tonedeaf
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Post by tonedeaf on Mar 10, 2018 12:48:16 GMT
What would be a good way to get into file based digital music. I have about 3,000 tracks on my hard drive. I can easily connect my phone to my amp but its not always practical. The other issue thats has always put me off is the ability to find tracks without having to turn on the pc/laptop.
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Post by MartinT on Mar 10, 2018 13:00:59 GMT
An inexpensive way in would be to use a Raspberry Pi with a build like Volumio.
However, there are file-based members here who will be able to better advise you.
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Post by John on Mar 10, 2018 13:45:59 GMT
The pi is a very cheap way into this. Also something like the SOtM 200 both will require a control device like a PC, laptop or tablet. Otherwise plenty of streaming devices around to consider.
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seanm
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Post by seanm on Mar 10, 2018 14:16:33 GMT
Tonedeaf,
I have used file based music for about 20 years... first MP3 (the best quality I could fit on the Hard discs of the time) and then all re-ripped to FLAC. In the UK, the Music was stored on a dedicated QNAP NAS. Currently, I am working in Northern Cyprus and hence travelling light. I have copied my music library to a 4TB USB3 2.5" portable drive which hangs off of a decent ASUS router. In both cases the music is made available as a SMB network share.
For around 3-4 years ago I replaced a SONOS system with Raspberry Pies.... I originally had two, one with a SPDIF digital out daughter card, this fed a digital input on the AV amp in the lounge. The other had a DAC daughter card which fed a pre-power amp system upstairs. I am on my 3rd DAC in this system. I started with a HiFiBerry DAC, then the pro version and now the Allo Boss. The latter was a significant improvement. (I note that this has been reworked to v1.2). I rather like this aspect... For £35-75, you can have fun swapping in a new DAC if/when they become available and since this is rapidly improving area, the latest is often quite an improvement over the previous one for little money.
Despite the SQ being very good, easy and significant improvements can be made by looking at the power supplies... for example, feeding the DAC with a separate quality supply or battery.
I flirt between two different music specific linux distributions... I currently favour MoodAudio, but I have also used Volumio. They are both very similar and the reasons for choosing any particular one are subtle... the differences will probably reduce as both mature.
With both distributions, and Unix/Linux in general, everything is very standards based with well defined interfaces. These setups have always run "headless", no monitor, keyboard or mouse. I control them either via a web browser on my PC or by an app on my phone. Both can operate simultaneously in parallel. The apps talk to "Mdaemon" (music playing daemon) and there are 101 apps for Android phones since this is a popular well defined standard. Again, I can flirt and mix and match without being tied to any particular one. Currently, I am using M.A.L.P.
The distributions run from 8 or 16GB micro SD cards, it is worth having a few of these since you can tinker with a new version of something on another card while leaving your existing working system untouched.
Since, I am travelling light, I have a further 50W amp daughter card which sits on top of the DAC and drives the smallest bookshelf speakers I could find quickly and cheaply. All in all very good for a system which came in my suitcase!
Cheers
Sean
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tonedeaf
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Post by tonedeaf on Mar 10, 2018 15:24:43 GMT
Hi Sean
Thanks for the detailed description of your system, this could be something for me to get my teeth into. I am a noobie with this tech so some learning will be required.
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seanm
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Post by seanm on Mar 10, 2018 17:33:29 GMT
There is a fair bit of experience and support in this forum and unless you are using a bleeding edge DAC/Digi daughter card it is relatively straightforward.
Cheers
Sean
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Post by Barrington on Mar 13, 2018 9:40:13 GMT
Depending what you have at your disposal .
I have an OPPO universal player for all my digital playback , all my files (FLAC) are on an external hard drive connected to the OPPO via USB , this involves TV for file selection.
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tonedeaf
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Post by tonedeaf on Mar 13, 2018 11:20:29 GMT
thats the only thing tht puts me off file based systems, having to use a viewer (pc/laptop) etc to find tracks which is more cumbersome than just plugging in a smartphone or IPOD. i need to research some small tablets that can accept a usb ext SATA hdd which can effectively be left on permanently, however something remote controlled and usable from your armchair would be even better.
