the video they offer but also the internet radio. I saw president of Netflix on Charlie Rose show other day and he stated it is just a matter of several more years and we'll be streaming ultra high definition Netflix movies to our TVs. Video upgrades, like going from DVD to Blu-ray, will cease being a once in every 10 year occurrence. <br /> <br /> If we can contemplate streaming ultra high definition video in several years why can't we stream ultra high resolution audio from radio stations around the world? Why can't consumers have nearly unlimited high resolution downloads available on the internet, and, as referred to elsewhere on this forum, be guaranteed the files are indeed high resolution? <br /> <br /> It seems the audio world is rudderless and needs some kind of organizing behemoth like a Netflix to move it forward to where everyone wants it to be.<br />

I've also spent time researching how to integrate a 2-channel system with a home theater. My plan is to use RCA audio cables from the receiver pre-outs to the unbalanced inputs on a Bryston amp and XLR audio cables from the DAC/pre to the balanced inputs on the amp. I will use the switch on the amp to select between home theater or 2-channel. I have the home theater set up but not yet the 2-channel piece. I'm not going to spend my money, which I have to earn, on this part until I can find a product that is: •Fully mature. I'm not dealing with issues characteristic of a beta stage of development. It has to "just work", like a Sonos. •User friendly. I'm not tweaking computers or software. I want to play high resolution audio without me having to do or know anything, or very little. Like as easy as using a Denon receiver. •Tech support. If I have a problem, I want to be with a company/dealer I trust will help me. For now, I am happy with my home theater and internet radio. I've had a 2.1 setup for last couple years. Contrary to what previous poster said, I recently added a center channel and like it much better compared to 2.1. Center channel separates the dialogue from the background music. I love this hobby and find this site particularly helpful among all the sites that are out there. I read and I learn. It took me a couple years of reading to know precisely what I want and what I will avoid.

All my stereo equipment is also in a closed cabinet. I researched this a couple years ago and settled on ordering a couple fans, transformer, thermostat for about $200 from www.yampanet.com and a couple 2” air vent grilles from www.mockett.com. I installed one grill low through the drywall on the side of the cabinet and one high. I don’t know the decibel rating on the fans but they are quiet. You can hear them if you listen closely. I am not an expert but I think the key is some positive air movement through the cabinet. I don’t think it is possible to deal with potential heat buildup in a cabinet unless you install a couple air vents, even discrete 2” vents.

I have a Denon 3310 receiver and a $600 pair of B&W bookshelf speakers. The Denon can stream music from my computer and also internet radio to my workshop. I had been listening mostly to the CDs stored on my computer over the past year but now I have discovered internet radio and find I am hardly listening to my collection at all. I thought all public radio stations were the same. They are not. I am listening mostly to WNCW, broadcasting from a small community college in NC, not in my hometown. I am no longer loyal to my local public radio station, which, to me, plays an uninspired jazz and classical mix. I listen all day long to a varied program of blues, bluegrass, jazz and acoustic music and I wonder, "Why buy music?". Who knows the music scene better than the folks who work in the broadcasting radio stations? They play an interesting and ever-changing music mix, drawing on local musicians as well as from the regionally and nationally known recording artists, from a mix of musical genres, and from an inventory of recorded material far larger than I could ever put together. With this said, I am now wondering if I can make any improvements to my hardware that would return a noticeable improvement in sound quality or if internet radio is just inherently of lower quality and there is just not much to be done. I do, for example, have preamplifier-out jacks on the Denon. I wonder if I bypassed the Denon's own amplifiers and came out to, say, a $2,000 to $4,000 stereo amplifier and a $5,000 pair of B&W 805 Diamond loudspeakers, would I notice better sound? Or am I going to hear the same 250kbps music I am hearing now on my $600/pair speakers?

I have a Middle Atlantic "slim 5" rack I bought from Smarthome.com that I like. This rack is only suitable if the rack is going to be hidden, you would not use this rack for your living room. By the time you get the steel shelving you are up to around $700. This is a standard size rack and will accommodate rack-mounted electronics such as switches, etc. Following is a link to the product. Picture shows two of the racks ganged together (which you would not need). http://www.smarthome.com/8741S529/Slim-5-Rack-29-High-54-5-Inches-5-29/p.aspx

I put in a couple thousand feet of cabling for a home network last year. My vision is that, over time, everything will be connected to it. I just bought a Sonos 5 player for my wife for the kitchen and she is happy with it. She likes a radio station in Mobile, AL on Sunday mornings and another one in San Diego sometimes. Or she streams music off my computer, also connected to the network. My vision is that in a couple years, when PS Audio has all the bugs worked out of their PWD, I will get that and connect it directly to a Bryston amp, using the balanced connections. Then I will connect my Denon receiver to the amp using the RCA connections. This integrates the home theater to the 2 channel system. And for the audio, I will download files from sites around the world, save them to the NAS and control playback from an ipad. I think the future direction is digital audio, connected and networked.

