Looking For Hard Drive Stereo

[admin_exported]

Can anybody please point me in the correct direction for a decent Hard Drive Hi-Fi Please. I looked at the sonos system which looked right up my street but it only run of a pc.

I want excellent sound, hard drive, wifi to another room if possible. I'm not very good with hi-fi's hence need advice. I would also like to be able to download music and store it on the hifi as well as load all my cd's on.

Thank you to anybody taking the time to read this or help.

 

[Anonymous]

Welcome to the WHFS&V forums! In one way there is a variety of answers to your question; but in another, there is a distinct lack of such products available at the moment! It all depends on your budget (doesn't everything), the more you spend - the more you get. At the budget end of the scale (yes this is still budget) the Buffalo Terastation Live will hold 1TB (1000GB) worth of "near-CD quality" music but won't transport it around your house sadly. That's 400 of your hard earned and pay more and you can upgrade the capacity all the way up to 4TB for £1,100! Bear in-mind its size practicalities though.

A little more sensibly priced, the £700 SONOS BU130 Digital Music System with wi-fi capabilities will hold your music and gets the full audiophile thumbs up - but it's still pricey.

Many here will know more about this than me - I've never used one myself. Bear in mind what sort of features you expect.

Have fun!

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your reply. I'm probably willing to spend anything up to £1500 but in return want some quality sound and hold plenty of tunes.

Its tough when you know very little.

I will check out your recommendations and once again thank you for your time.

 

[Anonymous]

No problem! The main problem you will face will be the sound-quality. This product will take off soon, one can guarantee; but at the moment sound-quality is sacrificied for practicallity. In the Feb edition of WHFS&V (which you can now buy) there is a review on the Escient Fireball SE-500i, which is superbly featured but the sound-quality "can be beaten in terms of detail, dynamics and timing by standalond CD players costing a snip of the Escient £1200 price-tag."

I'll keep an eye out for anything good and i'll post on this thread if I find anything!

And have fun!

 

[Anonymous]

I've just realised i've made a silly asumption! Do you mean a whole hi-fi system such as speakers and an amplifier? If so, look at the Philips WACS700 may be a good bet for you at £600 coupled to some Bowers and Wilkins 685 speakers or Monitor Audio RS1s.

Once again, have fun!

 

[Anonymous]

Yes I do mean the whole lot. I did look at that system but it didn't have the best of write ups on cnet. Maybe the speakers would make a difference. Any idea where I can buy them?

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry didn't see one of your posts. I'm going to buy the Feb issue to have a look at the Escient Fireball SE-500i.

As you said earlier, it looks like quality may be a problem with the Phillips.

 

[John Duncan]

The best source for such a system is your PC, if you ask me. Are you ruling that out? If not, can discuss how best to go about it......

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="JohnDuncan"]
The best source for such a system is your PC, if you ask me. Are you ruling that out? If not, can discuss how best to go about it......
[/quote]

Agreed. Good quality pc with a high quality sound-card is a good choice.

 

[John Duncan]

For starters, yes. Then Apple Airport connected to amps/speakers for other rooms. I say this as the OP wants to buy music online, and Airport supports DRM'd music I think

 

[Anonymous]

For this price you'll want to use your computer. All of the canned music servers are above your limit just by themselves. You should check out the Squeezebox if you want wireless. I suggest using an external DAC connected to the Squeezebox. From there you can use any HiFi gear you like.

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry new to this site and was expecting an email when someone had replied.

I ruled out the pc option as I don't like the idea of having to leave pc on contantly. I have a laptop but the battery runs out quick so I will have wires all over the place which is something I'm keen to get rid of..

When you say "canned music servers" are above my limit, can you give me some examples to look at please?

Thank you to you all for your replies, fantastic response which is greatly appreciated.

 

[John Duncan]

Actually, the Yamaha CDRHD1500 with a 250 gig hard disk (what, 300 albums or so at uncompressed?) is only 450 quid (used to be £600+ for a previous 80gig model), looks a much more cost-effective option than it used to be.

Otherwise, consider NAS (network attached storage), which is basically a big wireless hard disk which all your computers can link to for storage, and can mean you don't have to have your PC switched on, then link a client like Squeezebox to it. The Buffalo Terrastation (400 quid for 1 terabyte of storage) even supports iTunes natively, was reviewed well in WHF, but there are numerous other options.

 

[John Duncan]

http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo.cfm/Product_ID/2292

This has made me want one. 375 hours of storage.

 

[Anonymous]

Cheers this is getting more like it. Going to read the magazine tonight then its time to make my mind up.

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry to be a real pain but I'm just thinking that maybe I could run my TV through the speakers that I get too. I maybe asking a bit too much here for a new member.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks, I can't seem to open the link. I did like the look of the sonos so if I could run it from other places that would be good.

Just wading through the what hifi mag for the first time and now quite fancing the home cinema too. Wish I never started now as I can see me spending a fortune.