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chryses

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  1. What's the number of albums where things start to break down for an artist? I think the most I have for a single artist is about 180 "albums" (as Roon counts them) for Bach and everything seems to work fine. Is there a particular view where things break down? For me, the only problem I have in Roon with too many discs relates to how it handles box sets. All of my big classical and jazz box sets are a huge pain to access; something like Mozart 225 can't really be navigated in Roon (as currently implemented).
  2. I do something similar using Logitech Media Server (LMS) - I can stream my collection anywhere (and transcode as necessary to conserve bandwidth). I have a bunch of Raspbery Pi 2s with Hifiberry DACs attached (several at home, one at the office) - and using iPeng, I can also use my iPhone as an player. I did buy a JRiver license a year ago, but I find that I rarely use it. Instead, I've gravitated toward using iPeng/LMS. And I think it all boils down to the fact that LMS allows you to have group of synchronized players/zones - meaning that I can have the same thing playing (synchronized) in the living room, dining room, bedroom, den, etc. I also found that JRiver seemed less stable - if there were network issues or connection problems it would crash/hang - which is something you don't really want when you're trying to listen to music away from home. Two other points in LMS's favor: 1) LMS is pretty lightweight - I have it running on a Raspberry Pi that also acts as a Squeezebox player; and 2) LMS is free.
  3. Just a note for those who are considering purchasing multiple Raspberry Pis/DACs in order to create a synchronized multi-room system: neither Volumio nor JRiver offers good support for synchronization of multiple players. Though I have heard that it is possible to get multiple player synchronization working with Volumio if you are using an Android device to control your system. And JRiver appears to be looking into doing more development in the area of "zone" synchronization. Having wrestled with this for some time, the only option I've found that works is to use Slimserver (open source software) with PicorePlayer installed on the Raspberry Pis. I have 3 of them running right now, each with a HiFiBerry DAC, with an old Synology NAS running Slimserver (and storing all of my music files). I use the iPeng app for iOS to control everything. It's extremely simple to set up, it allows for perfect synchronization between all the Raspberry Pis, and it's very inexpensive. Streaming to these 3 Pis, the Synology never uses more than 15% CPU, you can dynamic link/unlink players, and volume can be info ally controlled (or manipulated for the entire group). For me, this is a Sonos killer (especially given that out can pair each Pi up with a small Class D amp, like a TPA3116). Sorry for going a bit off topic - I was (and still am) a big fan of Volumio, but for me the killer app for these tiny little audio renderers is muti-room audio and in my experience only Slimserver supports that well (at least at present).
  4. Todd, it's really strange that your DS211 can't handle streaming FLAC. I have a DS111 - I've had no problems with it streaming FLAC using the DS Audio app (over WiFi - I do wish I had a model higher up the food chain so that I could transcode FLAC to MP3 when I'm listening on a mobile device). On Android I prefer the DS Audio app to the J. River Gizmo by a wide margin (though to be fair I haven't used Gizmo in a long time, so it may have improved considerably since then). That's not to say I don't have complaints with Audio Station - the primary one being that Synology needs to add support for less common (or arbitrary) tags, so that I can sort on things like Soloist and Orchestra. I also think Synology does a good job on providing frequent updates for both Audio Station and the DS Audio app. While this is generally a good thing, I do get the sense that they push the updates out without much testing. There have also been several updates with complete UI overhauls that have dropped important features. But they've generally been added back in again. And Synology does seem to listen to customer requests for features. For example, lots of folks were complaining that the USB out on Synology was limited to 16-bit. The latest versions of Audio Station now outputs 24-bit via USB. The software isn't perfect, but I think it's better than many people give it credit for (especially given that it's free).
  5. XMBC doesn't seem to be terribly popular with folks on this forum, but I found this update regarding its new audio sub-system to be interesting: XBMC Audio goes HD | XBMC According to the post, features include support for 24-bit and floating-point audio at up to 384,000hz and support for DTS-MA / Dolby TrueHD Bluray formats.
  6. Good point, machinehead. I suppose one could always buy a PCIe-to-PCI converter card, but the reviews for the one I could find are not encouraging (and even if it worked properly it would add to the overall cost of the system and the card might sit too high in a small case):<br /> <br /> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815158165<br /> <br /> Your experience with the Jetway board doesn't sound encouraging - did that board use the AMD e350 or e450? The reviews I've read suggest that both of these AMD solutions are up to the task of handling 1080p playback in XMBC without issue - perhaps video in JRiver is a different story. My understanding is that the Intel D525 struggles with high resolution video - hence the desire for one of the AMD chips.
  7. For folks considering a C.A.P.S. build, I wanted to flag that the Asus E45M-I Deluxe is (finally) available here in the U.S. <br /> <br /> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131807<br /> <br /> I haven't used it or the Jetway board Chris recommends, but the E450 architecture does seem to have some advantages over the D525 - namely, support for 8GB of RAM (instead of 4GB) at 1333mhz (instead of 800), superior integrated graphics (better for scrolling around in J. River theater view), and support for 3D via an HDMI 1.4 interface (because you never know when somebody is going to offer a program that lets you view your album art in 3D).<br /> <br /> Anyway, just a thought.
  8. Has anyone had a chance to audition this yet? I haven't been able to find much in the way of reviews. Chris, did you get a chance to give this a listen at CES? I seem to remember a post suggesting you were going to try and spend some time with it.
  9. If your concern is the power supply, you can get a picoPSU unit like this one: http://www.mini-box.com/picoPSU-120-power-kit This will work on any motherboard with a 20 or 24 pin ATX connector - which the standard AT5IONT has. Just a thought.
  10. Looks like I stuck an extra "M" in there. It's an ASUS board - here's a link (note that this is talking about the European market - I expect it will be cheaper in the States): http://news.softpedia.com/news/Asus-E35M1-I-Deluxe-AMD-Fusion-Motherboard-Gets-Listed-in-Europe-179019.shtml Thought I had seen a US release date for this board but I can't seem to find anything. There's also supposed to be a fanless version of the MSI e350ia-e45 coming out soon. A version with a fan was recently reviewed by Anandtech: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4134/the-brazos-review-amds-e350-supplants-ion-for-miniitx I was really leaning towards buying an ATOM for my HTPC build, but with all these AMD Fusion boards on the horizon, I've decided to wait a few weeks.
  11. I've searched high and low for the "deluxe" version of this motherboard and have concluded that it either doesn't exist or that it's not for sale in the U.S. When the AT5IONT was first released there was some chatter in some reviews about a deluxe version, but I'm not sure it ever came to market. Of course, if somebody here has one, feel free to chime in. Another option is to wait a few weeks for the EM35M1-I Deluxe to hit the market (it's a fanless AMD Fusion motherboard). Should be cheaper than the AT5IONT and the early reviews indicate that you'll get better performance. Just a thought.
  12. One other suggestion - store your backup drive at a different location than your music server. For example, store it at the office, in a safety deposit box, at a friend's house, etc. I keep a hard drive at work and bring it home once a month on the weekends to back my music up. This way, if something catastrophic (like a fire or flood) happens at home, you won't lose everything.
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