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Post by John on Mar 13, 2018 11:32:32 GMT
Using something like Roon is very user friendly Can use a small tablet as the remote control
Very user friendly
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tonedeaf
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Post by tonedeaf on Mar 13, 2018 12:25:05 GMT
This sounds like i would need to set up a media server system so i could access my music by using Roon on my tablet then wifi the song selection to a network DAC, which need to have analogue outputs to my amp. Is this possible?
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Post by zippy on Mar 13, 2018 12:27:20 GMT
...more cumbersome than just plugging in a smartphone or IPOD.... but you can use your smart phone to select tracks anyway so no more onerous than actually playing them directly from the phone. |
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tonedeaf
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Oldies are Goldies
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Post by tonedeaf on Mar 13, 2018 12:31:12 GMT
Yes I guess if I bought a cheap second hand smartphone with a SD CARD SLOT I could just use that as a music player. Connect a very long 2 RCA Y splitter and store music on that, and stream what I don't wish to purchase.
Using my mobile is pain when you need to make / receive a call text etc
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Post by MartinT on Mar 13, 2018 14:06:26 GMT
You would be much better off using a streamer or a Pi-based solution and using the phone only for control, not for storing the music.
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Post by Slinger on Mar 13, 2018 14:53:23 GMT
You would be much better off using a streamer or a Pi-based solution and using the phone only for control, not for storing the music. I agree, roughly, with what Martin has said, although I'd look at a cheap tablet rather than a phone to control it. Don't listen to me though, I actually like using a PC to run mine.  |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2018 15:24:39 GMT
Since selling my Naim streamer, I have gone back to using my Logitech Squeezebox Touch, which is surprisingly good with the Caiman SEG. Not quite up to the quality of the CXC but it does the job reasonably well.
I stream everything using Asset UPnP via an Apple Mac to the Squeezebox and I use my phone to control it.
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Post by zippy on Mar 13, 2018 15:25:00 GMT
You would be much better off using a streamer or a Pi-based solution and using the phone only for control, not for storing the music. That's what I meant (sorry for confusion) |
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Post by John on Mar 13, 2018 15:29:40 GMT
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Post by John on Mar 13, 2018 17:35:25 GMT
Because you got such a large amount of music I really recommend you do this properly otherwise you not going to get the best out of it.
I would suggest Roon and use a pi as a end point. It has a good interface and is easy to set up. Plus a free month subscription. A tablet would be ideal to use as a remote control device you could get a cheap tablet 7 inch screen from Amazon for this It does not have to store music.
Here are a view videos
A bit more expensive
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Post by Tim on Mar 14, 2018 10:54:44 GMT
thats the only thing tht puts me off file based systems, having to use a viewer (pc/laptop) etc to find tracks which is more cumbersome than just plugging in a smartphone or IPOD. I think you are approaching it from the wrong angle if you think this? Even if you run it from a laptop, you can treat it like a headless server just by using a tablet, smart-phone or even a web interface from another computer on the same network. It's the furthest thing from being cumbersome if you do it right. I think you need to do some more research and if you get it right the rewards are pretty high IMO. You can far exceed the sound quality of many CD players for much less money. JRiver has a great app in JRemote, not tried Roon at home from an app yet, but seen/heard it a number of times, it's very simple and probably easier to manage than JRiver actually. However, it's pricey if you don't use all the features. Cumbersome is having to find a CD/record and play it, especially if you have a very large collection. You can browse and play all the music you like from the comfort of your armchair. Best thing I ever did in over 40 years of enjoying music. Having said that some people really enjoy the physical aspect of playing a CD or record. Not me, I just want to hear the music as simply as possible and as best a possible, for the lowest cost  |
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Post by naim1425 on Mar 14, 2018 12:49:43 GMT
pioneer n50this would do the things you want also you could use the dac inside to connect things to,there is a newer model out also a cheaper one aswell
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