Question How to play digital audio from HDD / USB stick through Stereo amp

[ssimlai]

I own a few pieces of old equipment, comprising Hamaha R-S202 amp, Advance acoustic CD player, TEAC dual tape machine W-790R and a turntable. I realised only much later that I should have bought an amp with USB port, which I didn’t.

I now have a stock of music in hundreds, which I’m itching to play through my Yamaha speakers but can’t, because there’s equipment I have that would allow me to play hard disk based or SSD / USB stick based digital audio.

The amp only has RCA analogue inputs.

Any tip on this direction will help me decide. However, I am not in favour of playing music from a computer. Music for me is for listening in a relaxed mood, and a computer makes me unstable.

 

[Gray]

Music for me is for listening in a relaxed mood, and a computer makes me unstable.

Me too.
Although I'm currently using one Raspberry Pi to play USB / SSD files through the hi-fi and another to play them through a separate headphone rig.
RPi is a computer, though it doesn't act like one, for me it's a streamer.

Some form of streaming interface is what you need.
How much would you like to spend?
Something like the Wiim Ultra would do what you want and more.

 

[ssimlai]

Thanks for your response. Yes I’m referring to a computer. But what I don’t want to do is to use the sound card outputs to play music. I would like to transfer all that HDD based music to “another device” which can work as a standalone digital audio player connected to my amplifier through RCA L-R jacks. No computer in the audio chain.

I believe there could be something called media player or a digital audio player that can allow storage and playback of music. Of course when I want to edit song parameters or add or delete songs or create playlists, I will certainly have to use a computer which would be less than once a year may be.

 

[ssimlai]

Me too.
Although I'm currently using one Raspberry Pi to play USB / SSD files through the hi-fi and another to play them through a separate headphone rig.
RPi is a computer, though it doesn't act like one, for me it's a streamer.

Some form of streaming interface is what you need.
How much would you like to spend?
Something like the Wiim Ultra would do what you want and more.

Thanks and I’ll surely look into your suggestion. As for budget, I do not have an idea but may be between £100 - £200 as a wild guess.

 

[Gray]

I believe there could be something called media player or a digital audio player that can allow storage and playback of music.

Yes, a media player is what the RPi is for me.
Media players stream your music from the USB stick to your hi-fi - they don't actually store the music themselves.
You can get streamers with internal storage (effectively just an SSD built in) - but unfortunately not within your £200 budget.

The DAP you mention will store your files and play them through your existing hi-fi, but you'll find (unless someone knows otherwise) they're usually a fair bit more than £200

 

[Cork]

You could install Plex or Jellyfin on your PC/laptop; then use an old phone with a headphone jack to connect to your receiver. Then stream from your Plex server. (Wouldn't need a wired connection).

Or, just use the old phone with a headphone jack and a microSD card and load everything on there. This is probably the cheapest, especially if you have an old phone laying around.

But what you really want to do is play from an HDD. So I'd go with a single drive NAS that can output through a USB ( using USB to RCA adapter). Using a NAS lets you modify the drive contents from your laptop but play via NAS s/w.

 

[Fandango Andy]

I own a few pieces of old equipment, comprising Hamaha R-S202 amp, Advance acoustic CD player, TEAC dual tape machine W-790R and a turntable. I realised only much later that I should have bought an amp with USB port, which I didn’t.

I now have a stock of music in hundreds, which I’m itching to play through my Yamaha speakers but can’t, because there’s equipment I have that would allow me to play hard disk based or SSD / USB stick based digital audio.

The amp only has RCA analogue inputs.

Any tip on this direction will help me decide. However, I am not in favour of playing music from a computer. Music for me is for listening in a relaxed mood, and a computer makes me unstable.

Ultimately you need some kind of interface. As much as you don't want to use it, a laptop is the easiest way to do it.

Some streamers have a USB input, so you could start there.

The only other way I can think of, is your amp anywhere near a smart TV? Plug you USB by in to the TV, connect a DAC to the TV (unless it has analogue outputs) and the DAC to your amp. Use your TV remote to select tracks via your TV.

 

[Gray]

Ultimately you need some kind of interface. As much as you don't want to use it, a laptop is the easiest way to do it.

Yep, that's your media player with built-in storage.

 

[jjbomber]

Fiio K11? Plug the HDD into the rear. Connect the line output to the Hifi.

FiiO K11 (Black)

Shop for FiiO K11 (Black) DAC/Headphone Amp with Richer Sounds for expert advice and Lowest Prices Guaranteed

www.richersounds.com

 

[ssimlai]

Fiio K11? Plug the HDD into the rear. Connect the line output to the Hifi.

FiiO K11 (Black)

Shop for FiiO K11 (Black) DAC/Headphone Amp with Richer Sounds for expert advice and Lowest Prices Guaranteed

www.richersounds.com

I had a brief look. Interesting product. Reading the manual now. Will revert.

 

[ssimlai]

You could install Plex or Jellyfin on your PC/laptop; then use an old phone with a headphone jack to connect to your receiver. Then stream from your Plex server. (Wouldn't need a wired connection).

Or, just use the old phone with a headphone jack and a microSD card and load everything on there. This is probably the cheapest, especially if you have an old phone laying around.

But what you really want to do is play from an HDD. So I'd go with a single drive NAS that can output through a USB ( using USB to RCA adapter). Using a NAS lets you modify the drive contents from your laptop but play via NAS s/w.

I do have a couple of NAS drives but I don't think they have USB output feature. Any particular make / model that you can advise? In fact I forgot to mention that I also have an archaic product from Netgear called the MP101 which is basically an onilne / network media player but with no USB. The only way it will work is connected to the computer, which is a pain.

