mmetts

Hi All,<br /> <br /> I've read this thread with interest. I must admit, though, that I am a total novice at digital music. I have a decent system and I’ve just recently had my entire CD collection of 780+ disks ripped to MP3 320 and ALAC. I’m in the process of building a 10TB NAS to serve the general needs of my household and I was hoping to stream my music off of that to my system. I have a Bryston BDA-1 DAC that I’ve been using with my Airport Express. But, what I’d really like is a “in rack” way to just play my music with iPad or iPhone -- navigating playlists and so on.<br /> <br /> The trouble is, like my search for a DAC last year, there are so many choices that it boggles the mind. I’d love to hear from any of you (and that includes telling me to go elsewhere if this is not the right place) about the various tradeoff in searching for a digital network player. The NAS I have my eye on has UpNP. I’d like to avoid buying another DAC since I just did that. The Linn Akurate DS seems like an amazing unit but it duplicates the money I spent on the Byrston DBA-1 times 3! The Naim NDX also seems like an excellent choice but again it seems to duplicate the DAC money though it (and maybe the Linn) offer internet radio in the deal.<br /> <br /> But, if I can build the CAPS v2.0 and end up with a better more flexible and “future proofed” solution then I’m very interested in that instead. Is the performance if a thing like this in the same league with the Akurate or the Naim NDX? Along those lines, I’m fairly technical but noticed that this build description lacks some details: Does this unit have to have a keyboard and monitor all the time? Is the streaming application dedicated so that, say after a power failure, everything just comes back up and it’s ready to use like the other components in my rack? How do I get music into the library – obviously, I’d add them to the directory structure on the NAS but how does the application become aware of them? Is there a much more detailed set of instructions for building this unit?<br /> <br /> Sorry if all my questions are silly. I’m just trying to get started on this project wary of my choices, I’d appreciate any advice you have.<br /> Thanks,<br /> Mike<br />