Right, is indeed JRMC. Never had a problem with it; I like it.

In The Complete Guide to High End Audio, Robert Harley says in chapter 2 that "choosing a high-quality music reproduction system is one of the most important purchasing decisions you'll make...your selections in components will influence how deeply you appreciate and enjoy an art form-music". He says there are 3 ways of buying hi-fi, as follows: • buy an entire system made up of the finest components • buy an entire system made up of components within a limited budget • buy just a few components now and add to the system as finances permit This post is for the beginners who are excited about acquiring a high-end system and are searching for what to buy. I was an absolute beginner two years ago and excited and now I have a system I am proud to have put together, but more than that, I am calm and relaxed and in a good position to enjoy the hobby going forward. This post is to advocate for the third option above-the incremental approach to acquiring a high-end system. I just bought for $799, marked down from $1299, a Denon 3310ci receiver to complete my system, for now. The other components in my system include: • a blu-ray player ($600), • front left, front right speakers and a subwoofer ($1200), • a Middle Atlantic rack from Smarthome.com (about $700 or so with the shelves), • and an "infrastructure" that is done once and forever and consists of: o dedicated #10 romex up from the panel and two fancy wall plugs from PS Audio o Channelmaster long range antenna on the roof o about 1,000 feet of Cat 5 cable on three levels of the house I now enjoy: • free HD radio to two zones in the house that comes across clear as bell. I can listen to jazz at night from the local public radio station and Cartalk in my woodshop on weekends. • free access to internet radio • access via the home network to about 500 CDs on my computer in two zones of the house (by the way, I was lucky enough to have a computer tech buddy who got the Net/USB function working in five minutes. I was surprised how easy it was). • home theater with crystal clear video and audio resolution I read Computer Audiophile posts and am aware a Denon 3310ci is not a Berkeley Audio Alpha DAC. Right now the "Denon Control" on my computer screen says I am playing a Mozart piano concerto at 161 kbps. You know what? It sounds just fine to me! I don't have the experience to critically evaluate my system's musicality, soundstage, dynamics, detail, coherence, pace, rhythm and timing. I don't know when I will be able to accurately describe what I am hearing and say why it is good or bad but I am not in a rush. All I know right now is that I think within the next year I'll get around to adding bass traps and carpeting to my room and see what I learn from that. And that is the point. To the beginners out there in a frenzied state of audiophile nervosa, I was in your condition a year ago and now I am calm and relaxed. IMHO, choosing a high-end audio system is a journey of a thousand miles. Harley says there are 3 ways of buying hi-fi. Sharing your story could shine a light for a fellow Computer Audiophile reader who right now may be in the anxious throes of OCD. An average working person like me who, in their state of temporary insanity, may think they can wrap their head around putting together an entire system right at the get go, as if that is humanly possible. A reader right now planning a system and trying to keep it under $20,000.

Some of the members who make posts on the site have exceptional knowledge. Would be convenient and useful if search function had capability to search postings by name of person posting.

I appreciate this review and this site. I have been mainly visiting this site and also the Harbeth loudspeaker forum for the past year. After changing my mind about things maybe a half dozen times over the past year what I've arrived at is I want it all: I want 5.1 home theatre and 2 channel computer-based audio in my study; I want to pipe audio down to the main level for Barbara (and control it from main level); I want to pipe audio to the basement for my woodshop (and control it from the woodshop); I want an integrated, elegant home theatre/audio system and finally I want friendly, by-telephone, after-the-sale tech support whenever I want it. I passed the CPA exam so I can certainly do this, right?<br /> <br /> What caught my eye on this review was the home theater bypass feature that is on the Peachtree Nova. This allows an integration of a video and audio system. I heard in an interview recently that the late Dan Fogelberg once referred to movies/film as the new "high art". Personally, I think more DACs ought to have the home theatre bypass feature. <br />