So any hard disk solutions would mean using a computer. Instead I would be looking for a media player that has a built-in storage independent of a computer, or a stream through hardware unit.

 

[ssimlai]

Me too.
Although I'm currently using one Raspberry Pi to play USB / SSD files through the hi-fi and another to play them through a separate headphone rig.
RPi is a computer, though it doesn't act like one, for me it's a streamer.

Some form of streaming interface is what you need.
How much would you like to spend?
Something like the Wiim Ultra would do what you want and more.

Hi good morning.

I read the Wiim Ultra manual. Though in a couple of places it says it can play music from a network storage / USB, there's just one USB port, which is a digital output. I didn't find a USB In port, so I am assuming it depends on a NAS connected to a computer to play music. Am I right in my assumption?

 

[ssimlai]

I had a brief look. Interesting product. Reading the manual now. Will revert.

Read the manual. It's not very clear but seems yet again that a computer would be required to connect and play. Please correct me if wrong.

 

[ssimlai]

Friends, I must first thank you all for the prompt sincere suggestions. However, budget is really a constraint here, so I wonder if there could be a device that cuts out all the frills of internet audio and streaming, and just lets me play audio from a USB storage. I was reading the specs of Yamaha WXC-50 and it's prohibitively costly, so I wonder if all the features can be cut down and only the pre-amp part is available to play USB based audio (MP3 / Wav). I did have a look at the other WIIM models like Pro and Pro Plus but didn't really understand whether they fit my requirement which, if I were to summarise again, is as follows:

"I have a very specific requirement. I have an Yamaha amp R-S202 without USB input, but with line in and bluetooth, and would like to connect storage devices like USB to play music. For that i need some device that can help me do this without using a computer of course."

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Gray]

Hi good morning.

I read the Wiim Ultra manual. Though in a couple of places it says it can play music from a network storage / USB, there's just one USB port, which is a digital output. I didn't find a USB In port, so I am assuming it depends on a NAS connected to a computer to play music. Am I right in my assumption?

If you are right, I'll be in trouble, because I'm likely to be buying the Ultra before the end of the year - and I want it to do precisely what you want to do 🙂

It does play files from external USB ✅
The same socket can also be USB out (to feed USB DACs).

Have a look at a Raspberry Pi model 3B and a Khadas Toneboard DAC on Amazon.
Then look at the free Volumio Operating System.
That's what I currently use.
Now add up the cost of those items.
Not only will they do what you want them to do, but I wouldn't mind betting that you wouldn't be able to tell the sound apart from the Wiim in a blind test.....yet I still quite fancy an Ultra myself 🤪

 

[Al ears]

Possibly the cheapest way would be to buy an old bluray player like my Sony which has a USB in and analogue outputs. Connect this to your amp.
Beware that you will need some for of software that will allow you to see what is on the USB stick for playback.

 

[Vincent Kars]

I do have a couple of NAS drives

Most of the time a NAS comes with all kind of software including a UPnP/DLNA server.
Both QNAP and Synology do. Even my router accept a USB drive and can be configured to act as a UNP/DLNA server. Windows Media Sharing is DLNA as well.

If you store the audio files on the server, you can use a simple and cheap device like WiiM mini connected to the amp over RCA.
Anything DLNA enabled like PC's or Android phones in your home network can play the audio as well.

As your PC can access the NAS, you can also maintain your library in an easy manner.

 

[manicm]

Hi good morning.

I read the Wiim Ultra manual. Though in a couple of places it says it can play music from a network storage / USB, there's just one USB port, which is a digital output. I didn't find a USB In port, so I am assuming it depends on a NAS connected to a computer to play music. Am I right in my assumption?

Wrong. The USB A port is for music playback from sticks.

 

[Vincent Kars]

https://wiimhome.com/pdf/WiiM Ultra User Manual.pdf says

Digital Audio Output: Bit-perfect output, up to192 kHz, 24-bit with digital optical, coaxial, and USB audio

USB Audio Out UAC 2.0

It is UAC2 compatible so you can connect any USB DAC.

 

[ssimlai]

Most of the time a NAS comes with all kind of software including a UPnP/DLNA server.
Both QNAP and Synology do. Even my router accept a USB drive and can be configured to act as a UNP/DLNA server. Windows Media Sharing is DLNA as well.

If you store the audio files on the server, you can use a simple and cheap device like WiiM mini connected to the amp over RCA.
Anything DLNA enabled like PC's or Android phones in your home network can play the audio as well.

As your PC can access the NAS, you can also maintain your library in an easy manner.

Sounds interesting, and economical as well.

 

[ssimlai]

Wrong. The USB A port is for music playback from sticks.

Noted.

 

[ssimlai]

Basically after reading through all replies, I find that the chances of not requiring to use a computer are dim. Those that do work are pretty expensive. Next best option as someone said is to use a DVD player with USB ports - I think I should be having an old Philips 1080P lying around. Am sure the DVD motor et al would have died (bought in 2008). Will see if it can be serviced, to get the USB part of the circuit working. Or may be, buy a small DVD player with USB - will nicely fit into my bookshelf.

Help please!

 

[DiggyGun]

What about something like a Sony Media player which is within your budget?

DG…

 

[SallyB]

I am unclear as to what you mean by not wanting to use a computer. If by that you mean not using a PC/Mac then the Wiim suggestions will only require a smartphone and connection to your network with the usb as per above. If you are saying that you don’t want anything that connects to a network or that is, like the Wiim, a type of audio computer, then things get more limited!

 

[ssimlai]

What about something like a Sony Media player which is within your budget?

DG…

Will it connect by RCA to my amplifier?