Best Possible ITunes Based set-up

[timtunes]

My iMac is having a moment so I have had to delete all and rebuild

 

My MP3 Music folder is large (1TB+ of tunes) that i manage with itunes. i also have a hi-Res folder that I use with Roon

 

I want to retain iTunes, playlists etc.

 

What though would be the best set-up. Currently I have the data all on the internal fusion drive for speed of access - but what could the other 'clean start' options. interested in NAS but concerned this would slowdown access.

 

Thw world is your oyster - please suggest good places to start from

[Ralf11]

with mp3 you are eating clams - the very first thing to do is to get Redbook versions of your music by ripping CDs

[timtunes]

Ah, am I wasting my time asking that sort of question

 

I have my FLAC/WAV stuff but I still have 1.5TB of music that serves mobile etc

 

So it's a set-up that can serve everything

[Ralf11]

I dunno re wasting time, but it is not the thing you want to do early on.

 

If you have FLAC files then the next step will be a good DAC.  You will want to set a budget.  Arguably, the "Best Possible ITunes Based set-up" will involve a $40,000 DAC.

 

Still conscious?  I see no reason to worry about NAS, just keep all your files on your internal drive if you have the room (be sure things are getting backed up).

 

Pay attention to galvanic isolation, ground loops, and noise injection from your AC powerline.

 

But more importantly, spend $$ on speakers (yes, even yours), room treatments, (a new room or house), and DSP.

 

Which system do you want to upgrade?  The Dell laptop is an easy one - get an external battery powered DAC.

 

For the Main room, I'd go after the receiver and maybe SuperNait it?

 

Then there is the lengthy path to setting the speakers exactly right, and searching for the best masterings of your program material...

[timtunes]

Thank you Ralf

 

I probably should have explained a bit more (also updated my current kit)

 

It was the frustration of my Mac needing to be rebuilt and I was wondering whether having 1.5TB on the mac was the right way - given how long it is taking to restore (3 days & counting). I have dabbled with NAS but didn't get on with it - I want immediacy

[Ralf11]

it shouldn't matter - the bits will be well-buffered no matter where they are stored for the long term

 

I have a 3 TB Fusion drive and don't use NAS, just a HDD for backup

[cjf]

I would argue that the best iTunes based setup does not exist. In other words, you need a setup that does away with iTunes in the first place.

 

If you find yourself at a point of needing to do things over anyway I would start with something else like JRiver or Roon.

 

iTunes was only barely adequate at its inception and has gotten worse ever since.

[Ralf11]

what do you mean?  that it doesn't do HiRes, or what?

[DavidL]

While I'd agree with cjf that iTunes is an inadequate music player, I have found from many years of use that it is superb for collating a music library. The very fact that it has been around a long time means that most of the bugs for this functionality have been removed and the user options have been progressively refined. One may not like the Apple choices for tagging etc but it is relatively straightforward to customise what is provided.

To answer the OP's question, I chose to put my library on a NAS and access it with MinimServer as server and play music with BubbleUPnP as controller. "my library" here is the complete iTunes folder i.e. all the library meta data files in addition to the media files. To collate the library I run iTunes on my iMac with iTunes pointing to this folder on the NAS.

The OP is right to be concerned about speed if he switched to a NAS. I noticed slower performance (selecting works etc) with MinimServer when my library grew to more than about 70k tracks. The processor on my Synology DS412+ is the culprit, however there are now NAS models with processors 4+ times faster than mine, so I suggest he investigates this option further.

[cjf]

I have many beefs with iTunes and its been years since I've abandoned it but I suppose I like doing things the hard way instead. I don't like being forced to do things only the way Apple wants me to do them. This is great when your first starting out trying to navigate the Computer Audio world but at some point you will probably realize all the dumbing down being done within the software is a hindrance once you become a more advanced Computer Audio User.

 

I'm still a big fan of Voyage Linux MPD for its simplicity. JRiver ain't bad either except for it being mostly Windows centric. These days I mainly use ROON despite its sometimes iTunes leaning tendencies when it comes to Library Mgmt but its still the winner since it works with Linux, sounds great and looks pretty while doing it. 

[DancingSea]

I currently use iTunes to manage my non DSD library, and Roon/ HQPlayer (and Roon solo) to play my iTunes library along with a separate folder full of DSD's, all folded into one Roon library.

 

Roon has a lot going for it, but I still prefer iTunes as the core library management software.  Roon has a number of organizational limitations that annoy me like Roon playlists not having a choice of album and artist views.  And Roon's side scrolling method of browsing is tedious.