multi-channel sound card needed?

[Jerschu81]

First, THANK YOU all who contribute your knowledge on this site. I've learned so much.

My question revolves around a networked/whole house audio system I have only envisioned at this point. But recent home improvements had me open up several walls and with so much time invested in quietly ripping and organizing a 700G/24000 song library I want to take this time to get the future infrastructure correct.

 

The plan is to use JRMC installed on a windows laptop for control and playback of the music files on a NAS of some sorts. Ideally I would like 4 zones not counting my existing studio monitors connected to the laptop. I have several questions that may come to light after answering my first main question. Can I just run CAT6 from the laptop running JRMC direct to the NAS and still get multizone audio from future wired CAT6? OR do I need to add a sound card capable of sending multi-channel out from the laptop to the NAS? And if it is the later, what would this connection be? As you can tell I'm a little confused how that aspect works.

[Audio_ELF]

While it may be more expensive; looking at a Sonos or perhaps Bluesound system is probably your best option. This can be run wireless or via standard (Cat6 type) network cable.

 

Other systems (such as Linn and Naim) exist but costs rise as quality improves.

 

As a DIY alternative you could run a multi-channel sound "card" from your laptop and connect each pair of channels to a different amplifier and speakers - much more cabling to run though. A DIY option for something closer to the Sonos type wireless system can be achieved with the old Logitech Squeezebox system which is still developed on an open source / hobbyist basic (though there are also commercial systems based on it).

 

Eloise

[Jerschu81]

Thanks Eloise. This may be simplifying things a bit but in order for the zones to be "seen" by JRMC it sounds like there are two options. Either the program recognizes available channels locally on the sound card/DAC or it finds zones on the network by way of DLNA??

 

I will likely be steering clear of multiple amps directly connected to the laptop and running speaker wire etc. But not ruling it out.

 

But at this point if I just run Cat6 in my walls, I would stuck with something like Sonos or another DLNA type system? (Or a mix and match of DLNA equipment). Any other options with just running Cat6? Or do I have a basic understanding?

 

Thanks again.

[Audio_ELF]

Thanks Eloise. This may be simplifying things a bit but in order for the zones to be "seen" by JRMC it sounds like there are two options. Either the program recognizes available channels locally on the sound card/DAC or it finds zones on the network by way of DLNA??

Sonos can be used as DLNA devices; but to be honest if you use Sonos I would use their own control application. If needs be buy a cheap tablet for each room.

 

The issue with most things other than Sonos running via its own controlled is that trying to get multiple rooms in sync is close to impossible which can cause listening problems when you can hear more than one room.

 

I will likely be steering clear of multiple amps directly connected to the laptop and running speaker wire etc. But not ruling it out.

 

But at this point if I just run Cat6 in my walls, I would stuck with something like Sonos or another DLNA type system? (Or a mix and match of DLNA equipment). Any other options with just running Cat6? Or do I have a basic understanding?

You have it pretty much down there.

 

Eloise