McBlatty

.....well, thing is that the mini was going to be the main outlay, as I only have a couple laptop pcs at the moment. But i have just read the article about JRiver 15 working with airport express. So i guess i can spend even less to start with now, and JRiver allows you to zone the airport expresses as well unlike itunes. How big a difference will there be in quality between a hardwired system and one run through airport express ?

So i have wasted weeks at work reading up on stuff trying to figure out what I should do to get a set up to listen to music from a computer. Talk about mind boggling number of options. Currently i am settling on an initial plan but would appreciate thoughts around limitations and other / better options. For now, i am starting with a very small budget...i.e no approved spending from the boss so need to sneak in small spends and use what i have wherever possible. I also have two set ups to figure out. I moved into my house with a multiroom hardwired set up already in place in 4 rooms using QED MultiQ system and using Linn Classik Unik speakers in all the rooms, which sound surprisingly good. Plus i need a standalone set up in the lounge. However for now i plan the same for both I am planning on ripping my music to AIFF and using itunes for playing the music on a mac mini. Then for both multiroom and standalone set up for ease use an airport express for both, connected to a SuperPro 707 DAC with a decent powersupply. This then connects to the amps i already have. Do yo use any major problems with this? If i have understood stuff correctly i know the airport express can't play 24bit, but for now i don't think thats a problem for me. Are there any other major limitations i would be building in But are there other solutions that give me similar ease of set up and flexibility (i.e computer can be anywhere, and single source, plus can easily control music from smartphone using itunes remote - important for multiroom ) Any thoughts or suggestions are very welcome.

I think i could end up having the headphone option as a back up... especially when the kids are in bed. But i wouldn't be happy if its all i have As for my wife... the floorstanders i have where certainly a no no and have been in the garage for years. Atleast i get to listen to decent music while i work on my car! The wires i had were a problem as well, she hates seeing speaker cable. My amp is also along the "functional" lines when it comes to appearance, rather than being nice shiny boxes that all match. I am more prepared for a bit of a fight this time, but we shall see. However in the living room it will still be a challenge and also the wall that the speakers would naturally be near is ajoining to the neighbours, so no monster set up allowed. But i have options elsewhere in the house if the set up is small, and i am thinking also possibly relativly mobile. So like the look of a netbook with one the smaller DACs and maybe some decent powered speakers to keep everything to a minimum. Problem is... i can see myself having things set up all over the place at this rate!! too many options, too many things to try! My main focus at the moment though is getting the bit before the DAC right. I know nothing about that bit really.

Thanks for replies. I have already read the FAQ which was good, but not the other link, so will work through that now

Hi I am planning to set up my system from scratch basically, and I should be able to figure out suitable storage set up, but thinking through what I can do, the easiest thing would be to have the external drive attached to my network at home and then have my computer that is playing the music picking it up through wifi. Does using wifi here rather than a cabled link effect the end result? Thanks Matt

Hi So, having had my desire for a decent music set up squashed by my wife's hatred for anything that looks like a speaker, for many years. I have decided to do something about it. A friend at work pointed me at a few websites about computer based stuff, and i have had my eyes opened, so thats a good start! But i now have 101 questions, so sorry if i scatter the forum with lots of easy questions, but I want to try and plan what I am going to do, and get it right. Anyway... no specific question on this post, just wanted to introduce myself and warn about lots of other questions to come. Unless there is anything really basic that you think i should know? Thanks Matt