External hard drive/NAS for iTunes to Marantz CR603

[admin_exported]

I'm very much a noob when it comes to the networking of music etc so please bear with me

I currently have a Marantz CR603 hooked up to M/A BX5 speakers; I use iTunes via my PC for music but the computer needs to be switched on to use this facility

What I'm after is an exsternal NAS / hard-drive so that I can listen to music without having the PC switched on.

1/ Is this possible?

2/ What NAS / external hard-drive would you suggest?

Criterias would be that I'd be after 1TB od memory minimum (I've a lot of music) and also I dont want to fork out a fortune so budget ideally up to £150 (poss a bit more) max

Thanks for all/any advice

 

[professorhat]

It is most definitely possible. What format is your music in e.g. Apple Lossless, MP3, AAC?

 

[Anonymous]

It will all be in Apple Lossless

 

[professorhat]

Hmm, I'm no expert on media streamers, but I can't see one which includes a hard disk and also streams Apple Lossless. I use an Apple TV (original one with hard disk), but that only has 160 GB so nowhere near your needs. It can be jail broken so that an external USB drive can be used with it, but the price combination of both these items would be well above your £150 budget - more in the region of £300 - £350 if purchased new. Unless someone has other ideas?

The other option would be to convert your music to a different form of lossless e.g. FLAC. You could then get a standard DLNA enabled NAS (plenty to choose from, but something like the Synology DS211J or Western Digital MyBooks) and stream directly from this to your Marantz.

 

[Mr. Iceman]

I've got Buffalo Linkstation NAS 2 x 1TB (in Raid 1) connected to my '603 via router. Transferred all my wav files onto it and streaming directly to '603 (and PS3) without any issues and it sounds great.
The relatively small screen on the Marantz may be an issue for some, when navigating through menus for NAS-based files.

Buffalo Linkstation was also reviewed by WHFSV, look it up. I can't fault it in any way.